Newz Forum: AUTO: Nascar Staten Island bound

NASCAR is thinking about building a speedway in a city better known for traffic jams and taxicabs than for motorsports. Racing promoters have held preliminary discussions with city economic officials about constructing a NASCAR track on Staten Island, the mayor's office said Friday.

NASCAR has looked at various locations in the region since plans to build a speedway at the Meadowlands in New Jersey foundered, said David Talley, a spokesman for the International Speedway Corporation, which owns 13 tracks nationwide.

"Staten Island is one we're looking at," Talley told The New York Times. "We're looking at a couple of sites in New Jersey as well. We are nowhere close to breaking ground and building a facility."

The proposed track would be constructed at a 440-acre vacant industrial site on Staten Island's waterfront, a few miles east of the New Jersey Turnpike.








[Edited on 28/5/04 by TRD]