NASCAR shipping off to Japan

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The ship is scheduled to arrive in Nagoya on Nov. 13. The containers will then be loaded onto trucks for the trip to Suzuka Circuitland, where 27 teams will compete on Nov. 24 in the Suzuka Thunder Special 100 exhibition race.

Among the participants will be drivers from NASCAR's Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, Winston West and Craftsman Truck series.

"It's going to be a real adventure," said Dale Earnardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion. "I was over there for two tests and everybody is just so enthusiastic, it's incredible."

The 31-race Winston Cup season ends Nov. 10 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the teams are then prohibited from testing at NASCAR-approved tracks until the end of December, allowing them time to make the trip to Japan.

This is the first of three annual exhibitions scheduled at Suzuka.

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