With NASCAR‘s latest visit to Southern California being spoken of as its final appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum, could the 49-year-old Long Beach Grand Prix be the next target for America‘s most popular racing series?
Multiple sources tell RACER that NASCAR has been actively pursuing the 50-percent stake in the Long Beach race — a staple on the IndyCar calendar since 1984 — that became available for acquisition last year by the estate of the late businessman Kevin Kalkhoven.
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Asked if it was attempting to become the co-owner of the Long Beach race, NASCAR declined to offer details on the topic.
“The Southern California market is extremely important to NASCAR,” Ben Kennedy, NASCAR‘s SVP of racing development and strategy, told RACER. “We have explored several different options in the area, and will continue to do so. I won‘t speak specifically to any particular racetrack in Southern California, but will say that if we had our druthers, we would have a race in Southern California every year.”
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Where the story takes an interesting turn is with the other entity that has entered the conversation.
Many of the same sources tell RACER that Penske Entertainment, owners of the NTT IndyCar Series, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the promoter of other events on its schedule, is trying to block NASCAR‘s efforts.
Those sources suggest the company owned by Roger Penske, whose team won the most recent NASCAR Cup Series championship with Ryan Blaney, is attempting to thwart NASCAR‘s Long Beach move by making a bid of its own to buy Kalkhoven‘s share.
See much more at Racer.
