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This will be my first trip to the Nationals!!!!!! I understand that golf catrs, mules, etc... are used to get around!!!! Do you need a permit for this or what? Any help is appreciated!!!

If its got a motor then it has to be street legal. Bicycle or motorcycle works the best because you can park them anywhere.

ask a cop when you get there, they are perhaps the most aggresive bunch of tyrants on the planet.

also, a permit is needed to be on the grounds, and most are denied.

ALSO don't even think about an open container on city property, the Gestapo loves people who drink.

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Nodust, man I love you. I agree with everything you say. I am guessing you and I have both seen the best and the worst of the Nationals.

To answer maxim71r's question. You can drive a golf cart around almost anywhere without any sort of permit except on the main highway that runs past the track. You are permitted to cross the highway but not drive down it. You will need some sort of slow moving vehicle sign.

A few years back we were pulled over with the 4 wheeler on a side street, cause it didn't have a permit.

You can drive the golf cart pretty much anywhere but in the streets...

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I don't know about anyone elses experience but we have a golf cart that we drive to and from the track several times a day via side streets (we camp at the north campground). We have been doing this for years and we never have any problems. Did they change the rules this year?

I say ask a cop and remember his name, the rules seem to change by the minute and altered to fit into the officers agenda.

I had a Knoxville cop a week ago in the middle of the week, chase me down from over a block away because I had no licence plate light, sad part of it was he was on a drunk check, and I had a fully fuctional light.

AGRESSIVE is the only way to describe law enforcement in all of Marion County including the 4 lanes around villages such as Plesantville where the local yokels think everyday is their Christmas.

I am one of the strongest proponents of GOOD law enforcement,sad that the Knoxville area has none.

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Marshalltown, Iowa 

Per IOWA LAW,

You are permitted to drive a golf cart on city streets, but not highways (Lincoln Street in Knoxville is IA HWY 14). you are allowed to cross highways, but not drive down them. Don't drive them down the sidewalk, as that is against IA law as well. I believe this law is actually fairly new in teh last 6 or 7 years (which is when everyone starting saying the cops were the gestapo).

Golf Carts must exhibit a slow moving vehicle sign (the triangular ones that are reflective) AND an orange flag (per IOWA LAW) and can only be operated between dawn and dusk (unless they have are licensed as a passenger vehicle--which means a license plate and all the lights associated with a passenger vehicle).

4-wheelers, 3-wheelers, and mules are not considered gof carts, so be prepared for a ticket if you try to drive one of those on the street (or sidewalk).

If you are camping out by the lake, you'll have to drive into town, so a golf cart won't do you any good anyway. If you are camping @ the Raceway grounds, the RV park (Rick VanDonselar), the Marion County Park, or staying at the Red Carpet Inn or the Super 8 in Knoxville, you are within 2-3 blocks of the racetrack (ride a bicycle--easier to manuever, lock up, and you can ride it after dark).

As far as the police situation goes, they are in a catch 22. WHEN someone gets run over or seriously injured by an IDIOT ON A GOLF CART, everyone will bitch and moan that the cops aren't doing their job. Plus, there are numerous FREE shuttles available everyday to take people from the campgrounds to downtown to the racetrack, etc.. Knoxville is not like ELDORA that is in the middle of nowhere USA with nothing else to do near the track but camp in a field and drink.

Personally, I think the golf cart is more of a hindrance to you than a help, especially with the track being located in town with restaurants, a grocery store and all the excitement all within a 3 block radius.

If you are handicapped, get a handicapped cart that has no repurcussions when you drive it on the sidewalk or across the street. (if you can actually PROVE that you are handicapped I have never seen the Raceway deny a permit--and they'll give you a permit to ride the elevator instead of the stairs to get into the grandstand.

I am not a cop, related to a cop or have any business regarding law enforcement or in any way affiliated with the raceway, just a lifelong resident of Knoxville and fan that has attended the Nationals for over 25 years.

No offense nodust, but many things have changed over the years, but the police are actually much looser than they were when I was young. If your stupid enough to get drunk in public and try to walk across a city street, you should EXPECT to get a ticket or thrown in jail. Cops are no worse than the ones in any city across the nation (Marshalltown included--don't ever drive a rental through that place unless you have an extra hour).

Just my $.02

LOL, I used to own a rental car company, tell me about it LOL LOL LOL

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Marshalltown, Iowa 

Don't post on a message board that panties may be flying from your flag pole. Unfriendly cops show up first thing in the morning and tell you that undercover cops are hiding in the Hy-Vee parking lot watching your every move.

Well one thing is true here you cannot walk down the sidewalk or street anywhere or at anytime with an open adult beverage during the day or at night as some guy in plain clothes walking or in a car will get you, just one of my experiences.

There is the problem. It is a big party. They need to leave people alone. If they are not doing harm to other people leave them alone until they do. Walking down the sidewalk at a giant block party drinking a beer is not hurting anyone. Man, I am so sick of hearing about this crap. Maybe they should bring in the military and force us all to march at attention to and from the track. But being a free country and all...

You've got to remember where you are people. You can drink all you want on the fairgrounds, at Dingus, at your camping spot. City streets and the sidewalk are PUBLIC domain with a major highway just feet from the sidewalk. If you want to walk around with an open container, do so on the fairgrounds or the campgrounds. You are STUPID if you think you should be able to walk around on city streets carrying an open container, and deserve to get a ticket.

Do I think walking down the sidewalk with a beer is hurting anyone? NO, I do not.

Having said that, it only takes one idiot to push someone out in front of a vehicle or walking out in front of a vehicle to completely ruin the experience. If you think you need to carry around a beer to look at T-shirts or to go over to Hy-Vee, you have other problems IMO.

The Nationals is NOT a block party. Block parties require permits, streets are shut down, etc. The only location that fits into this category is the Fairgrounds themselves.

I am a lifelong resident of Knoxville, and attend the Nationals every year, go to the FRC, have a few too many every night that week, but am well aware of my surrounding and where I can and cannot drink. If you are STUPID enough to think a city street is an OK place to drink and walk around when traffic is not cut off, maybe you shouldn't come.

It's not the cops fault, it's not the city's fault, it's not the fairboards fault, it's not the raceway's fault, it's YOUR fault if you get a ticket for open container. One of the Fairboard members is the County Sherriff, and unless you are underage (re: against the law), they pretty much leave you alone as long as you are not starting a fight, trying to drive a car, or do anything else illegal.

Just my $.02--man am I tired of people thinking they own the world. I don't remember being able to walk down the sidewalk in Ames or IA City with a beer in my hand during a home football game without getting a ticket for open container. The cops aren't overstepping their authority, they are doing their job (trying to keep everyone safe--even the drunk off their @ss idiots).

Vande77 - Obviously you and I go to a different Nationals. If it isn't one BIG PARTY then man I have really been dreaming all of these years. If the Police are really just doing their jobs then they need to get into a different line of work. They are no better then a bunch of thugs. Not all of them are that way but the ones that are make a statement for the ones who aren't. Let's get something straight, I am not an alcoholic, as a matter of fact the only time I drink at all is during the Nationals and I never feel a need to walk around shopping for t-shirts and drinking a beer. I am a pretty responsible and level-headed guy. I am an adult and act accordingly. I prefer to live in a common sense world. I no longer require a mommy and prefer to not to live in a nanny state.

I never said the Nationals wasn't a party. You just have to realize where you're at when your drinking. Would you walk out of a bar where you live and cross the street with a beer in your hand to get to Subway or the grocery store? No, you would not, because you have common sense. Same thing applies for the Nationals. Treat the fairgrounds as a bar and use common sense when you leave their property.

I often drank prior to becoming of legal age and many times was told that as long as I wasn't causing a scene (trying to get into a fight basically), trying to drive a car, and "acted" like an adult and didn't get "stupid drunk" that they wouldn't haul me off to jail. Those that choose to make a scene are ALWAYS the ones that get taken to jail.

I only drink during the Nat's as well, and have NEVER had an issue because I treat it just like any other day and obey the laws. Have I been stopped on my way home, yep, but anyone driving @ 3:00 AM, 2-3 hours after the races have ended are either lost or have been drinking. just a fact. Never had an issue with the cops, because I exercised common sense and made sure I was sober before I ever got in my car. If there are IDIOTS out there that think just because it's the Nationals that they can break the law, they are ignorant and do not exercise common sense.

At the WoO race in June, there were a couple drunken idiots fighting in the grandstand that were "stupid drunk" that in pretty much everyone's opinion should have been hauled off to jail. Cops kicked them out of the track, gave them a court date for public intox (they could have given them a ticket for a multitude of other things), asked them if they had a place to stay until the races were over (in a car, someone's house) until their friends were ready to go home, and told them not to drive becuase they were drunk. I would think that the "gestapo" or "thugs" would have hauled them off to jail and wrote them tickets for everything they could. (In these guys defense, they were SMART, and didn't cause a scene when they were removed from the premises and cooperated with the cops).

If you don't break any laws (suggested by your post), what are you bitching about?

Just my $.02

I'll be away from a puter until after the 4th so if you have a response, I won't see it until then.