Philadelphia’s Franklin Field may soon welcome a NASCAR race, writes Matt Connolly for the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
The historic stadium, once home to the Philadelphia Eagles and now host to the Penn Relays as well as Penn’s football, track and field, and lacrosse teams, is being eyed by NASCAR as a potential race venue.
Last year, NASCAR hosted an exhibition event at LA Coliseum – a stadium it considers similar to Franklin Field.
“When you look at opportunities, one of the places we looked around with the Coliseum was in Philly, Franklin Field,” said NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell. “It was one of the only ones that we could put a race track inside of because of the Olympic size track. Those are the types of things in a city we’re going to look at because the days of just building a rural track are over.”
O’Donnell is definitely not concerned about the fan support if a race comes to Philadelphia, noting that NASCAR has a passionate fan base in the Northeast.
“If you look at Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and you look at short track racing, there’s a huge, hardcore short track market with a lot of local fans who love racing in general,” he said.
To learn more about this bold idea and what it could mean for Philly sports fans and racing enthusiasts alike, click through to read the full story on The Patriot-News.
