The absolute worst venue I have ever been to. Poor crowd flow and ancient wooden benches (we all know how great wood lasts after 20+ years in the elements! ). And heavens, the railing on the very back, top bench. Well, you remember what happened to Flanders's wife.
But what makes it the worst place in the world was leaving. After a two-hour show that ended at 10PM, it took us longer to GTFO. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. We watched the traffic from the bleachers and damn, it took forever for each car to turn out to 40. There were at least 4 lines of cars merging into one to get out. You can imagine how many people used their 4WD to go around and cut in line. Eventually, people got into two lines: one to go right and one to go left.
Half an hour into it, boom, we see the accident. Someone got T-boned making a left turn. It was weird how long it took for emergency personnel to show up, that we figured it must be a fender bender, so get your car out of the road!
Nope. 10 minutes later, everything stops as the ambulance at the arena decides it should help. Then other agencies show up and you realize it's a lot worse than you thought. Traffic was stopped for 45 minutes.
It cleared, and my kids are running up and down the length in front of the bleachers in races the adults organized to keep the kids entertained. Other people's kids were running all over the bleachers, unattended.
11:15ish, I've started watching TV on my phone. I already had the show downloaded; there was no way you could watch anything over the network with as weak as the signal was, plus thousands of other people using their phones. I looked back at the parking lot every so often and saw no changes.
11:30, security comes by and kicks everyone out. Which sucked because it was pretty obvious we'd be sitting in a car for at least half an hour in addition to the hour and a half commute home. I don't fault the venue for wanting to close up shop; just unlucky for us.
We stayed in the truck for an hour watching the four lines slowly inch along. One guy started up his car and tried to cut in line. A lady yelled, "WE'VE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR TWO HOURS! YOU JUST STARTED YOUR CAR." He tried to deny it and ended up cutting in front of the car behind her.
The kids had fallen asleep, luckily old enough not to have accidents. Well, it helps we didn't buy any concessions. When we heard $18 for a snocone...
12:15, the venue turned off the lights in the parking lot, despite the hundred people still regretting life choices, sitting in a dusty parking after midnight in Hagerstown.
12:25, we turned on the truck and got in line at the end of one of the now shorter lines.
12:28: Freedom
We came here to see the Monster Jam and that wasn't great for its own reasons, but I will never ever come here again for anything as God is my witness.
But I'll be more than happy to suggest this place to the worst of my enemies (ya know, if I was a time-traveling ninja that constantly fought the worst of the worst attempting to enslave humanity, or had any enemies). Maybe they fall through a rickety 25-foot high wooden bench or simply lean back and fall through. Maybe they'd get hit by a 4WD that recklessly skirted the one line to get out, get t-boned making a left turn, or just die of boredom.
Then, and only then, would Hagerstown Speedway have served a meaningful purpose on this Earth. read more