Sweeping changes for NASCAR schedule-NC and Darlington to lose races

[Sparky's]

I was waiting for the Indy qualifying results and saw this, now I'm really pissed. Just like the Dodgers, the Lakers, and other teams that moved west, now it's NASCAR. (My opinion) They should have Tarred and feathered Jeff Gordon when he showed up at the track
With the track being sold off and races moving out west it's just not the same animal anymore

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Tracks in two Southern states will lose Nextel Cup races, and venues in Texas and Arizona will get them as part of a lawsuit settlement and sweeping NASCAR realignment in 2005.


NASCAR said Friday that North Carolina Speedway and Darlington Raceway in South Carolina will each lose a race, leaving the track in Rockingham, N.C., without any races and sparking a series of track sales and wrangling that NASCAR hopes will solve a number of nagging problems it faces.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/racing/05/14/bc.car.nascar.schedule2.ap/index.html

 

[musicpyrite]

(My opinion) They should have Tarred and feathered Jeff Gordon when he showed up at the track
With the track being sold off and races moving out west it's just not the same animal anymore

Down with Gordon! (never have liked him)

This stinks that they are moving most of the races out west, show your peeps on the east some love!

I still can't get over the fact that they changed it from The Winston Cup to The Nextel Cup. I guess they should, everybody is anti-smoking these days: look at New York.

If Earnhardt doesn't win the race at Darlington this week, I've lost alot of money with my friends at school (I need more RAM); they all voted Gordon!

 

[Sparky's]

Looks like you won your bet!! kudos to Earnhardt. My wall is a shrine to his dad. my friends and family know I really idolized him as a driver so thats what I keep getting for holidays. I have quit a few rare and one of a kind items. My mom has a business through the Ford Showcase program where she leases fords to the movie and TV industry on the east coast. Beacause of this she gets comped tickets to certain races at times, and has shot commercials with Richard Petty and others. I just wish I could afford to get down her way sometime and get in on the goods

NASCAR just isn't the same anymore. think I'll go back to watching the local dirt tracks around here, and let the "celebrity" drivers have their 15 secs of fame.

 

[MongoTheGeek]

My wife's father used to race occasionally back in the outlaw days at the Glen.

One of the things thats really bad about loosing the big races for these tracks is that was their big money maker. It could be the end of these towns.

 

[Mac_Max]

Rockingham was a fun track but I have to say I like Texas, California Speedway, & Phoenix more. Darlington isn't going to go away for a long time. It will sell out next year. Part of it is the fact the tracks can't fill the seats. Thats where they get a lot of their income. Everyone will go to Daytona, Bristol, or Lowe's Motor Speedway no matter what the series is because they've got such great reacing. The change from Winston to Nextel was because Winston didn't want to pay for the title any more. Nextel must have had the best bid which is why another type of company didn't come in.

 

[musicpyrite]

Looks like you won your bet!! kudos to Earnhardt. My wall is a shrine to his dad.

I am very happy he won, stayed up all night celebrating. Now I can get the extra RAM I have been needing!

 

[Sparky's]

Rockingham was a fun track but I have to say I like Texas, California Speedway, & Phoenix more. Darlington isn't going to go away for a long time. It will sell out next year. Part of it is the fact the tracks can't fill the seats. Thats where they get a lot of their income. Everyone will go to Daytona, Bristol, or Lowe's Motor Speedway no matter what the series is because they've got such great reacing. The change from Winston to Nextel was because Winston didn't want to pay for the title any more. Nextel must have had the best bid which is why another type of company didn't come in.

I've never heard of a race "NOT" being sold out on the east coast months in advance. As far as the tracks I think it's more the new generation of drivers. There are a whole lot more west coast and midwest drivers getting into the series NASCAR, BUSCH, and the Craftsman Truck series. They just don't appreciate what the early drivers went through to earn their right at driving. Most of them came from runnin' moonshine and trying to outrun the law. When they finally got organized in '49 most of the tracks were still dirt ovals hacked out of some farmers back yard and slowly improved and made to what are the tracks of modern NASCAR today. All these new "Super Speedways" being built are (in my opinion) not doing justice to the sport at all. I would like to see an even mix of short track (under a mile) road courses (I was at all the races they ran at Riverside before that illustrious track went the way of the developers bulldozer) and the super speedways like Daytona, Lowes Motor Speedway. But I'm afraid what is happening is a sport that started from humble beginnings in the southeast is becoming a Super Sport that is seeing "star" drivers getting the super salaries just like football and baseball players do now. It sickens me to see the "Hollywoodation" of such a fine sport. Maybe NASCAR needs to split like Indy Champ cars and IRL cars did years ago (to me was the demise of the open wheel racing league) Let the purist of the southern racing stay put and let the new young guns form their own race league and run on all these new super stadiums that are going up every other year

 

[Mac_Max]

I've never heard of a race "NOT" being sold out on the east coast months in advance.

Rockingham will be your first then unfortunatly. It had awesome racing as we saw in 2003 but its ticket sales are dismal. Also it doens't have the same selection of events such as Motorcycle racing, IRL, etc. along with Nascar. Those events bring in a lot of money for the tracks as well whick helps them be successful. Personally I would make it a Bush/Truck track & have them go there once a year.