Filed under: Motorsports
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Back in 2005, former Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace helped design a racetrack out in the corn fields of Iowa. A tri-oval short-track with a road course on premises, Iowa Speedway has gone on to host stock cars, Indy cars and Grand-Am sportscars, but in the years since it’s opening, it has fallen on some hard times. Fortunately the speedway has now been rescued by none other than the motorsport sanctioning body with which it is most closely associated.
In a deal announced just the other day, NASCAR will take over ownership of Iowa Speedway, effective immediately. Details of NASCAR’s plans for what it calls “a very bright future” for the track won’t be announced until mid December, but few if any changes are expected to be made just yet to the calendar which the previous owners announced earlier this month. In the summer of 2014, Iowa Speedway will host three major race weekends, including races in the Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, K&N Pro Series and IndyCar Series.
While it’s not unusual to see the France family that controls NASCAR take ownership of a track, such moves are usually done through the International Speedway Corporation. Started by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. in 1953, ISC merged its portfolio of speedways with Penske’s in 1999 to form one of the largest racetrack groups in the world, controlling such locations as Daytona, Homestead, Talladega and Watkins Glen. Several France family members sit on the board, including chairman James France, CEO Lesa France Kennedy and NASCAR CEO Brian France. The announcement from Iowa, however, (which you can see for yourself below) makes no mention of ISC involvement in the deal.Continue reading NASCAR buys Iowa Speedway
NASCAR buys Iowa Speedway originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Nov 2013 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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