Veloce Raptor

NASCAR Holdings Announces Plan to Acquire Grand-Am


Partnership allows for sharing of resources with NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 4, 2008) - NASCAR Holdings today announced an agreement to acquire Grand-Am Road Racing (Grand-Am). The future move will allow for resource sharing between Grand-Am and NASCAR while both organizations continue to operate independently. NASCAR Holdings is the legal operating entity that includes the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and many of its subsidiaries.

Grand-Am, one of the world's most competitive road racing organizations, and NASCAR, the No. 1 spectator sport in the U.S., will combine marketing and communications efforts to include brand management, research, marketing and public relations.

Grand-Am consists of six racing series, including the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series, which has millions of loyal fans.

"This combination of resources will benefit Grand-Am and NASCAR, their competitors and fans, as the two companies work together to enhance the two sports," said Jim France, NASCAR Vice Chairman and Grand-Am founder.

The two racing brands will continue to independently sanction and officiate race events for their own series and there will be no change in management. Roger Edmondson will continue to serve as president of Grand-Am.

There has been a rise in crossover drivers and team owners between Grand-Am and NASCAR in recent years. NASCAR drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kyle Petty, Bobby Labonte, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon have raced in the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Full time driver and 2008 Grand-Am Daytona Prototype team champion Scott Pruett has driven in many NASCAR events. Chip Ganassi and Richard Childress own teams in both sports.

Grand-Am Road Racing was established in 1999 and is based in Daytona Beach, Fla. The 2008 schedule includes 15 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series events and 11 Grand-Am KONI Challenge events. Other Grand-Am racing series include Ferrari Challenge; Ford Racing Mustang Challenge; Skip Barber Racing Series; and the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series. For more information about Grand-Am please log on to: www.grand-am.com.

NASCAR, celebrating 60 years of racing in 2008, holds 17 of the top 20 highest attended sporting events in the U.S., and is the No. 2 rated regular-season sport on television. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in more than 30 languages. NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal in all of sports, and, as a result, more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. For more information about NASCAR, please log on to: www.nascar.com.

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Cory M

In related news, GrandAM has released photos of the next generation Rolex GT car

Potomac-Greg

I'm OK with this. The more popular road course racing becomes, the more sponsor money flows in, which means more races, better TV coverage, and so on.

Seems to me that the only potential downside would be the squeeze out of smaller teams and/or gentlemen racers; but that's just speculation.

Veloce Raptor

Hahaha!!

MTosi

omg, those evil people who understand the concept of marketing, and also understand running a successful business are going to try and take over sportscars, ohhh nooo wouldn't want that to happen.....

On a side note didn't NASCAR already own part of GA?



That day cannot happen soon enough....

ltc

Could care less about Grand-Am.
The Daytona Prototypes are typical NA$CAR designed crap IMHO and the rest of the field is one step above club racing.

I prefer ALMS.

ltc

And in a related story, JC France will be named Chief Driving Instructor for the entire series.

MTosi

While as of 2008 I FULLY agree with you, what happens in 2009 and 2010, if Acura squeezes out Penske (looks to me like thats going to happen) then Audi in P1, and we are stuck with another one make series (in the top class) for 6 years?

FlyingDog

The France family owned both anyway. They're just changing the structure of the ownership. No big deal.

PS: ALMS is better anyway.

Veloce Raptor

The France family owned GA. They also own NASCAR.

Also, the fact that GA is a path from amateur/club racing to the pros is not cause for derision, Mike. You should know better than that.

FLA997

I thought the same...

Chads996

Go fig. And yes, I believe NASCAR owned a stake in the series.

C.

Veloce Raptor

The france family owned GA, I thought. they also control NASCAR

MTosi

Forgive my cynicism, but IMO just because someone is racing in a pro series doesn't mean they are a pro. In my book a pro is someone who is actually getting paid to race (same logic works with stick and ball sports). Imagine people paying to play in the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, and then the organizations trying to claim credibility as a pro sport with the world's best athletes? A series where people are paying to race is just club racing that cost's big money and has even bigger ego's. One of the reasons I enjoy F1 and NASCAR, is I'm watching the best drivers in the world, not just a bunch of rich boys who can write big checks. You have to look at it from my perspective. I'm someone who believes I have the talent to race pro, and aspires to do so, but doesn't have a rich daddy. I can prove myself club racing all day long, and the odds are I won't be getting any calls from TRG, FL, Mike Shank Racing, or anyone for that matter. If I approach them to ask about driving, unless I have 50K in hand I'll most likely get laughed at. How is that good for a sport? My best option is to just go into finance and try to make a killing, then I can write 50K and pretend I'm a "pro". If any Pro sport want's to maintain any credibility it needs to have the best in the business out there performing every weekend. Otherwise the general public see's it for what it is, a bunch of rich guys with lots of money to burn and even bigger ego's out trying to prove that they are the "best".....

Veloce Raptor

Geezus, 500 words saying nothing.

I never said they were a pro. The pros are those being paid to drive. Nevertheless, GA offers a legit path for men and women who want to go beyond club racing. That is partly why GA has been so successful and draws such huge fields.

News flash: without those with the means paying into the sport, there would be no sport.