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Dover Inc. is shutting down Memphis track
Memphis closing (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
mikemulhern.net
TALLADEGA, Ala.
NASCAR's Memphis Motorsports Park, owned by Dover Motorsports (NYSC: DVD), is being shut down and will not host any events in 2010.
Dover officials had been trying to sell the Memphis track to Gulf Coast Entertainment, but Dover said "Gulf Coast was unable to secure financing."
The announcement was made Friday morning by Dover CEO Denis McGlynn: "This was a difficult decision for us, but one that ultimately was dictated by economics."
McGlynn said NASCAR has okayed moving the Memphis Truck race and Nationwide race to Dover's Nashville and Gateway (St. Louis) tracks."
Dover is to release its earnings for the third quarter November 2.
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Great. Another decent track
Great. Another decent track closing it's doors. Instead of sending a Cup race there to vary the schedule and keep them in business, we get second races at Michigan, California, Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Texas. Thanks NASCAR.
Memphis doesn't deserve a Cup
Memphis doesn't deserve a Cup race. It's a decent track but that's all it is. No, it doesn't deserve to close, but it doesn't deserve Cup, either. NASCAR is a superspeedway league and it's time people accept this fact. Memphis should have been built as a superoval and Nashville Speedway needs to be rebuilt as a 2.6-mile superoval.
It would have been a good
It would have been a good place for a Cup race. No need to expand the grandstands with no Cup date forthcoming, though. Cup is a superspeedway league because that's what NASCAR has made it into. Over half the races not too long ago were on 1 mile or less sized tracks. Fans are leaving in droves, and they wonder why. The more the cars get spread out on the big, cookie-cutter, boring tracks, the more the fans fall asleep or turn the channel to something more interesting. Check out the TV ratings to see how fans like superspeedway tracks. It's not just the COT and the robot-personality drivers, it's the racing, or lackthereof, on the 1.5 and 2.0 tracks that has people saying "enough".
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