The Knoxville Nationals come as a big boost for many businesses near the raceway, including Hy-Vee. Manager Joe Milnes says that they see increases in pretty much every department during the two week period of Nationals, especially in alcohol and meat. Their biggest increase, however, comes in ice. Milnes says that they sell between 80 and 100 pallets of ice during Nationals. Each pallet contains about 1600 pounds of ice.

Doing the math, that means they sell between 128,000 and 160,000 pounds of ice each year during Nationals. To compare, Milnes says during a regular week, they’ll go through about one pallet of ice.