NASCAR plan should raise red flags in Olympia

NASCAR held its biggest race of the 2007 season Sunday. Who won?

The bet here is the vast majority of you do not know. The answer is Kevin Harvick. And a slam-bang finish it was, with Harvick beating Mark Martin by half a hood-length to capture the Daytona 500 while an explosion of sparks, sheet metal and glass ripped through the pack of cars behind them.

One car crossed the finish line upside down. That just may be how NASCAR heads out of Olympia.

International Speedway Corp. officials want legislators to approve a $180 million finance package for a proposed 80,000-seat race track in Kitsap County. Their company, an affiliate of NASCAR, would match that contribution and assume responsibility for cost overruns. The state would recoup its investment from increased sales taxes and a ticket tax.

This is the second run at a Washington state project for ISC, which two years ago abandoned a plan to put a track in Snohomish County. That project was not well thought out, nor well-received. It was a non-starter in Olympia.

The new site near Bremerton has more appeal, and more support. But not much more.

The mayor and business groups are enthusiastic, but no area legislators support the ISC proposal, and that means almost certain death. The divisiveness concerns Gov. Chris Gregoire, a spokesman says, and she does not expect to see the bill on her desk unless Kitsap County politicos rally behind it.

Harvick probably has a better chance of being recognized at the Pike Street Market.

Gregoire might more actively support an alternative site in Lewis County, but ISC officials says their plan would not work there, in part because Oregon would capture some of the economic benefits. Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, doubts the Centralia site would work because the recently closed mine the owner would donate for a track is five miles off Interstate 5. The two-lane access road runs right through the middle of town. ISC officials say it takes nine lanes to handle race traffic.

Lewis County residents who love horsepower they can straddle would prefer a proposed equestrian arena to a race track, Swecker says.

Meanwhile, the powerful economic engine that has been NASCAR the last two decades may be sputtering a tad. NASCAR efforts to plant a checkered flag in the north woods, among other places, have not set too well in the South. The folks who build NASCAR and revere Richard Petty look to California, where twice-a-year races at the three-year-old track at Fontana have yet to sell out, and wonder if their sport has wandered off track.

Daytona was a welcome television success after months of lower ratings.

Still, Kansas officials have raved about the money generated by a 5-year-old track there. They courted NASCAR aggressively. And as ISC promotes a Washington track, the company is also in Colorado seeking support for the same kind of public-private partnership that so far has not gotten much traction in Olympia.

Sort of makes you wonder how thin NASCAR can spread its prized Nextel Cup events before its economic models start to lose horsepower.

As for Washingtonians, most lose whatever interest they have in car culture when they hit an Interstate 5 on-ramp. Many know more about micro-processor clock speed than stock car speed. And those logo-splashed jumpsuits the drivers wear; do they come in fleece?

There’s also the distraction caused by one of professional basketball’s most mediocre franchises, the Seattle SuperSonics, who are spooning lawmakers for $300 million to build a new arena in Renton. They hope the city will kick in more to complete a $500 million arena that would be the most expensive in the country. Refuse, and the team may pick up stakes and head for Oklahoma.

National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern, subtly echoing the threat, must wonder how much a television market like Oklahoma City’s would enhance the league’s appeal to the networks.

Taken together, NASCAR and the Sonics are looking for almost $500 million in state support for projects that, at least in the case of the race track, can barely mobilize local support.

Legislators, close your checkbooks.