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France Bent On Taking NASCAR To Mexico City
When (Brian) France last summer first raised the prospect of eventually taking the Cup tour to Mexico City and Montreal, when those two cities' world-class road courses lost Indy-car events with the demise of CART, there were more than a few skeptical responses from teams in the NASCAR garage. There is still a high degree of skepticism that Cup races will ever play at 2.75-mile road courses. But over the weekend France made it clearer than ever that Mexico City will likely be the site of NASCAR's three touring series, possibly as soon as next season. And it looks like the Truck series will get the nod for what could be the warm-up for a Nextel Cup race at the well-respected track. "Here's what I say about going to Mexico City: 'Muy Bueno,'" says Geoff Smith, head of Roush Racing. "I think going to Mexico City would be a spectacular coup for the sport. With the population growth in the Hispanic community in America, we need to make sure we're marketing to them. It will absolutely help us here. "Roush has an engine remanufacturing plant in Mexico. We've done engineering business in Mexico. We know the people are extremely enthusiastic over motor-sports. I think it's a great move if we can pull it off."
However a Mexico City venture revives bad memories for NASCAR crews of that three-year Cup venture in Japan, where crewmen felt like virtual prisoners: Up at four a.m. for the one-hour ride to the track, a long workday, then a three-hour ride through typical Japanese rush-hour traffic back to the hotel. Car owner Bill Davis is skeptical of any Mexico City venture, for Truck or Busch or Cup: "I think it's great. Who's going to pay for it? "It's like we talked about last week with the Busch series, we've added all this travel, but we haven't done anything to persuade the sponsor to say 'Great, let me send you another $200,000.'(Journal Now)(4-5-04)
When (Brian) France last summer first raised the prospect of eventually taking the Cup tour to Mexico City and Montreal, when those two cities' world-class road courses lost Indy-car events with the demise of CART, there were more than a few skeptical responses from teams in the NASCAR garage. There is still a high degree of skepticism that Cup races will ever play at 2.75-mile road courses. But over the weekend France made it clearer than ever that Mexico City will likely be the site of NASCAR's three touring series, possibly as soon as next season. And it looks like the Truck series will get the nod for what could be the warm-up for a Nextel Cup race at the well-respected track. "Here's what I say about going to Mexico City: 'Muy Bueno,'" says Geoff Smith, head of Roush Racing. "I think going to Mexico City would be a spectacular coup for the sport. With the population growth in the Hispanic community in America, we need to make sure we're marketing to them. It will absolutely help us here. "Roush has an engine remanufacturing plant in Mexico. We've done engineering business in Mexico. We know the people are extremely enthusiastic over motor-sports. I think it's a great move if we can pull it off."
However a Mexico City venture revives bad memories for NASCAR crews of that three-year Cup venture in Japan, where crewmen felt like virtual prisoners: Up at four a.m. for the one-hour ride to the track, a long workday, then a three-hour ride through typical Japanese rush-hour traffic back to the hotel. Car owner Bill Davis is skeptical of any Mexico City venture, for Truck or Busch or Cup: "I think it's great. Who's going to pay for it? "It's like we talked about last week with the Busch series, we've added all this travel, but we haven't done anything to persuade the sponsor to say 'Great, let me send you another $200,000.'(Journal Now)(4-5-04)
