MARCUS

[Lee]

I decided to answer your question about if I thought the new tracks, and dates enhancing the series in a new thread. This is a very difficult question to answer, I don't really know if I'm qualified to answer it, but it is a very good question. I'll try.

From everything that I can gather, this is the current "state of the race tracks" situation here in the States, and how it relates to Winston Cup racing. Tracks presently under construction, or proposed:

1. Kentucky Motor Speedway, almost completed, has one NASCAR date, A Craftsman Truck Series race, for 2001 season. NASCAR says there are no plans to run Winston Cup there. Track wants a Cup date.

2. Kansas International Speedway, almost completed. Just awarded a Winston Cup race for 2001 season

3. Route 66 Speedway, Joliet IL. about 60 miles outside Chicago. Almost complete, awarded a Winston Cup date for 2001 season

4. Pittsburg PA., a track rumored to be anywhere from 3/4 mile to 1 mile in length. The biggest thing about this track is that it will be a domed, i.e. indoor track. I don't know how they are going to do it, noise and exhaust gases would be a problem I would think, but I don't know. They have stated that they want a Cup date, NASCAR has said nothing, as far as I know. I've heard that they have just started construction.

5. Nashville Superspeedway. One mile oval, under construction. Has secured a Busch Grand National, and a Craftsman Truck Series race for 2001 season. Badly wants a Cup race, NASCAR has said nothing.

6. The track that International Speedway Corporation and Donald Trump are said to be building in the Medowlands of New York City. Nothing yet, construction wise. My guess is that if the track is built, they will get a Cup date. NYC is huge market, plus with ISC (read that NASCAR) involved, I'd say its a sure thing.

7. ISC wants to build a track in the Denver CO area. Nothing yet, but same as for NYC track as far as Cup date goes.

8. Proposed track to be built in the Washington State/Oregon area. They are saying that the only reason they are building it is to get a Cup date.

9. Just read about a proposed superspeedway to be built in Louisanna. Again, explisitly to get a Cup date.

Add to this list the existing tracks that don't have, but are badly wanting a Cup date:

1. Milwakee Speedway, has Busch and Truck race
2. Gateway International Speedway has Busch and Truck race. Wants a Cup race badly
3. Chicago Motor Speedway (owned by cart owner Ganassi (or however he spells his name)
could this be one reason he wants to get involved in Cup racing? Has Truck race for 2001 season.
4. Pikes Peak International Raceway. Has Busch and Truck race. Wants a Cup race
5. Nazarath, an ISC track, however not equiped to handle the crowds a Cup race would bring in. Has Busch and Truck race.
6. Memphis Motorsports Park. 3/4 mile track, has Busch and Truck race, wants Cup race.
As you can see, we have a problem here in the States, too many tracks, too much demand for dates, and not enough weekends in a year to accomodate them all. As I stated in a post on the thread that Jared started about moving the Winston, I think NASCAR could reduce the schedule to allow only one Cup date per track. That way they could grow the schedule without running the teams into the ground. I've been following the Winston Cup series (under it's various names, (Grand National Division, Strictly Stock Division) since 1958. I can remember when, in the pre-modern era, prior to 1972, the schedule consisted of 40 to 60 races per year. They races on Thursday, Friday nights, as well as Saturday and Sunday afternoons. NASCAR has said that they do not want to return to that situation. They have also said that they do not want to split the Winston Cup series up into two divisions, I agree with them there, some people attend the races to watch a certain driver beat another certain driver, split the series up, and they run in seperate divisions, this kills those particular fan's desire to attend the races. The two seperate league or division idea is great for baseball, football, or any of the other "stick and ball" sports, but will not work for auto racing. The only thing that I can see happening unless they do what I was talking about and restrict each track to one Cup date per season is for NASCAR to set a total number of races for a given season, and tell track owners. "Thats it, there will be no additions to the Winston Cup Schedule. If you build tracks, fine, but your not getting a Cup date. Our schedule is now, and until further notice closed!" I would guess that going into new markets, areas that the series has never raced in before would enhance the overall appeal of the series, but I just don't know how it could all be fitted into the schedule. Anyway, here is my attempt at an answer. What do you think? Well take care.

Lee

[marcus]

blimey !!! while reading your post Lee I thought to myself that there is way to many tracks and then you said the same thing...dont know how many ovals there are in the states but it does seem strange that they want to build new ones all the time instead of utilizing the ones that are already built. its a tough question though and I agree that they should only race once per track per year so they could use more tracks during the season...I guess it is good that the interest is coming and some tracks might be thinking they can get an IRL or champcar race as well as NASCAR and Busch and trucks just to help pay for things..I dont know the answer and nascar probably dont at this stage either...splitting up the series would be bad for the reasons you state..this year in Oz our V8 supercar series has been split up and thankfully it has worked ..privateers have their own series now with Tv coverage and certain results gets them an entry to the professional class for certain races and it seems to be working well..but i dont think in america it will work..but correct me if im wrong but dont they already have divisions in nascar ..like the winston west series and a few others..i dont know much about it but from my limited experience there is divisions for guys that carnt afford to do the whole winston series and travel all over the country..can you explain that to me please?
so many tracks to few dates is always going to be a problem ..I think they run 32 races wich only leaves 20 weekends a year to have a holiday or go testing so adding more races probably is not the best idea ..but possibly they might consider weeding out tracks that may not be up to standard (Im not sure if this is the case)..but over here we have a situation where 2 tracks will miss out next year for a V8 race because the organizers dont want more events but have added 2 new ones ..therefore my local track (winton) are spending heaps of money to upgrade the place in a bid to keep the race ..this has knock on effects to us fans who attend the races because we feel we are getting better looked after ..so maybe they will consider doing that..also you have to look at where the tracks are as you say New york has alot of potential for being a great money earner and they will take that into consideration ..much to my detriment my local track is 1 hour drive from home and stuck in the middle of a paddock miles from anything..so the market is not a huge one but they still get over 30,000 people there every year but other tracks might be able to get 20 to 30 thousand more and have easier access...certainly alot of thinking needs to be done.

[Lee]

Marcus,
I hate to do this, but its 1:40 AM here. I have to get to bed. I'll be glad to explain the various NASCAR racing series tomorrow. Right now, I'm about to fall asleep at the keyboard. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good one.

Lee

[Lee]

Marcus,
Good afternoon. Sorry I had to sign off last night. I was going to reply this morning, but our power was off. It just came back on. Unfortunatly, I missed the Busch Series race at Charlotte due to the power outage. I'll be happy to explain NASCAR's race series for you. As it is, NASCAR has two types of series, touring series, and regional series. The NASCAR Weekly Racing Series or WWRC (formerly the Winston Racing Series, because of our screwed-up government, Winston can no longer sponser this series) is set up so that people wishing to get started in racing can compete on a local level at minimal expense (still very expensive, but no where as much as the professional series). They race on short tracks, both paved and dirt. The country is divided up into 10 seperate geographic regions, and the various tracks in the regions hold their races between January and September. Drivers accumulate points at their home tracks, NASCAR uses a formula called a Competition Performance Index (CPI) to rate the different drivers at the tracks within the regions and against the other regions. In the end, the champion of the series is decided by which ever region's top driver scores the most points compaired to the other regions. Many of today's Winston Cup drivers got their start in the WWRC.
The next step is for drivers that have proven themselves, and wish to move up to the various NASCAR touring series. These are professional racing series. NASCAR runs 12 different touring series, some compete on a national level, while others run regionaly. The 12 touring series are:

1. Winston Cup Series (national)
2. Busch Grand National Series (national)
3. Craftsman Truck Series (national)
4. Winston West Series (races West of the Mississippi River)
5. Busch Grand National North (races in the Northeast U.S.)
6. Featherlite Modified Series (races basically in same area as Busch North, but with occasional races in Martinsville, and Richmond VA)
7. Goody's Dash Series (races in the Southeast U.S.)
8. Slim Jim All Pro Series (same area as Goody's Dash)
9. Featherlite Southwest Series (Southwest U.S.)
10. Raybestos Northwest Series (Northwest U.S.)
11. Re/Max Challenge Series (Midwest U.S.)
12. Busch All-Stars Series (Mid and Northwest U.S.)
In order to race in the top levels of the touring series (Winston Cup, Busch Series, Craftsman Trucks) you first have to prove yourself in one of the other touring series. The Goody's Dash cars are compact cars, with steel bodies, V-6 engines, (until two years ago they could only run 4 cylinders, now you have the option). These are basically half-size Winston Cup cars. The most popular body styles are, Pontiac Sunbird, and Mercury Cougar. They run mainly short tracks, but race at Daytona and Charlotte as well.
The Slim Jim All Pro, Featherlite Southwest, Raybestos Northwest, and Re/Max Challenge Series are all basically the same. The cars have fiberglass bodies, 358 cubic inch displacement engines, I believe they are all 9 1/2 to 1 compression now, a couple of years ago Slim Jim cars had unlimited compression. The body styles are Chevy Monte Carlo, Ford Tauras, and Pontiac Grand Prix. Mainly short track, but one or two superspeedway races a year.
The Featherlite Modified Series is just that. These are the orginal "stock cars". They use bodys of production cars, such as the Sunbird, but from there they are highly modified. 358 cube engines, oversized tires, rears wider than fronts, "nerf" bars. these cars are very powerful, and lighting quick. Race mostly on short tracks, but occasionally on superspeedways.
The Busch All-Stars are unique due to the fact that they are NASCAR's only all dirt track series. The cars are pretty much hand built, and bare no resemblance to street cars. They basically look like wedges with a covered cockpit. The only part of the car that is off of the assembly line is the roof. Engines are 358 cube, 9 1/2 to 1 compression.
The Busch North Series run cars very simmilar to the Busch Series cars. The differences are that they can only use bias-ply tires, also the engine rules are sightly different. Some cars are allowed to run lighter weight according to the difference in the engines. They run mainly short tracks, with an occasional superspeedway event.
The Winston West Series. A funny thing happened on the way to the checkered flag. Originally called the Pacific Coast Late Model Sportsman Division, then the Grand National West Division, and finally Winston West Series. For most of this existance, this series was completely identical to the Winston Cup (Strickly Stock Division, Grand National Division) Series, even changing their name throughout the years like the Cup has done. When NASCAR would run West of the Mississippi, they could always look for strong competition from the West Coast drivers. Drivers like Hershel McGriff, and Ray Elder took on and won races against the Winston Cup drivers. Five to ten years ago, NASCAR decided to change the rules, why I don't know, but they reduced the Winston West engines to first 12 to 1 compression (Cup, at this time were running unlimited compression engines) then 9 1/2 to 1 compression (when Cup engine compression was lowered to 12 to 1). They also have a different weight formula than the Cup cars, otherwise they are identical. If you tried to qualify a Winston West car in a Winston Cup race today, you could not make the field, where a few years ago, you would have stood just as good a chance as anyone else in making to race.
You already know about the Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Truck Series, so I won't try to explain them. This, in a nutshell, is NASCAR's various racing series. The different series provide stepping stones, to allow someone to start at the bottom, and if they have the necessary talent, backing, (read that money)
and of course the lucky breaks, ultimatly advance to the very top of American motorsports, the Winston Cup Series. I hope this helped you understand NASCAR a little bit better. Well, take care. I'll talk to you later.

Lee

[marcus]

thanks Lee...i didnt know that there was so many series in Nascar..guess it just showed me how big Nascar really is and im quite surpised that all of that can be maintained to a professional level ...i guess Nascar are the best organized series in the world from reading that ..so my hat goes off to them because they certainly look like their doing an excellent job are running all those series and keeping things on the straight and narrow because it would be pretty easy for them to forget or stuff one of them up ....my vote would go to the person who organizes the calender...now thats a job i dont want