NASCAR grows but so does opposition
It seems as though the path and journey to having a NASCAR track built on Staten Island is strewn in problems and obstacles large enough to turn any company off from trying to achieve the initial plan. International Speedway Corporation has been trying to build a NASCAR track on New York 's Staten Island for the longest time and the site of the proposed NASCAR track is on BATX old oil tank farm, yes, THE one where 40 workers got killed as a result of an explosion in1973.
Ever since Bill France started NASCAR, the sport has been growing phenomenally extending beyond geographical boundaries as the fan base of NASCAR continues to grow. What started out as a fairly small-scale Southern Sport with a small number of audience and fans is now HUGE…and the growth started when they became the first stock car race to be televised and R.J. Reynolds became their main sponsor. It was as if in that moment, everything became larger than life. And from then on, there's no looking back for Bill France because a couple of years later, he started up International Speedway Corporation. ISC, as it is better known as, owns many NASCAR tracks all around the U.S. Despite the phenomenal growth of the sport, it continues to maintain that NASCAR is actually a family sport and ISC is a family-owned business. And this family-owned business invested $110 million in a plot of land in Staten Island in hope of building one of their largest NASCAR tracks there.
Ever since the plan was announced, ISC has been hounded relentlessly about the NASCAR track as a small group of people felt that a NASCAR track in the sleepy community is inappropriate. The main concern is traffic congestion – as it is, traffic in Staten Island is horrific, and the residents cannot imagine what it would be like if and when the NASCAR track is built there. Although ISC has done everything in their power to help answer the questions of the opposition, it seems that opposition against the NASCAR track plan has grown by leaps and bounds as political figures jump into the bandwagon, using the NASCAR track as a weapon against their rivals.
Hence, the opposition grows because of political agenda; the plan fades as the problems mount. In other parts of the country, NASCAR continues to excite NASCAR fans while ISC is trying to iron out environmental concerns about the Staten Island NASCAR track. Only time will tell what will become of ISC's Staten Island Nascar Track.