1. BCM Security Services on track for Indy 500
Andrew M. Seder - aseder@timesleader.com - 570-829-7269 - Twitter:
@TLAndrewSeder
Each week auto racing facilities throughout the country put together a well-oiled show as
millions of dollars worth of merchandise and machinery travel from track to track. While
fans are keeping their eyes on drivers, crews and their cars, track security is keeping a
watchful eye on those fans.
Virtually unknown locally, the company that handles security for some of the largest race
tracks in the world, including Daytona, Indianapolis and Pocono, is based in a small
nondescript office on the 12th floor of the Luzerne Bank Building on Wilkes-Barre’s
Public Square.
Started nine years ago and now with nine full-time employees, BCM Security began by
handling security at Pocono Raceway’s two NASCAR weekends. Through networking,
reputation and a business plan, the company, under the leadership of owner Curtis
Mattingly, has expanded to also providing security at racetracks including those in
Watkins Glen, N.Y., Daytona Beach, Fla., and St. Petersburg, Fla. and for the first time
this year, Indianapolis.
The announcement this past week that Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the
annual Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day, has hired BCM to handle some aspects of
security and all guest services this year was a huge feather in the company’s cap and
another rung up the ladder.
“The Indy 500 is the largest single-day attended sporting event in the world,” said Tim
Westhoff, BCM’s vice president of sales and marketing. He said the race weekend is a
tryout for the company and if all goes well he’s hoping to be invited back in July for the
Brickyard 400 NASCAR race.
“Guest Services is an extremely important role for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
BCM will provide a first impression fans will have of their race experience, in addition to
assisting with fan safety,” Mel Harder, the speedway’s senior vice president of
operations, said in a release. “Given their motorsport venue and event experience, we
are confident in BCM’s abilities to enhance our fans experience and meet IMS
standards.”
Comments like that give Westhoff a sense of pride and fortify the roadmap BCM has
drawn up that has it handling security at dozens of other tracks nationwide.
Westhoff, of Wilkes-Barre, said the company is hoping to become the contracted
security company for all NASCAR venues on that series’ circuit and the Indy Racing
League, too.

2. NASCAR tracks provide their own security so from week to week, track to track,
NASCAR crews, teams and employees deal with different companies, different people
and different levels of experience. Westhoff said BCM is trying to convince NASCAR to
overhaul this policy and hire BCM to handle security at all tracks to provide a seamless,
professional security detail that crews and teams can become familiar and comfortable
with.
But Westhoff knows it’s a plan that won’t happen overnight, so incremental growth and
building a record of success and satisfied customers are in order.
Luckily for BCM, the racing world is very close knit and reputation can open doors or
close them.
“Although motorsports is very large, it’s very small in some regards as well,” Westhoff
said.
Starting at Pocono
Mattingly had no experience in security, other than his time in the Air Force, when he left
his job as general manager of a medical supply company and purchased Moosic-based
Security Service Internationalin 2003. The company handled security for Pocono
Raceway, but Mattingly said it was not doing a good job and came very close to losing
its contract.
But the Mattioli family, which owns Pocono, and track officials, gave his new company a
chance to show that under new leadership, things could improve.
“I owe a lot to Pocono,” Mattingly said, acknowledging that if the company lost the
Pocono assignment things could have gone off the tracks and been very hard, if not
impossible, to get back on.
Dan Dougherty Jr., Pocono’s vice president of operations, praised the way Mattingly
turned around the company and says he has no qualms about vouching for the work
BCM has done.
Security is something tracks can’t do without.
Start with more than a 100,000 screaming fans, throw in at least that same number of
alcoholic beverages and put them all at a racetrack that’s hundreds of acres in size and
you could typically have more cautions in the grandstands or infield that you do on the
track.
“I’ve got all these people in one place,” Dougherty said, it takes professionals to do the
job right.
“They do a great job. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be here,” Dougherty said.

3. Dougherty said the quality work BCM has done at Pocono opened the door for them to
get in at Watkins Glen and Daytona.
Operating under a simple philosophy has also helped BCM succeed and grow.
“It’s all about competency and comfort,” Mattingly said. “We execute. At the end of the
day it’s about execution.”
And what started in Moosic, then shifted to Mattingly’s home office before moving into a
series of offices in the Luzerne Bank Building, remains a virtually unknown company
locally.
“We’re kind of a well-kept secret,” Westhoff said about the company’s presence locally.
“We’re not under the radar in the motorsports industry.”
Workers hired to staff events get a guaranteed $8 per hour but can earn $10 if they
complete their duties without incident. Westhoff said for the Pocono races, the same
crew of nearly 200 come back year after year, but as other tracks are brought in to the
fold, the company uses a “boots on the ground” approach that includes sending well-
regarded supervisors to oversee personnel hired from the local area where the race is
held.
Ed Harris, a Port Carbon resident and BCM’s vice president of operations, said the
military background he and Mattingly bring to the company has given it a system that
brings a certain level of professionalism and regimen to the operations that’s a big part
of the company’s success.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
ABOUT BCM BCM Security Services is a privately held security firm providing corporate
and major event security, staffing and consulting solutions to a wide array of
entertainment and sporting events, major venues and organizations.
See more at www.bcmsolutionsinc.com.
BCM Security Services is a privately held security firm providing corporate and major
event security, staffing and consulting solutions to a wide array of entertainment and
sporting events, major venues and organizations.