W
Ward Burton
Guest
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Beginning in 2004, California Speedway will get a second NASCAR Winston Cup date -- Sunday night during Labor Day weekend. This first official move of the Winston Cup Series' "realignment 2004" was announced Friday.
The inaugural Pop Secret 500 is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 5, and will be telecast live on NBC. California Speedway is touting it as the first Sunday night prime time Winston Cup event.
California will also host a second event for the NASCAR Busch Series, on Saturday, Sept. 4.
International Speedway Corporation, which is at least part owner of 12 of the 23 facilities that host Winston Cup races, shuffled its lineup at three race tracks to put in effect the change.
ISC executive vice president John Saunders said the company presented a proposal to NASCAR to make the changes after the sanctioning body announced its proposed realignment 2004 program in January.
NASCAR president Mike Helton deflected all questions about additional future changes to the schedule. He said the initial changes were instituted in the interest of NASCAR and its fans, competitors, tracks, sponsors and TV partners.
"There is a concern, looking to the future, of having racetracks with empty seats," Helton said of recent dates at both Rockingham and Darlington, in addition to other venues. "We are trying to correct that in the most efficient manner."
The announcement was made at Michigan International Speedway, the first ISC track to host a date since the changes were locked-in. The remainder of the 2004 Winston Cup schedule is expected to be announced later this summer.
California Speedway has held a single Winston Cup event each year since 1997. The track is in Fontana, which is about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, in a coveted media market. The 92,000-seat 14-degree banked oval was built for about $120,000,000 in the mid-1990s by Roger Penske.
California's first weekend on the 2004 schedule is April 30-May 1. Lights will be installed for the Labor Day event, but Saunders said that while ISC could justify the cost of installing lights, he did not have a cost figure for the project.
Daytona International Speedway, the company's 2.5-mile Florida oval, was lit for the 1998 Pepsi 400 at a cost of just under $5 million, Saunders said.
In 2004, North Carolina Speedway, a 60,113-seat oval in Rockingham will lose its second date on the schedule, in the fall. This season Rockingham's spring race was held Feb. 23, a date that has been weather-plagued through the years.
The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, a 60,000-seat oval, will replace Rockingham's fall date. The Southern 500 has been held on Labor Day weekend for 53 years at Darlington, the 1.336-mile South Carolina oval.
Darlington maintains its spring event, held annually in March since 1957.
The move cuts the number of Winston Cup races in the Carolinas to five: Two at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.; two at Darlington; and one at Rockingham.
As recently as 1996, eight races were held in the Carolinas, including two at the defunct North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and the second at Rockingham.
"There's no universal decision we'll ever make that will please everyone," Helton said. "NASCAR's responsibility is to do the things it takes to keep the sport at the level it is today and to be in the Southern California and Los Angeles marketplace twice in a season is significant."
Defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart was noncommittal about the changes.
"I don't make the race schedule, I just go wherever the race is on that weekend (and) we still have 36 point races," Stewart said. "It's not like the race (Southern 500) has gone away -- it's still there, it's still a tough track and it's still 500 miles.
"Just because it's in November doesn't make it any less of a race. It's still a race I want to win. I feel like the history is still there, it's just on a different date."
At least short term, the UNOCAL / Rockingham World Pit Crew Championship, which had been an annual event at Rockingham's fall weekend, is in limbo.
News conferences were also held simultaneously Friday in Darlington and Fontana to announce the changes.
"The reason we wanted to announce these adjustments now is to accommodate our fans and everyone else in the industry, letting them know as soon as possible," Helton said. "Knowing that it would be very difficult to add events to the existing schedule, we're moving existing events with the interest being to better serve everyone."
Helton said, "We just don't know until we run the event," how the ratings for a Labor Day race in California would compare to Darlington's previous Labor Day runs.
Saunders said ISC has a special team of executives that continues to explore the feasibility of constructing a track in the New York market, either in New York or New Jersey.
The inaugural Pop Secret 500 is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 5, and will be telecast live on NBC. California Speedway is touting it as the first Sunday night prime time Winston Cup event.
California will also host a second event for the NASCAR Busch Series, on Saturday, Sept. 4.
International Speedway Corporation, which is at least part owner of 12 of the 23 facilities that host Winston Cup races, shuffled its lineup at three race tracks to put in effect the change.
ISC executive vice president John Saunders said the company presented a proposal to NASCAR to make the changes after the sanctioning body announced its proposed realignment 2004 program in January.
NASCAR president Mike Helton deflected all questions about additional future changes to the schedule. He said the initial changes were instituted in the interest of NASCAR and its fans, competitors, tracks, sponsors and TV partners.
"There is a concern, looking to the future, of having racetracks with empty seats," Helton said of recent dates at both Rockingham and Darlington, in addition to other venues. "We are trying to correct that in the most efficient manner."
The announcement was made at Michigan International Speedway, the first ISC track to host a date since the changes were locked-in. The remainder of the 2004 Winston Cup schedule is expected to be announced later this summer.
California Speedway has held a single Winston Cup event each year since 1997. The track is in Fontana, which is about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, in a coveted media market. The 92,000-seat 14-degree banked oval was built for about $120,000,000 in the mid-1990s by Roger Penske.
California's first weekend on the 2004 schedule is April 30-May 1. Lights will be installed for the Labor Day event, but Saunders said that while ISC could justify the cost of installing lights, he did not have a cost figure for the project.
Daytona International Speedway, the company's 2.5-mile Florida oval, was lit for the 1998 Pepsi 400 at a cost of just under $5 million, Saunders said.
In 2004, North Carolina Speedway, a 60,113-seat oval in Rockingham will lose its second date on the schedule, in the fall. This season Rockingham's spring race was held Feb. 23, a date that has been weather-plagued through the years.
The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, a 60,000-seat oval, will replace Rockingham's fall date. The Southern 500 has been held on Labor Day weekend for 53 years at Darlington, the 1.336-mile South Carolina oval.
Darlington maintains its spring event, held annually in March since 1957.
The move cuts the number of Winston Cup races in the Carolinas to five: Two at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.; two at Darlington; and one at Rockingham.
As recently as 1996, eight races were held in the Carolinas, including two at the defunct North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and the second at Rockingham.
"There's no universal decision we'll ever make that will please everyone," Helton said. "NASCAR's responsibility is to do the things it takes to keep the sport at the level it is today and to be in the Southern California and Los Angeles marketplace twice in a season is significant."
Defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart was noncommittal about the changes.
"I don't make the race schedule, I just go wherever the race is on that weekend (and) we still have 36 point races," Stewart said. "It's not like the race (Southern 500) has gone away -- it's still there, it's still a tough track and it's still 500 miles.
"Just because it's in November doesn't make it any less of a race. It's still a race I want to win. I feel like the history is still there, it's just on a different date."
At least short term, the UNOCAL / Rockingham World Pit Crew Championship, which had been an annual event at Rockingham's fall weekend, is in limbo.
News conferences were also held simultaneously Friday in Darlington and Fontana to announce the changes.
"The reason we wanted to announce these adjustments now is to accommodate our fans and everyone else in the industry, letting them know as soon as possible," Helton said. "Knowing that it would be very difficult to add events to the existing schedule, we're moving existing events with the interest being to better serve everyone."
Helton said, "We just don't know until we run the event," how the ratings for a Labor Day race in California would compare to Darlington's previous Labor Day runs.
Saunders said ISC has a special team of executives that continues to explore the feasibility of constructing a track in the New York market, either in New York or New Jersey.