Thursday, August 14, 1997

Sports marketer believes Abilene prime spot for NASCAR racing

By Ted Dunnam / Abilene Reporter-News

NASCAR's far-reaching appendages have yet to touch Abilene, but don't think the Key City isn't getting a few double-takes every now and then.

Trace Allee, general manager of A Sports Marketing in San Antonio, believes Abilene deserves a new track of some sort, either to stage the Winston West Cup Series or Busch Grand National Races.

Allee knows of what he speaks.

He's hosted several racing programs for Fox Sports Southwest, including the Countdown to the Texas 500. He's also been the host this year for several racing shows in the midwest.

His pulse is constantly on the racing scene. Just this past weekend he was in Wisconsin for a racing event, and the last weekend in July he took his talents to Pike's Peak International Raceway, a one-mile track where a Winston West race was held.

Allee is also a broacast veteran of several Abilene Sunburn Grand Prix races for Fox Sports Southwest, including this year's event, giving him a personal feel for racing enthusiasm in Abilene.

"I think the Winston West series is a series that would really have a high degree of probability of coming to Texas," Allee said. "The AMSI effort there in Abilene is very professional.

"There's no question that it's very likely that some form of NASCAR racing will expand to Texas. With the growth that NASCAR is experiencing, Abilene I think, would be a strong consideration. The Busch series is an awesome series that brings people in from all over the country."

The one major problem facing Abilene - and it's a biggie - is that there is no facility here. It certainly isn't for lack of effort, though.

"Between the Busch, NASCAR Winston West and the ARCA series, those are very strong possibilities in the near future for Abilene, Texas," Allee said. "Another thing that has particular appeal is that it's along that I-20 run from Charlotte.

"For testing purposes alone, a track in Abilene would be ideal. That would make Abilene look real interesting to marketers. By contrast, the track at Pike's Peak is off that beaten path."

At the Winston West race that Allee attended in Colorado, Michael Waltrip won the event, Ken Schrader was second and Jerry Glanville (yes, that Jerry Glanville) was seventh. The total purse was $256,000 with Waltrip pocketing $22,250."

Total length of the race was 312 miles which took about 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete, according to Allee.

Kevin Green, the public relations director for NASCAR, wasn't sure where the Winston West series would next expand, only that it will.

"The series experienced an unprecedented growth in 1997," Green said. "That's illustrated by the new tracks we've gone to, starting with the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, California Speedway and Pike's Peak last month.

"I couldn't speculate where we would go next. But from everything I've seen and heard, there are great race fans down there in Texas."

Allee said the Winston West series is as exciting as any.

"The Winston West cars are the regular Winston Cup cars with the technologay that existed about four or five years ago," he said. "They're going to average about 165-185 miles per hour. The NASCAR Winston West series actually goes back to the mid-1950's, but it really experienced a resurgence in the early 1970s and, of course, is picking up steam now."

And Allee doesn't see why Abilene couldn't be a perfect host to second-level series of racing.

"Obviously, Abilene's not going to go head-to-head with Texas Motor Speedway for a Winston Cup race," Allee said. "But if they get a track in there, Abilene would seem very ideal to me for good series of racing, whether it be Winston West, Busch, trucks or whatever.

"Winston Cup is still at least five to six years from peaking out, in my opinion, as far as adding tracks. It'll certainly be interesting to see where it goes from here."