Chase race at Road Atlanta?

[NaBUru38]

Now that Nascar has bought Road Atlanta, some are speculating that it could host one of the ten Chase for the Sprint Cup races.

Originally Posted by Art Garner

It could be quite a weekend for race fans, the Petite Le Mans finale to the GrandAm season on Saturday, a Cup Chase race on Sunday. And what the heck, run a Nationwide race at the ¾ mile Lanier Speedway across the street on Saturday night.

Just too bad Lanier's not a dirt track.

[fieldodreams79]

I'd be there for sure but I don't see it happening. They have already removed a race from the "Atlanta" area for a race somewhere north of the Mason Dixon line or west of the mighty Mississippi.

One can dream though, right?

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I'd be there for sure but I don't see it happening. They have already removed a race from the "Atlanta" area for a race somewhere north of the Mason Dixon line or west of the mighty Mississippi.

One can dream though, right?

"They" were Bruton Smith and SMI that moved the race. It was not Nascar.

I see one of the Martinsville (ISC) races moving to Road ATL in a few years.

Not a chase race, but a Cup road race in the Southeast. It a no brainer for them. And the crowd would be "Petit" like if not bigger.

Also, Lainer has been for sale for over a year now and is looking pretty run down. You can blame Nascar "prime time" racing for that.

[fieldodreams79]

Great points, HJJ. "They" is the proverbial they, the ones with the money and influence on nascar, then.

While I am optimistic about what is going to happen to Road ATL, I am still skeptical on all aspects of this deal. All I know is that some people with deep pockets in a crappy economy now have control of a great road course in our backyard. Perhaps they can fix the damage they've done to Lanier while they're at it?

And yes, the place would be slammed for a Cup race, no matter the undercard.

Back to the original question, still no Chase race IMO, and I think they may test the waters with NW first before they run a Cup race. Martinsville, eh HJJ? You know something we don't?

[broadrun96]

Having lived up that way for a good while I can say Martinsville seemed to suffer from ticket sales slumping. Most guys in forestry went to the races, never bought a ticket before they left and usually got in for 10 bucks or less. And almost EVERY radio station (country, top 40, classic rock) had tickets they were giving away seemingly every hour and most were 4 packs. Bristol had some decent giveaways before I moved but that was 2010 and even they had empty seats then, think this year's fall race was back full again.
I'm torn about any stock car race coming to Road Atlanta, but I'm leaning toward it happening at some point possibly replacing the Montreal NW round. I'm sure I'd be up there for the weekend even if they just started with nationwide as a test run. I'd just be afraid of what they would do or have to do to the track or around the track. The stock car going deep and slamming the wall at 12 at the Mitty made a hella mess of the car, the tires, and actually left a mark on the wall under the support paddock. Shut everything down for at least 30 min and may have been longer. And remember the complaining about how unsafe Road Atlanta was on both CBS and NBC down here after Keselowski went off at Turn 1. Although he did carry enough speed to cross the gravel and break the wall BEHIND the tires. Impressive amount of speed to do this and his ankle didn't seem to like the wall either.

[fieldodreams79]

Great points, broad. There would surely be a pile up in turn 12 with 43 stockcars once every race. Would still love to be standing aside the fence on the inside of turn 9 for the start or restart with 43 Cup or NW cars blasting down the backstretch.

[St00ge]

**** yeah, would be a great addition; but won't hold my breath..

[broadrun96]

How many laps before someone would get spun into the gravel/wall anywhere from 10A thru 12? I'm thinking it would be 5-10 lap shootouts followed by 10-15 laps cautions. Turn 3 thru the Esses would be the usual fun watch. And it is a pretty wild drive in FM3, haven't tweaked the set-up to lock the car in but it is a slide fest when I push hard.

[Paradise City]

They should do it. Put aside the politics for once.

[gregtummer]

Lanier is a 3/8 mile track.

[HJJ]

01/22/13 Road America and Road Atlanta to get Sprint Cup races? Rumors coming out of this week's NASCAR media tour say to expect NASCAR to give serious consideration to adding more road races to the schedule, because the participating manufacturers let the NASCAR hierarchy know this should be a priority. Two road races, in fact.

Likely candidates?

Road America and Road Atlanta, with one of the two being part of The Chase. Also expect a corresponding deletion of two existing oval events to accommodate this move so that there will be no expansion of the already bloated Sprint Cup schedule. And we should see NASCAR finally moving to on-board telemetry in the cars, so fans can see everything going on in the cockpit. Autoextremist

.

[Jacques Rabbit]

I like it on paper, but the amount of full course yellows just makes NASCAR road racing unwatchable when, in theory, it should be the most exciting. I can't take another GWC on a road course race that lasted four hours.

If NASCAR can learn how to use local yellows, this is more than welcome. If not, I can't let myself get as excited as I want to get about this.

[NaBUru38]

Thanks, HJJ!

My choices for replacements: Pocono, Phoenix, New Hampshire, Kansas. All of which would get an IndyCar race, of course

[JHamilton]

They would have to invest many millions to upgrade the facility to hold a Sprint Cup race. There are no garages or grandstands at Road Atlanta.

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

They would have to invest many millions to upgrade the facility to hold a Sprint Cup race. There are no garages or grandstands at Road Atlanta.

This.

Fiscal Cliff Deal Includes NASCAR Tax Credit The "fiscal cliff" deal reached by the Senate and the White House on New Year's Eve, and passed in legislative form by the Senate early New Year's Day, includes many giveaways to special interests--including an extension of a perk enjoyed by "motorsports entertainment complexes" otherwise known as the "NASCAR tax credit."

The provision, under section 168(i)(15) of the federal tax code, allows speedways to write off their costs over seven years. Typically, such expensing occurs over a much longer period of time, from 15 to 39 years. The cost of the NASCAR tax credit to taxpayers has been estimated at some $40 million--over and above any tax incentives provided by state and local authorities.

.

[Clive Brown]

Get shot of any of the cookie cutter circuits. Any one is as tedious as any of the others.

Replace it with Laguna Seca.

[Purist]

Road Atlanta could be rather tricky. The terrain makes large grandstands difficult to place and put in. Also, the reason the pit straight doesn't have them is that there are two pit lanes. The rub there is that, while the inside one is newer, the outside one is longer (kind of important with a 43-car field). The outer pit lane is also the most commonly used, and conversely, it severely limits potential run-off at Turn 12. I'm not sure what the "right" answer is, if there is one. It may just be best to make due with the facilities that are already present.

Clive, Laguna Seca is a BAD idea for NASCAR. Full course cautions would be relatively prevalent, especially as the place has a relative abundance of gravel (more than would otherwise be typical), because of MotoGP. There would be precious few places to pass. None of the "straights" are terribly long. Also, the natural meanders in the road (which are integral to the circuit's character) make a number of spots, particularly the approach to the Corkscrew, ridiculously easy to block.

[Scooter185]

I'm not a huge NASCAR fan anymore, but adding more road courses would definitely grab my interest.

NASCAR just needs to work on understanding yellows can be used locally.

[fieldodreams79]

I'd be there. thanks for the update, HJJ.

Originally Posted by Purist

Road Atlanta could be rather tricky. The terrain makes large grandstands difficult to place and put in.

Originally Posted by JHamilton

They would have to invest many millions to upgrade the facility to hold a Sprint Cup race. There are no garages or grandstands at Road Atlanta.

Can't the same be said for Road America as well? Never been there but seems that the surroundings are similar; only differences are the types o dirt, tree species, choices of beer and different types of meat to place on buns.

Also, if they tore down the bridge over the front stretch they could build a phenomenal grandstand where the nasty old wooden ones are. Enough money can do wonders, and could ruin the track more.

Both races would be a mess, but fun to attend!

[PabloTeK]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

I like it on paper, but the amount of full course yellows just makes NASCAR road racing unwatchable when, in theory, it should be the most exciting. I can't take another GWC on a road course race that lasted four hours.

If NASCAR can learn how to use local yellows, this is more than welcome. If not, I can't let myself get as excited as I want to get about this.

Indeed, yellows + local lights + telehandler = live snatch!

(So long as the drivers understand what it means)

A road course in the chase is needed, wasn't there a recent poll that rather heavily favoured that?

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I'd be there. thanks for the update, HJJ.





Can't the same be said for Road America as well? Never been there but seems that the surroundings are similar; only differences are the types o dirt, tree species, choices of beer and different types of meat to place on buns.

Also, if they tore down the bridge over the front stretch they could build a phenomenal grandstand where the nasty old wooden ones are. Enough money can do wonders, and could ruin the track more.

Both races would be a mess, but fun to attend!

Yes but RA has never held at sprint cup race. Only nationwide which is a much smaller crowd.

[Purist]

Crowd capacity around either track is NOT at issue. There is plenty of space for 90,000, or more, to find a spot to plunk down at either circuit. It's more a question of whether the series finds the facilities adequate to suit its image and perceived status.

I would say that the north Georgia hills are probably more severe than the undulations in that portion of Wisconsin around Elkhart Lake.

On a historical note, the road course at Riverside held the season finale for quite a number of years. (Look up the Winston Western 500 on YouTube.)

[fieldodreams79]

Riverside was awesome. Great track for all automobiles.

[broadrun96]

Sounds a good reason for me to spend another weekend at the track. Looks like this year will be three weekends with GA, MGs and CanAms at the Mitty and PLM. Let's see if they can make it three weekends again next year. Cup race would slot in nicely in September with PLM (or whatever it gets renamed) in October.

[PointDSM]

Road American already has enough grandstands to host a Sprint Cup race. They could build a new grandstand into the hill (drivers right) after turn 14, but other than that nothing more is needed. Turn 5 (most exciting for Nascar) has almost too much grandstand seating. If they could slight change the elevation of the turn 5 hill (exiting, drivers right), then they could install seating all the way down.

Road American already installed garages for Nationwide to run tech inspection, and having garage's is not a mandatory thing, Martinsville doesn't have them. Road America would also suit Sprint Cup much better than Road Atlanta, as it is a horsepower track.

The key item is "local yellows".