NASCAR going Touring Car racing?

[Robert Ryan]

This rumour has been around for a while, but there seems more and more incidences of it.
From Jayski's
"Touring Series? Michel Jourdain [#10 Busch driver] was spotted having
lunch with Busch Series director Joe Balash, NASCAR Mexico director
Chad Little and Canada director Richard Buck at the Speedway Club at
Lowe's Motor Speedway last week. The meeting was to discuss a world
touring series that initially would draw stock car drivers from the
United States, Mexico and Canada and eventually from abroad. "It would
be a good idea to have a world series with those types of cars," says
Jourdain, a Busch driver who was born in Mexico. "But I don't know
what NASCAR's plans are right

[Just Do It!]

Impecable timing, Marcos Ambrose, impecable timing indeed

[mountainstar]

They've already conquered America, so it's only a matter of time before NASCAR expands overseas in some form or another.

[rustyfan]

Just so everyone keeps it in mind, a NASCAR "touring series" is not a touring car championship - it's still very much a stock car one.

[gttouring]

yup rusty fan-
NASCAR "touring seires"as they call it is a minor type league of oval racing with big stock cars touring to different tracks in a region.
an apt name ifabit unimaginaive and misleading to the rest of the sporting world

[thebear]

Originally Posted by gttouring

yup rusty fan-
NASCAR "touring seires"as they call it is a minor type league of oval racing with big stock cars touring to different tracks in a region.
an apt name ifabit unimaginaive and misleading to the rest of the sporting world

"Touring" as mentioned refers to the "series" as it moves around as opposed to "Touring Cars" in the euro tradition. 'tis a shame.

[jslone]

I would welcome the series.The issue would be the cost,if the big 3 are losing that much money would the series be a viable option?

[Robert Ryan]

Sorry people, they were talking about a "Touring Car Series" not a NASCAR Touring series. That is why they want drivers from outside the US. Is it being staged on roadcourses in the US, Mexico and Canada with invited overseas drivers driving Busch cars or something else?

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

Sorry people, they were talking about a "Touring Car Series" not a NASCAR Touring series. That is why they want drivers from outside the US. Is it being staged on roadcourses in the US, Mexico and Canada with invited overseas drivers driving Busch cars or something else?

Uhm, you're sorta contradicting yourself there - if they drive Busch cars, it's not a touring car series.

Also, the Jayski report states it's a "world touring series", not a "world touring car series", which clearly suggests it indeed is a NASCAR touring series. Lastly, I doubt stock car drivers would be even remotely interested in joining a touring car series.

[Robert Ryan]

rustyfan...to us , they are not "Touring Cars". To NASCAR Busch cars running around only on roadcourses in Canada , US and Mexico are. They are obviously trying to emulate the international appeal of DTM, V8Supercars and WTCC. A Market that is growing worldwide rapidly and NASCAR is not part of.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

rustyfan...to us , they are not "Touring Cars". To NASCAR Busch cars running around only on roadcourses in Canada , US and Mexico are. They are obviously trying to emulate the international appeal of DTM, V8Supercars and WTCC. A Market that is growing worldwide rapidly and NASCAR is not part of.

I have to say that I am willing to give NASCAR more credit than that - they might be a lot of things, but they are not arrogant enough to actually think a stock car is the same thing as a touring car. Well, except for the DTM perhaps, which pretty much is a silouette series anyway.

Also, I would say their primary target is to tap into the stock car interest that exists in Mexico (where you have various stock car championships and what NASCAR considers a major market) and Canada (where you have CASCAR, that NASCAR part-owns these days), as well as, to some extent, the UK where you have the SCSA.

[Robert Ryan]

Rustyfan...they are trying to tap into the Touring Car market...but I doubt it is going to work that well internationally. At best it will be like an early CART races in the US: virtually all in the US (some in Canada and Mexico)with some OS drivers. They are really after overseas sponsors who normally have nothing to do with NASCAR

[jslone]

Some of you seem to have forgotten that a lot of the drivers compete in the 24 hours of Daytona race and a select others.Mainly to get a feel of the track so the drivers have said.