Interest builds around possible changes to NASCAR schedule

FLRacingFan said:
It’s apparent pretty much no one in the city wanted this but Lori. I’m not sure how well that bodes for the reception next summer, as well as the long-term viability of the event.
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The NY Marathon doesn't draw 50K+ deep-pocketed hotel-renting, meal-buying, tax-revenue-generating sight-seeing families from the local area. The Chicago race won't either. Favorable receptions depend on the tourists, not the locals. Long-term viability depends on how much the locals value that income against the costs and having their routines disrupted.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
The NY Marathon doesn't draw 50K+ deep-pocketed hotel-renting, meal-buying, tax-revenue-generating sight-seeing families from the local area. The Chicago race won't either. Favorable receptions depend on the tourists, not the locals. Long-term viability depends on how much the locals value that income against the costs and having their routines disrupted.
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Historically, auto races that have a weak local buy-in have a short shelf life. That goes for open wheel, sports cars, anything. If residents and local government largely don’t want you that’s a very tough sell. Tourism can only get you so far. After all, this is about penetrating certain markets for prospective fan potential, right?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
The NY Marathon doesn't draw 50K+ deep-pocketed hotel-renting, meal-buying, tax-revenue-generating sight-seeing families from the local area. The Chicago race won't either. Favorable receptions depend on the tourists, not the locals. Long-term viability depends on how much the locals value that income against the costs and having their routines disrupted.
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The NYC marathon is a 26 mile course running thru all 5 Borough's and only closes roads for a portion of the day. Lot less impact on traffic than shutting down a busy part of Chicago for 2 weeks.
 
FLRacingFan said:
It’s apparent pretty much no one in the city wanted this but Lori. I’m not sure how well that bodes for the reception next summer, as well as the long-term viability of the event.

I keep hearing more and more that both IndyCar and NASCAR are looking to run on the streets of Denver.
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Ugh. Pikes Peak is a perfectly good track to run in that market
 
FLRacingFan said:
It’s apparent pretty much no one in the city wanted this but Lori. I’m not sure how well that bodes for the reception next summer, as well as the long-term viability of the event.
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Maybe they could move it to the suburbs for the second and third years of the contract. I'm pretty sure Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is a suburb of Chicago isn't it?
 
Daytripper said:
The NYC marathon is a 26 mile course running thru all 5 Borough's and only closes roads for a portion of the day. Lot less impact on traffic than shutting down a busy part of Chicago for 2 weeks.
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That's my point. The payoff-to-disruption ratio is much lower than what Chicago is planning.
 
Efisher131 said:
If North Wilkesboro can have a race so can Pikes Peak
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North Wilkesboro is upgrading its track. Pikes Peak has no SAFER barriers that I’m aware of, only about 10,000 seats.

Also the track ownership has not said much regarding NASCAR, who knows if the contract from back in 2005/2006 is still a thing, and hasn’t had oval races since 2013 & 2014.

I love the support for PPIR, but there needs to be a lot more grassroots movement.

Running it a week before or after the hill climb would be sweet.
 
Efisher131 said:
Ugh. Pikes Peak is a perfectly good track to run in that market
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I don’t think Indy can run there since then-ISC sold it with the clause that the new owner couldn’t host any other big-time professional racing. I’m not sure what sort of condition it’s in now since it’s mostly a club-level track. Would probably need a lot more SAFER barrier as it’s a mile long, and would need a lot more grandstands built or at least brought in on a temporary basis.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I don’t think Indy can run there since then-ISC sold it with the clause that the new owner couldn’t host any other big-time professional racing. I’m not sure what sort of condition it’s in now since it’s mostly a club-level track. Would probably need a lot more SAFER barrier as it’s a mile long, and would need a lot more grandstands built or at least brought in on a temporary basis.
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I’m not sure what the deal is with the contract there. The track ownership doesn’t say much so perhaps it’s a thing still and I thought in 2019 they were planning on scanning it for iRacing. I’ve seen a lot of internet NASCAR experts say it doesn’t “mean much” anymore, but who knows.
 
Turns out Chicago isn't that different from other cities/towns with race tracks where people always find new things to complain about.
I can only laugh at most of these "concerns", some folks act like this is the first street race in the history of mankind.
 
Excerpt from an SBJ article, Chicago will be a pretty big investment by NASCAR. NYC, Denver, Portland, international events still desired.

The sport also has planned a street race in Chicago next year and the sanctioning body is said to have interest in races in several other cities in the U.S., particularly the New York City region, and internationally. It’s exploring cities in the West and Pacific Northwest, like Denver and Portland, and is already running a NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Portland.

Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing development and strategy, confirmed to Sports Business Journal that the Chicago street circuit race will be “exponentially” more expensive for NASCAR than the L.A. Coliseum event. Industry executives have estimated that NASCAR is likely to invest $15 million to $25 million next year to set up the event. The sanctioning body, which is promoting the Chicago race itself, does have its lucrative TV rights deal as a safety net, as most Cup Series races each take in low eight figures from either Fox Sports or NBC Sports.
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NASCAR is hiring or promoting several people to move to Chicago to work on the race full time and it is opening an office in the city.

“Synonymous with a lot of things that [NASCAR President] Steve Phelps has said over the last couple of years, we’re going to be bold and innovative as we think about a number of things,” Kennedy said. “You’ve seen it with the Next Gen car, some of the things in the digital space, content space, fan experience space and scheduling as well, to really set ourselves up for the future.”

The 30-year-old Kennedy has been a driving force behind ideas like the L.A. Coliseum race and Chicago street course event, and as the scion of the France family, he plays a key role in bringing evolution to the sanctioning body, which is run by his 77-year-old great-uncle, Jim France.

While questions linger over whether it’s a financially prudent idea for NASCAR to be investing such large sums of money into new scheduling initiatives, Kennedy said that France has “been on board and really supportive” of ideas like the L.A. and Chicago events. France’s support is a must before such significant capital outlays can be greenlighted.
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www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

Tap the brakes? Car safety concerns have some questioning the pace of change as NASCAR continues to transform

As NASCAR continues to press the pedal on change, fresh controversy over the current race car shows that moves won’t always come easy, as the re-imagining over everything from schedules to competition has led to tension between some of the sport’s most important stakeholders.
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
 
FLRacingFan said:
Excerpt from an SBJ article, Chicago will be a pretty big investment by NASCAR. NYC, Denver, Portland, international events still desired.




www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

Tap the brakes? Car safety concerns have some questioning the pace of change as NASCAR continues to transform

As NASCAR continues to press the pedal on change, fresh controversy over the current race car shows that moves won’t always come easy, as the re-imagining over everything from schedules to competition has led to tension between some of the sport’s most important stakeholders.
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
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I knew NASCAR was trying to get a race done in NYC. They've wanted a race in NYC for years, I mean they may be able to get one done in the Meadowlands or MAYBE Flushing
 
Charlie Spencer said:
For the ignorant among us, what venues are available for racing in Flushing?
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All around Citi field (where the Mets play) is garbage, junk yards/chop shops and other shady $hit that they keep saying they are going to kick out and redevelop the area. There were pushes to build a stadium for the jets there before met life stadium, and to build an arena for the Islanders before ubs arena was built so why not put a race track there?
 
Daytripper said:
All around Citi field (where the Mets play) is garbage, junk yards/chop shops and other shady $hit that they keep saying they are going to kick out and redevelop the area. There were pushes to build a stadium for the jets there before met life stadium, and to build an arena for the Islanders before ubs arena was built so why not put a race track there?
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Thanks. My knowledge of NYC geography is go west past Long Island and take a right at the big statue, can't miss her; if you reach Albany, you've gone too far.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
Could NASCAR possibly know their 2024 schedule already?
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Could they? Sure. Is it likely? I seriously doubt it.

On a related note, if I was Denver or Seattle or NY, I'd wait and see how stock cars play out in Chicago in terms of both popularity and logistics. Let the Windy / Second City be the guinea pig.
 
My beef with the more short tracks crowd is more so a reason of infrastructure.

After Fontana is converted, there are at most 3 short tracks that even have the infrastructure to support Cup

North Wilkesboro, Iowa, and MAYBE IRP
 
One day in the near future, the NASCAR schedule might resemble a CART schedule with the street courses and rumored international races. All we will need is a Burke Lake Front Airport and Surfer’s Paradise.
 
Dont know if anyone saw this but...I guessed they’d try to run Soldier Field! However it was too small and well Chicago in middle February.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I’m surprised it was the size of Soldier Field and not the Farmers’ Almanac that kept them from racing Chicago in early February.
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I can already hear the debate over whether NASCAR was justified in bring out the red for those snowflakes in turn 3.
 
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