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Sunday, March 12, 2000 By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Jeff Burton won the NASCAR Winston Cup race in Las Vegas last weekend after it was cut short by rain with slightly more than half the laps completed. Rain struck again yesterday at the Busch Grand National event at Atlanta Motor Speedway where a delay of almost six hours cost teams and sponsors prime coverage on network television.
Chris Dolack can be reached at cdolack@post-gazette.com.
But that shouldn't be a problem in the near future.
The Brant Pittsburgh Auto Racing Complex, or Brant PARC, is quietly becoming a reality. Groundbreaking for the $300 million indoor 1-mile oval near the end of runway 10-L at Pittsburgh International Airport is slated for July 1.
"Right now we're in the midst of the permits and approvals process, working with several building organizations," said Bob Brant, vice president of Morgantown, W.Va.-based Brant Motorsports, a division of Aero Services International, Inc. "We've gotten tremendous support at the federal, state and local levels and different governing organizations.
"We really need to move through the permits and approval process, probably the largest of which is the environmental assessment that the FAA controls because it's on airport property. We hope to wrap those up around June or July. We're still working toward a July 1 groundbreaking."
If the groundbreaking stays on schedule, Dick Corp. will need 18 months to complete the project. However, because major race-sanctioning bodies, such as NASCAR, the IRL and ARCA, won't commit a race to a facility until it's completed, if the schedule is pushed back by more than a month, Brant PARC could miss the 2002 racing season.
The facility will be located on the hill to the right of the parking lot gates where cars exit the airport. Because of its proximity to the runways and terminal, the Federal Aviation Administration is paying close attention.
"They're very interested in the impact the facility will have," Brant said. "We're taking a real close look at all those impacts, and that includes reflectability and everything from frequency to the amount of traffic. There's a lot of important issues there."
Brant Motorsports, which co-owns with Richard Childress the No. 21 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet driven by Mike Dillon in the Busch Series, hasn't named its financial partners, but Brant says that announcement will come soon.
"We're actively pursuing naming rights right now," Brant said. "We're talking with a couple potential sponsors and we're also in the process of developing founding sponsorship partners so we can give local and national businesses an opportunity to be involved from the very beginning."
As for the track, it will be a 1-mile oval, with 850-foot straightaways, banking in the turns between 12 and 20 degrees and 44 pit stalls. The facility will have a ventilation system to handle fumes and soundproofing to deaden noise.
"Our objective is to maintain as much of the normal racing culture as possible," Brant said. "The infield will be the same as any infield at any other track so there will be garage areas for the teams, all that would be consistent with what you see at a regular racetrack -- just no rain."
Ticket prices, although it's too early for specific costs, are expected to be similar to those at other racetracks. Brant believes the facility, which will have 60,000 permanent seats and room for as many as 125,000 with temporary seating, will hold 200 events annually, from races and concerts to conventions and circuses, to help keep the cost of attending affordable.
To fans who are eager for the track to open, Brant offers: "I can't wait for it to open, either. Once it opens, I promise it will be the most exciting facility they've seen in the area."
Advance tickets can be reserved through the Brant Motorsports Web site at www.brantmotorsports.com .
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