NASCAR eyes Montreal, to replace Champ Car?
"We could easily run a NASCAR Busch Series race in concert with the Champ Car race in August," Legault said. "In terms of the track being ready to host NASCAR, we could be ready tomorrow." Legault would prefer to have the top guns of the NASCAR Nextel Cup series in Montreal but would have no problem with hosting the Busch series first to show Canada is ready to host a Nextel Cup race.
Just to add to the rumors of NASCAR running at the Montreal track: I have a hard time figuring out how the Busch or Cup cars can run on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Mexico City track had to be redesigned to accommodate the weak brakes on the Busch cars. The Montreal track is much less "user-friendly" to the Busch cars due to the long straights and tight chicanes everywhere. Legault acknowledged that fact and was quoted saying the track would have to be changed. However, I don't know how feasible this is as there is very little room to move corners around on the man-made island the track was built on. One way or another, it's going to be a big and very expensive project. Alex M., Montreal. Canada
06/12/05 A reader informs us, Dear AutoRacing1.com, The Toronto Sun article by Dean McNulty quotes Normand Legault, Montreal race promoter, as saying he could run a Busch race along with Champ Car, not to replace them, but we shall see. Funny that ESPN, the huge IRL supporter, didn't mention that at all. How convenient! I will say again, I just don't see French-Canadian, open-wheel race fans supporting a bunch of American drivers crawling slowly around in big, heavy, non-maneuverable stock cars. Their only hope for success would come from North Eastern U.S.
I have said it before and will say it again. Canadian sports fans, particularly French-Canadians, love and support their own. The French-Canadians and other Canucks who flock to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve every year do so to support their own. They have long been rabid fans of open wheel racing. All you need to do is look or read every poll that has taken place in Canada and you will clearly see there is not nearly the love for NASCAR in Canada that there is for F1 or Champ Car. No matter how much brainwashed, gullible media want to spin it, NASCAR will never reach heights in Canada like open-wheel racing does. The majority of Canadian race fans will not support a bunch of slow, bulky, heavy stock cars crawling around a beautiful venue like the one in Montréal.
Normand Legault, the Montreal promoter, has supposedly said to want NASCAR at his track and that fans would love it. Let's take a quick look at this. First, media (the Toronto Sun) have completely misquoted him in the past on such issues. This time it apparently comes from ESPN. That's right, ESPN, the huge IRL supporter. They release these so called quotes from Legault on the biggest weekend of the year in Canada, the Canadian F1 GP. The same event that French-Canadian Champ Car drivers Alex Tagliani and Andrew Ranger are to attend. Legault attended the Champ Car Grand Prix of Long Beach earlier this year and said he was very impressed. He also stated he believed this years Champ Car race in Montreal would be a huge success and that Champ Car had two years left on their contract with him.
Now we are to believe ESPN that he will dump Champ Car, which has been a great success so far in Montreal, for a bunch of American drivers in stock cars. Sorry, I just don't see it happening. The fans will not support it. This is nothing more than the oval track cartel trying to kill Champ Car yet again. Deke McTeer, Twin Lake, MI 06/11/05 The promoter of Montreal's race track is lobbying to bring NASCAR to Canada and says his facility is the best place to host the stock cars. Normand Legault said he's had preliminary talks with NASCAR executives in an effort to bring the United States' top racing series to the road course at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. [Editor's Note: With only two major events allowed on the island a year, that would mean Champ Car would lose its Montreal date.]
"I would love to have it here. It is a super, super show," Legault said. "I am quite sure Canadian fans would take to NASCAR racing just like a match to dry wood."
Legault hosts two races a year at his facility, which is temporarily erected on a man-made island for each event. He said it can accommodate 125,000 fans a day, and about 95% use public transportation to reach the facility.
He said few changes would have to be made to the setup, which is currently configured to host the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, to stage a NASCAR event.
"We don't waste space on parking here, so it would be very easy logistically to get a NASCAR event here," he said. "We would just have to move a few things to handle the transporters, and possibly relocate hospitality."
Legault knows that if Canada lands a NASCAR race, it would most likely be a Busch race and not a coveted Nextel Cup race. Although he prefers the top-level Cup races, he said he would be willing to start with the Busch Series to prove he is up to the task. "It would be up to us to earn a Cup event," he said. How soon could it happen?
"Physically we could do it next year," he said. "But I don't think there are any dates available on their calendar. You have to squeeze your way onto their schedule, and that could take some time." USAToday/AP
02/24/05 Eight inches of rain in the past week and the prospect of more in the coming days are putting a damper on this weekend's first early-season NASCAR tour stop in Southern California in many years. The rain stopped yesterday morning after a wet night, but yellow "Flooded" signs are at every intersection near California Speedway, and thunderstorms surround the track, dense clouds boiling against the San Bernardino range a few miles north. But maybe Sunday's dynamite TV ratings for the season-opening Daytona 500 will provide a sorely need boost of stock-car racing publicity in this tough-sell market. NASCAR executives are ready to make as much hay as they can, not only here in Los Angeles but south of the border – the sport's next stop is Mexico City next week, for an historic run – and north of the border, where there is heavy speculation that NASCAR wants to go next, to either Montreal or Toronto. Canada's TSN said this Daytona 500 was the most-watched auto race in the network's 20 years, with a peak of 650,000 viewers for Jeff Gordon's victory.
The last time TSN carried the 500, two years ago, it drew only 240,000 viewers. NASCAR's Brian France and George Pyne, his No. 2, are both eager to keep the momentum. "I spend a lot of time traveling North America, and we took a team to watch the Canadian Grand Prix (in Montreal) and the Toronto CART race this past year," Pyne said. "And we've been to a number of CASCAR (Canada's NASCAR) races. We've announced a strategic alliance with CASCAR that gives us the option to purchase CASCAR at some point if we'd like, and we're evaluating that right now. "We just announced a marketing-and-licensing relationship with TSN, the major sports network. If you want to be in sports in Canada, TSN has the guys you need to know, so we've got a good working relationship with them. "And we've licensed two Canadian tracks for the Dodge Weekly series. That's our first entry into the Canadian market, and it's based on NASCAR doing so well on television in Canada. We're second only to hockey on TV. "We've done some research on Canada, and between six and eight million Canadians, out of the 30 million total, are NASCAR fans. And 80 percent of that 30 million live within 75 miles of the U.S. border. "So Canadians are an attractive market. And certainly open-wheel has had a lot of success there, with Formula One and CART." Gordon, though a great road racer, said someone in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver needs to build an oval: "We got to build a track up there. We don't have one yet, but we need to be in Canada. We're going to Mexico; the next step would be Canada." "We're trying to partner with the leading companies in Canada to see if there is an opportunity to bring stock-car racing to Canada," Pyne said "I don't think in the foreseeable future that would be a Nextel Cup race, but I do think a Busch or Truck race, given the right set of dynamics, is an option.
"Markets like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are all interesting. "We're cautiously evaluating that, and talking to all the major Canadian corporations. Without being specific about who they are, I have met with a number of them. And we're looking to see if we can pull something together that gives us a high likelihood of success. "If you look at the game plan for Mexico and the game plan for Canada, they're very similar. We don't really have an interest in going somewhere just to run one race. We really want to go to a place to become relevant to people. And if we can become relevant to people, then it probably makes sense. "We don't need to travel to see the world; we've seen plenty of it. "But if we can do something that will be meaningful long-term, we have an interest. "So that's why grassroots racing in Canada, as in the United States, is an important element. You need grassroots racing, and you need at least one major event that can stamp approval in that country that 'Hey, this is what it's all about.' "And you need media partners to get the message out. And corporate support … and a fan-base that likes racing. "We're a little further ahead in Mexico than we are in Canada. But those ingredients are there, and if we can get the right package, then it's something that makes sense. "Does the Canadian market have an interest? Absolutely. Do we think it's logical? It certainly does seem logical." Winston Salem Journal 02/22/05 Does anybody know anything about motorsports in Canada? Where is NASCAR going to race? The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal? Please the circuit is built for open wheel cars. A lot of the track has barriers around it – F 1 and Champ Cars slow down to 25 mph at the hairpin a NASCAR stock car would have to stop – NASCAR drivers have a terrible time driving road courses and Montreal is a tight road course not wide open like Sears Point. Toronto has no track except for the Molson Indy layout which requires shutting down the main thoroughfare for 3 days – the track has signed up for 4 years with Champ Car and it is a terrible track to see stock cars – watch CASCAR cars and you will see what I mean.
The longest oval track is 5/8 of a mile and seats 10000 with no amenities around. Canada is and will always be Champ Car territory because Champ Car brings the racing to the big series where the race is just part of the show. We don't want IRL cars and where would they run? Champ Car has Edmonton tied up for 3 years, Toronto for 4 years, and Montreal for 2 more years.
Are there NASCAR fans? Yes, lots of them and there are loyal fans for CASCAR races but there is not a track suitable and people from Toronto won't drive 1 hour away to go to a race. That's why the Molson Champ Car race is so successful – bring the race to the fans. Bill Brittain 02/12/05 It's time we bump this rumor up to 'strong.' There will be a NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal within two or three years, maybe sooner according to Normand Legault, president and CEO of Grand Prix F1 du Canada, the promoter of the Canadian Grand Prix. He was the featured guest at this year's Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame Induction Gala. "It's true. We (NASCAR) have been talking. It's definitely a possibility that they will come to Montreal to race. We have not gotten down to anything approaching serious negotiations, but we are talking. I would say two, maybe three years, but I think it will happen.'' Add all this together, then toss in the rumor that NASCAR might soon try to sell the old Watkins Glen circuit in western New York (thus opening up a road-racing date in the northeast), and a Cup race in Montreal makes all the more sense. "You're right,'' laughed Legault as I rattled all of this off. "With all the NASCAR fans from Toronto, Montreal and New York coming to Montreal, I probably couldn't build enough grandstands to hold everybody.'' Toronto Star 11/21/04 A study of the popularity of NASCAR in Canada may be seen in today's editions of the Toronto Sun. It's Gray Cup week, the Argonauts are in the big game … and the paper is devoting two full pages to NASCAR's Homestead finale. It's little wonder that NASCAR executives are studying the Canadian market so intently. There has been speculation that Montreal's Formula One and Champ Car road course could be the site of a NASCAR Nextel Cup race eventually. Winston Salem Journal [Editor's Note: Sounds like the PR office in Canada is doing its job. While NASCAR has also opened an office in Mexico, Champ Car does not have an office in either country to look after their interests. With staff devoted to both countries what are the chances NASCAR will erode Champ Car's market share in Mexico and Canada? Time will tell.] 08/10/04 The NASCAR Nextel Cup rumor machine pointed its radar at Canada again this week during the lead up to yesterday's Sirius at the Glen. The latest story making the rounds is that International Speedway Corporation — which owns Watkins Glen International — is trying to find a buyer for the upper New York State facility and then moving its race date to Montreal. Sources close to NASCAR say that it would be a win-win situation. Not only would it get a foothold in Canada, it would also get the prestige that goes with racing at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve — a Formula One track. Toronto Sun