Speedcafe can reveal Supercars investigated the viability of including a NASCAR demonstration as part of the Gold Coast 500.
The plan was first hatched ahead of the 2025 event before a renewed effort to secure the coup this year.
Supercars’ strategic advisor Shane Howard and strategy/growth officer Mark Pejic recently met with NASCAR officials and teams in the United States.
The duo visited the Charlotte and Nashville races as part of a broader bid to strengthen ties with the American league.
However, they had hoped to secure a demo for the GC500, initially targeting six cars with the hope of growing to 12 the following year, spread evenly between manufacturers.
Ford, General Motors and Toyota all compete in both series – a synergy Supercars is keen to capitalise on.
Secure your spot today.
The plan was intended to feature retired NASCAR stars rather than current racers due to the demanding US schedule.
Although receiving some support from teams and OEMs, the fact the Gold Coast event occurs during the all-important NASCAR Chase is believed to have effectively scuppered the idea.
Supercars isn’t giving up on the concept, though, with the Adelaide Grand Final – which takes place after the NASCAR season – a possible future home for the concept.
While unable to discuss the NASCAR race plan with Speedcafe, Howard confirmed Supercars’ desire to work more closely with NASCAR.
“We’re strengthening our relationship with NASCAR,” Howard said.
“There’s a lot of synergies and cross-pollination between both our sports – obviously we’re running the same OEMs that NASCAR are running.
“I think there are stronger relationships between NASCAR teams and our teams just through being involved with the same OEMs.”
Howard noted the relationship between the two series stretches back several years.
“I’ve had a good relationship with NASCAR, particularly with (NASCAR event management boss) John Probst,” said Howard.
“He came to Tailem Bend [in 2018] when they were developing their NextGen car and we had a very open and transparent relationship with them then.
“They adopted some things into their new car, which are similar to us, which is a transaxle, pedal box, single spindle, et cetera. We’ve just progressed it from then.
“They’ve helped us out enormously when we took our cars to the [wind] tunnel for the first time.
“They had their top aerodynamicist there with us and (Supercars’ CFD partner) Dynamique and our teams.
“They wanted to be there because these guys love what we’re doing.
“They understand the difficulties that you have achieving parity with different body styles, completely different engines in architecture, capacity.
“It’s pretty complex to get that right, but they’re very respectful of where we’ve got the sport to, on all those parameters.”
Howard suggested the synergies between the series extend beyond technical matters.
“We think there’s benefit in working together collaboratively, understanding what we’re doing and sharing information,” he said.
“It’s not only technically, but to our fan bases, there are a lot of similarities there as well.
“It’s just a valuable exercise. We value their advice and their input and likewise, us in return.
“You’re just learning all the time and I think it’s just a great relationship to have and we welcome it.”
Discussion about this post