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Friday, May 26, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Special NHRA event may be added to track
By Jeff Wolf
Review-Journal
INDIANAPOLIS -- Las Vegas Motor Speedway could get a second major National Hot Rod Association event in 2001, though not a national event like the one last month.
A source close to the premier drag-racing organization said Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that NHRA president Tom Compton is believed to be preparing to announce the association's major event schedule before the end of June, and it could include a pair of visits to the new dragstrip at the speedway.
NHRA and the track announced last month that its national Winston Drag Racing Series event would move to October beginning next year. The move did not please event sponsor Summit Racing, which said it did not want to sponsor a race in the fall.
The drag-racing insider hinted that the NHRA could add a special event that would attract all of the major professional teams to Las Vegas next spring, although it would not be contested for national points.
That scenario reinforces another tip that NHRA will award a national event to Bristol Dragway. Speedway Motorsports Inc. owns the tracks in Las Vegas and Bristol.
Bristol, which was rebuilt a year ago into one of the top three tracks on the NHRA national tour, has held the Winston Showdown for the past several years. That event is NHRA's all-star event and pits Top Fuel Dragsters against Nitro Funny Cars.
Another source in the drag-racing industry said that when the new NHRA schedule is released, national events will be added to Bristol and a second one to Route 66 Speedway near Chicago. To make way for those new events, he said NHRA will drop an annual visit to Houston Raceway or Texas Motorplex near Dallas.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell would not comment earlier this week on the status of ongoing discussions with NHRA or, for that matter, the future status of an open-wheel race on the super speedway.
The Indy Racing Northern Light Series has said it wants to announce its schedule by the end of June, but Powell said he has not talked to the Indy car series because of IRL executives' focus on Sunday's Indy 500.
Powell has had discussions with the CART FedEx open-wheel series officials, but it is doubtful Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns the speedway, will be willing to lay out the estimated $2 million sanctioning fee on the hope that a CART event can put 50,000 spectators in the grandstands at the 1 1/2-mile oval, which is probably the gate that is needed to make the event profitable. The crowd for this year's IRL event was estimated to be about 20,000.
Several industry insiders say CART wants to come to Las Vegas, possibly to open the 2001 season.
Powell said he wants at least one of the major open-wheel series racing in Las Vegas next year.
The only major series dropped from this year's schedule was the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Powell suggested a doubleheader with the Truck Series and Winston West stock cars on the speedway's 3/8-mile paved oval, which has undergone a face lift. Once completed, it could rank among the nicest short tracks in the country.
"That's one of the great new racing surfaces in the country," Powell said. "We'd love to have the truck series come back to the speedway, especially with (Las Vegans) Kurt Busch and Brendan Gaughan competing in the series. We'd like to give them a homecoming."
Busch is a full-time truck driver for Roush Racing and is the runaway leader in the Rookie of the Year standings. Gaughan, who is competing part time with Orleans Racing, finished 11th in his last truck race.
During the regular local NASCAR Racing Series events on the short track, teams pit outside of the track. Powell said the infield is capable of adding a pit road for the bigger series.
But, again, sanctioning fees could be the stumbling block. The current grandstand configuration at the 3/8-mile track has seating for about 3,000. Powell isn't certain how many temporary seats could be added, but it is difficult to imagine how seating could be expanded to much more than 10,000. That would make it nearly impossible to offer a ticket price of around $30 and recoup what was believed to be a sanctioning fee last year of more than $600,000.
"If we can't run the Craftsman Trucks on the three-eights, then maybe we'll have a Southwest (stock car series) and Winston West race," Powell said.
"Our focus is to put a lot of energy and marketing support behind the 3/8-mile track."
SHAW TOPS DRAG BOATS
Lamar Shaw of Henderson won the Class 10.50-10.99 class Sunday in the season-opener for the Drag Boat Association event at Ming Lake near Bakersfield, Calif. Shaw, 35, has been racing drag boats for seven years.
SPEED RECORD
Chuck Shafer of Portland, Ore., reset his speed record to 207.780 in the Silver State Classic Challenge on Sunday. Shafer led 233 entries competing along a 90-mile stretch of Nevada's State Route 318 in a sprint from Ely in White Pine County to Las Vegas.
Shafer and navigator Gary Brockman reached speeds up to 226 mph in their modified 1993 Chrysler LeBaron.
The Nevada Department of Transportation issues a permit for the annual running of the event.
LOCAL RACING
The speedway will feature its second NHRA Summit Racing E.T. Bracket Racing Series event on the dragstrip Saturday with the Pro Star Motorcycle Series as an added feature. Gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. for bracket racers. Qualifying is set to begin at 5 p.m. with eliminations at 7 p.m.
Gates for Friday Night Drags open at 5 p.m. with racing from 6 p.m. to midnight.
There also will be racing Saturday on the 1/2-mile dirt track at the speedway for IMCA Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Legends Cars and Thunder Stox. Spectator gates open at 6 p.m. with heat races starting at 7:30.
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