LAT: Race to the Border (NASCAR courts Latino demographic)

Race to the Border
NASCAR is setting its sights on Mexico in an effort to reach a Latino audience in the United States and to widen its international following

By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer


NASCAR, the stock car racing league born in Dixie, is looking even farther south to diversify its fan base.

Today it will stage the Telcel Motorola Mexico 200, the league's first major event in this country. And unlike some of NASCAR's past foreign exhibition races, this one counts....

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Fast-changing demographics in the United States have NASCAR executives seeking to put more minorities behind the wheel, in the stands and in front of the TV set. NASCAR also wants a bigger international following, and it has seized on Mexico as a market where it can pursue both strategies at once.

Mexico, with a population topping 100 million, boasts a rich tradition of motor sports and a taste for American culture. Meanwhile, NASCAR sponsors are eager to reach the 40 million Latinos living in the United States, a majority of whom are of Mexican descent. To do so, they need bankable Latino stars capable of competing at the highest level in a sport in which fans have an almost cult-like devotion for their favorite drivers....

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Whether the league risks alienating its core fan base by tinkering with its all-American image remains to be seen. Some fan message boards have criticized the moves to diversify and internationalize the sport as a politically correct sellout that amounts to fixing something that isn't broken....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nascar6mar06,0,3243442.story?coll=la-home-business

....It's a "road course" (both left and right turns, not an oval) that I think is a little bit hilly.

It's at 7,400 feet altitude, which should affect how the cars run. (it will surely rob them of some horesepower)

I will watch it, because there is no Nextel Cup race on today, and must admit I am interested in checking out the Mexico track. (I don't normally follow the Busch series, though)

The course was designed for open-wheel F1 cars, and has been modified a bit to save the brakes on the heavier NASCAR cars.

It's 2.52 miles. It should be pretty interesting.

:hurts:

Heyo

Those good ole boys don't want any brown people involved in their sport. Period.

...correction. Total and complete bullshit.

:hurts:

Heyo

in Autoweek about how nascar and sponsors have been stifiling any attempts for good black drivers to make a name for themselves...

Personally, i blame indycar...the moment they split up opened the door for the nascar circus to become top banana

It was very well documented and I highly doubt that it was "total bullshit".