NASCAR WILL GIVE FONTANA 2ND RACE NEW WINSTON CUP EVENT TO DEBUT IN '04.Byline: Louis Brewster Staff Writer FONTANA - The NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Winston Cup series will be making a second stop at California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. . According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. racing industry sources, Fontana's second NASCAR race will be Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. weekend starting next season. Capacity crowds and the lure of the second-largest media market in the country swayed NASCAR to add the race. Speedway officials have scheduled a news conference for Friday morning, at which time NASCAR will announce the addition. The Labor Day race for Fontana has gained momentum since the series visited the speedway for the Auto Club California 500 last April. A possible second date, originally projected as a Saturday-night race to attract a bigger television audience on the East Coast, already has received approval from San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. County. The speedway's conditional-use permit was amended to allow night racing and to approve the added major date. But the actual day of the race on Labor Day weekend has not been confirmed and is likely to be Sunday. According to several sources, NASCAR will announce the Labor Day race, for 50 years held at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. , will be moved to the two-mile Fontana superspeedway. The Southern 500 then will be shifted to the Sunday now reserved for Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, which will lose one of its two dates. One of the reasons for the change is financial. While the seven Winston Cup races at Fontana have been sellouts, including an estimated 120,000 this year, attendance at Rockingham has been spotty the past several years. International Speedway Corp. owns the Fontana track as well as those at Darlington and Rockingham. There is a tradition of Labor Day racing in the Inland Valley. The California 500, the signature race at the now-demolished Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario Motor Speedway located in Ontario, California, was a 2.5-mile race track built similar to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Designed by California born architect Walter Ted Tyler, the track opened in 1970, and was considered state of the art at the time. , was conducted on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend for 10 years before the track ceased operations. Later, the open-wheel race was moved to Riverside International Raceway. Louis Brewster, (909) 483-9363 l_brewster(at)dailybulletin.com |
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