Fans and flags under scrutiny as NASCAR heads to Talladega

heat is on at Tallega Superspeedway, and t just for drivers at a track kwn for high-speed chaos.

It is ar test run for security and safety protocols as fans start to return in limited numbers. NASCAR is permitting up to 5,000 fans.

Fans will undergo health screenings before entering track and be required to wear masks and asked to maintain six feet of social distancing. Or sports organizations and leagues will likely be watching how NASCAR and Tallega handle event since fans have been virutally barred from every sporting event in rth America for more than three months because of coronavirus and positive tests are on rise in scattered places across country.

“y want to be out front,” said James DeMeo, who runs Unified Sports & Entertainment Security Consulting and is an junct instructor at Tulane and Mercer. “body wants to be that organization that’s kwn for t properly safeguarding patrons at se s of events.”

Tallega and its rmally crowded, sometimes raucous scene will have a decidedly different feel. Fans won’t be allowed to enter infield and re won’t be any tailgating allowed outside grounds before, during or after race except for customers who bought mission for RV sites on Alabama Gang Superstretch. 5,000 fans inside will be scattered around front stretch grandstands and towers at a track that can hold about 80,000.

“ race day experience will be different,” NASCAR executive vice president Daryl Wolfe said. “It’s just different times. Fans will have to just to that. We will have to just on how we’re dressing se issues for fans.”

coronavirus isn’t only new security issue in Tallega. NASCAR has banned display of Conferederate flag from its events and facilities, but hasn’t outlined how it will enforce rule.

“It’s banned and hopefully fans will comply and, if t, we’ll deal with that,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer.

Just how NASCAR might deal with flags that pop up will also be closely watched as nation goes through a reckoning on race relations following death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose heart stopped while he was pinned under knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis. Longtime symbols of Confederacy are being taken down or are under review;

“If y brocast this race to millions of people and here are 44 RVs and y’re all flying flags on infield, n what’s that make NASCAR look like?” said Richard Morman, who runs Concentric Risk Solutions and is a former deputy chief of Ohio State's department of public safety.

If that happens, he said, “That’s an institutional, reputational issue (where) NASCAR said y’re going to ban this and y haven’t or y’re t enforcing it.”

Timothy Ragland, Tallega's first African-American mayor, said he hasn't seen plans on how NASCAR plans to enforce ban.

“But I kw being from Tallega and experiencing races my whole life, re are a lot of people that do fly it,” Ragland said. “But I think I will have to echo sentiment of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. when I say it belongs in history books. And NASCAR, I think, has taken correct step to make sure that all of ir fans feel included in NASCAR community.”

A panel of representatives from some of rth America's major sports leagues — including NASCAR, Major League Soccer, NFL, Major League Baseball and NBA — is holding weekly conference calls to discuss running events and games amid pandemic, said Jeff Stonebreaker, vice president of safety and security for MLS.

Topics include “everything from how do you handle cleaning and sanitation to how are you sourcing protective equipment and how are you going to approach different things.

“Clearly with that much variety, re’s one size fits all," he said. “But it’s a very interesting time to be involved.”

Major League Soccer is resuming its season July 8 with a World Cup-style tournament in Florida without fans.

Im credits: AP