NASCAR mum on big race

Friday, May 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Speculation that the weather-plagued spring Winston Cup date at Richmond, Va., would be transferred to Las Vegas Motor Speedway gained momentum when a television station reported that NASCAR's best will race here.

KTNV-TV Channel 13, quoting two unidentified NASCAR sources on Thursday, said the Winston Cup cars and drivers will make their Las Vegas debut during the first weekend in March.

NASCAR spokesman John Griffin said the confirmation report is jumping the gun.

"It is very premature," Griffin said today from Daytona Beach, Fla., home of the stock car sanctioning body.

There has been rampant speculation Winston Cup will slightly expand its 32-race schedule for 1998 and that the ovals at Homestead, Fla., and Las Vegas are the leading candidates to receive new dates.

Each track already holds successful NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series events.

"Will they both get races? There's only one man who knows that," Griffin said, alluding to NASCAR chief Bill France Jr. "We've gotten some calls on this (the Las Vegas report) and when I went down to Mr. France's office, he told me they haven't even begun work on the '98 schedule yet."

Last year, NASCAR didn't announce the 1997 schedule until Labor Day weekend -- 90 days earlier than usual, Griffin said. But he said the sanctioning body did make early commitments to new tracks in Texas and Roger Penske's layout in Fontana, Calif., which will hold its first Winston Cup event next month.

Griffin also confirmed that Richmond has approached NASCAR about pushing back its spring race, which paves the way for a new race in Las Vegas, according to sources.

A high-placed LVMS official told the SUN an announcement on the Las Vegas Winston Cup race may be made within "the next two weeks."

But Speedway CEO Richie Clyne remains tight-lipped on the topic of Winston Cup.

"We'll get a race when Mr. France says we're ready," Clyne told the SUN earlier this week, when the Richmond-to-Las Vegas rumors first surfaced.

Clyne earlier this week announced that the father-son team of Bob and Gary Bahre, owners of New Hampshire International Speedway which hosts two Winston Cup races, would be taking over the day-to-day management of LVMS as the track's new president and vice president, respectively.

That development, according to observers, is expected to seal LVMS landing a Winston Cup date.

"That's next," said an LVMS source, when asked if the Bahre's LVMS involvement meant a Winston Cup race was imminent.