ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY will have its first race in April 1997, and New Hampshire International Speedway picks up a second event.
NASCAR's Winston Cup schedule underwent major renovations Thursday with the announcement of a race at the new Texas Motor Speedway and a second event at New Hampshire International Speedway.
Texas Motor Speedway, nearing completion as a high-banked 1.5-mile oval with 150,000 seats in Roanoke, Texas, will hold the Texas 500 on April 6, 1997. New Hampshire International Speedway, which already has a summer Winston Cup event on its mile oval in Loudon, will add a fall event, an as-yet-unnamed race Sept.14, 1997.
Neither of the new races would expand the current 31-race schedule because they are the dates that previously belonged to the half-mile North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina.
In Fort Worth, Texas, NASCAR president Bill France Jr. called the event there the birth of ``NASCAR racing, Texas-style.''
The first weekend of racing at the $110 million track, and the first Winston Cup race in Texas in 16 years, also will include a Busch Grand National Series race, with a total purse for the two events set at more than $4 million.
Bruton Smith, chairman of the board of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, as well as holding part ownership of North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, N.C., bought half of the North Wilkesboro facility this year.
The Bahre family, owners of the New Hampshire track, also bought half of North Wilkesboro Speedway.
North Wilkesboro, with a seating capacity of 40,000, has been a fixture on the NASCAR schedule for more than 40 years. Speculation centered from the beginning on the new owners moving one of its races to the giant new track in the Southwest and the second to the 72,000-seat facility in New England.
After several months of heated talks and negotiations with NASCAR, the job was finished last week.
``The two owners of North Wilkesboro Speedway came to us expressing an interesting in looking for a change of direction,'' France said. ``They wanted to work out a plan for a race in Texas and another one in New Hampshire, and a plan was worked out.
``With the increasing growth of NASCAR racing, this seemed like the right time to take advantage of a new facility in Texas and a wonderful track in New England where we've already had success.''
Each of the three Winston Cup races run so far at NHIS has been a sellout, as is Sunday's Jiffy Lube 300 at the Loudon track.
Bob Bahre, president of the track, said the second race at NHIS would be the same 300-mile distance as the first, and the two races would offer a combined $3.5 million in prize money.
It previously was announced that the Winston Cup schedule would be expanded to 32 races next season with the addition of an event at The California Speedway, a race track being built in Fontana, Calif., about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
Smith said the new Texas track also would continue to pursue a second Winston Cup date, as well as an Indy-car race and other events.
``We want to find ways to become a racing city mentioned in the same breath with Charlotte, Daytona and Indianapolis,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB