By Greg MacPherson
Inside
Track
March 2006, pp. 92-94
Daytona Beach, FL - On January 20th, Canadian open-wheel racing star Paul Tracy announced that he'd secured a five-race NASCAR Busch series deal. The veteran driver has long been working on a way to dip his toe into the stock car world, and starting with the Feb 18 race at Daytona Int'l Speedway , he will get that chance.
In addition to the Busch Series opener at Daytona, Tracy will pilot the #34 Sport Clips / American Crew car, owned by Frank Cicci Racing and former NFL star Jim Kelly, at Las Vegas, Mexico City, Indianapolis and Fontana. The first three outings will take place prior to the start of Tracy's ChampCar schedule with Forsythe Racing, while the Indianapolis Raceway Park and California Speedway events will also not conflict with his open-wheel duties.
"I'm very excited about my first opportunity to race in NASCAR, especially in the biggest race of the year at Daytona," said Tracy. "Then moving on to race at Las Vegas, which is my former home, and then on to Mexico City, where I am a former winner in the Champ Car Series. I am thankful to Sport Clips and American Crew for believing in me and making this work. I also want to thank Frank Cicci and Jim Kelly for putting me in quality equipment and supporting me. I would especially like to thank Doug Barnette for finding the sponsors and bringing the parties together to make this happen."
Upon making the announcement -- in the infield at DIS -- Tracy took to the track to start his steep learning curve driving heavy, full-bodied stock cars. Not one to make things easy on himself, his five-race schedule will see him visit five distinctly different track configurations. He clearly enjoys the variety.
"Daytona is a totally different kind of track; it's all motor and aerodynamics and learning about drafting. At Las Vegas, it's really all about handling and getting the car set up right. The races I've chosen to do -- a Superspeedway, a mile-and-a-half, a two-mile track, a road course, and a short track -- let me do every type of track.
"It's going to be a lot of fun. I think it's an exciting time. Everybody has become so specialized. You don't see people drive a lot of different cars like Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt used to. They'd drive a Can-Am car one weekend and a Formula 1 car the next and then a stock car. That doesn't really happen anymore. It's very exciting for me to get to drive a lot of different types of cars."
Talking about his preparation for stock car racing, Tracy continued, "I've been in a Cup car [testing] for [Richard] Childress at Michigan last year. I've done some testing here at Daytona in an ARCA car. And I have three days in the Busch Series car, as well as in the Rolex 24 on the big track. Two days after the 24 Hours, we're going to test at Virginia Int'l Raceway on the road course in the Busch car, and then go straight from there to Vegas for two days. I'm going to get a lot of testing and preparation for those races. We'll also test later on a short track before going to Indy and then somewhere else before doing California.
Asked why he drove into the NASCAR pool at Daytona, Tracy replied, "This is the biggest race of the year. It's the one that everyone wants to be at, including the sponsors."
Discussing why he opted for a Busch debut instead of jumping right into NEXTEL Cup, Tracy said it was all about getting himself and his sponsors into the first few races. "There was no opportunity to be in a car that was guaranteed to be in the [NEXTEL Cup] race. There were some opportunities with smaller teams that weren't in the top 35 in points, but the guaranteed top 35 points situation [in Busch] with Frank Cicci and Jim Kelly guarantees us to being the field for the first three races -- no matter what happens in qualifying or if it rains."
And while nothing beyond the five Busch races at those five NASCAR race weekend[s] has been settled, Tracy is looking to double up at several of those dates, possibly adding Truck and/or NEXTEL Cup outings to his schedule.
He was also asked about his prospects for participating in a NASCAR race on Canadian soil somewhere down the line. "I think that's part of the plan. If there's a race in Canada, wherever it is, I would definitely like to be in that race. Obviously it's going to be a road course event which would suit me a little better because that's primarily what I do. They haven't made any hard commitment on where or when it's going to be, but if there is, I would like to be in that race."
The former Las Vegas resident was asked what he thought the odds were on a Canadian NASCAR race in the near future. "That's really a question for NASCAR. There are lots of rumours and things happening in Canada with NASCAR, but I don't know any specifics or details of what that is."
Hoping corporate Canada steps up
And while Tracy will fly the colors of American sponsors in his five Busch series outings, he's hoping that corporate Canada steps forward, especially if the NASCAR situation develops further in Canada. "I'm not sure if there are any sponsorship opportunities for us down the line with future races but we have the funding for the races that we're doing with Sport Clips and American Crew. We'll just have to see what happens. NASCAR is looking into Canada, so we'll see what happens."
But so far it has been tough sledding attracting Canadian dollars. "It's been very difficult. A lot of Canadian companies are interested in going racing until they see how much it costs to go racing. There are a lot of great companies in Canada but the amount of dollars it takes to go racing in ChampCar or NASCAR is a huge amount. Everybody is interested in being involved but when you look at what it costs to be a primary sponsor, it's a big sum to swallow for some companies."
At that point, Doug Barnette of Player Management International, who put Tracy's Busch deal together, put numbers to Tracy's words. "Typically, it's about $150,000 a week to run a NASCAR Busch Series car. When you get into NEXTEL Cup you're looking at about $350,000 - $400,000 a week. Those are typically hard costs associated with running a racecar."
For 2006, Tracy's NASCAR adventures will be a test of his driving talents, as well as his abilities to draw sponsorship support for a different segment of the sport. But listening to him speak, he's very interested in trying something new. And if it works out, he could be into making the switch for keeps.
"I'm starting from scratch again," said Tracy. "These are cars I've never driven before. If I do more than seven races, I loose my rookie status and that's something I definitely want to hold onto if I was going to make a move to stock cars in the future; I would want to be rookie of the year."
Asked point blank if he's planning to race NASCAR full-time starting in 2007, Tracy hinted that may be the case. "I don't really know. Obviously, I have an open-ended deal with Forsythe [his ChampCar team owner Gerald Forsythe], I have one more year under contract. He knows that I'm interested in looking at my next move in my career and he's allowing me to do explore things, which is very nice of him. He's hopeful that I'll stay in ChampCar. I want to get out there and get some experience and see how it goes and really see if it's for me and really focus on what does Paul tracy do in the future.
"I've got to get out on the track and test and race and see how it goes. it's something I'm interested in. I think I've got a good opportunity in these five races. We're hopeful we can put some deals together to piggyback the races that we're doing with maybe Tracks or Cup on the same weekend to get me some more experience, but that takes putting some more funding together."
And while he's clearly hoping that his NASCAR experiment goes well, the Canadian knows where his focus lies, at least for this season. "If I can get 10 or 11 races over these five weekends, then maybe some doors will open up and see what happens in the future. My focus is to gain experience in this and try to win the ChampCar World Series again this year."
© 2006, Inside Track