High-profile business owner Neil Slater says the decision whether to bring Supercars back for another five years appears to be a foregone conclusion as City of Newcastle conducts a phone survey of residents and businesses.
Consultant KPMG is conducting a survey of 600 residents and businesses across the local government area on Monday and Tuesday this week to gauge whether the community wants the Newcastle 500 to run for another five years.
Some inner-city businesses reported a downturn in revenue before and during the event while hotels and some hospitality traders said they were "super busy".
Those living in Newcastle East also were divided as some embraced the racing while others left town or endured the noise and disruption in fenced-off resident zones.
Mr Slater, the owner of Scratchley's On The Wharf restaurant, feared the council had already made up its mind to host the event until 2028.
"It wouldn't matter what figures you came up with, how it all worked. They love it; they're going to do it. That's just how it operates," he said.
Mr Slater closed his restaurant for lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and went to Seal Rocks for the weekend.
"There's no one can get in and no one wants to be there. If you listen to that noise, it's not exactly your dulcet tones of dining," he said.
Ground Floor cafe manager Nattali Souza said the Hunter Street Mall business had been busy "from the moment we opened until close and we have been loving having everyone here".
Kellie Rowlatt, the manager of Neighbours cafe next to the Queens Wharf light rail stop, said she would "love" to see the event return.
"We haven't had as many locals, however, we have had very lovely, polite people, and we have had more through the doors," she said.
"We have benefited from it greatly."
Sticky Rice Thai restaurant, inside the resident-only zone at Newcastle East, mall cafe Ka-Fey and a mall shop owner who wanted to stay anonymous all reported significant falls in business.
Mr Slater regarded the race's new March timeslot as "the lesser of two evils" compared with its previous pre-Christmas dates.
"It wasn't half as bad as in previous years. It still cost staff probably $40,000 in wages. That's the real cost," he said.
"If we're going to have to have the damn thing, at least March it's not affecting guaranteed Christmas trade.
"If we're going to have to deal with the lesser of two evils, I'd rather it be the first race of the season rather than the last race of the season, that's for sure."
Mr Slater said businesses inside the track had suffered an impost for 10 weeks and the council consultation did not pay enough heed to those most affected.
"If you listen to the radio, every day when they issue a traffic report they say do not go to town," he said.
"You can't get much worse than for 10 weeks someone saying don't go anywhere near the joint."
The KPMG phone poll is part of a council engagement strategy which includes an online questionnaire and focus groups.
The council says it will publish the results of the consultation in the middle of the year.
Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes has long expressed her support for the event and said on Sunday that it had been a "huge boost to businesses in Newcastle and surrounds".
Business Hunter chief executive Bob Hawes acknowledged some traders were "cynical" about the council surveys but urged them to participate to make their views known.
Mr Slater said the sport's many fans were "entitled to love it" and the "greater good argument is a good argument", but this was no consolation to people whose lives were affected.
He said the disruption of the event's bump-in and bump-out stages affected customer behaviour.
"If you stop going to your favourite cafe during that 10-week period because it's too hard to get there, you find another cafe to go to, and then you don't go back.
"It's a very, very long-term business killer."
