Sunday, August 26, 2001
Auto Racing Insider
2001 season brings more fans to Ky. Speedway
Kentucky Speedway released its postseason report this week, noting a 20 percent increase in race attendance for 2001.
The track's schedule grew from three weekends in 2000 to four this year. The speedway said its attendance grew from 300,000 last year to 360,000 this season, led by a Greater Cincinnati sports-record 70,338 fans for the NASCAR Busch race in June.
For 2002, the track again expects to have Busch, NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Indy Racing League events as headliners. By 2003 it hopes to have a NASCAR Winston Cup race.
To that end, the track will continue to make infrastructure improvements. Offseason plans include completion of a new 1-71 interchange (1 mile south of the Sparta/Warsaw exit) and a new entering and exiting plan.
“We must and will do a better job of getting our fans in, parked and out of the speedway,” speedway general manager Mark Cassis said. “This is our No.1 priority, right beside continuing to work toward our ultimate goal — Winston Cup Series racing in Kentucky.”
FLORENCE SPEEDWAY: Florence Speedway had its biggest annual event, the North-South 100, this weekend. Featured was the
first induction class of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.
Inductees were drivers Rodney Combs, Mike Duvall, Jeff Purvis, Buck Simmons, Freddy Smith, Jack Boggs, Jim Dunn, Larry Moore, Larry Phillips and Charlie Swartz, and contributors Earl Baltes, Ed Howe, Jimmy Mosteller, C.J. Rayburn and Robert Smalley.
FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE: Gravelrama, the annual four-wheel festival, continues today and concludes Monday at Gravelrama Park, at the corner of state routes 50 and 128 in Cleves, Ohio.
Promoters say the event, which began in 1971, draws more than 300 competitors and thousands of fans from 30 states and Canada.
For information, visit gravelrama.com.
DORAN SECOND: Delhi native Kevin Doran's team, Doran-Lista Racing, stands second in the Grand American sports car owner standings. With one race remaining, the Grand-Am Finale at Daytona Sept.12-16, Doran's team is 19 points out of first place.
IRL NEWS: Sam Schmidt Motorsports hired driver Alex Barron to replace Jaques Lazier, who quit last week to join Team Menard.
Menard last week fired Greg Ray, the 1999 IRL champion, in the midst of a bad season for Ray.
HE'S IN: Drag-racing legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits has secured a Top Fuel ride for the NHRA's U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park next weekend. Garlits had been trying to find sponsorship and did so with the help of Gary Clapshaw, last year's runner-up in the Indy event.
Garlits, 69, is coming out of retirement to try to reach the 300 mph barrier. He was the first man to reach 200 and 250 mph.
Shirley Muldowney, another Top Fuel great who still races occasionally, also will compete at IRP.
LAST WORD: Kyle Petty started his 600th career NASCAR Winston Cup race last week at Michigan. Before the race, the always candid Petty told reporters he couldn't get too excited about the number.
“I grew up in a house with a guy who started some 1,500 races,” Petty said, referring to famous father Richard Petty. “So 600 sure doesn't impress him. If I had won 599 races, yeah, this would be a really big deal.”
E-mail tgroeschen@enquirer.com.
• Kentucky Speedway coverage
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