IN
THE
WIND
P18
PHOTOGRAPHY
KIT
PALMER
W
hen the 2016 FIM MXGP
schedule was released
last month and two U.S. rounds
were on the schedule many
were surprised, but not as
surprised that one of those two
venues was planned for Char-
lotte, North Carolina, and its
famed Charlotte Motor Speed-
way (the other round will again
be at Glen Helen Raceway).
Seems like a strange place to
host GP, right? Yes. But it gets
stranger. It's actually going to be
held on the facility's drag strip!
Yes, that's the plan. The 2016
Monster Energy MXGP of the
Americas will be held at zMAX
Dragway, located right next to
the massive speedway. At first,
it would seem impossible to
hold a motocross race—and a
big one at that—at a drag strip
but zMAX Dragway is not your
ordinary drag strip. It's a four
laner that evidently has enough
room to facilitate the required
minimum length of about one
mile for an official MXGP track.
Still, that's hard to believe, but
it's true, and we saw it with our
own eyes.
All the big players that got
together to make this seemingly
impossible dream happen held
a press conference at the facility
this week in Charlotte. Youth-
stream (owner of the MXGP
series) President Guiseppe
Luongo and Youthstream Direc-
tor David Luongo (Guiseppe's
son), CEO of Speedway Mo-
torsports, Inc. (SMI) Marcus
Smith, Monster Energy's Vice
President of Sports Marketing
Mitch Covington, and the man
who helped make it all hap-
pen, Eric Peronnard, who has
in the past produced and/or
helped produce such events as
the Monster Energy Cup, U.S.
Open, EnduroCross and Red
Bull Straight Rhythm, were all on
hand to pitch the event. Also in
attendance was pretty much the
entire AutoTrader.com/Toyota/
JGRMX Yamaha Team (which
CHARLOTTE MXGP TRACK UNVEILED
JGRMX team
owner Coy Gibbs,
Youthstream's
Giuseppe
Luongo and
Jeremy McGrath
attended the
Charlotte MXGP
press conference
at zMAX Drag
Way. SMI
Chairman Marcus
Smith (right)
handled the
presentation.
