Sunday, April 02, 2006

Pocono Shows How To Work With Other Tracks

Overlooked by many in racing lately is this interesting tidbit - Pocono Raceway's working deal with Barrie Speedway in Canada. Amid continuing track wars, the disbanding by NASCAR of several touring divisions, and the general struggle of American and Canadian short tracks in the last few years, Pocono's promotional alliance with Barrie Speedway is a breath of fresh air.

Many in racing seem to have lost sight of the fact that racetracks can and should work together, because both local tracks and superspeedways benefit from each other. Pocono's cross-promotions with Barrie should be expanded to other area short tracks when and where practical, and other superspeedways would be well-advised to engage in cross-promotions with local tracks.

New Hampshire International Speedway, for one, can cross-promote with numerous New England-area tracks like White Mountain Motorsports Park, Star Lee & Hudson Speedways (all in NH), Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Maine, Stafford and Thompson Speedways in CT, and Seekonk Speedway in MA. Talladega Superspeedway can cross-promote with Alabama-area short tracks; California Speedway can cross-promote with bullrings in the southern California and Arizona areas; and on down.

Given the alliances race teams have been forming the last few years - the Dodge One Team concept that somehow got lost in the shuffle, the RAD alliance between RCR, DEI, and Andy Petree, and others - it makes sense for speedways to work together and cross-promote, for their own benefit and that of racing at large.

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