Personally I really don’t know what you can do to make the Cup Series schedule good for everyone, but consider one thing, back in the day, the schedule use to have over 70 races per year and now where down to 36 races a year, that’s change.
However the opposite can be said for the Busch series and Truck series schedule as they dramatically need to change because in some ways, the Busch Series schedule is worse than the Cup Series schedule. One way to make a dramatic change to both schedule is to: Simply put, split the cup schedule in half with 18 races being companion Busch Series events and the other half (18 races) being companion Truck Series events, for example New Hampshire hosts two Cup races per year and with that the Busch Series once in June and the Truck series in September, why not just do that. Both schedule would also include other companion and stand along events.
The Busch Series should continue to go to Canada (either in Montreal or somewhere over Seattle…) and to Mexico City, plus maybe bring the Truck Series along for support. This change would also add a date on the Truck Series schedule for racing in Richmond at RIR, NASCAR should have never have removed that race from n open date to go to Talladega.
Besides the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule coming out last week, earlier today two interesting pieces of news have come to light:
That tells me that Smith is willing to go to just about any lengths to get what he wants for his racetracks including possibly closing down a historic track and building a new one just miles away just to build a drag strip. Personally it also tells me something else, if New Hampshire International Speedway is for sale one day and Smith purchases it, New England racing fans (including Canadian racing fans…) will loss at least one Cup race and pay more to watch NASCAR in action. There’s an old saying that reminds me of this story, “Money Talks and everyone else walks…”.The first reads (Insert article from wsoctv.com: CONCORD, N.C. -- Bruton Smith, owner of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., said Tuesday that if Concord does not work with him on a controversial drag strip, he’ll take Lowe’s Motor Speedway somewhere else. Smith told Eyewitness News he is already looking for plots of land in the Charlotte area. He said he’ll close LMS and build a new speedway and his own airport so that race car drivers will easily be able to fly in and out of town. “I’ve built more speedways than anyone else in the world,” he reasoned. He said it would only take him 11 months and about $350 million to erect another one. Concord doesn’t look like it’s going to be a place for him to grow, he said, so if city leaders don’t change their minds, he will take his business and go. Smith said he’s dumbfounded that the Concord City Council voted against a proposed drag strip near the speedway on Monday night, effectively changing the area’s zoning rules. Workers had already started grading the land to make way for the strip.
Dozens of residents showed up at the city council meeting to protest the strip so close to their homes. Others argued the economic benefits of such a motorsports attraction, which would provide jobs and revenue in the area. Smith will have to take the city to court in order for the decision to be reversed. He wants to undo an annexation, which made the speedway, and the land around it that had been zoned for motorsports, part of the city limits. “Either they go, or we go,” he said. Eyewitness News contacted the mayor of Concord and told him what Smith had to say. He said he had no comment. Smith is estimated by Forbes to be worth more than $1.4 billion. )
On a better subject, a former NASCAR track and historic track I might add has just been auctioned off to the highest bidder and the new owner is a Former NASCAR driver, Andy Hillenburg buys North Carolina Speedway (Rockingham) for 4.4 Million Dollars… according to the article in SceneDaily.com, Hillenburg hopes to return some form of stock-car racing to the facility within a year and it will also be home to his driving school.
Rockingham “The Rock” Speedway made for some of the most incredible races in NASCAR history including some championship winning moments, Steve Park’s victory in his DEI Chevy following the death of late great Dale Earnhardt, in 2004, Matt Kenseth beat out Kasey Kahne by 0.010 seconds for the victory and Carl Long’s incredible flipping car down the backstraight into turn 3 (you had to see that one…). Nevertheless, its good to see a new owner that wants to breath new life into a historic track. Hopefully the same can be soon said for North Wilksboro Speedway as there has been talk about a new owner there as well.
At the end of this entire shuffling event, it’s the fans who pay.
