Wednesday, March 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
In its quest to land the Holy Grail of motorsports events -- a NASCAR Winston Cup race -- the Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be on trial this weekend when it plays host to the Busch Grand National Series Las Vegas 300.
While the 1.5-mile superspeedway will attempt to show NASCAR it is capable of staging a coveted Winston Cup event, how the Las Vegas community responds to the race also will go a long way toward determining whether NASCAR sanctions LVMS as a Winston Cup track.
"I would say it's very important," NASCAR executive Andy Hall said of the turnout for Sunday's race.
"I can't sit here and tell you that if nobody shows up out here Sunday, there will never be a Winston Cup race here because we never say never to anything ... but it is very important -- and it's not only the attendance, it's also how a community embraces a facility and the idea of a big event."
In the past, NASCAR has used its Busch Series as a measuring stick for tracks wanting a Winston Cup race. Tracks in Loudon, N.H., and, most recently, Homestead, Fla., have had to prove -- or are proving -- their mettle by first staging Busch Series races.
"New Hampshire had Busch races from 1990 through 1993 and then they got their first Cup race in 1994," Hall said. "That has a lot to do with the way we like to do things: When we're dealing with a track or a group that has never conducted Winston Cup races before, we like to see how they can handle the big event before we give them the biggest event of all.
"The exceptions we made, like Texas and California, are because the people running those tracks also run tracks that have Cup races."
And make no mistake about it, Hall said, a Busch Series race is big time.
"A big, stand-alone Busch Series race like this is a big event," said Hall, who has been in Las Vegas for nearly a month to help LVMS coordinate publicity. "It's not as big as a Winston Cup race, but it's a big event. A Winston Cup race is almost like having a Super Bowl every week -- and in most cases, there are more people at those races than there are at Super Bowls."
Although LVMS officials will not disclose how many tickets have been sold for Sunday's 200-lap race, Hall said he is "encouraged" by Las Vegas' growing support for the event.
"It's really difficult to get a read on how (ticket sales) are going because from what I've been able to gather, this is a city where people don't plan ahead of time to do things -- they just decide on the day of that event they're going to go do it," Hall said.
"I've heard that events at the Thomas & Mack Center, a lot of times just a few people buy advance tickets and then they have a tremendous walk-up. That is what is probably going to happen for this race."
Based on phone sales the past two weeks, Hall said, he expects a decent crowd for the Busch Series' first venture west of the Mississippi River.
"They don't give out (advance ticket sales) figures, but they have picked up quite a bit in the last two weeks," he said.
Although NASCAR officials have said they will not award any more new Winston Cup dates beyond its current 32-race schedule, Hall indicated that NASCAR's current schedule is not as etched in stone as some people believe.
"One thing that a lot of people don't know but is very true and very relevant is that nobody has a long-term contract with NASCAR -- every race that we sanction is on a year-to-year basis," he said. "Every track renews its sanction every year and that gives us the room to make adjustments from year to year if we need to."
After Sunday's Busch Series race, NASCAR officials no doubt will have a better idea whether any adjustments are needed to include Las Vegas in any future Winston Cup schedules.
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