Will Martinsville Speedway get another Busch race?
By Bob Pockrass
Saturday, October 07, 2006
TALLADEGA, Ala. - The 2007 Busch Series schedule announced Monday wasn't a surprise with Montreal replacing Martinsville on the calendar.
But will there be another 12 years between Busch races at Martinsville, which had last played host to the series in 1994 before again in 2006?
Well, it might take track owner International Speedway Corp. moving a date from an existing track for it to happen quicker. ISC has a three-year deal with a group in Montreal to promote the Busch races there, and ISC is whom NASCAR has sanctioned the race with.
ISC moved the Busch race to Martinsville in 2006 from Pikes Peak, which the company bought and shut down in September 2005.
"We knew that Canada was in the fight and once that deal came about, we knew what was going to happen," Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. "If things worked out somewhere down the road where another date came available, we're [willing]."
The stand-alone Busch event at Martinsville in July did not do well at the ticket office. Campbell originally planned to have a night race, but NBC wanted it as a day event.
"Once we got it moved from nighttime to day, we were pretty well shot to start with," Campbell said. "I fought it all I could and I had a lot of people in my corner fighting for me, but it just didn't pan out. It's ridiculous to try to run a race in the middle of July in Martinsville in the daytime. I did what I had to do but it was a ridiculous thing to try to pull off."
Campbell said he did not want to tinker with Martinsville's current schedule of having the trucks as a support race for the Cup weekend.
"If it's not broke, don't fix it," Campbell said. "[The trucks] have done really well. It would be kind of foolish to tamper with that success."
