The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 44

BEST AVAILABLE COPY MOTOR SPORTS 99 JD 2 THE KANSAS CITY STAR Sunday February 7 1999 Popular racing circuit has a limited number of available weekends 1997 photo Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth Texas was in its first year of racing in 1997 when Mark Martin took the checkered flag in the Coca-Cola 300 Busch Grand National race The track got a Winston Cup race when its owner bought another track closed it and took one of its dates Winston Cup track owners Three ownership groups control the majority of tracks used in Winstop Cup racing INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORP and want Wheeler said is a huge following there and no Huge followings these days are the norm no matter what part of the country you are talking about Many in NASCAR talk most about the big urban centers big knock has been we rural sport Therefore we claim the top 10 20 markets That is why expansion into better markets lile Kansas City is important We have a track there but we have a lot of fans Wheeler said Recent expansion into Fontana Calif Homestead Fla and las ife gas have paid big dividends "It is pure popularity" said Doug Bland director of marketing at Homestead track has begj here four years But some people have never heard of it until NASCAR date was awarded last year) Now the whole nation is 15 Up in the air Every track wants the world to watch Some want the world to watch twice a year Currently 12 tracks Daytona Charlotte Darlington Dover Bristol Pocono Richmond Michigan Atlanta Loudon Martinsville and Talladega have two dates and most others have ex- pressed desire for a second The era of the two-date tract could come to an end if expansion into major markets is to becomc-a reality Kansas International does not yet have dates for any racing series Jpuch less Winston Cup The buzz in the industry is thaf it will get a date the owner of the track after all is International Speedway Corporation headed hv NASCAR president Bill France The buzz is also that that date will have to come from a track currendy playing host to two races Nothing at this point is certain when it comes to the Kansas City track getting a date Grant Lynch of ISC and the person who has been working to get Kansas International going said: "Obviously dates are harder and harder to come by Hopefully we will build the kind of that NASCAR will deem worthy we are going to bgul there with everybody else" sJ They are moving dirt at sevetjl other places as well Then there are even more places that have studies and hired architects TJ None have dates They are as Gossage says the When it comes to dating Winston Cup style everybody is single and everybody is desperate By JIM PEDLEY The Kansas City Star Mowers and candy do Jewelry? Not even a diamond ring As dates go this a toughie So tough virtually impossible to say exacdy what will do NASCAR racing is so wildly popular in the late 1990s that getting a Winston Cup race date at your track is virtually impossible a Winston Cup date is as hard as anything I can said Jeff Motley of Las Vegas Motor Speedway a track that has the good fortune of possessing one of those dates Eddie Gossage has first-hand knowledge of what it takes to get a Winstpn Cup date Gossage is track manager at Texas Motor Speedway a facility th'itt a fellow track manager called "the Taj Mahal of motor racing" It'S big new beautiful And it located in one of the top markets in the United States DallasFort Worth It can accurately boast of deliver-ir tg everything from crowds of more thaii 200000 to clean rest rooms Parking is great access good What it cannot boast is that it was awarded a Winston 'up date never mind that the track's owner is major NASCAR mucky-muck Bruton Smith Yes Texas Motor Speedway does lave a Winston Cup race but it was orced'to take an unconventional route to get it "We bought our Gossage says What Smith did to secure a Winston Cup race was this He went into partnership with Bob Bahre owner of New I Iampshire International Speedway in Loudon NII Together Smith and Bahre bought die track in North Wilkesboro NC a facility rich in NASCAR history and tradition They then shut down the track and took the two Winston Cup dates that the track owned One race was moved to track in Loudon the other to Fort Worth North Wilkesboro site of some of the best side-by-side stock-car racing ever the home of legendary '50s figure Junior Johnson is now a weed field Hoi ticket At the heart of the race to get a race of course is supply and demand 'And die demand is lusty wmR racing is hot Perhaps the lwwtil property in professional pWT "Were on a rocket ship baby" Location Darlington SC Daytona Beach Fla Kansas City Kan Phoenix Talladega Ala Watkins Glen NY Hampton Ga Bristol Tenn Concord NC Las Vegas Sonoma Calif Fort Worth Texas Fontana Calif Homestead Fla Brooklyn Mich Rockingham NC Owner Dover Downs Ent Tony George Clay Earles Bob Bahre Joe Mattioli Paul Sawyer Track Darlington Raceway Daytona International Speedway Kansas International Speedway Phoenix International Speedway Talladega Superspeedway Watkins Glen International SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS Atlanta Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sears Point Raceway Texas Motor Speedway PENSKE MOTORSPORTS California Speedway Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex Michigan Speedway North Carolina Speedway OTHERS Track Location Dover Downs International Speedway Dover Del Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Va New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon Pocono Raceway Long Pond Pa Richmond International Raceway Richmond Va proposed said HA Wheeler president of Charlotte Motor Speedway and a pioneer of the spoil And that rocket ship has barely left the launch pad think we are probably where the NFL was in Wheeler said sport has to go through a power curve (when it comes to popularity) We are just getting started on that power And Wheeler said NASCAR is "in the right place at the right time" to overpower the power curve The sport is popular he said for several very obvious reasons "We have clean-cut well-behaved athletes who are not out there screaming money money money said Then there is the fact that the sport translates well to television "TV is doing a superb Wheeler said most creative young people (in television production) are doing racing today" And stock-car racing is America pro football on Wheeler said big old cars bumping and grinding The public loves that If you have contact in sport today you are not going to So demand big Supply small There are 34 race weekends scheduled for 1999 There are 52 weekends in the year Do the math Fifty-two weekends minus 34 existing dates That means Winston Cup racing can add just 18 more dates Except tlie math lies many races can we have? We can't race 52 dates a Gossage said "We need breaks for holi- A good place to start is make sure you have a track A nice track A really nice track Modern racing fans like amenities Sponsors like luxury sites Aid NASCAR likes happy fans and sponsors But even that is not enough It at Texas not like 'Field of where if you build it they will Motley said Aid once they do come they may leave Texas Motor Speedway as Gossage said "is the finest without question period speedway on the planet set the standard We are the standard by which others are being he said Yet after a series of problems with track surface last year including water leaking onto the surface and an unpopular turn NASCAR was blunt in threatening to repossess date So TMS dumped additional millions into the track and has been straightening out the problems and keeping its date Other criteria for getting a date France said include market size and market conditions Big-market racing When France and NASCAR talk about market sizes and conditions they are talking about expanding their sport to places outside of its traditional base Places such as Chicago Denver and Kansas City Aid they do want to expand the Rocky Mountain states there is a large amount of people who have seen us (on television) tlays We race on Christmas or Mother's Day But from there I don't know More than 34 less than 50" The Cup tour is a grind In addi tion to racing there is transporting crews from race to race Aul there is testing And there is testing And there is testing NASCAR needs to take a break But for how long? As Brian France senior vice president of NASC AR said: of interest lots of tracks" And few if any dates France said NASCAR wants to expand "(But) it will be smart expan sion Meaning slow measured expansion Landing a date So what is a track under construc-tion such as Kansas International Speedway to do if it wants to secure a Cup date? the Gossage 'said "There is no traditional normal way to get a date There is no process not like the Super Bowl There is no ABC of here is what you Racing leagues may be Winston Cups future Heartland Park Topeka By JIM IMDI KY the Kansas City Star The Center ot America's Motorsports Tickets on sale NOW for 3 great weekends of racing THE OUTLAWS ARE COMING! Yes it's true Heartland Park Topeka will welcome the Pennzoi! World of Outlaws June 18 19 for the inaugural O'Reilly Shootout Come see the most popular sprint car series in the world on the new Martin Cat Power Speedway 38 dirt oval Call for a complete 1999 schedule June 18-19 developers is to get a date People in NASCAR anxious to expand would love to give them a date But they would love to be running every night of the week" said NASCAR senior vice president Bri an France we have to do what's best for the sport Which is have an off-season So? Possibly two leagues The way some in the sport describe it drivers and teams would be meted out to the leagues Those leagues would run their races on the same days but at different times like the NFL does right now Both would be televised some point this is not a bad idea" said Charlotte Motor Speedway manager and longtime NASCAR insider HA Wheeler think we can get up there and compete with the NFL" with the conference system Jeff Modey a former NASCAR official who now helps run Las Vegas' track said the idea makes very good financial sense now NASCAR is sending sponsors home" Modey said have like 50 sponsors and only 43 cars We need more" A major question facing such a form of expansion is watering down Will a two-league system just be too much? we split things up are the parts as great as the France wonders Gossage said yes He points to the popularity of other sports that use two conferences or leagues Royals are in the American League" said the Kansas City Royals only half as interesting or half as good as teams in the Nadonal League?" Good night everybody and drive safely shot no seriously i iota joke IwZCossage is being when he thinks the TiTnernsy be near for WinstonCup series to be broken in two The two segments would then be named something like the American and National leagues Those leagues would compete individually and then send their champions to a Stock-car Super Bowl Ladies and germs welcome to the possible future of Winston Cup With tracks being planned with tracks being built with tracks in ex-istencttiJl wanting a Winston Cup dtygSOme people around the Kare suggesting the idea of two racing conferences -think it can work They a good idea They think it table is something to consider" said Gossage general manager at Texas Motor Speedway we can't accommodate (requests for dates) in the traditional mannar maybe we shpyjd consider American and National there are 31 dates on itip ytnsrnn Cup circuit There will atwaysbe 52 weeks in a year itfdSe in the sport say that a few more weekends could be added to the schedule and probably will Rdf because of holidays and testing and the grind the number ifdates is just about maxed out Yer places such as Kansas City Denver Chicago Kentucky noith-errwCaiifomia and several others are either thinking afrout or have actually begun coifetruction on NASCAR-style tracks The hopk of every one of those Advanced ill Nationals I'th Annual NHRA Advance Auto Parts Sept 30-0ct 3 Drag TICKET HOTLINE 1 -800-43-RACES.