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Powerful group launching new auto racing circuit to debut next year on CBS

Kaplony

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Off To The Races: Powerful group launching new auto racing circuit to debut next year on CBS

Two of the biggest names in auto racing — NASCAR hall of famers Ray Evernham and Tony Stewart — will launch an auto racing circuit that has the potential to be the biggest disrupter to the auto racing business in decades.




With top agent Sandy Montag and former NASCAR COO George Pyne rounding out the four-person board, Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) will feature six short-track races starting next summer.


SRX already has a TV deal in place with CBS, which has committed to carry the Saturday night races in prime time next year. The CBS deal runs for multiple years.


SRX has no outside investors; it is being underwritten by the four board members. Startup costs currently run in the low seven-figure range. Those costs will ramp up next summer when the races start, but SRX expects to have sponsors on board to defray those costs.

During interviews last week, SRX’s board members took pains to say the new group had no plans on competing with NASCAR. But it’s clear that they see openings where they believe NASCAR has fallen short. That includes:


■ A television strategy that will fit races into two-hour prime-time windows, presenting a contrast to NASCAR’s races that can run twice that long.


■ A focus on driver performance, rather than auto technology. Evernham will design the cars so that everyone races with the same equipment.


■ It will include racers and crew chiefs who are well known. Each race will have 12 drivers randomly matched with a crew chief.


■ It will feature racing under the lights at short tracks in the American heartland.


■ It is being positioned as an easier sale for sponsors that want to buy time on TV and at the event. “They make one phone call to be integrated in all aspects of the broadcast and the event,” Pyne said.





SRX is most excited about the way drivers will compete on those short tracks. Evernham will design, prepare and build traditional stock cars that are capable of running on different surfaces and different types of tracks, such as paved or dirt.

“We want to make that machine be a big part of it, but it’s got to be the driver, crew chief, the human being controlling the machine, not the machine controlling the outcome of the competition,” Evernham said. “That combination of driver, crew chief and machine, no computers telling you what to do, no simulation. It’s really about the competition, how well that driver and crew chief can make that machine go against one another.”





The races are designed to keep viewers interested throughout, with two 45-minute heats and no pit stops.

“That’s enough time to showcase the personalities in a way that’s fun and appealing and exciting,” Pyne said. “Having close, competitive racing, you’re going to get 20 or 30 lead changes in a race.”

Drivers will compete for individual race winnings each week and a points-based SRX Series Championship.








Executives also feel that the tracks that SRX is targeting — dirt, paved ovals, road courses — will give the group advantages. The group is identifying historic, smaller tracks, like the one at the Nashville Fairgrounds or dirt tracks such as Ohio’s Eldora Speedway or Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. SRX has not settled on any specific tracks, but Stewart does own Eldora.

“It’s appealing to go to short tracks in the heartland of America where there’s hundreds of short tracks,” Pyne said. “These tracks are 10-20,000-seat facilities that sell out on a regular basis. Now if you’re able to come with a legendary crew chief like Ray or Tony Stewart with a national TV audience live on CBS, you’re going to have a place that’s supercharged with a lot of excitement.”

Evernham said he’s looking for historic, shorter tracks.

“We’d like to be on shorter tracks in grassroots America, for a couple of reasons,” he said. “It keeps the cars close, it keeps the speeds down, it’s going to let the guys play and bounce around and use each other up a little for some exciting racing.”


This could be very interesting. A big reason why my NASCAR passion has faded was the loss of so many of the traditional short tracks in favor of the cookie cutter 1.5 mile fuel mileage ovals.
 

Fish

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I hope they pick DuQuoin.
 

Schmoopy1000

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No idea, but with what will be the equivalent of IROC cars on a short track I wouldn't bet against it.
I would. Unless they are gonna make them bricks in the wind. Aero will keep them from being able to pass if all the cars are the same.
 

wildturkey

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This could potentially work. It's basically giving fans what they've been clamoring for for years now; shorter races and short tracks.

It needs to be on CBS proper though and not CBS Sports Network. If its on the latter, it'll fail. CBS Sports Network is on like the highest tier of most providers, therefore not many people actually get it. Less eyeballs watching means less interest which means less money and you're broke.
 

pitman

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Will watch
 

Retroram52

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Yep. This series has a lot of IROC in it with variations to make it a little more watchable and perhaps interesting.
 

Goldbug

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What does this do with Tony Stewart's relationship with NASCAR? Full Disclosure: I hate Tony Stewart but it's still a fair question.
 
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