Gov. Mark R. Warner announced Wenesday, a program to transform the state’s NASCAR venues and other motor sport centers into engines for job creation and tourism, especially in economically depressed Southside and southwest Virginia. Standing in the pit of the 88,000-seat Martinsville Speedway, Warner (D) announced the launch of the Virginia Motorsports Initiative, a public-private partnership that he said will help “grow” jobs from the state’s far southwestern tip to its midsection, a region where recent unemployment rates have climbed as high as 14 percent. Warner said several state agencies will help promote popular racing locales such as Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond as magnets for engine builders, component makers, race car teams and other sectors of an industry that has grown dramatically as a spectator sport — and even boosted the Democrat’s own 2001 campaign for governor. (see full story at the Washington Post )(8-14-2003)
