DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The broken supply chain and the labor crisis that has affected the United States and other countries will also have an impact on Sunday’s 64th Daytona 500.
Daytona Int’l Speedway President Frank Kelleher revealed during Wednesday’s Daytona 500 Media Day that staff shortages and items that have yet to be delivered will create a unique challenge for the sellout crowd on Sunday.
To help remedy the situation, DIS had several job fairs to help find people to serve as ticket takers, vendors and in other positions to handle the crowd of 105,000 fans.
More challenging, however, is souvenir merchandise that has yet to arrive. Much of the merchandise is thought to be on cargo ships outside of major ports in the United States waiting to be docked and unloaded.
“We are not immune to any of the crisis when it comes to labor and supply chain and any of that,” Kelleher said. “The good news is we have been preparing for it since they waved the checkered flag here in August. Working with Levy — they are a best-in-class concession and food and beverage company with a national footprint. We get to lean on their entire footprint.
“If we need 700 employees, let’s make sure we have 1,000 on deck so we can do it. We were successful with a four-day music festival and a successful Rolex 24 At Daytona. We’re ready to roll for everything this weekend.”
According to team representatives, they have experienced supply issues of their own from car parts to souvenir merchandise to even crew uniforms.
Luckily for Trackhouse Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing had a supply of blank uniforms. Trackhouse purchased Chip Ganassi Racing last year. The blank uniforms were sent to a logo embroidering company in Mooresville, N.C., to put the correct logos and sponsor patches on the apparel.
As for DIS, caps that will be placed on sale in the souvenir area were actually ordered last May.
“That was the No. 1 item that we needed to make sure we had a good supply of — the Daytona 500 cap,” Kelleher said. “That is one of our items that is most in demand.
“Merchandise has been an area where you need to be way ahead on the purchasing. We were placing orders months in advance of what we would typically do in addition to food. That’s one of the luxuries of having a company like Levy with a national footprint and many suppliers they can lean on.”