But: The horrifying terrorist attacks on the United States Tuesday morning are obviously still being sorted out and will likely take a good bit of time to unravel, and while it may seem trivial, we [SpeedVision] must report that the attack, and the subsequent shutdown of airports nationwide, may take its toll on the weekends racing action. NASCAR was to be in Loudon, New Hampshire, while CART is heading overseas to England, the Indy Racing League is readying for its season finale in Texas and the Grand-Am road racing series is also prepping for its last race of the year in Daytona. All of the series are at least discussing the possible cancellation of this weekends events as everyone watches to see how the events unfold. NASCAR officials, like all others in America, were aghast and shocked at the terrorist actions in New York and elsewhere Tuesday morning and were watching developments with concern. “We, like everybody else, are glued to the TV,” said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice-president for communications. Motorsport events, such as press conferences and public appearances, were immediately canceled as the enormity of the disasters became known. Hunter said NASCAR’s office in New York, midtown at 375 Park Avenue, was not directly affected. “Everybody’s fine there,” Hunter said. “Of course, they can’t get off the island. Some are still in the office. Some went over to the Waldorf, where they have some rooms. They told us quite a number of the New York employees had relatives working [at the World Trade Center].” Hunter also said NASCAR is in discussions with the Bahre family, owners of the New Hampshire International Speedway, site of this weekend’s scheduled Winston Cup event, and that decisions about that race likely would be made later Tuesday. “We talking to the Bahres,” he said. “We’ve talked to them twice. We’re going to keep monitoring it, then decide what to do.”(SpeedVision)(9-11-2001)
