Motor Sports
Getting on track with NASCAR in the Northwest

By José Miguel Romero
Seattle Times staff reporter

CHRIS STANFORD / GETTY IMAGES A race weekend at a Nextel Cup track, like this one in Bristol, Tenn., draws tens of thousands of fans and has "a feeling of the state fair meets the Super Bowl," said NASCAR executive Andrew Giangola.

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For 38 weekends from February through November, 75 million fans nationwide watch, listen to or attend NASCAR Nextel Cup races.

A few of those millions are here in the Pacific Northwest, NASCAR's last frontier, and the way the sport is growing in popularity and exposure, it's realistic to expect millions more to become fans.

Television ratings in the Northwest are on par with several U.S. markets that have live races. In 2003, Cup racing was the third-most-watched sport in Seattle, after major-league baseball and pro football.

NASCAR has finally taken notice, and not just out of simple curiosity. If a major racing facility can be financed and built — somewhere in the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, B.C., corridor — a Nextel Cup race won't be far behind.

Fans, drivers, local track owners and even legislators see the region as the right fit for NASCAR expansion.

"We work with tracks, owners and sponsors to come up with a decision that allows for our future growth," said Andrew Giangola, NASCAR's director of business and consumer communications. "Our strategy has been to make races available to as many people as possible."

Expansion will take place; it's just a matter of whether the next race added to the schedule will be here or in the New York City area. But first, a track must be built, financing must be found, sponsors must be solicited, dates must be booked, and tickets must be sold.

"NASCAR is in a position where now, the timing is right for everything," said Spanaway native Derrike Cope, a driver on the Nextel Cup circuit. That's where International Speedway Corporation comes in.

Building the track

ISC is the Daytona Beach, Fla.-based company that would spearhead a new track project, and it has already started the process, visiting Washington state several times the past year.

But it will be awhile before the green flag drops. It would take 18 to 24 months to finish an 80,000-seat, $250 million track somewhere in the Northwest, and NASCAR would not move forward on a decision to hold a race until after the track is finished.

At best, a track would be opened two years after the start of construction. In the Northwest, fans can expect a longer wait because of the need to find a piece of land, sponsors and local investment partners and get government approval. Four years is probably more likely, but delays shouldn't be enough to keep NASCAR from arriving in the area eventually.

"The Northwest is a very underserved market," said David Talley, an ISC spokesman. "NASCAR has said that in order for it to grow, they need to go to big markets. We would love to be able to land a spot tomorrow, but it's not happening."

Talley said there is no timeline for the start of construction, because a site has not been selected. But ISC has plenty of options, from Woodburn in Oregon to locations near Interstate 5 in Washington. Proposed sites in the state are near Lacey in Thurston County, between Arlington and Marysville in Snohomish County and near Bremerton in Kitsap County.

State politicians and proponents of a Washington track have traveled to Daytona Beach to talk with ISC about a track and its potential economic benefits to the state. In February, the group watched the legendary Daytona 500 live at Daytona International Speedway, one of 13 ISC tracks.

On Thursday, the Checkered Flag Task Force, a group of Puget Sound business leaders trying to bring a track to the area, will meet to discuss the topic.

"We're listening to everybody," ISC's Talley said. "Wherever we land, it's got to work for us. We can't go in and spend $250 million without help (from the community)."

But ISC isn't close to deciding on a piece of land for its track, which would require a combination of public funding and ISC money to be built and would be owned by ISC.

In addition to a Nextel Cup race — which would be the annual main event at the track — the facility could also be used for other NASCAR events, road and motorcycle races, car and tire testing, motorcycle training for local police and community events such as walks for charity.

"It wouldn't sit dormant for 364 days a year," Talley said. "We don't want to disrupt the community we're in."

That is to say, there would likely not be any weekend-long rock festivals at the track. None of the ISC tracks except Chicagoland Speedway hosts concerts, and that track is 30 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.

Where ISC builds, NASCAR goes — after all, the two are essentially controlled by the France family that founded NASCAR in 1948. That's good news for the place that gets the next track.

Six new tracks have opened since 1993, and the racing season is up to 38 weekends (including a couple of racing weekends for races that don't count in the Nextel Cup points standings), plus three weekends off — Easter, Mother's Day and one in mid-July.

Four of the newer tracks are ISC-built — California, Homestead (Miami), Kansas and Chicagoland.

ISC offers quite a sales pitch in its marketing plan for a new track. A track in the Northwest has the potential to pump $227 million into the local economy during the construction phase and another $221 million in operations its first year, ISC says. Each estimate is comparable to the economic impact of a Super Bowl.

According to ISC, a track would create dozens of permanent jobs and hundreds of seasonal positions, and property values would increase around the site, making it possible for retailers, restaurants and hotel chains to build potentially successful outlets near track grounds.

Fans, drivers eager for race

Proof of NASCAR's popularity is in the ratings. February's Daytona 500 enjoyed a 10.1 Nielsen rating in the Seattle market, better than that of any regular-season Sonics game, last year's NBA Finals and last month's Masters golf tournament. The average Mariners game drew an 11.8 last season.

Seattle was tied for 29th nationally with its Daytona rating, higher than that of several markets with live NASCAR races — Phoenix, Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco-Oakland.

Don't think that those who run the local tracks and promote races in the Northwest will be put out of business by NASCAR. Small speedway owners believe they can benefit from a Nextel Cup Sunday by scheduling races on a Friday or Saturday night.

An actual Nextel Cup race here? Left turn after left turn by cars with bright paint jobs that glisten in the sun? Motor homes in the track infield and heads adorned with radio earphones to follow the action at every turn?

Bring it on, many say.

"I can't wait until we get a racetrack out here," said Greg Biffle, a Nextel Cup driver from Vancouver, Wash. "We pretty much go everywhere all the other drivers are from, but we don't go to the Northwest. I think it's going to be a lot bigger than what NASCAR suspects it will be."

Biffle, who advocates building a track somewhere along I-5 between Seattle and Portland, believes that not only will a track draw from the local area, but fans from around the country will make the trip. Biffle, who lives in North Carolina, said he would consider buying property in the area once a site is determined.

Racing has a solid history and tradition in the Northwest, where drivers like Biffle, Cope and Nextel Cup rookie phenom Kasey Kahne cut their teeth on the clay and asphalt ovals in Yakima, Monroe, Spanaway and Skagit County. Owners and operators of such tracks say they would welcome bigger races, because more racing fans in town mean potentially higher attendance at their events.

"I would want them to run on Sunday afternoon, and I'd do a race on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night," said Mickey Beadle, president of Monroe's Evergreen Speedway. "You're trying to get fans out to your track."

In the 1980s, Beadle was fighting to keep his track in business. Beadle, one of the earliest track promoters to be sanctioned by NASCAR to register drivers for its races, says the attention from NASCAR and the buzz about a track have increased exposure to his product.

"It would have a positive impact on all the racetracks in Western Washington," said Skagit Speedway owner Steve Beitler, "because there would be so much publicity. Drive down the streets and look at all the decals on people's cars. This area is primed for a Nextel Cup event."

Not that everyone wants a track in Washington. A group in Snohomish County that calls itself SCAR — Snohomish Citizens Against the Racetrack — certainly doesn't. It met last week to discuss concerns about a possible track.

But for the most part, NASCAR is picking up fans in the Northwest.

Kahne's surprising start to the season — he is 11th in the driver standings with four top-five finishes — plus the past success of Biffle and Cope have helped put the Northwest on the NASCAR map. "A lot of people are talking about what we're doing," Kahne said. "It's really cool what's going on. It just makes more fans in the Pacific Northwest for NASCAR."

A fan base that used to be largely white males has evolved into a more diverse collection as the sport has moved across the country. Forty percent of the 75 million fans NASCAR claims to have are female. The number of fans aged 12 to 17 has doubled since 1999. Nearly 20 percent of NASCAR fans are African-American or Latino.

Fans make a weekend, even a week, out of attending a race. The avid fan takes in three to five races a year, and tracks always sell out.

The race is only part of the attraction, as fans camp out in motor homes in track infields, spend millions of dollars on merchandise, take part in interactive displays and challenges, such as a mobile pit stop, and sample products from race sponsors.

"The NASCAR product is pretty exciting," Giangola said. "Beyond the race, it's a real feeling of family and community. It's a feeling of the state fair meets the Super Bowl."

Waiting for the green flag

NASCAR does not decide on expansion until a track is built, and few in the sport advocate more dates on an already long schedule of races. Tracks in Texas, Las Vegas and Phoenix are asking for another race, and with the possibility of a new track here or in New York, the 36 races that currently count in the points standings could increase to 40 in the next year or two.

There is the possibility that some tracks could close, however, opening up dates for new or already existing facilities. North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham has suffered from poor attendance — in part because its race is in February, when the weather is unpredictable — and the track has only one race this season after 38 years of having two.

The possibility remains that a given track would have to give up a race, if it has two, to a new facility, but it seems more likely that races would be added before they are moved around.

None of that discussion seems to have dampened enthusiasm for expansion, however, and Northwest fans have proven to be more than willing to spend thousands on airplane tickets, race tickets, souvenirs, hotel rooms, rental cars and more when trekking to races in other parts of the country.

"It would be great to have these type of events here instead of having to travel 1,500 to 2,500 miles to watch a live NASCAR race," said fan Darrin Smith of Poulsbo. "I will have my fingers crossed, hoping for the best."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com; Seattle Times staff reporter Jane Hodges contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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