BYOB Derby and Preakness
 

I'm a young gambler, but I was talking to my old man and he said back in the day you could bring your own beer to the infield on Derby Day and Preakness Day. There was also no charge in bringing a cooler full of beer.


But is this true? I mean I see why they don't allow it now since it cost $8 to buy a beer on DerbyDay lol.

Belmont Stakes too. Back in the day (and it wasn't too long ago...probably fewer than 10 years ago), you could bring ANYTHING into Belmont that had alcohol in it...hell, I saw people bringing KEGS in...:lol: And no, I'm not joking...

We used to bring in COOLERS full of stuff...beer...wine...hard liquor...you name it...

My dad said they ended it all after the Boston Marathon attack... If that is true I really want to kick that suspects ass lol.s

We used to bring sandwiches of Italian sausage, scrambled eggs, peppers and onions on semolina bread, find a picnic table and listen to the band in the area behind the plant. Always a great day.

Did they stop it after the Smarty Jones Belmont 2004?

Ellis
 

I don't doubt it. Yrs ago when I attended Ellis Park, we used to take coolers of beer in. No problem.

Use to do it all the time at Del Mar in the 70's

Ellis Park. My home track lol. Has to rank in Top 5 of biggest dumps of a horse track in the USA. Place is a mess lol... But has and always will have that "my old home" type of feeling which i love lol

NASCAR was like that for years.

Not sure about today

I'm happy to report that you can STILL bring a cooler full of beer into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 500.

On Preakness morning I would arrive at 4:30AM. The track was open for training from only around 5-6:30 AM or something close to that.
I had to drive through the parking lot behind the far turn to get to my barn and there would typically be about 200 or 300 people there drinking beer and blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd or something like that in the dark. They were in full party mode 13 hours before the race. It was incredible. Lolol.

100% correct...somebody threw a bottle in the general direction of Marylou Whitney (owner of winner Birdstone) if I recall...and that ended that...

It didn't make any business sense letting people bring all that alcohol into the park...they must be making a boatload on liquor sales on that day ever since.

Saratoga is BYOB. I was pretty gone at the point that I needed more but I vaguely recall them selling beer as well.

I went to the Preakness within the last few years and did the infield party. If you're looking to have that kinda time the deal is pretty solid. All you can drink for the price of the ticket.

Idk how young you are but if you're close to college age still I strongly suggest trying the infield at the Preakness once. Was a lot of fun

I believe it is now only people who buy infield space for RV's can bring in their own alcohol. That was the rule right after 9-11 at California Speedway last time I was in the infield at a Nascar event. The RV in the infield was pricey as even if you rented the space for the weekend everyone had to also buy an event ticket, letting you bring your own alcohol was the least they could do.