Teaming up on tickets
Shannon Menefee has been selling raffle tickets at Old Dominion Speedway for the past five years. When she discovered she needed help, she turned to her best friend.
Now Menefee and Jaclyn Hawkins walk around the stands, offering raffle tickets to the track’s patrons.
Menefee had been selling tickets in tandem with other people. One weekend, she needed help and called Hawkins. The two have been selling tickets ever since, which amounts to two years now.
“We’ve been best friends for about two years now,” explained Hawkins. “She was selling with different people. She needed someone to fill in, and we got along.
“Now, she’s stuck with me.”
The two have developed a system where Hawkins sells the tickets and Menefee takes care of the money. The selling usually goes well, but it does fluctuate.
“Some nights are better than others,” Menefee explained. “You have your regulars that buy every week, and there are new people that want to try it.”
Menefee’s involvement with the track goes beyond just selling tickets. She races carts, and is even in the same division as her dad, track PR director Dave Menefee.
“He’s usually more towards the front, and I’m further back,” said Shannon. “But we’re in the same division.”
If she has her way, that might not be the case much longer. Although she didn’t get a chance to race carts very often this season, she’d like to get more involved next year.
Next season, she said she’d like to run for points and a season title at ODS, and maybe even traveling to other tracks for competition.
In the first race of the season, she had planned on running and getting into the stands in time to sell tickets as well. But since she didn’t make the race, she had plenty of time for her other job the ticket selling.