NASCAR Busch Series Heads To Mexico City

Mexico City, Mexico (March 1)- When Rusty Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon are introduced Sunday in Mexico City, they’ll no doubt be met with the applause their racing status and name recognition duly merits.

When Michel Jourdain Jr., Adrian Fernandez, Carlos Contreras and Jorge Goeters take the stage, however, the vocal fireworks for these native sons are likely to ricochet from Chicago to Daytona Beach.

Built in 1963 to host Formula One events, Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Sunday is the gathering spot for the Telcel-Motorola 200, the NASCAR Busch Series’ first points race to be held outside the United States and first road-course event since 2001 at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

With star status in Mexico for their open-wheel exploits, the return of Jourdain and Fernandez to their home country has been eagerly awaited since NASCAR first announced the series’ inaugural south of the border event.

“It’s going to be huge. NASCAR is so big in the (U.S.), and the press has been following it in Mexico the last couple of years more and more,” says Jourdain, who enters the event off a pair of 25^th-place finishes at Daytona and California. “It’s going to be one of the biggest races of the year for the Series and for the track. And it’s going to be the biggest race of the year in Mexico.”

Even without turning a lap, 1994 Busch Series champion David Green -- who earlier this year accompanied Jourdain on a goodwill tour of the track -- said the response to the duo’s appearance was beyond expectations.

“The excitement level was out of the roof,” said Green, 10^th in the Busch point standings entering the Series’ third event. “I can only compare it to what we see at the (season-opener) at Daytona.”

While the 2.786-mile road course with its eight turns is the first permanent track in Mexico to stage a Busch Series race, this isn’t the first time a group of NASCAR regulars have traveled south for competition. In 1950, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. teamed with Curtis Turner to drive in the first Mexican-American road race, a 2,178-mile showdown from El Paso, Texas and across Mexico to Guatemala. Also participating: Bob Flock, Raymond Parks and Red Byron.

For Green, traveling to Mexico City to compete is beyond anything he envisioned when he began his racing career on tracks in South Boston, Va., and Hickory, N.C. With the Autodromo and the city having done everything possible to ensure the drivers are oriented are comfortable, Green says he expects some Busch Series regulars are in for a surprise when it comes to spectator reaction.

“These fans don’t categorize the drivers like in the United States,” offers Green. “At Daytona, most of the (Busch) regulars walk through the garage unnoticed, but any (Cup) drivers come through and the world stops. I say that positively, but (in Mexico) I think it’s going to be an even slate. Obviously Adrian, Michel and all the Mexican drivers will get a certain amount, but as far as the (Cup) drivers participating, it’s going to be even. Expect us Busch guys to flex our muscles a little bit.”

As popular as he will be with the home crowd, Jourdain predicts it will be Fernandez who will garner the lion’s share of attention.

“Adrian has been on the top of the motorsports world for almost 15 years; he’s been on the covers (of magazines) and in the news all the time,” said Jourdain. “It’s (usually) a soccer player and a couple of boxers that have had that kind of coverage. Adrian is huge, and compared with a lot of the other big names in sports in the history of Mexico, he’s tried to be closer to the people and has kept himself in a good position. Now, everybody will see how good he is.”

While the trip from California to Mexico City and then on to Las Vegas is sure to be exhausting, Green sees NASCAR’s foray into the Hispanic-based territory as a win-win proposition.

“When NASCAR added Mexico City to the schedule, it caught the attention of some drivers who hadn’t thought about racing in the Busch Series,” says Green. “What’s happening is that by coming someplace like this, guys like Michel and Adrian and my teammate (Goeters) are getting the opportunity that we got years ago at places like the Nashville Fairgrounds.

“For me, I see it as an excellent opportunity to race with some of the best drivers in the world we would never have had a chance to see in a great new atmosphere with 25 million people. It’s going to be very exciting.”

Pit note: While the Busch Series drivers have been tasked with showing up in Mexico City, UPS is in charge of ensuring that more than 80 team haulers, technical scoring trailers, tires and safety vehicles make it across the border. Following clearance in Laredo, Texas, convoy groups will have federal and private security escorts during the approximately 20-hour trip. The procedures will be reversed following Sunday’s checkered flag for reentry to the U.S. for the March 12 Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

-by Beth Tuschak