Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Just some good ole boys, eh!

Nascar is coming north! Perhaps the fastest rising spectator and television sport in the USA, they have had their eye on the Canadian marketplace for while now, and Tuesday with a flourish Nascar pulled out a pen and signed a cheque to purchase the Cascar circuit.

The new series to be called the Nascar Canadian Tire series will stage a 10-12 race schedule across the country, where teams will compete in a points race for national supremacy. The Cascar brand goes back to 1981 and was a loosely affiliated group of races across the nation. The purchase by the Nascar brand will give it a bit more of an image boost and provide some serious marketing opportunities over the short term.

As it starts out it will be considered a fourth level race of the Nascar scale, below the Nextel Cup, Busch series and the Trucks series. Stock car racing in Canada is not quite on the same level as the USA yet, there is only one track in the nation at Cayuga, Ontario on an oval, the prefered course for Nascar, though a test of the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal this summer met with approval of the Nascar pooh bahs.

There is some talk of a major Nascar race finding a home in Canada, the most rumoured location is that Montreal circuit, which hosted it's last Champ car race this summer. The Nascar Canadian Tire Series is expected to be the first wave of the Nascar invasion of the nation, with a large number of fans already in place, they can no doubt expect a warm welcome as they roar across the border.

Wonder if Will Ferrell is up for a sequel to Talladega Nights, something like Cayuga afternoon!

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