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SUPERCARS BOSS BUSY IN USA

Sean Seamer American interest in Gold Coast 600 - Photo: LAT

By Bruce Williams

Sean Seamer American interest in Gold Coast 600 - Photo: LAT

Sean Seamer American interest in Gold Coast 600 – Photo: LAT

Supercars supremo Sean Seamer is pursuing American interest in co-billing at the Gold Coast 600 during a ‘busman’s holiday’ in the USA.

By MARK FOGARTY

As IndyCar interest in returning to Surfers Paradise increases, Seamer will meet with NASCAR executives early in the New Year.

He will also visit Indianapolis for talks with IndyCar Series senior management, including big boss Mark Miles.

Seamer, who has been in Michigan for the past week, has already had top-level meetings in Detroit.

He is in the States for a combined family holiday and fact-finding mission, with scheduled visits early next month to leading NASCAR teams in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a trip Daytona, Florida, to meet NASCAR chiefs and attend The Roar Before The Rolex 24 pre-Daytona 24 Hours test.

NZ-born Seamer’s wife is American and he is linking their visit to her family in Michigan with meetings to promote closer ties between Supercars and NASCAR, as well as establishing a relationship with IndyCar.

Although the Queensland Government is pushing for IndyCar to return to add international open-wheel glamour to the Gold Coast event, Supercars is pursuing the possibility of a NASCAR presence to share top billing.

Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ), which underwrites the Gold Coast 600, wants an American series to headline the event to promote tourism from the USA.

Supercars is in talks with TEQ to renew existing state government support of the Surfers Paradise and Townsville street race events beyond next year.

TEQ’s efforts to bring Indycar racing back to Surfers in 2020 are continuing at a frenetic pace.

Following an unannounced whirlwind trip to the Gold Coast in November by an IndyCar Series delegation led by Miles, who also met with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and other senior state government officials, AUTO ACTION has learned that former racer and IndyCar race steward Max Papis made a secret visit to Surfers early this month.

Although the exact purpose of Papis’s covert mission is unknown, it is likely he was inspecting the shortened – since Indycars were last there in 2008 – track layout’s suitability for the series.

His clandestine visit further indicates that IndyCar is serious about returning to Surfers to headline the Gold Coast event, as it did under the CART and Champ Car guises from 1991-2007.

The reunified IndyCar Series – ending the decade-long split between CART/Champ Car and the Indy Racing League – made a one-off non-championship appearance in ’08 before it became a standalone Supercars event.

As Seamer concentrates on forging links with NASCAR, Supercars has been largely left out of the loop as the Queensland government continues to aggressively court IndyCar.

Before heading to the States, he told AA that the Gold Coast event’s future would be much clearer following his trip.

“I’ll have a bit more of an update then, but right now, we’re just staying in touch with TEQ and they’re keeping us updated,” Seamer said. “To be honest, a lot of people are starting to go away on holidays now, so don’t expect any material movement until the New Year.”

He declined to comment on the pace of the Queensland government’s push to bring IndyCar back.

“There’s obviously a lot of interest and a lot of activity around it, but the pace at which things are moving, I couldn’t comment on because I’m not involved in those discussions,” Seamer said. “TEQ is keeping us up-to-date, but like I say, as it relates to the pace of discussions, I don’t think we can expect anything until the New Year.”

Seamer has previously expressed reservations about IndyCars’ demand that the Surfers street race move back to late February/early March to open North American-based series, which ends in September to avoid a clash with the start of the NFL season.

That would not fit comfortably with Supercars’ schedule, even if it moved to a summer series in 2020.

Seamer’s meetings in Detroit last week would mainly have been with Roger Penske and Ford Performance bosses ahead of the Mustang’s debut next year.

After the Christmas/New Year break, he will travel to Charlotte to tour leading NASCAR teams and then on to Daytona, where he will meet senior NASCAR officials and attend the The Roar from January 4-6.

The Roar is a major test event for the 24 Hours Of Daytona sports car classic on January 26-27.

Seamer will finish his family holiday in the week following The Roar before returning to start his second season as Supercars’ CEO around January 14.

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