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Published: August 14, 2008
France's sister says she will ask for a second Kansas race
Lesa France Kennedy, the sister of NASCAR CEO Brian France and the daughter of the late Bill France Jr., said she will be asking NASCAR for a second race weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Kansas Speedway, owned by the France family's International Speedway Corp., has put together a proposal for a hotel and casino -- with 3,000 slot machines and 140 gaming tables -- in the second turn of the track.
ISC and The Cordish Company have planned the operation, which would cost about $700 million and which they say would generate $350 million a year.
As part of the bid, Kennedy said, she'll ask for a second Sprint Cup weekend if the track gets the go-ahead for the gaming facility.
The track currently provides about $250 million a year in economic benefit to the Kansas City area, according to the track.
Kennedy, in a news conference to announce the plans, called Kansas Speedway, now seven years old, "a world-class motorsports facility that continues to provide a significant economic benefit to the community. Kansas Speedway not only attracts hundreds of thousands of fans throughout the year but also serves as a catalyst for new development."
Brian France recently rejected Bruton Smith's call for a Cup date for Kentucky Speedway on the 2009 tour.
-- Mike Mulhern
More auto racing
■ Tony Stewart has hired Ryan Newman, a fellow Indiana native, to drive the second car for his new team next season, The Associated Press has learned.
Newman, who nipped Stewart on the final lap to win the Daytona 500 in February, will be introduced as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet on Friday at Michigan International Speedway, according to a person familiar with the deal.
| Newman, who is leaving Penske Racing at the end of this season, will use No. 4 in honor of the first number that Stewart used as a child. |
Basketball
■ Marques Johnson is on the move again.
N.C. State said yesterday that Johnson, a point guard, is leaving the program and the school. Johnson hasn't said where he plans to transfer.
Johnson played only part of one season with the Wolfpack after transferring from Tennessee.
Johnson, after sitting out the first semester of last season, started six games at point guard and averaged two points and 1.2 assists in 21 games.
■ West Virginia and three other schools that made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament will meet in the Jimmy V Classic doubleheader on Dec. 9 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The 14th annual tournament, announced yesterday, is named in honor of Jim Valvano, the late N.C. State coach, and benefits The V Foundation for Cancer Research.
West Virginia and Davidson will play at 7 p.m. Texas will play Villanova at 9 p.m. Both games will be shown on ESPN.
Villanova and West Virginia were ousted in the regional semifinals and Texas and Davidson were regional finalists.
■ Oklahoma State's women, after matching the deepest NCAA Tournament run in school history, will open this season with a game at national power Duke.
Andrea Riley and the Cowboys are scheduled to play the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov. 14 to start their 29-game schedule. The game is the front end of a home-and-home series that will bring Duke to Gallagher-Iba Arena during the 2009-10 season, team spokesman Ryan Cameron said yesterday.
Oklahoma State is coming off a season in which it set a school record with 27 wins.
■ South Carolina and Coach Darrin Horn had the perfect touch in Europe.
The Gamecocks finished a 4-0 tour of Eastern Europe with a 112-59 victory over the Klosterneuburg Basket Dukes at a game in Austria yesterday. Devan Downey led South Carolina with 20 points. Sam Muldrow came off the bench to go 7 of 7 from the field for 17 points.
The team played earlier games in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Horn was hired in April to replace retired Coach Dave Odom.
■ The Atlanta Hawks signed Ronald "Flip" Murray, a free-agent guard, yesterday.
Murray, a six-year veteran, can play both guard spots. He joins Maurice Evans as free-agent additions to the backcourt after the Hawks lost sixth man Josh Childress, who stunned the team last month by signing with Greek powerhouse Olympiakos.
Murray, 6-3, was released by Detroit last season before signing with Indiana. He started the final 15 games of the season at point guard for the Pacers. He averaged eleven points and 3.5 assists in that stretch.
■ The Cleveland Cavaliers are getting some help for LeBron James.
Mo Williams, a high-scoring Milwaukee point guard, is headed to Cleveland to join James as part of a three-team trade involving Milwaukee and Oklahoma City.
Agents for Williams and Desmond Mason said yesterday that a six-player deal is being completed that reshapes the rebuilding Bucks while giving Cleveland an additional scoring threat and sends Mason to Oklahoma, where he's already a fan favorite.
The trade was previously reported by ESPN.com and media outlets in all three markets.
In exchange for Williams, who averaged 17.2 points per game last season in the first year of a six-year, $51.5 million contract, the Bucks will receive Damon Jones from Cleveland along with guard Luke Ridnour and forward Adrian Griffin from Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City will get veteran forward Joe Smith from Cleveland and Mason from Milwaukee. Mason played in college at Oklahoma State and spent time with the Hornets franchise in Oklahoma City when it was moved in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Milwaukee also signed guard Tyronn Lue and forward Malik Allen in an effort to bolster what has been one of the league's worst defenses.
Miscellaneous
■ A Winston-Salem firm now holds the television and radio rights for Razorback sports events.
A joint news release said Little Rock television station KATV, which had been the radio and television rights holder for Arkansas, had signed those rights over to ISP Sports.
The announcement said KATV will be the flagship television station for a new Razorback sports network.
ISP, which has relationships with five other Southeastern Conference member schools, will also be the holder of multi-media rights to Razorback sports events, under the name Razorback Sports Properties.
The change was announced in a news release yesterday by KATV and ISP.
The news release says that the 10-year agreement will guarantee Arkansas $73 million, including $5.7 million in the first year. Last year, UA took in $3.4 million from the arrangement with KATV.
ISP will manage certain media rights that were once managed by the school, including the new, combined Web site for men's and women's athletics, ArkansasRazorbacks.com. ISP will also handle signs at athletics venues, game programs and other printed materials and any number of other promotions.
ISP said it has relationships with more than 60 universities, conferences bowl games and venues.
■ The chances of Big Brown and Curlin meeting on the racetrack is starting to look like a long shot.
The owners of both horses outlined their tentative fall plans for racing's two stars yesterday, and neither horse's schedule appears to leave room for the other.
Curlin owner Jess Jackson said the 2007 Horse of the Year will run in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 30 then probably head to the post for the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Sept. 27.
Big Brown owner Michael Iavarone declined an invitation from Jackson to run in the Woodward, and it's unlikely that Big Brown will run in the Gold Cup. Iavarone said his focus this fall is getting his 3-year-old ready for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.
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