(Tacoma, WA) – America’s Car Museum, the LeMay Museum is delighted to announce the renewed sponsoring gift of $25,000 for 2007 made by Great Western Sports, developer of the proposed NASCAR racetrack in Kitsap County. A formal relationship was forged between the two organizations in 2005 when the major racetrack franchise made its first sponsoring gift of $25,000.
Great Western Sports is a division of ISC (International Speedway Corporation), which owns and operates 11 major race tracks in the United States. President and Chief Executive Officer of the Museum, David Madeira has been working closely with Grant Lynch, Vice President of ISC and President of Great Western Sports to urge the State of Washington to approve a race track to be built in the state. “I’m convinced that the Bremerton track will have a positive impact on our region in terms of increased tourism. I’ve attended a number of major races and visited a number of ISC tracks and am impressed with the quality of their operations. Government officials and track neighbors have been nearly unanimous in their positive opinions of the impact on their regions,” said Madeira.
Madeira also noted that he has been in excellent discussions with representatives of ISC, NASCAR and Grand American racing regarding a number of potential collaborations with the Museum in the years to come. “I’m excited about the potential these partnerships hold for us and believe that together we can bring well over 1 million tourists to our region on an annual basis” he said.
Great Western Sports is moving forward with plans to build a racetrack in Belfair, in Kitsap County. The track would be designed but not limited for NASCAR and sports car racing events, and the facility would be available for community activities throughout the year. If the track legislation passes and is built, collaboration between the race track and Museum will benefit both organizations in areas such as advertising, web sites, special events and ticket sales. Studies have also shown the collaboration will add economic value to all of Kitsap, King and Pierce counties through the vast increase in tourism.