Unfortunately, the Nevada Appeal's vast sports budget didn't have quite enough in it to send me to Vegas for the NASCAR stop in Sin City this weekend.
I did attend the first two Winston Cup and Busch races at the Speedway, and I highly recommend the event if you can get there and can afford the hotel prices! Based on Friday's qualifying results, it appears that the Chevy teams have gotten it back together after a dismal performance at Rockingham last weekend.
The Indy Racing League also kicks off its season today at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It's funny how things have changed in the world of big-league open-wheel racing in America. In 1996 CART (now Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford, or Champ Car for short) had all the big names and the best venues, while the IRL had Indianapolis, Tony George's money, and a bunch of no-name drivers. Now many of the big names from Champ Car have deserted to the IRL, primarily because their sponsors wanted to be at Indy. Champ Car, after several years of mismanagement, is back on track but in the same position the IRL was in 1996: the series has a spec engine, limited chassis development, and the series is subsidizing the teams to get enough cars on the grid. The good news is that the spec engine has enabled the series to eliminate traction control and other driver aids, making the driver a bigger part of the winning equation.
Meanwhile, with Honda and Toyota switching to the IRL, the price of racing in that series is going to escalate. Already the teams running the GM powerplant (badged as a Chevrolet these days) are complaining that they are down 40 horsepower to the Japanese manufacturers. IRL officials are going to have to tighten the rules to get things back into parity (ah, the problems of "managed competition"). However, as a very wise racing guru once said, "More restrictive rules only serve to make cheating more expensive." The IRL will only field 21 cars at Homestead-Miami, while Champ Car had 19 cars on the grid at St. Petersburg last weekend. If the two series could get together, they'd be approaching Winston Cup's 43-car fields and might be able to get somewhere.
One thing that might aid in Champ Car's resurgence is an infusion of capital and marketing power. A rumor has been floating around for the past year that Formula 1 dictator Bernie Ecclestone has been interested in buying a majority stake in the Champ Car series. Although the rumor has been denied by Ecclestone and by Champ Car boss Chris Pook, one of the series' most powerful team bosses gave the story credence last week. Jerry Forsythe, in an interview for AUTOSPORT, indicated that Ecclestone is on the verge of making a move. If the deal is going to happen, it will happen within the month.
Locally, a lot of things have been happening behind the scenes in preparation for the upcoming season at Champion Motor Speedway. I had a long phone conversation with Jeb Onweiler the other night about new sponsors. Charter Communications has signed up to sponsor the Super Late Model division. This partnership will go a long way toward getting the word out locally about the Speedway, which has been one of the best-kept secrets in the racing world. Jeb has an advertising budget that previous track managers could only dream about, and sponsors like Charter have made that possible. Les Schwab Tire Stores have also signed on to sponsor (and provide tires for) the Street Stock division. And the new official beer of Champion Motor Speedway, Coors, will also be instrumental in promoting the track.
I'm looking forward to the season, which kicks off with a test and tune session on April 12, followed by Media Day on April 19. The first race will be the Soapy Sunday 250 lap enduro on April 27 complete with a demo derby. The first regular Saturday night racing show kicks off on May 3 with Western Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Hornets, and bicycle races. Unfortunately, sprint car fans will be disappointed this season as the track and the sprint car drivers weren't able to come to an agreement on rules.
Roger Diez is the Nevada Appeal Motorsports Columnist.
