i call bullshit on this!!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=jb-kansascity052205&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

May 22, 2005 1:02 am EST In Kansas anymore?
By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! SportsCould Lowe's lose the All-Star Challenge? (AP)
CONCORD, N.C. – It truly is a real treat for me every time I return to the greater Kansas City metropolitan area, which is perched on either side of the Missouri River.

The riverboat casinos practically know me on a first-name basis. And let's not forget the famous steaks and barbecue, jazz and blues, and the friendly folks and their true Midwestern down-home manner.

But when it comes to NASCAR, there's only one week in the year where there is a real, true connection with the Kansas City community: when the Nextel Cup series road show visits Kansas Speedway.

The 51 other weeks, NASCAR becomes a distant memory, something local residents either read about in the newspaper or watch on TV.

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Compared to the lengthy roots NASCAR has in both Daytona Beach, Fla., and in North Carolina, Kansas barely merits a seedling.

So why did I hear several times during the Nextel All-Star Challenge activities that NASCAR is going to place its highly coveted, proposed Hall of Fame and Museum in the same state that gave us Dorothy and Toto?

With less than 10 days remaining for places like Daytona Beach, Charlotte, Michigan and Richmond (Va.) to officially present a proposal to NASCAR on why their municipality is the best venue for the Hall of Fame, Kansas is rumored to have more than the inside track. It reportedly has the deal all but sewn up.

The primary reason: location, location, location. That's it. Forget history, lore or connections. They simply don't count.

During the annual preseason media tour back in January, NASCAR chairman Brian France said several times how much he likes that Kansas City is located smack dab in the middle of America, making it equidistant and fairly easy to get to from pretty much any point in the continental U.S.

Forget the nearly 150 years of combined heritage that Daytona, Charlotte and Richmond have and what they've meant to the overall tradition of the sport. Forget that Kansas City's NASCAR heritage is, for all intents and purposes, just four years old, since Kansas Speedway hosted its first Cup race on Sept. 30, 2001.

Instead, it appears that the location of the sport's defining repository of legacy and lore will be determined by little more than the location where several interstate highways crisscross.

Another potential reason why K.C. may be given the nod is money. Think for a second about who owns Kansas Speedway. None other than International Speedway Corporation, NASCAR's so-called "speedway arm."

Can you say ka-ching, ka-ching?

And because all the necessary infrastructure – freeways and plenty of land to build upon adjacent to the speedway – already exists, in a way it makes some sense.

But come on – Kansas City, Kan., as NASCAR's home away from home?

NASCAR officials won't comment on the subject, saying only that they want to see the application process play out. A final decision on where the Hall of Fame is heading likely will be made before year's end.

But now a sweetener has arisen. If the Hall of Fame heads to Kansas, the Nextel All-Star Challenge – the same race that Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler has lobbied tirelessly to keep – could follow, at least according to the buzz at Lowe's.

The tie-in is logical: host the annual all-star event at the same place and on the same weekend of the annual induction festivities once the Hall of Fame goes from dream to reality. It makes the spectacular that Wheeler has helped build even bigger. It just won't be at Lowe's Motor Speedway (unless a late rally sends the Hall of Fame in Charlotte's direction).

As a result, Kansas Speedway gets the second annual race date it has lobbied so hard for – even if it's a non-points exhibition event. Fan cash is fan cash, no matter if it's a points or non-points event.

Several weeks ago, I wrote that Daytona Beach should be awarded the Hall of Fame because of its logical tie-ins with Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR's headquarters and the Daytona USA mini-museum and entertainment complex. I still hold to that, but if Daytona doesn't get it, I wouldn't be disappointed to see Charlotte or even Richmond chosen.

But Kansas? Puh-leeze. I just hope Brian France realizes soon that he's not the Wizard of Oz and that Kansas City is not NASCAR's Emerald City.


Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is a Yahoo! Sports NASCAR analyst. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

 

Kansas has as much business having the HOF as Chicago does. Charlotte is the logical choice because people spend the whole week of the Winston(I know) and the 600 here . people practically are already going to it by visiting the 90% of shops around the 60 mile radius of Charlotte.
and as far as the all star race moving, I say since it was invented at Lowes, it should stay there. thats bullshit to move it around. hell we should move the Daytona 500 to Charlotte, at least once, to give people a chance to see it , right?

 

It makes as much sense as having the awards ceremony in NYC.

 

click on "view results"


http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/thatsracin/sports/special_packages/nascar_hall_of_fame/

 

they must be paying people in KC to sit down and vote all day


Where should NASCAR locate its Hall of Fame?
Atlanta 244 votes (1%)

Charlotte 10741 votes (43%)

Daytona 2072 votes (8%)

Kansas City 11065 votes (45%)

Michigan 90 votes (0%)

Richmond 584 votes (2%)

 

who wants all these rednecks in charlotte anyway? we gotta enough coming from monroe and gastonia already.

 

Fuck off.

 

Truth hurts, eh?