Kansas .... second Cup Series race ?

Quote :

Kansas actively seeking second Cup Series race
Hard Rock Casino bid key for potential $700M project
By Track Release
March 31, 2009
12:49 PM EDT

Kansas Entertainment LLC, a partnership between Kansas Speedway and principals of Baltimore-based The Cordish Company, have resubmitted a bid for a Hard Rock Casino overlooking Turn 2 at Kansas Speedway.

The overall proposal calls for an approximately $700 million entertainment destination to include a casino, hotel, spa, convention center and entertainment/retail district. The initial phase of the project will be a Hard Rock-branded casino with an overall budget of approximately $390 million, and which will include a 100,000-square foot casino floor, high-energy center bar and dining and entertainment options.

"We are committed to bringing a world-class destination casino to Wyandotte County and Kansas Speedway," said Jeff Boerger, president of Kansas Speedway. "With the addition of a Hard Rock Casino and the potential for a second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, our project is uniquely capable of maximizing tourism, tax dollars and national and international media attention for both the state of Kansas and Wyandotte County."
Kansas Entertainment LLC also has committed as part of its proposal to donate an additional 1 percent of its gaming revenues to the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., for use in charitable and civic causes. This is in addition to the statutory taxes payable to the state and local governments.

As part of the proposal, Kansas Speedway's parent company, International Speedway Corporation, will also petition NASCAR for a second Sprint Cup Series date for the track if Kansas Speedway and The Cordish Company are awarded the casino management contract for Wyandotte County.

Additionally, if awarded the management contract, Kansas Speedway officials have committed to building a road course in the infield of the facility and ISC will petition Grand-Am Road Racing to award Kansas Speedway sports car races. Kansas Speedway has also committed two free trackside billboards to the state of Kansas to promote tourism if awarded the casino management contract for Wyandotte County.

"We are tremendously excited to bring this unique entertainment attraction to Kansas and the Kansas Speedway," said Joseph Weinberg, a managing partner at Cordish. "Our firm's development capabilities, combined with ISC's national reach and the power of the Hard Rock brand, will make this a transformative development for the region.

"As we have demonstrated throughout the country, our firm is uniquely capable of delivering casino destinations in regional markets that exceed all expectations. We demonstrated this in Florida with our two highly successful Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino developments, and again this year in Indiana with the opening of the Indiana Live! casino. In addition, the Cordish Gaming Operations team, led by Partner/CEO Dennis Gomes, is second to none."

A 2nd race? No thank you!
No need for another 1.5 mile race. Too may on the schedule as it is.

I agree........ once is fine


and the way it most likely would go it would replace a good track to like Richmond

That would be horrible if they did that.

I think most of the tracks that have 2 races should give one up .... exception of the short tracks like Richmond, Bristol and Martinsville. ~JMO

rumor is that it maybe Michigan or MARTINSVILLE!!!! WHAT KIND OF IDIOT WOULD DO SUCH AN IDIOTIC THING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


Will Martinsville lose a race? Michigan? Kansas Speedway has resubmitted its bid for a casino overlooking Turn 2, a plan that was put on hold a few months ago cause of the troubled economy. When it's approved by the gaming commission Kansas Speedway will petition NASCAR for a second annual Sprint Cup race. That will probably happen in 2011. Lesa France Kennedy is the president of International Speedway Corp., which owns Kansas Speedway and 11 other facilities that play host to Cup events. The France family has controlling interest in ISC, which is headquartered in the same building as the NASCAR offices in Daytona. NASCAR chairman Brian France is Lesa's brother. But NASCAR won't add a race. Cup has too many events now at 36 points races and two all-star events. So the second Kansas date will need to come from another ISC track. Martinsville, an ISC track and the oldest facility in NASCAR, was thought to be the location that would lose a race. Don't count on it. Martinsville is the new Bristol. The resurfaced track at Bristol has eliminated much of the bumping, banging and crashing that made the short track so popular. That leaves Martinsville as the best bumper-bashing facility left. NASCAR officials aren't going to mess that up and take a race away from the old Virginia track, a move that would cause a revolt by many fans. Martinsville appears safe for keeping both Cup dates until ISC manages to build a new short track (probably more like the .75-mile oval at Richmond) in a big market like Denver or Seattle. That's a long way off, several years at least. So which ISC track will lose a Cup date to Kansas? Most fans would opt for Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., but Michigan Speedway might be the odd-place out. Sponsors want to race twice at ACS because it's in the second largest market in the country. Michigan, an almost identical track to ACS but 30 years older, lies in one of the most depressed areas of the country. Thousands of people in the Detroit market are out of work because of the layoffs in the auto industry. Being in the backyard of GM, Chrysler and Ford's headquarters was a big reason Michigan had played host to two Cup races a year since 1969. No one knows whether all three automakers will survive. Michigan Speedway also could become a victim of the problem. How things go this season and 2010 will go a long way toward determining which ISC track loses a race to Kansas.(ESPN Insider)(4-3-2009)


Credit~ Jayski

I would really hate to see Martinsville lose a race. Michigan too, the racing is pretty good there most of the time.

If they are going to take the race, take it from Fontana!

But, I agree, we don't need anymore 1.5 mile tracks!

ya fontana is the first track that should loose a date and really BOTH dates

^ I agree!

I will be VERY unhappy if Martinsville (or any of the short tracks, for that matter) loses a date.