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Atlanta, California hope swap pays dividends in 2009
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Atlanta Motor Speedway (pictured) will host a Labor Day weekend Sprint Cup race in 2009.
Chris McGrath
Getty Images
Atlanta Motor Speedway won’t be able to recreate the traditional Southern 500 that NASCAR abandoned five years ago, but AMS President Ed Clark hopes that the event can be reinvigorated at his track in the roots of the Southeast.
NASCAR announced Tuesday that the Labor Day race, a tradition at Darlington Raceway that ended in 2004 when that event was moved to the California track now known as Auto Club Speedway starting in 2004, will move to Atlanta beginning in 2009.
It will be a Sunday night race at Atlanta, while California takes Talladega’s October date and Talladega moves to Atlanta’s date as the
seventh race of the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup.
“We certainly don’t think we’re going to replace Darlington, but what we’ve done is given Southeastern fans an opportunity to have an event back in the Southeast at a long-time NASCAR speedway,” Clark said Tuesday. “We’ll be celebrating our 50th year of racing next year. This event certainly will be the keystone event of that celebration.”
Clark hopes to work with other attractions in the Atlanta area to make it a more attractive event for fans.
“It offers a lot of opportunities to people to maybe expand their attendance – there are a lot of attractions and things in and around the Atlanta area that they may enjoy as well as the race,” Clark said.
“We’re going to call on those partners to help us build this weekend [and] make it really, really special. … We’re going to add the element of night racing, which makes the cars even as fast as they are at Atlanta seem even faster and just really make this a special weekend that becomes a tradition in itself very much like Darlington has been for so many years.”
Clark also hopes it attracts more fans to his facility since it will not conflict with college football and there also is more time between his fall event and the one at nearby Talladega.
Gillian Zucker, president of the track in California, also hopes the change boosts attendance. She asked for the change not only to get into the Chase but also to get away from the extreme heat that has plagued the event. The track had sold out when it had one race a season but hasn’t in the last five years when it has had two.
“I’ve watched fans come to this sport, I’ve watched them brave the elements of unfathomable heat on Labor Day and rain-delayed events during February,” Zucker said. “They continue to come back. They’re passionate about writing and telling us what they want.
“We’re really about growth. As long as we’re continuing to see that, then we believe we’re making the kind of impact we need to be making for the sport. We feel that … during the Chase we’ll be seeing that [in 2009].”
Helton said NASCAR did not consider going back to Darlington for Labor Day weekend.
“The ’09 schedule that you see [is] a result of realignment, and the realignment is a result of requests that came from Atlanta and Auto Club Speedway that initiated the chain reaction of everything [on the schedule],” Helton said. “Labor Day is a national holiday across the entire country and I think it’s significant because it … signifies, wherever you might be, the end of summer as much as anything else.
“But the result was a collaboration of Auto Club Speedway and Atlanta so Darlington never was a factor in this conversation.”
There were no real hurdles to make the changes, Helton said.
“I wouldn’t say that there were any heartburns or negative issues to it,” Helton said. “It was a matter of, 'Does it make sense? Does it work? Do both facilities agree with it? And then ultimately does NASCAR agree with it?'”
NASCAR also announced that it would replace its Mexico City date with a race at Iowa Speedway on its Nationwide Series schedule and move an Atlanta Motor Speedway truck race to Chicagoland Speedway.
It will be the first national touring series race at Iowa Speedway, a 0.875-mile track that opened two years ago.
“We have some experience there with the Grand National divisions racing there,” Helton said. “The competitors that had been there speak very highly of it. We went by to look at the and there’s no question that the facility is first rate.
“It’s in the heartland of America and our series sponsor Nationwide has a great presence in Des Moines and that area. And Iowa has always been a very strong motorsports community across the board.”
The big winner besides Iowa on the Nationwide schedule could be Montreal, whose race will come during a Sprint Cup off weekend in August.
“It really worked out just because the calendar for ’09 worked out that way,” Helton said as there is an extra off weekend for each series because of the way the calendar falls. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that going forward it will be that way. … But certainly we feel like that gives us an opportunity in Montreal to utilize an off Cup weekend somewhere with a high significance.”
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
6 responses to "Atlanta, California hope swap pays dividends in 2009". Post a Comment.
Larry Taylor said:
Aug 19, 2008 at 6:10 PMhow can anyone, other than the granola set (fruits, nuts & flakes) possibly be happy with Fontana being awarded / rewarded with a chase date after other tracks have incurred the wrath of nascar and lost race dates for poor attendance...without...withoutht ebenefit of being given "better weather dates." How so very disappointing.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportCarol Hohman said:
Aug 19, 2008 at 7:19 PMmike helton wake the heck up the fans watn the 500 back at Darlington NOT Atlanta No wonder Nascar is losing fans and interest they just don't get and listen to us I feel sad for the people at Darlingon they worked there butts of to get that back and Nascar dont get it at all SAD VERY SAD
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» Confirm Abuse Reportchris welch said:
Aug 19, 2008 at 7:44 PMMoving the atlanta race to labor day will solve alll of that tracks attendance problems. it had been scheduled in the two worst months for rain in georgia (march and november). people dont go because its cold and rainy this will be awesome for atlanta.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportKim Hollein said:
Aug 19, 2008 at 8:33 PMFunny how it was stated right in this article that California only sold out with one race never with two. Swapping the date with Atlanta isn't going to help. Now we will have a very BORING race in the Chase to watch. Gee Thanks NASCAR. And to think that Darlington never got any consideration. Of course not. They only made the change because the same company owns both tracks. They never looked to get fans comments or reactions prior to making the change. If they were paying attention and listening to the fans they would have realized long ago that the fans want to be in Darlington Labor Day Weekend and we'd pack the place to capacity! So what if they are bringing it back to the south and running at night. The south is losing their chase race to a boring track. How about in 2010 we give Atlanta back it's October race, wipe California out of the equation, and bring the racing home labor day weekend on a track that's TOO Tough To Tame!!!!!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAnonymous said:
Aug 21, 2008 at 3:32 PMI'm from California and FIRMLY believe that Fontana does NOT deserve a second race. At anytime of the year. Bring back the Rock and/or Darlington at Labor day.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAnita Bell said:
Aug 21, 2008 at 4:06 PMI always attend both Talladega races but I'm not sure if I'll go to a November race. This is crazy. Give California the November date!
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