Texas governor pushing for crowd-free NASCAR race at TMS

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | 22 hours ago

NASCAR still has not released an updated or tentative schedule for a return to racing, but many are hoping it is sooner rather than later.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is the latest to comment, via Twitter, writing Monday afternoon that he has spoken to “NASCAR leaders” about racing at Texas Motor Speedway, host of one of the eight Cup Series events postponed so far by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’re working to return to Texas at Texas Motor Speedway very soon,” said Abbott. “I hope to announce the exciting details in the near future. To prevent spread of COVID-19, it will be without fans. But they will put on a great show for TV.”

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Track president Eddie Gossage responded with his own statement:

“Texas Governor Greg Abbott has given NASCAR the green flag to race, and our sport is eager to get back on track. Texas Motor Speedway will work aggressively with the sanctioning bodies and TV networks to give American society, as well as people around the world, a positive distraction during this crisis.

“A non-spectator event is not perfect because in our sport, the fans come first. But circumstances are such that this is a novel answer for the return of the sport for now. We are working on a hard date.

“Our sport is unique because the competitors are inside the race cars with no body-to-body contact like most other sports. That is a distinct advantage over other sports and why you will likely see auto racing as the first live sport returning to action. We appreciate the Governor’s support for the return of racing at Texas Motor Speedway very soon. He’s been to the races before and has been an admirable leader throughout this crisis.”

Over the weekend, five North Carolina Republican senators called for Gov. Roy Cooper to allow racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway without fans. However, racing at either Texas or Charlotte would mean that Gov. Cooper would have to amend his stay-at-home orders to allow race teams back into their shops.

North Carolina is under stay-at-home orders through April 29.

The spokesman for Gov. Cooper, Ford Porter, offered this statement on Monday:

“Governor Cooper knows the importance of NASCAR to our state, and he’s already been talking with track and team owners about how we could potentially restart racing. It’s too soon to predict specific decisions about future sporting events, but any plan would prioritize public health and safety and preventing spread of the virus.”

Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR

 

Leftists who want to destroy the US economy complain.......screaming all over social media
that there will be blood in the streets if America opens for business.

Ok, leftist bastards, how much blood in the streets if people without a job and no money since you leftists
made it illegal to work, ........and can't make payments or cover the rent, who are having everything taken from them,
and they commit crimes and/or kill themselves.......how many will die?

How many will die when leftists in democrat-controlled states release criminals from prison
with no money and no job,......and gun stores closed so voters cannot protect their families,
.........how many voters will die in that case?
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Texas closing in on crowd-free NASCAR race

Image by Miller/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | 22 hours ago

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday that NASCAR racing at his facility could happen “very soon.”

A day after Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he spoke with NASCAR leaders about making that happen, Gossage was asked ‘how soon is soon’. NASCAR has not raced since March 8 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Texas is one of the tracks that had its event postponed, and NASCAR continues to work through a fluid situation with regard to when it can get restarted.

“It’s very soon,” said Gossage. “The circumstances being what they are, the first step was to make sure that we can go racing without a crowd, unfortunately, which, of course, to me as a promoter just seems completely counterintuitive. But to make sure that we could do that, we had to get the blessings of the Governor of our state, and he was really enthusiastic in our conversations. We had a call that included Marcus Smith, the president and CEO of our parent company, Speedway Motorsports, and Steve Phelps, President of NASCAR, and (Abbott) told them, ‘Let’s go racing guys. Let’s do this thing.’

“Just couldn’t have been more over the top with his enthusiasm, because he sees the benefit for the American people, he certainly sees the benefit for the state of Texas, to tell the world that we’re getting back closer and closer every day to a return to normal. And he wants to make sure that Texas is an example where you can turn to and say, you know, they’re doing things, getting further down the road every moment.”

If NASCAR were to get back on track in the reasonably near future, Gossage believes it would add color to what has become a black and white life for many Americans.

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“The thought of a NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway, on national television, that’s good for the psyche of the American people,” said Gossage.

Most NASCAR teams are based in North Carolina, which is under stay-at-home orders through the end of April. Such orders would have to be lifted before teams would be able to get back in their shops and preparing cars, and NASCAR, as Gossage mentioned, would have to get the OK from each state government to allow a race to take place.

Asked how competitors and others at the track would be kept safe, Gossage said professional medical teams had developed protocols. Nasal swab tests that take 24 hours to receive results would not be an option, so instead, everyone who enters the track would have to have their temperature taken.

“And if someone is showing a fever, even a low grade, you separate them and get into what might be the cause of that because it could be any number of things — it doesn’t mean you’ve got that virus,” said Gossage.

“But every last person that would go into the racetrack would have their temperature taken first to make sure they’re not presenting any symptoms. Now, I understand that people can be asymptomatic … but this is what the medical folks are saying they would recommend, and think it really covers everything well.”

Personnel for each series would also be kept in their garages to eliminate mingling. Wide-ranging sanitation would also take place.

“So those are the kinds of things that the medical experts have recommended for us,” said Gossage, “and those continue to develop, but that’s realistic to do.”

NASCAR stated its intention during a statement about the Martinsville weekend being postponed to return in May. Unfortunately it will be without fans — a likelihood Gossage is still coming to terms with, although he says the track can still make money in that situation.

“The [NASCAR] TV money is a significant portion of a racetrack’s revenue, so the answer is yes,” said Gossage. “But just barely. Part of the intent here is for the good of the sport. A race team has to be in business, and it’s a machine — it’s got its own ecosystem that involves money coming in the front door, so you can push that race car out the back door and take it to the racetrack, and a variety of streams of revenue coming through that front door. Well, right now, there’s nothing at that front door.

“There’s no sponsorship money because they’re not racing. There’s no purse money because they’re not racing. There’s no television money because they’re not racing. So everything has ground to a halt overnight. By going back to racing, even without a crowd there, that starts the churn back up of bringing money through the front door, which makes everything inside work so you can push that race car out the back door onto a truck and head to a racetrack.

“It’s important for all those teams, it’s important for all those race team members and all the related services that they utilize that we start that process back up as soon as we can, because even the biggest teams are having a hard time paying their crew members, and their staff. So we’re trying to help get that rolling again for the good of the sport.”

As to whether Texas is the track that gets the first race, or Charlotte or Darlington — two others thought to be in consideration — Gossage doesn’t care. He just wants to see the sport back running.

“I do think it’s great for our sport to be first or at least among the first back on television,” said Gossage, “so from a higher level of who’s the first track, just as long as we have live sports back on television, boy, that’s a great thing.”

Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR

 

PRUETT: Texas, IndyCar and the question of timing

Why do we quarantine the healthy, when normally a quarantine is used for the sick people?
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | April 29, 2020 1:22 PM

The state of Texas is preparing to open its doors to motor racing, and the NTT IndyCar Series can’t wait to take Governor Greg Abbott up on his offer.

The open-wheel series is currently exploring its options to keep its amended season debut intact on June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway, and the latest plan involves shortening the show to a single-day event without spectators.
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It’s an odd thing to consider right now. Why the rush to race in little over a month? Especially as the coronavirus continues its deadly march throughout the country, and while there’s no credible data to suggest the risks of contracting COVID-19 will be an afterthought less than 40 days from now? Financial survival is the answer.

Deadly march???? What Fake News BS! Far less than 1% of virus cases have turned into deaths.
More people die from abortions than from the virus.....but leftist democrats don't count a murdered baby as a real death.
and in car crashes.......and from aspirin overdose.....and from a gazillion other causes, BUT WE NEVER SHUT DOWN AND KILLED THE ECONOMY TO PLEASE LEFTIST DEMOCRATS IN THOSE INSTANCES.

Why do we need to kill the US economy NOW, just to please the leftist democrats, who really like to make more
freedom restrictive rules/laws.

208 MILLION people die in the US every year from NON VIRUS causes.....a number that leftist democrats and Fake News
doesn't want you to know.
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A few teams were fortunate to receive funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, and the series has been kind enough to distribute the first Leaders Circle checks to its full-time entrants, but we aren’t talking about waves of cash overflowing from their collective bank accounts. Based on the wealth and benevolence of select owners, some teams are in better shape than others, but for the vast majority, budgetary concerns are mounting as the coronavirus shutdown nears its third month. The US economy cannot survive when leftist democrats ORDER US NOT TO WORK!

The need for more income, and to settle the nerves of many sponsors who who’ve sent money and gotten little in return, grows in parallel with each new day of inactivity.
While it’s kept the drivers engaged with the hard-core fans, IndyCar’s Esports efforts haven’t attracted mainstream TV audiences.
No body gives a crap about watching someone else play video games. Lumen Images/iRacing

There were hopes that after NASCAR recorded more than 1 million viewers for its first iRacing event broadcast on FOX Sports 1, IndyCar would find a similar TV audience to tap into for its iRacing exploits, but it simply hasn’t happened. Promising initial numbers on live streaming viewers for Round 1 of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge at Watkins Glen International were followed by more traditional Nielsen broadcast measurement numbers when those events moved to NBCSN from Round 2 onwards; 165,000 viewers were recorded at Barber Motorsports Park. And with a humbling sum of 120,000 viewers or so tuning in of late, an urgency to get back to real racing, and generate healthier Nielsen numbers to deliver greater sponsor value, has been building.

IndyCar, like most racing series, is monitoring the various unconstitutional shelter-at-home orders in the states where its events are held, and social distancing decrees, and travel limitations, and searching for opportunities to put on a show and help their teams satisfy those sponsors and paying drivers. In many cases, the permissions do not currently exist to race elsewhere on the revised IndyCar calendar, so the focus has been on Texas Motor Speedway and Governor Abbott’s welcoming invitation. Understandably, since contracts have been signed which contain non-performance clauses, and involve loss of revenue to the tracks.

One idea floated by TMS was to have NASCAR take Sunday June 7 for its Cup Series, giving fans a fascinating doubleheader. AsKelly Crandall and Robin Miller have written, the concept has plenty of merits, but it appears a plan by NASCAR to restart its season by staying local — skipping tracks where flights and long travel is needed — will scratch the back-to-back weekend in Texas. The TV money brought by NASCAR was also cited as the financial mechanism that would make holding a fan-free event possible.

Minus the NASCAR money to cover its loss in ticket sales, it’s highly unlikely TMS would pay IndyCar’s sanction fee and run the event at a significant financial loss. In short, if IndyCar wants to race in Texas, a friendly proposition needs to be made where breaking even, at minimum, is possible.

Altogether, going racing, calming sponsors and generating income for the paddock through new sponsor and driver payments is behind the pressure-packed efforts to get to Texas on June 6. Doing so with the safety of all involved in mind is another major aspect to consider.

Of the various avenues being pursued by IndyCar, one leading possibility involves using the same COVID-19 health checklist implemented at St. Pete, along with the use of temperature scanners to check for those with fevers, gathering the screened teams in a central location in Indianapolis, transporting them to the airport in sterilized buses, and moving them directly onto sterilized chartered planes bound for an airstrip one mile away from the Texan oval located on the outskirts of Dallas-Fort Worth. The same quarantine-like process would be used for moving teams out of Texas and back to the central Indiana rallying point.
Could keeping the drivers and teams in a sterile bubble before a fan-free, one-day event be a solution for Texas? Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

The proposed Texas schedule would see IndyCar crews granted access to garages in the morning to set up, and then move through practice, qualifying, and the nighttime race before packing up and departing. Slightly astray from the single-day plan, teams would move their transporters into place the evening of June 5, and await the garages being opened shortly after sunrise to unload and get started on a busy day.

There are holes in the screening process, of course, with the knowledge that people who’ve contracted the coronavirus can be asymptomatic, and show no signs of a fever or breathing problems, and spread the virus to others, (at least so we have been told.....when even the experts truthfully don't KNOW) and have those symptoms strike at any time.

Taking a basic swing at the math, IndyCar should have at least 24 cars at Texas, which means nearly 500 people will be in close proximity in the garages and on pit lane. Factor in the series’ officials, technical team, pit lane oversight crew, medical, managerial, safety team, and race control numbers, plus the TMS staff and volunteers, and a sizable congregation of people will share the same general space on June 6.

“I don’t think destroying the sport or the economy for the potential of a health risk is worth it,” team owner Bobby Rahal said Wednesday afternoon. “There’s a lot of knowledge on how we should operate, and even if they allowed us to have spectators, after the Texas governor said maybe we could have 25 percent of the normal crowd there, I think if everyone’s smart, and does their best with social distancing, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.

“As a team standpoint, we’re on top of it with our people and won’t let anybody go if they’re feeling sick. I think it’s important to make it happen for us as teams, and for the fans who want to watch racing. Even if it’s only on TV. You can’t let this virus control your life in total
just to please someone who really doesn't know anything truthful. I think you have to take all the precautions and go enjoy the sport.

“Our sponsors all want to get on with it, and they are being patient that the races will happen, but want to get going. They will have to adjust, and maybe not have as many of their people in attendance or being entertained. I think the calendar that has been put together, presuming it all happens, will have people satisfied. I hope we can go to Texas. And having Indy in August isn’t May, but we still have the 500. And a doubleheader at Laguna Seca? Who doesn’t love that?”

And that’s where we’ll leave this topic. It’s weighing the value of business survival versus social distancing. It’s contemplating the loss of sponsors and decreased stability in a fragile sport versus flattening the curve and the health risks posed to the participants and their families.

It’s a rock and a very hard place.

Texas Motor Speedway, IndyCar,