Champcar at Las Vegas and New Hampshire

[The Snout]

Guys below is an article from an interview last October in which the narrator says that Pook considers LV and NH as possible venues for Cart. Have a look, you have to get through a little NASCAR stuff in the first paragraph though.

I don't remember ever hearing about them being mentioned as possibles. Anyone else hear this ? The interview was in the Indianapolis Star originally.

http://www.stockcarcity.com/story_oct24_modestino.html

[Flatspot]

Yes Snout, I heard they were trying to work a deal in Vegas awhile back. It would surprise me to see ChampCars back at Loudin though. I was under the impression that they left there after 1995 due to lack of public interest.

[Tailwind]

Does anyone know of any other tracks that aren't owned by ISC?

[jklein6419]

that would be great for cart. they need more ovals. they also need another 500 miler. thats one of the factors that makes champcar racing what it is. it would also be great if they went to an oval in canada. im sure they would draw a huge crowd. i dont want cart to be dead. cart always had ovals, and they still do. they shouldn't become the f1 of america. the series and the drivers are way better than that.

[Lee Janotta]

Loudon wouldn't be any good. The place is a deathtrap, for one thing.

*whines* Wouldn't Lime Rock be wonderful???

I think, realistically, if they want to be in the northeast corridor, Pocono's their best bet.

Vegas? The oval at Vegas isn't anything to write home about, and it's NASCAR territory (owned by Speedway Motorsports, who also own Texas Motor Speedway...) Spring Mountain is in the middle of nowhere. So... That leaves them with a street race, or another parking lot race. They can't afford a repeat of the Caesar's Palace disaster F1 had with that atrocious track. No, they need a street race around the casinos... A _really_ good track... And run it under the lights! Prime time, on CBS, Saturday night, early in the season (during the lull we're currently in!), as a marquee event for the series.

Las Vegas has _more_ than enough wattage to light up the streets sufficiently for racing.

If they could pull it off, Tony George'd drop dead.

[Liz]

NOT NEW HAMPSHIRE! Haven't three drivers been killed at the same turn? Ovals are dangerous enough without going to an oval that is already known to have killed a large number of drivers and the track has done nothing at all to ameliorate the situation. They continue to stonewall and say "Don't worry/be happy."

As for Las Vegas, they have had races there in the past and now they're not having them there anymore. I have to figure -- like hockey in Cleveland -- if it has been tried three times and failed three times, there's a reason for that.

I'd rather see a street race in Boston, personally.

[jklein6419]

i would love to see the champcars go to mis again

[The Snout]

Well Lee's right, if we're going to Las Vegas then we should put on a real neon and strobe light display. If I remember right Cart get's some of it's best ratings out of the Vegas area.

[Lee Janotta]

Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty both bought the farm exiting turn 3 at Loudon, Liz... I'm not sure about a 3rd driver. But yeah, one fatality, I can pass it off... But it's a track with a pretty short history, and when two promising young drivers die in the same corner, BOTH supposedly from stuck throttles, BOTH apparently from head trauma... Something is _seriously_ wrong.

I'd argue that the attempts to conquer the Vegas market so far have just been too small, Liz. A night race on a fantastic street course including the strip (I'm gonna post a layout tommorrow, a Suzuka-style over-under scheme!), with a bunch of casinos instead of just Caesar's involved in promotion, they could create an event that'd rival Monaco in glamour and prestige.

[The Snout]

Any event where you can watch Champcar's and get married by Elvis over the same weekend is bound to surpass Monaco as Motorsports blue ribband event.

And seriously, if Vegas Casino's get behind it, Mamoth event.

[Omega99]

Street race in Las Vegas? Sweet idea, sweet idea indeed... I don't suppose a night street race has ever been attempted by CART, but let's wait on Clevland to see how things go.

Speaking of Monaco, with all of this talk of cooperation between CART and F1, would it really be impossible to run there? Have F1 one weekend and CART the other and have all kinds of events in between... It'd be just about the best week ever! Promoting both events at once would really save CART a lot of money and effort. I'm probably dreaming though...

[Tailwind]

I would like to see a few more ovals and speedways back on the schedule, but I have to admit, a race down the strip would be impressive.

[Apexx]

MIS should return to the calender.
Vegas neon sounds perfect!!

[macdaddy]

'Twould be nice if Ford could use some muscle and get the ISC to lease MIS for a weekend. CART needs the 500's. They're very much a part of the heritage. (In fact, they need a Triple-Crown). Trouble is, the ISC has a virtual stranglehold on the superspeedways. And they are like my four-year-old daughter, in that they don't like to share.

(Soon enough the ISC will own Indianapolis, I betcha)

Love 'em or hate 'em, 500 milers are the ultimate test of man and machine. I know that many forum friends here don't care for ovals at all, but I enjoy a few thrown into the mix. 'Specially the big ones. But they're not in Pook's "urban environment" anyway.

To the best of my knowledge, there aren't any suitable oval tracks in Canada. Maybe we're not quite redneck enough. I'm gonna start buying lottery tickets and I'll build ya one.

I'm rambling again. Blame it on the Bud.

[TheRob]

There were plans a year or so back to build an oval up near Merritt, BC. They wanted to attract Nascar, but if they did build it and CART raced at it(it's about 2 hours out of Vancouver-30 minutes out of Kamloops)it would be a huge event. Vancouver one weekend, and then Merritt the next. Or you could promote a Merritt race with the Merritt Mountain Music Festival(voted one of Penthouses top ten places to get laid. not that I read/look at Penthouse. )How sweet would that be.

[xbook]

** TheRob,

You have to be the smartest person in this forum EVER. That was the first time I have read that someone would like to promote getting laid, with going to a race!!!!


Dude, you rule...'nuff said.

xBook

[mr_swiss]

The oval in Vegas is pretty much useless at times, because of high winds blowing sand all over the track.
A night race under the cover of Fremont street would sound very impressive and no need for additional lighting!!

[Liz]

Yeah, just shut down all the streets during business hours -- or pretend you're re-making "Drivel" the way it should have been made and just put the Champ Cars out there WITH the traffic.

Actually I'd rather see a Rally outside Vegas.

[Dov]

What about racing on the moon. The cars would probably need a lot of downforce though.

[Lee Janotta]

Not close enough to a major metropolitan area for Pook.

[Lee Janotta]

So, does anyone want to see my Las Vegas street course proposals, or should I put them in the "My Tracks" thread no one ever looks at?

[macdaddy]

Heck ya! It's the "second offseason", don't forget!

[Lee Janotta]

Heh, true!

Okay, here's the first. It's the more compact of the two, doesn't have the same top speeds as the second design. The safer, more conservative design, to be sure.

[Lee Janotta]

The second has higher top speeds and is more adventurous. But it also goes through some great esses, and also straight past the front door of the Vegas Hilton, which presents a good, tight technical section, balancing out the two huge blasts, first down Desert Inn, through the underpass, then back over northward up the strip.

I could come up with some more, but to me this seemed the most appealing while still being realistic.

[Lee Janotta]

http://www.aaroads.com/nevada/images...erarterial.jpg

A few illustrative images, this would be the view for the drivers coming through the tunnel, westbound. Just past the top of the hill, they'd have to make a hard left into the parking lot of Fashion Show mall. Fortunately, this is a county highway, not state, and could probably be shut down a few hours at a time for the on-track sessions.

http://www.vegasgallery.com/galleryImages/DesInn4F.jpg

Now in this picture, the cars will be coming from the road in the left half of the photo starting at the top, next to the golf course, will disappear into the tunnel, run through the parking lot, then emerge at the intersection in the very lower right corner of this photo, then head up the strip to the left.

http://www.vegasgallery.com/galleryImages/CircCir5F.jpg

And here's the Circus Circus... I'm sure you can use the big purple dome to orient this picture in your mind.

http://www.vegasgallery.com/galleryI...LasVHilt6F.jpg

This is a view looking backwards through the Hilton esses.