NASCAR postpones races
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
September 13, 2001
6:53 PM EDT (2253 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR made a historic decision Thursday when it announced it would postpone this weekend’s racing events at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon and Texas Motor Speedway outside Fort Worth.
The Winston Cup New Hampshire 300 will now become the season finale, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 23 at the 1.058-mile oval. The Craftsman Truck Series Silverado 350 in Texas will be held Friday, Oct. 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
In addition, NASCAR announced Thursday that its offices here and in New York, Charlotte, N.C., Los Angeles, and Hickory, N.C. will be closed Friday in observance of a national day of mourning. Those offices will reopen for business Monday.
“It is time for families to come together,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “We felt that postponing this weekend’s races was simply the right thing to do. We join the nation in mourning those who lost their lives and we pray those wounded recover fully.”
“We fully support NASCAR’s decision to postpone the race,” NHIS president Gary Bahre said. “We regret the tragic circumstances that made the postponement necessary. But we truly understand the decision and our hearts go out to those who have suffered losses.”
All New Hampshire 300 tickets will be honored for the November event, Bahre said.
While it has altered its racing schedule previously because of snow, rain and 1998’s summer wildfires in the Daytona Beach area, NASCAR has never in its 53-year history changed a scheduled event for anything other than a natural phenomenon.
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Gary Bahre
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NASCAR did alter the lengths of a number of races, shortening them during the fuel crises in the early 1970s.
Tuesday morning’s terrorist attacks that resulted in commercial jetliner crashes in New York, Washington, D.C. and western Pennsylvania made the decision necessary as most other sports leagues, including the NFL, Major League Baseball and PGA, postponed or canceled games and events.
NASCAR was put in a difficult situation by the uncertain air travel scenario and a Winston Cup schedule that has no open weekends from now until the previously scheduled Nov. 18 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The starting lineup for the 43-car New Hampshire 300 was set after Bud Pole Qualifying was canceled, per the series' rulebook using owner point standings and other regulations. The Truck Series will practice and qualify Oct. 4 to set its 36-truck lineup.
TMS officials announced tickets for its rescheduled IRL and Truck Series events will be honored on the new race dates. There are no refunds for the rescheduled races.
The Featherlite Modified Series and Busch North Series, NASCAR Touring events scheduled for NHIS Saturday afternoon have been canceled. The Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series race scheduled Saturday night at Magic Valley Speedway in Idaho has been canceled, as well.
Including the Indy Racing Northern Light Series season finale, which was scheduled for Saturday night -- Thursday night’s Wolf Brand Chili Challenge UDTRA dirt Late Model races and the Friday and Saturday night O'Reilly Texas Showdown Pennzoil World of Outlaws Sprint Car races at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track have been canceled.
"Obviously, this has been a difficult process for us all from the very beginning," TMS general manager Eddie Gossage said. "Opinions have been mixed, but it seemed clear from the fans' response, the races should go on as planned.
“However with airport operations still in limbo, it is logistically impossible for all of the teams and fans to even get here. After more discussions today, we all agreed this was the appropriate thing to do."
Kaptain Robbie Knievel’s $10 million Texas Indy Car Jump also is rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6, along with the IRL finale.
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