COLWDATER, MI (WTVB) - With upwards of one-hundred thousand racing fans expected this weekend at Michigan International Speedway, it’s easy to figure the positive economic impact spreads across Southeast and South-Central Michigan, including the Coldwater area. Attendance is forecast to be up about ten percent this year.

U-S 12 takes a lot of the traffic to the raceway and many motorists coming up from the south or down from the north reach 12 via Interstate 69 with the intersection of the two highways on Coldwater’s East side. Gas marts and restaurants in the area will be enjoying the uptick in customers and it already was busy by Wednesday, judging from the number of folks who were stopping by the Walmart parking lot where every year quite a few of the promotional trailers and some race haulers park to pause on their way to the track in Brooklyn.