Printed from Niagara Falls Review
By DAN DAKIN
Thursday, December 08, 2005 - 02:00
Local News -
NIAGARA FALLS – The wheels are in motion to bring NASCAR racing to Niagara.
Five years after a grand announcement to build an auto-racing track off Sodom Road fizzled, a new development group with strong ties to the top levels of racing are quietly getting the ball rolling for another track in the region.
Chippawa’s Jay Mason, who has been involved in auto racing for nearly 25 years, confirmed Wednesday he is the project co-ordinator.
Mason said financing for the Niagara project is coming together and said there were two major players involved. Both have been involved in high profile sports ventures in the past.
He estimated the cost of the track and land will be $100 million, would be built in Fort Erie or Niagara Falls and would be open for business by 2009.
An additional $50 million worth of capital improvements such as roads and services would be required for the facility.
“We would certainly like to be open in 2009, but it’s too early to make that prediction,” said Mason, whose son Jesse raced in the Indy Racing League’s Infiniti Pro Series last year.
Mason said a location for the facility hasn’t been decided yet, but he confirmed International Country Club in Stevensville is on the short list.
The golf club just off the QEW south of Netherby Road has been up for sale and rumours have surfaced recently the club has been sold.
Calls to the club weren’t immediately returned Wednesday, but an anonymous caller to The Review who identified himself as a longtime ICC member, said a deposit has been placed for the club and the 1,000 acres of land it sits on to be sold.
Adding to the buzz around Fort Erie, Economic Development and Tourism Corporation general manager Jim Thibert included ICC in his list of land deals the EDTC is helping to broker.
He told a Fort Erie town council budget meeting the club has an option to purchase with written sale offers tendered.
The big question is whether NASCAR would be interested in bringing one of its three major series to Niagara.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based racing series never promises to bring its races to a track before it’s built, but Mason is confident the interest is there.
“I’m tremendously confident. They’ve announced they’re going to come to Canada. We understand we have to commit to the project, but obviously there is an open dialogue with them,” he said.
Mason confirmed officials close to NASCAR were in Niagara recently and were pleased with what they saw.
“Niagara Falls should be extremely proud because these guys were blown away the Falls when they came here,” he said. “It completely changed their opinion of the entire area. When they realized how much there was the for the fans to do here, they were completely taken aback.”
Mason said there are 7.3 million people living within 160 kilometres of Niagara Falls, making this one of the largest markets in North America without a NASCAR track.
NASCAR officials have publicly said they plan to expand into Canada.
Last week, NASCAR president Bill France Jr. confirmed they are working to bring a Craftsman Truck Series race to Canada in the next two years and he is aware of the project in Niagara Falls.
George Pyne, France’s No. 2 man at NASCAR, told a Winston, N.C. newspaper the Canadian market is ready to be hit.
“Between six and eight million Canadians, out of the 30 million total, are NASCAR fans. And 80 per cent of that 30 million live within 75 miles of the U.S. border,” Pyne told the Winston-Salem Journal recently. “Canadians are an attractive market. And certainly open-wheel has had a lot of success there, with Formula One and CART.”
NASCAR currently has a marketing and licensing relationship with TSN in Canada, and it has options to purchase CASCAR, Canada’s top auto racing series.
“Does the Canadian market have an interest? Absolutely. Do we think it’s logical? It certainly does seem logical,” Pyne said.
The limiting factor in bringing the top NASCAR series – Nextel Cup – to Canada has been the fact the largest paved oval in Canada is only 5/8ths of a mile, far too small for the 43-field Nextel Cup races which run the majority of its events on tracks 1.6 miles or longer.
The other question is whether Niagara is ready to host the travelling circus that is NASCAR.
Nextel Cup events typically sell out everywhere they’re held, and Mason said the numbers used in planning for racing complexes show that tracks where NASCAR events are held generate between $130 million and $180 million US for the local economy per year.
“The big thing we need is local support. Wherever it ends up, we need local people to come on board and say this is what they want,” he said. “We’re more concerned with the locals than anyone else.”
This marks the second time in five years a developer has tried to bring NASCAR to Canada. In June 2000, local developer Joseph Zawadzki announced plans to build a track on a piece of land he owned on Sodom Road, but the project fizzled because it didn’t have the backing of NASCAR, the government or any significant financing when it was announced publicly.
Mason is trying to go about it this project differently.
“I don’t want to comment on the other one, but any development you do, you need to get local proponents on board and it can’t just be you,” he said. “And I think my personal connection to racing is fairly woven into what we’re doing. I know the players personally.”
ID- 136532
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