Jeff Gordon Adding “Steam and Credibility”
A few months ago a proposal was floated to construct a new racing facility in Canada’s Niagara Falls region. At the time it was to be financed by Kuwaiti Islamic investment bank Bayt Al Mal Investments although there were still a lot of questions to be answered.
Questions remain but Thursday’s Toronto Sun has added to the story. The Kuwaiti businessmen are still onboard with the 65,000-seat 200 million dollar project but a new name much more recognizable to Americans and more specifically NASCAR fans.
The paper reports they have been approached by a Jeff Gordon representative and make the judgment the project has picked up “steam and credibility” as a result.
“John Bickford, vice-president and general manager of Jeff Gordon Inc., verified (Jeff’s) involvement in the project,” Gordon public relations rep Jon Edwards said in an e-mail to Sun Media.
“While there is a letter of understanding between the parties, there is no signed agreement at this time,” Edwards said.
In an interview with the newspaper, Fort Erie mayor Doug Martin said he, too, had been in contact with Gordon’s business group.
“We have met with them at the region, they have been here,” Martin said. “Through the proposal that’s obviously coming on, we were aware that (Bayt Al Mal) were in talks with Jeff Gordon’s (people).”
This is somewhat better news than what was offered when the story first surface last October. Then NASCARE officials fled the other way when asked about the track and only offered a terse, “who, us? We ain’t got no plans for Cup, NNS or truck series in Canada.”
Well, those are my words, but they pretty much sum up what The Daytona Suits had to say.
Here’s what I said 6 months ago when this first came to light:
NASCAR needs to be better served in Canada, the most likely tenets being the truck series and possibly NNS. (Cup, forgetaboutit!) The real advantage would be realized for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series that at present compete on smaller tracks than one mile.A local so-called super speedway would raise the level of competition and provide a smoother bridge for Canadian drivers attempting to break into the top tier of NASCAR south of the border.
My thought remain the same.
And so does this; NASCAR has far more tracks either in operation with active dates, a couple of those begging for additional dates and a few more like this project are under construction or in the planning stages.
There’s just no friggin’ room on any of the three series’ schedules. The single hope would be a CWTS date. The trucks put on an excellent show everywhere they go, at lower tickets prices, and would make a good companion event if paired up with the Canadian Tire Series.
Other than that all the date beggers have to wish for a current track to go belly-up under the stress of the current economic conditions.
In that unlikely event, all bets are off and a Mad Scramble would ensue.
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You know Marc, I was talking with someone in December that is very knowledgible in the area of Cdn motorsports and when I aksed him about having Cup in Canada now that there looks like there will be a track in Fort Erie and his reply made sense to me; “As long as Sprint is sponsoring the Cup Series there won’t be a Cup date in Canada unless their interests change in Canada. Nationwide however does have some interest in Canada and look they just signed on for a few more years to run races in Montreal.”
Makes sense to me. Unless the series sponsor has interests in Canada there won’t be any push to have a Cup date in Canada.
Makes perfect sense to me also, but still think the quickest way is for a NCWTS event, both at this new track and Cayuga.