Alaska Raceway Park jam packed with concerts and races this weekend

BUTTE — The Alaska Raceway Park is revving up for a busy weekend filled with races on the NASCAR oval track in addition to concerts featuring Alaskan artists and big names from the Lower 48.

Valley residents looking for one of the biggest events of the summer don’t have to travel very far.

Alaska Raceway is hosting the Rock In The Last Frontier Festival with special guests Saliva, Alien Ant Farm, and Framing Hanley performing throughout the day Friday, July 31. The gates open at 4 p.m. with music starting at 5.

“This is the biggest concert of the summer,” Alaska Raceway Park President Michelle Lackey Maynor said.

There will also be a chance to dance to homegrown artists from across the state during the Backyard Country BBQ event Saturday starting at 4 p.m.

“It’s pretty amazing. Adding concerts to the venue is something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” Lackey Maynor said.

In addition to local country music, there will be an array of food vendors and the Button Guys from the Alaska State Fair at the BBQ.

Racers will have the chance to rev their engines and roar across the pavement during the Two-day Oval Track Shootout starting Saturday and wrapping up Sunday. Gates open at 3 p.m Saturday with qualifying at 5 and green flag drops at 6. The gates open at 11 a.m. on Sunday with qualifying at 1 and green flag drops at 2.

Lackey Maynor advises people looking to get on the track Saturday to take Plumley Road instead of Sullivan Road to avoid concert traffic.

Tickets for the Rock the Last Frontier are available online brown paper tickets or at the gate. The concert parking fee is $5, and Lackey Maynor encourages people to carpool to the park.

She said there’s going to be plenty of space for social distancing with various sanitization stations each event.

“We enjoy bringing the community together, bringing the track community together... to be able to provide a space for people,” Lackey Maynor said. “I hate that whole ‘normal’ term, but so many things have been cancelled and changed... Just to kind of have some sort of sense of normal and some sort of fun in this time is going to be really nice.”

Lackey Maynor also cautioned anyone potentially exposed or experiencing symptoms to stay home.

“There will be other events,” Lackey Maynor said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com