Homer
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2nd date for TMS, I think everyone knew this was coming.
Sources: Texas getting 2nd race,
other changes to schedule coming
Suit's settlement puts race dates, tracks in play
By JEFF WILSON
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Texas Motor Speedway will have its long-awaited second NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race in 2005.
The Fort Worth race track will be granted two races per season as part of a settlement of Francis Ferko's lawsuit against NASCAR, sources told the Star-Telegram on Tuesday. Ferko, of Plano, filed the suit in February 2002 on behalf of shareholders of Speedway Motorsports, the company that built and operates TMS.
An announcement could be made next month, though sources said the settlement probably won't be declared final until the summer. NASCAR usually unveils its schedule in August or September.
TMS President Eddie Gossage declined to comment. Calls to NASCAR and its attorney, Alan B. Vickery, weren't returned. Ferko attorney Samuel A. Cherry Jr. said last month that settlement negotiations were under way.
The second date, which sources said will probably be in early November during the 10-race "Chase for the Championship," is the key piece of an agreement that keeps the Cup schedule at 36 races and involves four other facilities: Phoenix International Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and North Carolina Speedway.
• Darlington, owned by lawsuit co-defendant International Speedway Corp., loses one of its two dates and will hold its race the day before Mother's Day, traditionally an open weekend for the Cup Series.
• North Carolina, an ISC track that was pared to one race this season, will lose its remaining February date.
• Phoenix, another ISC racetrack, will also have two Cup dates - in February (North Carolina's race) and November (Darlington's second date). Phoenix and TMS will be two of 14 facilities with two races in 2005.
• Atlanta, a sister track of TMS in Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports empire, will keep its two dates, but the spring race will be pushed later into March in an attempt to ease weather concerns.
NASCAR and ISC are owned by the France family of Daytona Beach, Fla., and are accused by Ferko of violating federal antitrust laws. Ferko also claims that NASCAR breached "express" and "implied" contracts with the "promise" of a second date for TMS.
"We've heard our name mentioned in relation with a second Nextel Cup race for almost two years now, yet we have not heard anything official from anyone," Phoenix raceway President Bryan Sperber said Tuesday. "If it did happen, we would be ecstatic and would certainly do our best to represent NASCAR as best we could."
Darlington, in rural South Carolina, and North Carolina Speedway, in the small town of Rockingham, surfaced in reports last month as speedways that could be affected by the lawsuit. Their small markets and relatively limited seating capacities (combined 120,113) ultimately cost the two traditional NASCAR tracks.
"What we're going through now is not a great deal different than what the NFL, the NBA and certainly the NHL went through: the nationalization of the sport," said H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, and president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports. "There are forces at work outside of racing - sponsors or TV - that want those bigger numbers, and you can't get bigger numbers without bigger markets.
"It's going to be very difficult economically if you don't have 100,000 seats. You might be able to get along for a while, but with the way purses have escalated, you're going to have to have those seats."
TMS has them. Track officials estimated that more than 200,000 fans attended the April 4 Cup race, the Samsung/RadioShack 500, which drew a 5.6 rating and a 13 share for Fox Sports. Those numbers are an
attractive fit for the Chase for the Championship, the sprint for the Nextel Cup title over the final 10 races of the season.
ISC tracks will host the final three races this season (Phoenix,
Nov. 7; Darlington, Nov. 14; Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 21).
Atlanta, on Oct. 31, is the only Speedway Motorsports track in the final five. Next season, Phoenix and Miami will host the final two, preceded by Atlanta and Texas.
"I think a place like this ought to have two races for sure," Cup driver Rusty Wallace said last month during a test session at TMS. "There are some tracks that have got two races that sure can afford to go back to one. When you come to a place like this, it's exciting because they fill the grandstands up. It's great."
Sources: Texas getting 2nd race,
other changes to schedule coming
Suit's settlement puts race dates, tracks in play
By JEFF WILSON
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Texas Motor Speedway will have its long-awaited second NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race in 2005.
The Fort Worth race track will be granted two races per season as part of a settlement of Francis Ferko's lawsuit against NASCAR, sources told the Star-Telegram on Tuesday. Ferko, of Plano, filed the suit in February 2002 on behalf of shareholders of Speedway Motorsports, the company that built and operates TMS.
An announcement could be made next month, though sources said the settlement probably won't be declared final until the summer. NASCAR usually unveils its schedule in August or September.
TMS President Eddie Gossage declined to comment. Calls to NASCAR and its attorney, Alan B. Vickery, weren't returned. Ferko attorney Samuel A. Cherry Jr. said last month that settlement negotiations were under way.
The second date, which sources said will probably be in early November during the 10-race "Chase for the Championship," is the key piece of an agreement that keeps the Cup schedule at 36 races and involves four other facilities: Phoenix International Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and North Carolina Speedway.
• Darlington, owned by lawsuit co-defendant International Speedway Corp., loses one of its two dates and will hold its race the day before Mother's Day, traditionally an open weekend for the Cup Series.
• North Carolina, an ISC track that was pared to one race this season, will lose its remaining February date.
• Phoenix, another ISC racetrack, will also have two Cup dates - in February (North Carolina's race) and November (Darlington's second date). Phoenix and TMS will be two of 14 facilities with two races in 2005.
• Atlanta, a sister track of TMS in Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports empire, will keep its two dates, but the spring race will be pushed later into March in an attempt to ease weather concerns.
NASCAR and ISC are owned by the France family of Daytona Beach, Fla., and are accused by Ferko of violating federal antitrust laws. Ferko also claims that NASCAR breached "express" and "implied" contracts with the "promise" of a second date for TMS.
"We've heard our name mentioned in relation with a second Nextel Cup race for almost two years now, yet we have not heard anything official from anyone," Phoenix raceway President Bryan Sperber said Tuesday. "If it did happen, we would be ecstatic and would certainly do our best to represent NASCAR as best we could."
Darlington, in rural South Carolina, and North Carolina Speedway, in the small town of Rockingham, surfaced in reports last month as speedways that could be affected by the lawsuit. Their small markets and relatively limited seating capacities (combined 120,113) ultimately cost the two traditional NASCAR tracks.
"What we're going through now is not a great deal different than what the NFL, the NBA and certainly the NHL went through: the nationalization of the sport," said H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, and president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports. "There are forces at work outside of racing - sponsors or TV - that want those bigger numbers, and you can't get bigger numbers without bigger markets.
"It's going to be very difficult economically if you don't have 100,000 seats. You might be able to get along for a while, but with the way purses have escalated, you're going to have to have those seats."
TMS has them. Track officials estimated that more than 200,000 fans attended the April 4 Cup race, the Samsung/RadioShack 500, which drew a 5.6 rating and a 13 share for Fox Sports. Those numbers are an
attractive fit for the Chase for the Championship, the sprint for the Nextel Cup title over the final 10 races of the season.
ISC tracks will host the final three races this season (Phoenix,
Nov. 7; Darlington, Nov. 14; Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 21).
Atlanta, on Oct. 31, is the only Speedway Motorsports track in the final five. Next season, Phoenix and Miami will host the final two, preceded by Atlanta and Texas.
"I think a place like this ought to have two races for sure," Cup driver Rusty Wallace said last month during a test session at TMS. "There are some tracks that have got two races that sure can afford to go back to one. When you come to a place like this, it's exciting because they fill the grandstands up. It's great."
