Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Investors preparing new series

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 15, 2001

Television ratings are at an all-time high. Sponsors are paying millions to have their company name on cars and race titles.

Hoping to capitalize on the country's infatuation with NASCAR, a group of investors decided it was time to get involved but chose an unusual approach.

The Team Racing Auto Circuit, a stock-car racing series, will be announced at a news conference today in Charlotte, N.C., according to the Charlotte Observer.

Founders of the all-oval series say they do not want it to rival NASCAR, but that the series will use some tracks the Winston Cup series competes at and others it doesn't.

"We are not going to go after the drivers who are in NASCAR," Jon Pritchett, president and chief operating officer of Maxx Motorsports, a Greenville, S.C.-based company that is part of the group providing financial support to TRAC. "We believe firmly that we can serve markets that are under-served by stock car racing. We believe there is a lot of room to grow."

Pritchett said the new series might race at tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns Lowe's Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Sears Point Raceway.

Any arrangement with SMI could raise questions.

Bruton Smith, SMI chairman and CEO, has criticized NASCAR for not awarding Texas a second Winston Cup date. He also has suggested the creation of a two-league system for Winston Cup -- similar to the American League and National League in Major League Baseball -- which would allow for up to 80 teams to compete in 60 races a season.

PURE GANASSI: He said it was not a premeditated move.

But can we really believe CART team owner Chip Ganassi, who hired Tony Stewart and Jimmy Vasser for the Indianapolis 500 because his two rookies, Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian, didn't have adequate experience on ovals?

With Stewart and Vasser qualified for the May 27 race, Ganassi figured he'd let Junqueira and Minassian try to qualify in the team's backup cars on Sunday.

"I didn't decide until two hours ago and then I asked my crew what they thought," Ganassi said. "I'm not going to take anything away from Tony's and Jimmy's effort, but I figured we had four cars and four fast drivers so why not?"

Junqueira qualified 25th and Minassian 27th.

Ganassi will not be the first car owner to start four cars in the Indianapolis 500. Team Scandia fielded seven cars in 1996 and five in 1997.

SACRIFICE: The requests came over Rubens Barrichello's radio in the closing laps of the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.

In the name of championship hopes, Barrichello was asked to slow down in the final three laps so Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher could pass for second place.

Schumacher gained two points thanks to Barrichello's compliance and leads McLaren's David Coulthard, who won the race, by four points after six events.

"This seems ridiculous to me -- especially at the beginning of the season," BMW-Williams driver Juan Montoya said. "It proves that Ferrari is a very bad team for any other driver to be in while Schumacher is there."

ODDS AND ENDS: On Wednesday, Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler will announce a safety concept designed to absorb energy during a frontal impact, reducing the G forces a driver sustains. ... Former NASCAR executive Dennis Huth has joined the Panoz Motor Sports Group in a role that includes becoming president of the Clearwater-based Professional Sports Car Racing, Inc., sanctioning body for the American Le Mans Series. ... SMI added Dr. Jerry Petty to its staff as medical services coordinator. Petty, 65, will assist emergency personnel at all races at SMI tracks. The neurosurgeon has worked with Lowe's Motor Speedway for 25 years.

- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright