NASCAR scraps NYC 'victory lap' during banquet week
LOUDON, N.H. – NASCAR would love nothing more than to race in or near New York City, but NASCAR and Sprint have opted not to stop traffic in the bustling metropolis during its championship celebration.
For the last four years, NASCAR has staged a “victory lap” in the middle of Manhattan a couple of days prior to its Cup awards banquet. It was an incredible sight for some – fans lined the sidewalks to see the top 10 Cup drivers wheel their cars on the streets around and about the Times Square area.
“After several years, it’s a wrap,” NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said Friday. “I think we needed something new. We’re doing some things, some additional promotions that we partnered up with Sprint.
“There’s going to be billboards, additional signage, fan participation and those kind of things. It’s going to be good.”
The parade of stock cars took an incredible amount of planning and cost, and NASCAR and Sprint are looking at other ways to engage fans during its championship week. Plans are still being finalized.
“There’s no way you could realize the work that our people put in to doing a parade in New York,” Hunter said. “When you think of normal traffic in New York, there’s nothing normal about it. We’ll do some other things.”
The Sprint Cup banquet this year is scheduled for Dec. 5, and both NASCAR and Sprint officials said the absence of the lap around the city won’t mean NASCAR won’t have a New York presence during that week.
“We are committed to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week and will continue to ensure it will be a highlight on the calendar,” said Steve Gaffney, director of sports and entertainment marketing for Sprint. “In conjunction with NASCAR, we are always looking for ways to improve activities and keep them fresh for the fans. We hope to have some final decisions in the near future.”
Hunter also reiterated that this was not a sign that NASCAR wasn’t committed to staging its end-of-year celebration in the nation’s biggest city.
“Our fans responded very well [to the victory lap],” Hunter said. “The crowd grew over the years. More and more people were aware of when we were in New York as a result of the parade. ... These new programs and having Sprint partnered up with us will make a big difference.
“What we’re trying to do is grow the base in New York. It’s a fitting end to the season, that time of year in New York.”
