|
NASCAR announced the broadcast schedule for the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series race schedule on SPEED. It features coverage of NASCAR’s top developmental series on the leading cable network dedicated to motorsports. The 22-race calendar kicked off with the NASCAR Camping World Series West opener from Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. The March 14 race will air on SPEED Thursday, April 2. |
NASCAR announced the broadcast schedule for the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series race schedule on SPEED. It features coverage of NASCAR’s top developmental series on the leading cable network dedicated to motorsports. The 22-race calendar kicked off with the NASCAR Camping World Series West opener from Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. The March 14 race will air on SPEED Thursday, April 2.
The races will be aired as a one-hour special each Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. (see complete schedule below) “The NASCAR Camping World Series features the NASCAR stars of tomorrow locked in exciting, wheel-to-wheel competition,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR managing director of racing operations. “This comprehensive schedule allows fans to tune in the same time every week and catch all the action from their favorite track. Our partnership with SPEED provides an exceptional platform to showcase the tremendous talent as they tackle the challenging mixture of short tracks, road courses, and speedways.”
The annual East-West Challenge at Iowa Speedway Sunday, May 17 will air on Thursday, May 28. The last two years, fans have tuned in to watch the best NASCAR Camping World Series drivers from both coasts go head-to-head in addition to competing against one of the top drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In 2007, then-16-year-old Joey Logano outran Kevin Harvick, and last year Brian Ickler held off the challenge from Kasey Kahne. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch has already committed to run this year’s event.
The SPEED coverage will include 12 NASCAR Camping World Series West races, beginning with the season opener and concluding with the season finale at All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif., which will run Saturday, Sept. 26 and air Thursday, Oct. 8.
The NASCAR Camping World Series East broadcast schedule will cover all 11 races beginning with the opener at Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C. The opener, scheduled for Saturday, April 11, will air Thursday, April 16. The season will conclude Friday, Sept. 25 at Dover International Speedway and the race will be broadcast Thursday, Oct. 1.
The NASCAR Camping World Series East race at Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tenn., originally scheduled for Saturday, July 18, has been cancelled due to changes in track management and the lack of a suitable replacement for that date.
The Tecate Premios Deportes (Sports Awards Show) will return this year to Univision. As you can read in the press release below, the program will honor the character and sportsmanship of Hispanic athletes who participated in U.S. professional sports in 2008. The show, scheduled to air nationwide on July 5, 2009, will feature eleven distinct categories, spanning sports like Soccer, Boxing, Baseball, Basketball, Football and Auto Racing.
Manzanita Speedway, renown as one of the fastest half-mile dirt tracks in the world, will be closing its doors April 11, 2009 after years of legendary racing. The facility has been sold and according to the speedway the facility will no longer be operating as a race track. The track is located just outside of Phoenix, Arizona and there are homes and commercial properties surrounding the facility – making the land valuable to developers.
According to Sports Business International, Formula One team Toyota came close to pulling out of the sport in December, according to team principal Tadashi Yamashina. Yamashina told Reuters on Monday that the team’s budget was cut more than once following the exit of Japanese rivals Honda in the same month. “Our Formula One budget was cut again and again from its original figure,” Yamashina told Reuters. “It was cut again after Honda’s announcement they were leaving F1 and within a month the figure was reduced again after Toyota’s end of year earnings target was revised.””I’m not able to put a figure on how much the Formula One budget was slashed by but in all my time at Toyota I have never seen cuts like it.”
Toyota spent an estimated $300 million on the Cologne-based team in 2008, a figure only exceeded by Honda. A renewed sponsorship deal with Japanese electronics company Panasonic is believed to have provided a timely boost for the team. The electronics giant extended its title sponsorship until the end of 2012 in January this year. We have seen reports that the F1 champion will be determined by the number of wins in a season rather than who accumulates the most points.
“Obviously our negative business reports did cause some doubt, so I was extremely happy that Panasonic decided to renew its contract with us even though they also had some financial trouble. Their understanding of what we are doing allowed us to keep racing,” Yamashina told Tokyo daily newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Also from Sports Business International is this item. The world’s biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch will end its sponsorship of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) at the end of the 2009 season. The company also said that in a press release that its Budweiser brand will also end its 30-year sponsorship of the Kenny Bernstein Racing team, the longest endorsement in motorsports history. Anheuser did not give a reason for ending either partnership. AutoRacingSport.com also reports that Bud may be also leaving NASCAR in the future after many years of involvement with the top tier and bottom tiers of the NASCAR organization.
“Bernstein has been nothing less than the ultimate ambassador for the brand,” said Dan McHugh, vice president of media, sponsorship and activation for Anheuser-Busch. “We thank him [Bernstein], his team and the NHRA for a great run.” Kenny Bernstein, who is also president of the Professional Racers Organization (PRO), added: “We owe a debt of gratitude to all the Budweiser employees and wholesalers we’ve worked with through the years, as well as the fans and friends who have followed and supported us beginning with the Funny Car era.”
“The Budweiser sponsorship has provided us the opportunity to make a career in the sport that we love while fielding championship-caliber teams through the years. It has been a wonderful win-win relationship for three decades.” Kenny Bernstein Racing is one of the sport’s most consistent winners, but it is believed the team will struggle to continue racing next season unless a new sponsorship is secured for 2010.
Then AutoRacingSportsDaily writes that Bud may ultimately bail out of NASCAR which has enjoyed that sponsorship at all levels, for all tiers on the ladder system and the All-American Series which sanctions over 65 short track venues coast-to-coast. The same story had rumors that parent Anheiser Busch, purchased by the Belgian based IBEV, might be putting Busch Gardens and Sea World up on the block, as well. IBEV purchased Anheiser Busch last July and has already trimmed 1,000 jobs with a forecast of 15 percent in employees before it’s all over. All that isn’t a big surprise because when a big fish swallows a little fish, layoffs, plant closings and the like follow. Because that’s the way the buyer of the company can recoup their big cash outlay to the former owners and stockholders of the company.
NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and the more than 200 motorcycle riders participating in the 15th Anniversary Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America plan to stop on their 3,500-mile cross-country trek to celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking of Victory Junction’s Midwest camp on Wednesday, May 13, 2009.
The year-round, medical camp for children with chronic medical conditions and serious illnesses will be located on a 71-acre campus at 8205 Riverview Road, Kansas City, Kan. The camp will operate solely on the donations from corporations, organizations and individuals, allowing campers to attend at no cost to their families.
Petty and his wife Pattie opened Victory Junction in Randleman, N.C. in 2004. The Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, also founded by Petty, has been the camp’s largest donor, contributing more than $12 million to Victory Junction and other children’s charities since its inception in 1995.
Ryan Newman, asked if he had to box another driver, who would he choose as a fair opponent. ” …just due to my height, my weight and everything else and just because I think he is a scrapper, I think Jimmy Spencer would be a heck of a boxing match. He grew up around a junkyard; he has got to have some fight in him… Plus I know he has thrown a few punches before.” This came from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter.
Here’s what’s happening on TV this weekend. From Monday through Friday ESPN2 airs NASCAR Now at 5 p.m. Friday has F1 practice airing at 1:30 a.m. on Speed from Melbourne, Australia. Speed returns at 11 a.m with the Camping World Trucks Practice from Martinsville, VA followed by Sprint Cup Practice at noon. Then Final Practice for the Trucks at 1:30 p.m. At 3:30 p.m. Speed/TSN broadcasts Sprint Cup Qualifying at that same track.
Saturday will be equally busy on the tube with Speed/TSN offering F1 Qualifying from Melbourne. Speed returns at 9 a.m. with Truck Qualifying from Martinsville then Sprint Cup Practice at 10:30 a.m. followed by Cup Final Practice at 11:30 a.m. Fox kicks in with the Camping World Truck race from Martinsville at 2 p.m. ESPN2 airs NHRA Qualifying from Houston, TX at 8 p.m. and Speed returns with AMA Pro Prime Time at 10 p.m.
It’s another busy Sunday. Speed/TSN each air the F1 GP of Australia at 1:30 a.m. with RDS in Quebec coming on board at 2 a.m. with that event. At 11:30 a.m. Speed airs NASCAR Raceday from Martinsville. Staring at noon with CBS airing the AMA SuperX from Toronto. Fox/TSN will both air the Cup race from Martinsville at 2 p.m. while Speed offers the AMA Lite SuperX from Toronto at 3 p.m. The Duce returns at 4:30 p.m with NHRA Eliminations from Houston, TX with Speed offering the Speed Report at 7 p.m. followed by Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain at 9 p.m. (END)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.
