'Victory Lap' is gone, but New York setting remains

For the last four years, it's been as much a part of the New York holiday scene as the Rockettes and the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree -- 10 Sprint Cup show cars, their rumbling engines shaking morning frost from light poles, making a slow, loud parade around Midtown. The "Victory Lap" was an imposing spectacle before a captive audience, thousands of business people in suits who stopped to snap cellphone photos, and concluding in the vast canyon of Times Square, blocked off to all but the NASCAR drivers and their vehicles.

• N.Y. setting remains strong
• Breakdown of events
• Champions Week site

It was grand, it was riveting, and it commanded the kind of attention that NASCAR comes to New York to get. But it was also expensive, and an object of criticism among locals who didn't like being delayed on their way to work. So as NASCAR returns to the big city for its annual Champions Week, culminating in Friday night's banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Victory Lap will be a thing of the past. But NASCAR's relationship with New York, the occasionally maligned host city of the year-end celebration since 1981, will not be.

"I think that city, and the exposure, and trying to make an impact in a city like New York is really, really important, especially in these economic times," said four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who keeps a residence in the city. "We need to be in front of these major companies as much as we possibly can. And it solidifies our sport and helps take it to the next level as one of the top sports, not only in the country, but in the world. And I think to keep it first-class and high-profile in a major city, it's worth it. I hope they keep it there every year."

Former series chairman Bill France Jr. moved NASCAR's year-end banquet from Daytona Beach to New York 27 years ago in an effort to raise more awareness for the sport in the media capital of the world. There are no shortage of critics, who would rather see it in a more NASCAR-centric environment like Charlotte. Bruton Smith, owner of the racetrack empire that includes Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has lobbied for years to have it moved to a glitzy casino hotel in the desert. But Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for corporate communications, said there are no plans to move the event from New York.

"It seems to be serving the industry pretty well. In this industry, you get an opinion every time you flip a coin. But I don't think there are any plans to move it," Hunter said.

"I think going back to why Bill France Jr. wanted to move the banquet to New York, it's still the media capital of the world. By that I mean ad agencies, everybody in business has a presence in New York, an office in New York. All of our sponsors have offices in New York. It's a great time to be there. The lighting of the tree is always that week. From the time we started going up there, the first year it was, 'Why do we have to go to New York?' Now most of the people in our industry, with the exception of some of the drivers who don't want to do anything, enjoy going to New York for the banquet." (Continued)