[simple simon]

Grand-Am Confirms Labor Day Weekend Events at New Jersey Motorsports Park for 2008 Season


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 6, 2007) -- Grand-Am officials confirmed today a Labor Day weekend feature event at Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the greater New York Metropolitan area. The Aug. 30-31 event is the crown jewel on the NJMP inaugural schedule and will feature both the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 and the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series.


The announcement solidifies the 15-event Rolex Series schedule with a combined Daytona Prototypes and GT race on Sunday, Aug. 31. The KONI Challenge calendar is also now complete, with 10 races each for the Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) divisions.

Motorsport.com: News channel

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by simple simon

[size=2]Grand-Am Confirms Labor Day Weekend Events at New Jersey Motorsports Park for 2008 Season


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 6, 2007) -- Grand-Am officials confirmed today a Labor Day weekend feature event at Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the greater New York Metropolitan area. The Aug. 30-31 event is the crown jewel on the NJMP inaugural schedule and will feature both the Grand-Am Rolex SIZE]

Good for them!

However, the only Thunderbolt Raceway I know of is down around Vineland, between Philly and Atlantic City? Is that now considered "Greater NY metro area?" Or is there another Thunderbolt I don't know about?

[simple simon]

Thunderbolt Raceway - New Jersey Motorsports Park

thats what i found on Google Bob ..... still not sure it should be considered close to NYC

[Racer Duck]

According to Google Maps, it's about 40 miles directly South of Philadelphia.

Let's see .. hmmm .. yep, Philadelphia is now an official suburb of NYC according to the press release.




BTW, Grand Am is owned by .. guess who?!

Why, Brian & Family France, aka NASCAR, of course!

[wingkey1]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

According to Google Maps, it's about 40 miles directly South of Philadelphia.

Let's see .. hmmm .. yep, Philadelphia is now an official suburb of NYC according to the press release.




BTW, Grand Am is owned by .. guess who?!

Why, Brian & Family France, aka NASCAR, of course!

Wow, now THAT (bold above) is interesting. It is no secret that NASCAR has been interested in a venue in the "greater NY area" for quite some time. Cup level race seemed to be the goal. The South Jersey area near to Atlantic City has been mentioned more than once, and Thunderbolt would be considered "close enough".

Thunderbolt is planning a 3/4 mile dogleg oval. Thunderbolt has to date been seen and supported very favorably by NJ politicians. The Frances per above are now "invested" in the initial support of Thunderbolt. Interesting to watch and see what develops.

Would like to see one of the 1.5 mile venues off of the Cup schedule in favor of a smaller/shorter track regardless of where that smaller/shorter track may be.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by wingkey1

Wow, now THAT (bold above) is interesting. It is no secret that NASCAR has been interested in a venue in the "greater NY area" for quite some time. Cup level race seemed to be the goal. The South Jersey area near to Atlantic City has been mentioned more than once, and Thunderbolt would be considered "close enough".

Thunderbolt is planning a 3/4 mile dogleg oval. Thunderbolt has to date been seen and supported very favorably by NJ politicians. The Frances per above are now "invested" in the initial support of Thunderbolt. Interesting to watch and see what develops.

Would like to see one of the 1.5 mile venues off of the Cup schedule in favor of a smaller/shorter track regardless of where that smaller/shorter track may be.

I wish I could remember where I saw that info on Grand Am, it was when I doing some research on ISC & NASCAR and it really surprised me. Bill Jr.'s nephew, J.C. France, races in the Grand Am series. When you Google "France Family" you see he's the last of the line mentioned.

I think we're stuck with the cookie cutters until either the Frances or Bruton begin investing in smaller venues. In my research I found out that ISC bought out Pike's Peak International Raceway then closed it down, moving the Busch West event to a Denver Suburb. Last I heard it's been demolished and waiting for a new owner .. stipulation: no racetrack on that site. Rumor is they are wanting to build a 1.5 miler somewhere closer to Denver... But no rumors at all about the East Coast since they dropped the Staten Island thing.