Adding another road race isn't as easy as it sounds

It's not an easy thing to admit. You risk scorn and ridicule from a majority that doesn't see things the same way you do. People will question your manhood, your patriotism, even your sanity. You'll be looked at with a combination of pity and disdain. But at some point you have to come to grips with it, to stand up and say those few words that are the first step on the path to acceptance.

Hi. My name is David, and I like road racing.

And I'm not alone. There are plenty of us out here who prefer 12 or 13 turns to just four, who find a NASCAR race on a road course infinitely more enjoyable than three and a half hours of watching cars go around in a circle. And why not? Some of the best, most memorable events of the past year have been on road courses -- Montoya vs. Pruett at Mexico City (watch video), Montoya vs. Harvick at Watkins Glen (watch video), Montoya vs. everybody at Sonoma (watch video), Robby Gordon's hijinks in Montreal (watch video), Marcos Ambrose's antics last week at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (watch video). There are plenty of complaints these days about the quality of oval races. Well, wake up people. The real action is on tracks with right and left turns.

This, of course, is not a popular stance in a sport where 34 of 36 events are contested on oval tracks, and many race fans see road course races at best as a necessary evil, or at worst as some European influence that needs to be weeded out. Granted, road races are near impossible to watch in person -- spectators can only pick a spot and hope something unfolds in front of them. But on television, road races are great theater. The 15 turns at a place like Circuit Gilles Villeneuve provide more opportunities for passing as well as contact, magnifying the chances that angry drivers will wind up pointing fingers and throwing things at one another. After what we've seen the last two years, Mexico City looks like the new Bristol.

Here in the underground, where NASCAR road races are greeted with anticipation rather than dread, there's always hope that the powers that be in Daytona Beach will eventually add a few more of these events on twisty tracks to the schedule. In addition to the current road races at Watkins Glen and Infineon Raceway, adding one to the Chase at some point seems like a necessity. Of course, there would be resistance, both from drivers who'd rather go in circles and fans who treat road races like a dead cockroach on the bathroom floor. But the biggest obstacle to adding another Sprint Cup road race is simply the lack of possible places to go.

Sure, there are plenty of road courses in North America, and plenty of good ones that would challenge any driver in any discipline. But very few of them are capable of hosting an event on the magnitude of a Sprint Cup race. A lot of road courses are older facilities built for sports cars, with grandstands that look like they were borrowed from a high school football stadium, and garages straight out of a Saturday night local track. They're too narrow, or they lack the seating capacity and infrastructure, or they're too outdated. Even a well-kept, more modern track like Lime Rock Park in Connecticut would need a serious overhaul to host the big show.

Yes, NASCAR's premier series has basically outgrown most of the classic road course circuits in America, leaving the road racers in the fan base to get their fix at Infineon and Watkins Glen. Many would say the series has outgrown Watkins Glen as well, but beggars can't be choosers, and the place is something of a road-racing mecca. There have been a total of 10 road courses to host NASCAR's premier series, ranging from historic Riverside International Raceway to a track in Augusta, Ga., that was abandoned after Fireball Roberts won the only event ever contested there. One of the most revered tracks in NASCAR was a road course -- or half of one, anyway, on the old Daytona beach-road layout.

From Willow Springs, Calif., to Titusville, Fla., to the airport in Linden, N.J., road racing was once a much larger part of NASCAR than it is today. And the series wants to get back to basics, right? So let's explore the idea of adding another road course to the Sprint Cup schedule. As stated earlier, there aren't many capable hosts. But what about ...

Laguna Seca? It's perhaps the most famous road course in America, with dramatic, 300-foot elevation changes and the infamous corkscrew turn. The grandstand and infield facilities are better than most, but crewmen would still be turning wrenches under an awning rather than a garage roof. Yet the real issue here is location; there's already one road race in Northern California, a few hours up the road at Infineon. There won't be another one.

Portland International Raceway? Hey, NASCAR wants a race in the Pacific Northwest, right? Well, here's a facility right in the city of Portland that's looking for a big event after losing its Champ Car race in the Indy Racing League merger. But the facilities at the city-owned track are beyond austere. It's a fun road course in an area NASCAR desperately wants to tap into, but it's not happening.

Road America? NASCAR's been there before, with Tim Flock winning in the rain in 1956. And perhaps no state more deserves a Sprint Cup event than Wisconsin, which has a thriving stock-car community that's produced the likes of Matt Kenseth and Alan Kulwicki. But Road America, a mammoth 4-mile-long racecourse winding through the forests of Sheboygan County, seems more for competitors than spectators. And everyone remembers Cristiano da Matta and the deer.

Road Atlanta? Track owner Don Panoz has poured millions of dollars into Road Atlanta since he bought it in 1996, and the Braselton, Ga., facility has earned raves from competitors. But like Laguna Seca, there's a proximity issue. There are already two events on the big oval track south of Atlanta, races that have enough trouble selling tickets without competition in their own backyard.

Virginia International Raceway? We know the racetrack itself can accommodate stock cars, which often test at VIR before Sprint Cup road events. It's not far from that stock car bastion of South Boston, home of the Burton brothers. Of all the tracks mentioned thus far, it might put on the best race. Everybody seems to love it -- except the folks over at Martinsville Speedway, just 40 miles away.

Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez? No problem with facilities here, at a racetrack that's been used by Champ Car and Formula One in addition to NASCAR's Nationwide Series. The place doesn't put on a bad show. But the crowds have dropped with each Nationwide race as the novelty has worn off, prompting questions about whether the place has NASCAR staying power. And the Sprint Cup teams, already stretched in terms of travel, would almost certainly balk at the long trip to Mexico City.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve? It would seem to have all the ingredients -- a safe, glamorous, relatively close international city, a strong motorsports following, and a course that, despite some concerns over its narrowness proved more than suitable for the Nationwide cars. If there's ever going to be another Sprint Cup road race, the Montreal track would seem the ideal candidate to host it. And Watkins Glen should be looking over its shoulder, especially if that New York City track ever becomes a reality.

Of course, NASCAR could always go for a sure thing. There is a world-class road course out there with unparalleled facilities, nestled in a city that would fully embrace it. That's right -- we're talking about the infield road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosts only a MotoGP race now that F1 has left the country. Wouldn't it be neat, returning to Indy in the early fall for a Chase race on the road circuit? Of course, it won't happen. Indy has reconfigured the circuit to fit the motorcycles, and NASCAR won't go back to the Brickyard twice in one year.

So, the road racing fans among us are left with one alternative: Drop some concrete Jersey barriers along Broadway and fire 'em up. Hey, NASCAR does its "victory lap" in Times Square every December, right? It would be the same thing, only faster. A street race in New York would give the series more publicity than it ever dreamed possible, and bring an end to that messy search for a racetrack venue. Instead of a facility with the spires of Manhattan in the distance, why not race among the spires themselves? After all, critics do jokingly refer to stock cars as taxicabs. So they ought to fit right in.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer