This article was in last Tuesday's New York Times:
Reining In the Revelry
By ADAM HIMMELSBACH
Published: May 12, 2009
The most peculiar races at the Preakness Stakes have come on the rooftops of the infield porta-potties. Sanguine partygoers would climb atop the first toilet in a row of about 40, then try to reach the last one as people showered them with beer.
Sometimes the sprinters were splashed and sprayed like baseball players celebrating a pennant. But other times, they were also pelted with unopened cans. With the infield’s bring-your-own beer policy, there was plenty to spare. And that made revelers wary of the skies over Pimlico Race Course, which could turn cloudy with a chance of Budweiser.
“I’ve seen people get drilled by people randomly heaving cans of beer,” said Matt Schultz, 29, who lives in Baltimore and has been on the Pimlico infield for the Preakness the past four years. “I saw one girl literally get knocked to the ground by one.”
Organizers of the Preakness Stakes, the second event in horse racing’s Triple Crown, want a tamer experience on Saturday for the 134th running of the race. Fans can no longer bring their own beverages to the infield. Sixteen-ounce beers will be sold for $3.50, and they will come in plastic cups instead of unopened cans.
The track will also sell its signature black-eyed Susans, a mix of vodka, whiskey, sweet-and-sour mix and orange juice. The hope is that with fewer soaring cans, there is less chance of a black-eyed Susan, or Stephen, for that matter.
“Nobody wants to go into the infield and stare over their shoulder all afternoon because they’re worried about being hit by a beer,” said Stephen Salsbury, a sophomore at the University of Virginia.
In the past, when 60,000 people could bring alcohol to this all-day party, impishness was inevitable. But stories of the Preakness infield figured to be sprinkled with hyperbole. Then came YouTube, which has brought the truth to computer screens everywhere. The infield-related online video library is extensive and unsettling.
In addition to the running of the toilets, there are clips of bloody fights and of men yelling for women to remove their shirts. There is video of full beers being smashed on foreheads, as well as people sliding headfirst into coolers.
These incidents made up a small percentage of the infield experience — there were 6 arrests and 126 ejections last year — but YouTube made it hard to look away.
“I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said those videos didn’t have some impact,” said Tom Chuckas, the president and chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico. “But we believed it was time for a change and to provide entertainment and activities for our guests. And as a sidebar issue about safety, some of the shenanigans had to stop.”
This year, the infield will be host to performances by the bands ZZ Top and Buckcherry, a professional beach volleyball match, a bikini contest, an oxygen bar and a virtual-reality paintball station.
But there will not be coolers filled with store-bought beer, and that has riled 20-somethings who had turned the Preakness infield into Spring Break: Baltimore.
“I’m definitely not going this year, and I don’t know anyone who is,” said James Reiter, 28, of Baltimore. “ZZ Top seems lame to me. Maybe they’re trying to calm things down, but the older people who come to enjoy themselves go to the grandstands, not the infield.”
Chuckas said infield ticket sales were down about 15 percent from this time last year, though he expected potential losses to be offset by the increase in beverage sales. The price of admission remains $50 for tickets bought in advance and $60 for those purchased on race day.
When Johann Gehrmann heard about the restrictions, he started a Facebook group called Boycott Preakness Until They Bring B.Y.O.B. Back to the Infield. The group has more than 1,750 members, and there are more than 20 others like it on the social networking Web site.
One Facebook user created an open invitation for a Preakness infield wake. It said it could be held anywhere in Baltimore except Pimlico Race Course.
“Hopefully, we can get this rule changed back, because people are really upset about it,” said Gehrmann, 25. “I’m just hoping the ticket sales will be terrible and no one will go.”
Chuckas said the Maryland Jockey Club considered changes to the Preakness each year, but he added that a drop in ticket sales would probably not affect the new beverage rule. He said some fans had complained, but he hoped others who shied away from the infield’s past raucousness might now feel comfortable to go.
“I think it’s still a party, it’s the people’s party,” Chuckas said. “The average age may creep up a little bit, and I think it will be a more controlled atmosphere.”
Though fans will not be allowed to fill coolers with their own drinks, a $3.50 beer remains cheaper than those at most major sporting events. Bottled water will cost $1.
There is no drink limit, and Chuckas said security would not be increased. But fans said their frustration stemmed from the loss of a tradition.
“It used to kind of belong to Baltimore, and it was our thing,” Reiter said.
“Now it has a more corporate feel to it. That doesn’t make sense.”
Then again, neither does running across the rooftops of portable toilets. But at the people’s party, there was always a sense that anything goes.
Justin Hess
