NASCAR Grand National West picks THR

[SaltySag]

FOR RELEASE AT 12:01 A.M. APRIL 13, 2005

 

 

NASCAR GRAND NATIONAL WEST PICKS THUNDER HILL RACEWAY

 

 

 

KYLE-Thunder Hill Raceway officials announced today that the NASCAR Grand National West Division will hold their inaugural race in Texas at Thunder Hill Raceway, in Kyle, TX, just 20 minutes south of Austin.

 

The event is scheduled for Oct. 1, 2005, and according to Thunder Hill Raceway Co-owner and General Manager, “This is the biggest thing to happen to Texas auto racing since the NASCAR Nextel Cup came to Texas Motor Speedway.”

 

The scheduling came about through the efforts of friends of Thunder Hill, and was signed on Saturday, April 9, 2005, the opening night of the 2005 Season at Thunder Hill.

 

According to their website at nascarregionalracing.com, “The West Series enters its 52nd season in 2005, making it the West Coast’s oldest stock car racing circuit. The West Series historically competes in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, and has been a launching pad for the careers of Brendan Gaughan, Kevin Harvick, Lance Hooper, Rick Carelli, Chad Little and many other drivers.”

 

It continues, “When NASCAR formally re-aligned its regional touring divisions to create a two-tier driver developmental system in 2003, the Busch North Series was combined with the West Series to form the NASCAR Grand National Division. Although the name has been a part of NASCAR since the beginning-NASCAR Grand National Division was the original name of what is now the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series-this represented a brand new direction for the sanctioning body.”

 

The NASCAR Grand National Division is separate from the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series, which currently races in San Antonio.

 

More information will be forthcoming as details are worked out, and driver registration is confirmed.

[PAPA]

First let me say that I think its a great deal for THR. But I have a question...Is THR going to be a NASCAR sanctioned track now? I would think that anything that has to do with NASCAR would be done on a NASCAR sanctioned track. If not then what is the purpose of being sanctioned? I just dont understand. Im not trying to be negative toward THR in any way.

[Sarge]

Papa,

 

There was a NASCAR series race at Houston Motorsports Park last year. So, no, you don't have to be sanctioned to have a touring race at your track. Just loads of $$$.

 

LOL

 

Man is this going to be fun! Makes me real glad THR chose me to be the announcer!

 

Whoo Hooo.

 

Bill "Sarge" Masom

[Bar2248]

congratulations to THR and everyone involved!!!

[turn4]

Good job THR. This is awesome. I will definitely be there and I am bringing A CROWD!!!

Way to go Brian Calloway.

[RodneyRodriguez]

way to go Brian & Co. !!!!!! Another great positive step for THR and more importantly stock car racing here in our area.

If we can pack the stands that would sure indicate to NASCAR that we are a true racing region. This is going to be a very cool deal.

[jp17]

Crud! That's the same night as the Space City 125.

[Truck99]

Great job THR!

 

Can't wait!

[fatboyracing7]

Props to THR for the huge event !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! better bring in some more stands for the big crowd.

[lcpyltx8]

This'll be awsome. I cant wait for this. I got 1 question though, i just wonder how many laps they're going to make... Usually in something like a nascar circuit, they usually do enough laps to pit, are they just goin to have to use the actaul "pits" or is something goin to have to be fabed up so the fans can see the pit process?!?!?! (and allow the cars to get onto the track faster) ..... just curious

 

-Shawn

[Definitive]

This is a great thing for Texas racing.My only question is,why such a large and well established series would run at THR,and not SAS.I don't mean this to be a bash against THR,but I'm just considering the track size,grandstand size,pit area...and so on.Believe me...I'M THERE!!!...without hesitation.I just hope I can get a seat.

 

BTW...Callaway and Neumann rock!

[Crazyhorse]

where would they park the haulers? t.h.r has plenty of room and it's not considered an obstruction....and did host the big shot...

[Definitive]

LOL...I hope you aren't seriously trying to compare the Grand National series to that outlaw race...all of their races are televised on Hi-Def Network.It's quite a bit bigger in scale than the "Big Shot".As far as the pits are concerned...a professional series like that won't even worry about the pit situation.Besides,those guys running at THR will be cool.It will be the most green flag racing that we have ever seen there.I'm looking forward to seeing it...and the weather is just getting real good again at that time of the year.What will be really cool is if any of our local guys will be able to get a car together and run with them,or beat them.

[Jason]

Difference is bigshot had drivers we have heard of. Bobby Gill, Casey Smith, etc. West Series have a bunch of no names unless you follow racing really close like most of us here. They do have Sarah Fisher.... Point I am trying to make is what will draw fans?

[tqj3]

Jason, I hate to burst your bubble, but only the hard-core fans have a clue who Bobby Gill is. That race wasn't pumped on personalities, because our local guys, like Casey, were the only "names" we had to use.

Your point is well taken in the sense that, to the general public to whom you have to market a big event, none of the "names" in Central Texas are well known, either.

As for THR vs. SAS, one of the really weird (and kinda cool) things about the West Division is that they run on quarter-mile, 3/8-mile, and half-mile tracks, plus the superspeedway at Phoenix and also run road courses (Tavo Hellmund won the first West race he ran, on the road course at Laguna Seca, beating, among others, Brendan Gaughan.

There are, in fact, some names out there. I'd almost bet the West drivers are better known in the west than the east drivers are in the east, but it's a good point.

Oh, the pit thing: West Division races at other tracks without "fast pits;" they usually run half distance or so of a 150-lap race, then call a break. Seems like that's what we did at the Big Shots...

[Definitive]

You could be right Jason,but I think bringing Brandon Ash,Johny Borneman,Sarah Fisher,David Gilliland,Steve Portenga,Dale Quarterly,Jack Sellers,and Scott Gaylord to THR is alot bigger event than the Big Shot.Those are just some of the 20 to 25 700+ horsepower cars that will be there.All of those names run random Busch and Nextel races throughout the year.Even if all you do is watch the big show on Sunday,you have heard of them.I mean,the one guy who is going to turn out to be the biggest name that was at the big shot will be Todd Kleuver,and I was the only one in my area of the stands that night that even knew who he was.This is a very big event that Brian has brought to us.I by no means was trying to put him or THR down.My original post was questioning the powers that be at SAS not THR.For a track with so much potentional...SAS has been wasting away all these years.I just hope Mr. Dickerson can keep pace with Mr. Callaway's progress.

[Jason]

Bobby Gill is on speed channel just about every other week. Scott Lynch isn't. I am trying to be positive and hope it succeeds but seriously if they can't get people with the bigshot then how is this different? I know it takes a whole lot of money to put on a show like this and just do not see how they will not lose. The Procup series would have a better chance. Good luck to THR on this.

[Definitive]

Ok,I see the point you are trying to make now.It will be interesting to see what kind of promotional things come along with this event.Did I forget to mention,that alot of the Nextel car owners own the cars these guys run?They made mention recently,who owned Sarah Fisher's car but it escapes me now.I guess I just HOPE you are wrong Jason...that's all.

[tqj3]

Jason, your're really agreeing with me on this: only the hard core fans are watching Speed channel... You're still preaching to a very small choir. On the other hand, some of the West folks have run higher divisions and/or have pretty good names.

I think the promotion for this event will also be far and above what has been normal practice in Texas.

[Jason]

I hope you are right TQ.

[HORSEPOWER]

This is great news for THR, these guys running the track have figured it out or at least are trying. This can really lead to bigger things for the track in the near future. They took a chance with the Big Shot, which could have probably been more successful, but one could question the promotion of it, that resulted in a poor crowd turn out. I'm pretty sure they will do the right thing this time. I'm just not sure about the racing though, because of the one groove thing. When you have several cars evenly matched, it's hard to watch follow the leader for 200 laps. When tires get worn we will see some passing or if a fast car is sent to the back. I always say I'm not coming back, but I keep coming back. I guess I just like race cars and how they run the place, I bet that's what brings people like me back.

[tqj3]

Horsepower-

 

I don't think it's a one-groove track anymore, and there were a few people who could run the high side before the addition to the back straight. (I've seen both Bobby Joe New and James Reeder make a living on the outside line.)

 

What may be true is that the drivers who ran the track for the first six years still THINK it's a one-groove track, and haven't tried some different lines. But I saw some creative work last weekend in both the Street Stock and TSRS races. By October, it might be a whole new ballgame.

 

(The changes made last year to the turn four area have already saved a few more cars this year. The only downside is that a few of the dwarf car drivers seem to think Thunder Hill is now three paved turns with a dirt turn in four! At least, they were going off, staying on the power and coming back on with the tail hung out. Fun stuff.)

[ProTree]

IHRA ROCKS-sorry-just got home from the races-i'm high on the fumes-see that logo too much-good marketing though-cant seem to get it out of my head-sarah fisher drives for childress motorsports "turbo diesel"-he'll probably put her in cup before you know it-tq your right about speed channel-hard core fans watch speed channel-you have to be hard core to see me-i'll be on speed channel april 23rd and 25th-at 4 pm-in the flesh-

[SASPEEDRACER24]

In my opinon for a fan that doesnt normally come to a race at THR and where the ticket price would probrobly range into the $25-$40 its gonna take some name recognition. Yes the West Series has been a springboard to many going up to Nextel Busch ect. But how many drivers from Texas are in Cup or the upper ranks that would draw casual fans... Lets see Labonte,Starr.....................And unfortunately I think Starr is a stretch... The Big Shot races had some of the biggest names in short track racing at the time but they werent from here so it didnt intrest alot of casual fans. Emphasis on casual. Its going to take alot of promotion radio print and tv to get the turn out THR needs to... Might put a call out to the folks at HRP to get an idea on what they did because they had quite a few people there for the show. I would imagine that just to put on this race it will have cost THR quite a bit and probrobly very close to bigshot type money. The key is going to be not only selling this to Austin but also to San Antonio you have by most estimates between 2-4 Million people in the corridor between SA and Austin if you can get 1.5-2.5% of that to come out it will be a success...If it were me I would be buying TV time radio time as soon as possible because I would bet its a bunch cheaper I would also say that if I did that I would put it on stations whos fans Im more likely to draw... I would even get a little creative with some advertising on them big roadside signs That say something like Something Big is coming to KYLE Tx. 4 months out then about a 2 months out put NASCAR is coming to town or something and keep it up on the I-35 corridor somewhere in Austin and somewhere close to San Antonio. Radio and Print Ads in both Austin and SA..I wish THR all the best in this endevour . Now I am torn between where I want to be that weekend... :-(

[legacy47]

Hey Turbo- I talked to Dale Corterly's mew teamate and he is going to be running in the Busch North this season, so I don't think will be seeing him at THR, but he is one of the best of the Grand National division.