IndyCar Crap Shoot? Kansas Speedway Casino Project Includes Second Cup Race

Kansas Speedway will formally launch the construction of a $386 million Hollywood Casino outside turn two this weekend. While economic development officials predict the project will mean boxcars of cash for the area, fans wonder if the casino will eventually come up snake eyes for the track's IndyCar race.

Kansas Speedway officials plan a ceremonial ground breaking for the casino for 11 a.m. Friday, just after the first IndyCar practice session is complete. The casino will include “a 100,000-square-foot casino floor with capacity for 2,300 slot machines and 86 table games, a high-energy lounge and a variety of dining and entertainment options,” according to the track’s news release.

Future project phases including a hotel, expanded gaming space, a spa, convention center and entertainment retail district, have been master planned and will be developed based on market demand.

That’s all fine and dandy with IndyCar fans, but read a little farther into stories and news releases about the project and you quickly discover getting a “second NASCAR Cup race” at Kansas is integral to the proposal.

The phrase “second cup race” has long created heartburn among IndyCar fans who worry two NASCAR Cup races at one oval will equal zero IndyCar races there.

Kansas Speedway Hopes for Continued IndyCar Relationship

Kansas Speedway Pat Warren says a second Cup race doesn’t necessarily mean the end of IndyCar at his track.

“We’ve been running IndyCar since we opened (in 2001),” said Warren. “We have a great relationship. We love it when the series comes to town. The drivers and the people who work in the people who work in the series are great people and we are really excited about having them out this year for the first time in May running an IndyCar race somewhere other than Indianapolis.”

If the second Cup race is granted, Warren said the track will “figure out what our schedule looks like next year. Every year we go through that analysis and figure out where the different series fit and how they fit and what we do and we’ll have to do that again this year (for 2011). We obviously have a great relationship with IndyCar and hope it will continue.”

Kansas Speedway is owned by International Speedway Corporation (ISC), which is owned by NASCAR. Lesa France Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer of International Speedway Corporation and part of the France family that controls NASCAR, said in a news release announcing the project that “International Speedway Corporation is committed to creating a world-class sports and leisure destination at Kansas Speedway and we believe this effort will enable us to bring a second NASCAR Sprint Cup series date to the speedway.”

Making it all Fit

IndyCar officials also profess love for Kansas and insist they’ll work hard to keep the track on the schedule, but say some point logistics can become an issue.

"If (a track) has two NASCAR events, we have to fit our event somewhere in between," Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard said April 1 during "Inside Line," a podcast hosted by Jeremy Scott (listen here). "What I have to do is try and figure out what is the best for the Indy Racing League, and some of those tracks might not be the best answer from the standpoint of a track. But ISC has so many tracks that we really need to try and continue to try and work with them and try to make sure we keep a 50-50 mix of ovals to non ovals or real close to that.”

During comments last summer about the 2010 schedule, Indy Racing League president Terry Angstadt said a schedule featuring two NASCAR Cup races was part of what kept the New Hampshire Motor Speedway oval off IndyCar's 2010 calendar, despite track ownership insisting they were eager for a race.

“New Hampshire has some unique challenges,” Angstadt said on July 31 according to a transcript from the Indy Racing League archives. “We, again, have a fantastic relationship with our hosts that also own this venue. (New Hampshire is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which also owns Texas Motor Speedway and Kentucky on the IndyCar schedule.) At the same time, when you look at the seasonality of that part of the world, you look at two Sprint Cup events at that venue, it's a very compressed window to try to make anything work. The last thing either side wants to do is to force an event into a schedule where we don't think both sides would be successful.”

Bernard also said he doesn’t see an inherent conflict of interest in working with tracks like Kansas Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway owned by NASCAR’s International Speedway Corporation.

“I have tremendous respect for Lesa Kennedy and Brian France,” Bernard said on The Inside Line. “I know them both from my days at the PBR (Professional Bull Riders Association). I’m a firm believer that all boats rise on a high tide. They have these multimillion-dollar facilities that need more events than just NASCAR. ISC is a publicly traded company and it is very important for them to make sure they bring in events there that are successful."

Butts in Seats

Bernard said his job is clear, build on every event IndyCar holds, including those at ISC tracks. "I am very encouraged by the fact that we can build those events and make them bigger and better and that’s my biggest priority,” said Bernard. “How can we put more people at those events?"

Warren shares Bernard's goal of putting more people at each event, in fact it's what the ISC holds him accountable for.

"My goal is to make fans who choose to come to Kansas Speedway, to make sure they come and have a fantastic experience and they want to come back," said Warren. "We (ISC) have 12 different tracks and 12 different track venues and 12 different track presidents and we’re all responsible for what we do. We all want to sell the most tickets and put on the best show and provide the best experience to our fans."

The question is, will those fans be able to experience IndyCar racing at Kansas Speedway in the near future. For now, nobody knows for sure. As the Hollywood Casino rises in turn two and NASCAR considers second race date at Kansas Speedway, fans of IndyCar racing their will have to wait and see what cards they are eventually dealt.

Comments

[Dylan]

But, But, But, with a Casino, Kansas will become a GREAT EVENT!!! Isn't that all that matters?

[pressdog]

OMG. Never thought of that. I bet the Casino will be GORGEOUS and it will be a "party like atmosphere" so, yeah, we should be good to go! Great point, Dylan.

[Dylan]

On a more serious note, hopefully we could add Fontana, if it loses a cup date, Atlanta, same thing, Loudon and Vegas because SMI wants them, then Road America,Cleveland,Sebring, MIS, and Miller Motorsports park in relacement of Mid Ohio, Infenion, you know where, St. Pete, Kansas, and maybe Homestead. bringing the season up to about 20 events, while keeping a 50-50 balance, on tracks that would hopefully have passing. It seems the economic crisis might be making ISC rethink Indycar, since Cup's struggling to sell to. Which would be a perfect scheduale.

[Chad Paff]

Dylan,

I am with you on your thought-process.

I'd love to see the schedule get a real makeover. I'd love to see Homestead replaced by Phoenix (ISC for ISC). Find a way to get back to Milwaukee. Get rid of Snore-noma and replace it with Las Vegas (SMI for SMI). Add Loudon (which SMI wanted). Road America is a no-brainer, since its a actual "racey" road course.

I guess its a formality that Baltimore gets added (HATE any more street parties and Richmond should have never been dropped). I think Portland would make a lot of sense (get back into the Pacific NW).

Add Phoenix, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Loudon, Baltimore, Portland and Road America and drop Homestead, Kansas, Sonoma and Edmonton.

That's a 20 race schedule. 10 ovals and 10 others. Filled with short ovals, 1.5's, Indy, real road courses and street courses.

[pressdog]

Woe woe woe. What's all this "drop Kansas" stuff? Kansas is a great venue and great race.

[Dylan]

Pressdog: I don't want Kansas dropped, I just think ISC likely will drop it. If we can, definitly keep it. I think a summer race would be great.

Chad: Forgot Portland, probably use that instead of Miller. Phoniex would be nice, but did you listen to the quotes from the last Trackside with Curt&Kevin? Yeah, don't see us back there anytime soon.

I like the idea of 4 "major" races, which are longer, and pay more money/points. Indy, Long Beach, Road America, and either Loudon, Vegas, or MIS.

[The Speedgeek]

I just want to know what that 18 story great white monolith is that's looming over the entire thing in the first sketch. Is that where NASCAR and ISC are planning on storing the all the money that they make off of a venue that has two Cup races AND an on-site casino? Is it the new NASCAR facility for "race fan reprogramming" for anybody who likes some other form of motorsport, kind of like the "Ministry of Love" in George Orwell's 1984? Either way, it all sounds double-plus-ungood to me.

[Tom G.]

a $380 Million dollar Hollywood casino? Sounds like a boondoggle to me. How will that help either NASCAR or the IRL. We all know that the way to improve racing, ratings, and sponsorship is through better landscaping. Just think of the shrubbery they could buy with $386 Million.

[pressdog]

For $380M you could for sure get to "the Augusta of Ovals" level. Rip out the seats, make it one huge picnic area and watch the cash flood in.

[JP]

I'd be more than willing to drop Kansas if Michigan was the replacement. I worry that the second cup date will come from Fontana, a locale that IICS has covered with Long Beach already. The problem with Kansas is that it is nearly identical to chicago, kentucky, vegas, atlanta, charlotte and texas. Only some banking differentiates these tracks much at all. The more the series races on cookie cutter venues, the less surprised we should all be if one single team cracks the formula and wins them all. These tracks are about the engineers not the driver. If lifting, braking or shifting isn't involved, it ain't driving or racing the car, in the words of Bruton Smith and Humpy Wheeler, it's just Pointing. Someone please add some flat one milers, Please...

[DZ]

I sure don't go to any IndyCar races wondering where the casino is, so to me this whole thing adds very little to the equation, and if ISC removes IndyCar for a stock car event, I'm quite fine with that (although I am sorry for IndyCar fans in KC, thank ISC for that).

As it stands today, I'm a proponent of removing ISC tracks from the IndyCar schedule and I would further propose that date go to St. Louis' Gateway oval as a (better, IMO) replacement.

In my frequent IndyCar daydreams, I picture 5 years from now when IndyCar popularity is once again higher than 'stock' cars, and ISC will be clamoring to add IndyCar dates.

The only current ISC tracks I'd honestly like to see on the IndyCar sched would be Phoenix, Watkins, and MIS. Too many cookie-cutter/D-ovals as it is already. ISC-loyal/independent Pocono will almost never host an IndyCar event again, but that too was one of the best IndyCar ovals.

[redd]

Kansas is fine for IIRS, as long as the IIRS is wanted there. If Nascar adds a second race there, I assume it would be in place of another track because their schedule in already to the point where they need two divisions.

[coach suitcase]

These are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home,but divorces increase; these are times of finer houses,but more broken homes; why?