Making tracks: TRAC, a team-oriented stock car series, is set to start its engines next year, but it still needs owners, drivers, and venues

Auto Racing Digest, Oct-Nov, 2003 by Barry Wilner

Riley & Scott has been manufacturing open wheel vehicles for decades. Their autos will have the same horsepower, 615, in 2,600-pound cars whose chassis are made of carbon fiber rather than sheet metal.

The hope is to limit the expenses of research and development that burdens NASCAR and the other top circuits. So TRAC will produce nine or 10 cars per team and each team gets one or more models of each car, with no team having more of one model than another team. "We've done a lot of work on matching up these cars to make sure the aerodynamics are pretty equal," explains Jeter. "And there will be no disparity in the level of competition. We also can control the inspection process. When teams bring their cars to the races, we know instantly if they've been modified. We want to bring integrity to that process."

Many in auto racing would laugh at the idea of eliminating the "modifications" teams make to get an edge. But if TRAC has its way, the crews still will be able to make adjustments in a number of areas.

For instance, in IROC the cars are set up identically. A Winston Cup car has 70-80 variables. TRAC's cars will have 15-20 variables, including such things as air pressure, camber, gear ratio, shocks, and springs.

One area in which TRAC does want variables is the sponsors it attracts. It plans to go after the auto racing products to which NASCAR's fans show loyalty, but it also hopes the heavy hitters of sports marketing will get involved.

While nobody at TRAC is mentioning any particular corporations, look for the usual ESPN advertisers--the beer and soft drink folks, the fast food restaurants, the insurance firms, and electronics stores--to get involved.

What might attract those companies is the somewhat unique sponsorship format devised by TRAC's executives. "Part of our structure is the one-ticket item sponsorship package," says Jeter. "We can go to a sponsor and say, 'If you spend x amount of dollars, you get all this commercial inventory. You get to be a title sponsor of a team. You get two races for which you are the title sponsor, and you become the exclusive league category sponsor.' All of that would cost tens of millions of dollars at the other racing series.

"We've created exclusivity, so we can't have ambushing. As a sponsor, you want to activate that package and make sure nothing will lessen its value. We've done that."

Team owners would get $2.5 million in stock, as well as gate proceeds from the events held in their region.

TRAC originally wanted to make ESPN an equity partner, but that deal fell through. Instead of getting a rights fee from ESPN--which has been eager to get back into the stock car business since losing its portion of the NASCAR package after the 2000 season--TRAC will keep the majority of the advertising time and sell it.

What it does get is the value and prestige of being involved with ESPN, plus perhaps a dozen Saturday night slots in spring and summer. "ESPN made stock car racing what it is today--they're a perfect partner for us," says TRAC spokesman Cale Yarborough, the only man to win three straight Winston Cups. "I've been waiting a long time for this."