MONTREAL - About 60,000 to 70,000 racing fans have attended each annual Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since it began in 2007. But the future of the race, won by the Australian Marcos Ambrose, has been put into doubt by a government refusal to fork out for the event.
The NAPA Auto Parts 200, which blasted around the Montreal track Saturday, was described by Jacques Villeneuve prior to the race as, "a big race with big price money and big TV viewership. It's also a little jet-set," he sad. "it's what Monaco is to Formula One."
The race itself was finished just before the rains started Saturday afternoon. It ended near six p.m. with Marcos Ambrose grabbing the checkered flag. Ambrose overcame a bump from Jacques Villeneuve midway through the race. He later exacted some semi-accidental revenge by harpooning the local-boy, effectively putting Villeneuve, the leader for the first 45 laps, out of the race. Ambrose took the lead on a restart with 10 laps to go, as he blew past Canadian Alex Tagliani who finished second.
Earlier this summer, the province of Quebec declined to offer $500,000 to keep the race going in Montreal. As a result the federal government was unable to provide matching funds, casting doubt over whether the event will return.
CTV Montreal sought out opinions throughout the city on the day of the race and had a hard time finding a single naysayer.
"We need that money badly because we had such a bad spring. It was raining every day, it was 10 degrees, really bad," said Bernard Ragueneau of the Crescent Street Merchants Association.
Another hotel owner strongly agreed that tourists flocking to the city do good for the urban bottom-line.
"Losing it would be bad for business and bad for downtown area and we need activities in the downtown area," said Tina Rodrigues of Hotel de la Montagne.
Others randomly interviewed on the street agreed that the race is a big deal for Montreal.
"These people come from all over Canada and the States. They are coming to rejoice in Montreal. So this is what we're going to lose," said another.
"Any time you have thousands of people come to a convention of any kind, it brings money to economy, and stimulates the economy," agreed another.
If those entreaties were insufficiently emphatic, another echoed the need in perhaps even stronger terms.
"I don't understand why they have funds for other parades and different events that go on--and we're talking about a half a million dollars from both governments. It's a small price to pay," said another interviewed in the street.
Stock Car Canada said that a decision on whether the race will continue without government funding will be made within two weeks.
