NASCAR in New York City? You sure about that?

Look, I’ve never been much for NASCAR, mainly because if I wanted to watch teams of rednecks expel gas while going in circles for hours, I’d turn on FOX News. That said, there’s obviously a large, national audience for the sport that perpetually draws strong ratings and has made millionaires many times over out of quite a few good ol’ boys (and not to mention the occasional California prettyboy, such as the polarizing Jeff Gordon). But now one Andrew Murstein, a New York-based taxi tycoon and self-styled racing enthusiast (in addition to the new owner of Richard Petty Motorsports), has a plan to expand NASCAR’s interests even further– into the basketball-loving, NASCAR-averse urban sprawl known as New York City.

Gotham City has always been an attractive target for NASCAR or any other entertainment-based entity with dollar signs in their eyes, as the extremely large and centrally located population marks a beyond-appealing cash-grab opportunity. If for no other aspect than the sheer novelty of a NACSAR race in a city known for a driving license-less population, one would think a race could be successful there, at least once.

Forecasting the prospects for sustained NASCAR success in the Big Apple is a little murkier however– without the built-in audience of race fans enjoyed by most of the American South (and expanding parts, North and West), a New York City NASCAR track (and subsequently scheduled yearly race) might find ticket-purchasers a little harder to come by the second, third, and forth times around, short of a massive tourist infusion from the Red State region.

Murstein, to his credit, is not deterred.