motorsport travel news - Archive 04-06

Here's some motorsport news about speedways and circuits that I've collected in my research for grand prix cities over the years. Here's the 2004 collection. From here you can go back in the history of this fine website and you'll find tidbits of travel information, exciting changes to motorsport schedules especially venues and other website news that might be of interest for the sports traveller or those of you just interested in the history of grand prix cities; a type of blog of thoughts and ambitions. Of interest might be if some of my predictions came true or if wonderous gossip ever amounted to anything. Not many consultants want their chrystal balls out in the open, but here goes. Knock your self out. If you've got some news that you'd like me to add to the current news page, let me know via the contact link in the left column.
Godspeed on your motorsport adventures! Cvetko Ostroznik.

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'04 NEWS ARCHIVE MENU
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motorsport travel news archive april 04


April 2004

> If you're headed to California Speedway for either NASCAR event this year, including this coming weekend, don't forget to drop in on the Miller Rock'n'Racing Concerts featuring the band "Live".

> * 042804: Added to my Michigan, Connecticut, Vermont & Rhode Island as well as my Georgia Dirt Tracks andf short tracks finder list. This is all part of my Short Tracks listing . Big job but worth the effort if it helps promote local racing. Got input? Say hi. see if there's a track near you and get out on a Friday or Saturday night!

> * 042404: Added review of my visit to Dixie Motor Speedway in Birch Run, Michigan, part of my Short Tracks pages. Had a hoot! Read all about it and make time this summer to support your local racers!

> Added interview with World Superbike rider Gianluca Nannelli and SuperSports World Championship rider Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh from my visit to Phillip Island last month. Now I can finally get stuck into the AMA Superbike and Kevin Schwanz stories. Watch for them soon.

> Several NASCAR drivers will be testing at Richmond International Raceway this coming week, says Richmond Dispatch Online Included in the line up appearing at R.I.R. are Nextel Cup drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Ward Burton and Elliott Sadler on May 4, and Busch Series drivers Johnny Benson, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, J.J. Yeley and Bobby Hamilton Jr. On May 5, Sadler, Burton, Jimmy Spencer, Jamie McMurray, Rusty Wallace, Kurt Busch, Brendan Gaughan and Ricky Craven from Cup and Justin Labonte, Greg Biffle, Kahne, Yeley and Benson from Busch will turn laps. The sessions are open to the public.

> Mansfield News Journal reports that all 20,000 seats for the Inagural NASCAR Craftsman Trucks race at Mansfield Motorsport Speedway are sold out as of last Friday. The teams will roll into town May 13. Fans can watch the practice sessions May 14 for free, still buy tickets for qualifying May 15. The race is 2 p.m. Sunday May 16. For travel information check out my Mansfield Motorsport Park guide or find Mansfield, Ohio Hotels here. I'll be down there too so don't hesitate to say hi if you see me!

> * 042204: AA Kyalami Circuit in South Africa is to once again hear the whir of Formula One Engines, albeit two seaters, when a 2-seater Grand Prix is held there on August 9, 2004. Drivers appearing are to include Jos Verstappen, Gian Bruni, Zolt Baumgartner, South African Alan van der Merwe, and international luminaries Nelson Piquet, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell. Proceeds will be donated to charity. Source: Motoring I-Africa, ZA. Need a Johannesburg Hotel or a hotels near Johannesburg Airport for your trip to Kyalami?

> Nextel and NASCAR Provide Entertainment at Los Angeles' Fiesta Broadway; NASCAR simulator ride, NASCAR drivers (Jose Luis Ramirez, - NASCAR Grand National Division West Series & Jesus Hernandez- NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series) and a stock car (Net Zero Showcar) on Sunday April 25, 2004. The Nextel Mini Experience will be open from 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m, drivers will be available from 1 - 6:00 p.m. and the # NetZero HiSpeed Chevrolet show car will be on display from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. at the corner of 5th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. The Hipanic cultural event will continue down Broadway towards 4th Street. Sounds like fun. Source: Official NEXTEL PRESS RELEASE. Find Los Angeles California Hotels .

> The recent sell back of the marketing contract to Bernie Ecclestone for the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone may be the begining of the end for one of the most expensive (and difficult to get to) destinations on an international race traveler's itinerary. I hear Bernie's been eyeing a patch in a crator on Mars (untouched by petty human laws) to replace the English event. The hype about another Tilke track and the way Martians are hoped to be any more interested than mere earthbound humans, who are turning away from the one-horse (pun intended) race series, still won't save it from the contining downturn in interest in the series and unstoppable of bike racing all across Europe. But don't worry, if there is a race on mars, you can bet I'll put together a travel guide for those of you intrepid enough to take on the traffic!

> Those of you interested in Motor and Race Photography might want to take a look at British National Motor Museum, Beaulieu's new online photo library. It's a pay site but some of the images are astounding.

> * 042104: > Added pics of my April 2-4 visit to the AMA Superbike Double Header at California Speedway Enjoy!

> Darlington's North Carolina Speedway is said to be losing one of it's NASCAR Nextel Cup races and Rockingham be nixed all together in 2005. Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix are to pick these up. Up to 4 more races will be added to the seires, including perhaps Toronto and Mexico City . Sources: NBC-17 News & News 14 Charlotte.

> * 042004: Had such a great time at the Auto City Speedway in Clio Michigan on Saturday night. Next week I'm going to continue my small tour of Local American Short Tracks at the nearby Dixie Motor Speedway, where on Friday night, I've been invited to call a support event! How cool. I've been to a zillion events but fell in love again with local bang em up local racing, which I plan to spend a lot of this summer enjoying.

> Added Articles about tickets for the Atlantic City SEMA show. Find ACY Atlantic City Airport Hotels Here

> Added Long Beach Grand Prix 2004 pics by extra special grand prix cities photographic contributor James C. Riley.

> Added opening entries for a proposed list of Race Attendance figures for all major motorsports. Feel free to send me any articles with accurate numbers as you find them. Let's see who REALLY packs in the fans!

> Added contributed travel report of Williams F1 Conference Centre, which now hosts race day parties for fans. This visit, by regular grandprixcities contributor G-NO, was during the Bahrain GP weekend. Check it out.

> Added contributed pics by regular grand prix cities photographer Rossana Seitter of the Las Vegas NASCAR weekend in March this year

Added contributed pics of the Bahrain GP weekend

> * 041704: Going to the Long Beach Grand Prix today and tomorrow? Unbelieveable the ChampCar Series is struggling to stay alive when the crowd of 50,000 on practice Friday is bigger than the Sunday crowd at a recent F1 event.

> Interesting story from the Virginian Pilot about the struggles NASCAR is undergoing in it's race to keep dwindling sponsorship in a sport, where with 40+ events planned for next year, including perhaps some international rounds (maybe Mexico City & Toronto) is only getting more and more expensive.

> Those of you headed to Montreal for the June Canadian F1GP might be keen to know that a Historic Grand Prix event will be held as a support race. Story from TSN.ca

> * 041604: Started work on my grand prix cities guides to US Short Tracks, Dirt Tracks and Speedways. Check it out. This will be a huge project that will grow over time making a complete guide. Take a look at how I'm setting it up and feel free to contact me with info and or pics about your favorite local grass roots track.

> * 041504: Sorry about the long pause. Been busy, on the big Australia/California trip and on picking up some of the mess that was still to do resulting from the trip. Had a great time by the way. Here's a summary of what's new with the site:

Added a travel guide to Misano, Italy for all of you Superbike World Championship W SBK fans headed out there this weekend! If you've got anything to add about local attractions, feel free to contact me via the contact link in the left column.

Finished most of the WSBK rider interviews including:
>> Chris Vermeulen
>> Chris Walker
>> Chris Vermeulen
>> Pier Francesco Chili
>> Troy Corser
>> James Toseland
>> Piergiorgio Bontempi
Still to come:
>> Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh &
>> Gianluca Nanneli
Good guys, every one of them!
Then I'll get started on the AMA SuperSports & SuperBike Interviews I got in California, which include:
>> Mat Mladin
>> Aaron Yates
>> Ben Spies
>> Lee Acree
and a very special treat for me - my exclusive interview with 1993 Motorcycle Grand Prix World Champion, Kevin Schwanz! The remainder of the interviews should be written up in the next next week or so.
I'll also write up reviews of my Californian visits to the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona, and the Los Angeles SEMA show (which really rocked!)
And post contributed pictures from the following events:
>> The inagural Bahraini GP, including McLaren Pit pictures
> >> The Williams Convention Center in Grove near Oxford, England and Silverstone Circuit
>> pics from this weekend's Long Beach Grand Prix by ace grand prix cities contributing photographer, James C. Riley. Fans of his may want to look at his most recent pictures from the Houston Auto Show, including this great pic of a lovely Ford GT40 (drool) Check the link above for more pics from this talented motorsport photographer.
Stay Tuned!

> In other news, I have heard:
>> Record attendences are expected for this weekend's Long Beach Grand Prix for the opening round of the 2004 season, which I'm so glad is actually happening after the rough winter the series had! In more news I hear that the OWRS ChampCar Portland Race is now on sale. Support your local open wheel racing series!!!! American readers should note that the series is to be broadcast on SPIKE TV this season.
>> Only 150,000 Canadians (bless their northern hearts) bothered watching the Bahrian F1 GP on their Teevs. Tickets for Nurburg and Magny-Cours F1 races have been slashed in order to drum up enough numbers to look respectable. Talk is that the European Grand Prix at Nurburgring will add Thursday as well, at which some F1 drivers will come out into of hiding long enough to sign some autographs. Sacre Bleu! And that all bets are off for predictions on the F1 calendar since races will be split into those which allow tobacc0 sponsorship (early in the year) and those that don't (later) because of the European laws coming into play next year... These laws of course have been blamed for everything including how boring the racing is. IMHO, the sooner the M leaves the MF team perhaps we'd see more the kind of competitive racing we should expect from something that doesn't even hold a candle to the title "pinnacle" of motorsports! How the mighty are falling!

>> Speaking of slow pokes: the 32nd ANNUAL 'LAST ROW PARTY' TO HONOR 11th-ROW QUALIFIERS will be held Thursday, MAY 27, 2004 at the pavilion at Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort and Inn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The back-row qualifiers will be awarded special jackets, checks for 31, 32 and 33 cents, respectively, and have their names affixed to a permanent trophy bearing the names of their racing predecessors. The event benefits the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation, which supports scholarships for journalism students. A highlight of the evening's festivities is the Press Club Foundation's Silent Auction of racing and other sports memorabilia, tickets to major sporting events and vacation trips. The 2004 Last Row Party is open to the public. A reception begins at 6 p.m. (EST), followed by a dinner at 7 p.m. and the driver program at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $33 per person, or $300 for a table of 10, which includes dinner, beverages, entertainment and a chance to mingle with Indianapolis 500 drivers and personalities. Tickets are available by calling Carolyn Rumple of Executive Media Communications Consultants at (317) 231-7000. Visa or MasterCard orders are accepted. Tickets also can be ordered through the mail by sending a check - payable to the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation - to The Last Row Party, Executive Media Communications Consultants, 101 W. Ohio St., Suite 1660, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Find a guide to best hotels in Indianapolis here .

>> The fight is on for which location NASCAR will chose to build its base in the Pacific North west. "The Marysville-area site east of I-5 is in the Smokey Point area south of State Route 531. The site west of I-5 is southwest of Gissberg Twin Lakes Park." reports the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Click the link to read the full scoop.

>> Note if you're headed to Le Mans Circuit for the MotoGP French GP on May 14-16, 2004. The official website for tickets is gpfrancemoto.com. Watch for my bike racing LeMans guide very soon! I'm holding on to some choice MotoGP Tickets too . Check em out if you want to live the high life!. Also find MotoGP Circuit Hotels here

Also
> Current MotorSport Travel News
> world sports dates calendar - Sports Travel made easy with events schedule, tickets and hotels near venues !
> World International Auto Show Listings Dates and locations
> Current Cycle World International Motorcycle Show Dates (US) This really is a blast if you're into motorbikes from all major manufacturers, local vendors, and historic displays. See also my Motorcyle Gear Store for online Motorcycle shopping.

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