The IndyCar Series is racing at Iowa Speedway this weekend and several agencies are involved in keeping race fans safe while they are at the track, and going to and from it. Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess says IndyCar and NASCAR weekends are both pretty taxing on public safety. 

“Not only is it a race crowd, but we have camping and people staying in hotels. We have got concerts. Just the amount of activities that are happening in and around the track are things we have got to look at from a public safety standpoint, and prepare for.”

According to Chief Burdess, planning for big race weekends at Iowa Speedway is a year round process, and there is a lot of behind the scenes work that people don’t see. He states the public safety team for race weekends involves ten to fifteen public safety agencies or different divisions of those agencies including the Newton Police and Fire Departments, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department and Emergency Management Agency, and the Iowa State Patrol.