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SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. - I attended the major NASCAR new conference
Wednesday, April 23 at 3:00 p.m in the media room of garage two at
California Speedway in Fontana. With about 60 to 75 persons
present, Jeremy Davidson, from NASCAR headquarters in Florida,
welcomed guests and introduced the six persons seated at the dais.
The six dignitaries were: Paul Brooks, NASCAR V-P of Broadcasting
with an office in Los Angeles; Chris Boals, NASCAR Director of
Regional Touring Series; Jim Williams, President/CEO of Irwindale
Speedway; Bob DeFazio, COO of Irwindale Speedway; Toyota executive
Greg Gollands and current NASCAR Winston West driver Steve Portenga. ANNOUNCEMENT: A $500,000 invitation-only all-star race for the top point drivers this season in the NASCAR Grand National and NASCAR Elite Divisions will be held Thursday through Saturday, November 6-8 at Irwindale Speedway. The $500,000 will include tow and appearance money for all divisions. The official name of the prestigious race is the "Toyota All-Star Showdown". Thursday will be a practice-only day for all competitors. Friday will have qualification runs and four 50-lap races, and Saturday will have the feature races in both divisions. Showdown championship race distances Saturday will be 100-laps for the Elite Division and 125-laps for the Grand National Division. Winners will receive $10,000 and $25,000 respectively. There will be team competition by each series in the initial stages of the event. That stage will carry points and a separate purse payoff to be divided equally by each driver from the winning series. Following a brief intermission the final stage will be every driver for himself for the big payoff in both the Elite and Grand National Divisions. Eligible Drivers: The top 15 drivers from the two NASCAR Grand National Divisions (Busch North and Winston West)--30 total drivers, and the top10 drivers from the four Elite Division touring series (Featherlite Southwest, Raybestos Brakes Northwest, Kodak Southeast and International Truck & Engine Corp. Midwest)--40 total drivers, will comprise the all-star field. If any of the top drivers in points are unable to compete alternates, based on point standings, will race. The purpose of the NASCAR regional touring series concept is to make it a logical feeder system to the top three NASCAR touring divisions-Winston Cup, Busch Grand National Series, and Sears Craftsman Truck Series. This November 6-8 Toyota All-Star Showdown will be comparable to "The Winston" non-points race in Charlotte, N.C annually during May for Winston Cup drivers. Each of the persons on the dais spoke about the new all-star event slated for Irwindale after all series involved have completed point seasons. The Saturday, November 8 finale at Irwindale will be televised live (starting at 5:00 p.m PST) during a four-hour broadcast on Speed Channel. Brooks said the Irwindale event is a natural-made for TV event. DeFazio said Irwindale Speedway was built to host this kind of all-star event. He said talk of this type of event began several years ago. The television booth is fully equipped and live national races such as American Speed Association (ASA) races have originated on TNN from Irwindale Speedway in recent years. USAC races such as the annual USAC Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix have been shown tape delayed on ESPN2 Questions from the assembled media followed with persons seated at the dais supplying answers. A question about the West Coast location instead of a more central United States site brought this response. With a post-season November race date, Southern California has favorable weather to allow the race to be run and attract a crowd. Also, Irwindale Speedway is now running at least one of the eligible divisions, and that was a prerequisite for a speedway to host the regional touring division all-star showdown. Irwindale Speedway has held Winston West and Featherlite Southwest Series ever since the track opened in 1999. Both of those touring series also are scheduled at IS this season. This all-star showdown is to be the first annual regional touring all-star race. Keith Lair, of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, asked if Irwindale would be the host track each year. The answer from NASCAR reps was that it hasn't been determined yet. However, the Toyota-USA headquarters is located about 30 miles southwest of the track, so that factor could be important when the decision is made ultimately. Current seating at Irwindale Speedway is 6,500 and DeFazio said the track is able to add 3,000 temporary seats for the all-star race in November. A reporter asked whether the drivers from the West Coast would have a home-track advantage. Driver Portenga, a veteran of the Southwest Series, Winston West and the Craftsman Truck Series last season, replied, "Their good drivers can run up front at any track. There might be a slight advantage for western drivers, but not a great advantage." Portenga added that he and his Joe Nava-owned No. 77 Ford Taurus Winston West team have plans to race later this year in some Busch North races, such as Dover, Delaware. He said it was one of his favorite tracks when he raced the No. 39 Craftsman Truck there in 2002. Toyota will be joining the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2004 as a new eligible manufacturer with its Toyota Tundra truck. I asked the NASCAR and Toyota representatives if the winner or winners of the Toyota All-Star Showdown Elite and Grand National races at Irwindale would be given a chance to test, or perhaps race one of the Toyota race trucks next season. The goal of many NASCAR regional series racers is to advance their careers to one or all three premier NASCAR touring divisions. The chance to gain entry to a factory-backed truck ride would mean more than the $10,000 or $25,000 check to many regional drivers. NASCAR's Chris Boals replied that they haven't thought of that yet. I suggested that the Toyota truck ride be added to the rewards for showdown winners to make the annual Toyota All-Star Showdown even more attractive to competitors. At the conclusion of the almost one-hour media conference, which was taped for airing on Speed Channel, Irwindale CEO Jim Williams hosted media members in his California Speedway suite. It is suite number one and it overlooks the pits and entrance to turn one. Jim, a close friend of California Speedway builder and initial owner Roger Penske, has had that suite since the track opened. He had the plate glass window put in to view the first turn and his suite has an awesome view of the track. A shelf in the suite contained a large-scale model of the red & white No. 31 Marlboro Racing CART champ car that Al Unser, Jr raced for Penske. Jim told me it was the model used in wind-tunnel testing before the car was finalized. |
