Having revved up interest in stock-car racing with last year's overhaul of the points system, NASCAR Chairman Brian France has his sights set on cultivating millions more fans at home and abroad. And he's looking to New York, the country's biggest media market -- as well as Canada and Mexico -- to provide the prospective converts who he envisions tuning in to NASCAR races on Sundays, scooping up souvenir merchandise and, in time, cheering for Hispanic drivers as they duel alongside superstars Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Last month, International Speedway Corporation, the France family-controlled company that owns or operates 11 major racetracks on the circuit, bought a massive tract of land on New York's Staten Island for the purpose of constructing an 80,000-seat speedway to host NASCAR races. Plans are moving ahead to get a track built on a 600-acre site by the latter part of the decade, ISC President Lesa France Kennedy said Monday, despite local anxiety over traffic and environmental concerns.
NASCAR's expansion into Mexico is on a faster track. Its Grand National division, which is one rung below the elite Nextel Cup ranks, will stage NASCAR's first points race abroad on March 6 at Mexico City's storied Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course. That's an off weekend for Nextel Cup drivers, and France said he hopes that some of the sport's top names will enter the event, which will pay one of the largest purses in Grand National history, to help promote stock-car racing south of the border.
To the north, NASCAR recently gained a major foothold by joining with TSN, Canada's equivalent of ESPN, to form NASCAR Canada. The idea is not only to televise NASCAR races in Canada, but also to grow the NASCAR brand and fan base. With the NHL on strike, the timing could hardly be better. "Right now, particularly with hockey off the air, NASCAR is very popular in Canada on television," France said, "so we're interested in taking better advantage of that and seeing what the opportunities are north of the border."
France outlined his vision for global expansion during Lowe's Motor Speedway's annual media tour. Though relatively young to be in charge of the dynasty his grandfather founded 56 years ago, France, 42, gained enormous credibility last season when his plan for retooling the way NASCAR crowns its annual champion did exactly what he promised: It created the closest points race in the sport's history (with Kurt Busch fending off Jimmie Johnson by eight points) and, in the process, boosted TV ratings.
That accomplished, France has added "growing the franchise around the world" to his to-do list for 2005.
"We're just looking for opportunities," France said, "because auto racing around the world is either number one or number two, depending where you are, with soccer being the lead. We think our style of racing is the best by far, and we think our formula is the best. So where we can take that and the industry is something we'll have to see."
NASCAR already is in an enviable position, with TV ratings that are second only to the NFL among U.S. sports fans. NASCAR races are seen in more than 150 countries and broadcast in 23 languages. Not bad for a sport that sprang from the sands of Daytona Beach, Fla., and culled its raw talent from the moonshiners and daredevil ne'er-do-wells who populated the southeast in the decades after World War II.
Fueled by the popularity of icons such as the late Dale Earnhardt, his son Dale Jr., and the telegenic Gordon, NASCAR has expanded to such major markets as Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago in the past decade while weaning itself from small-market tracks in the Carolinas. Though its 36-race schedule can't accommodate more races just yet, France sees growth in new fans.
"We know the Hispanic market is the fastest growing emerging market in the country," France said. "We also know, with [NASCAR tracks in] Miami, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago, that that's where a lot of our fans are coming from. There are a lot of reasons Mexico ought to be important to us, and it is."
So, too, is New York.
"It's the media capital of the world," said Lowe's Motor Speedway President H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler. "Just a slight bump in the ratings in the boroughs of New York equals a bunch of Rocky Mount [N.C.]'s."
