NASCAR and Las Vegas' Sahara Hotel and Casino have
agreed to develop a NASCAR Cafe family entertainment complex
within the existing Sahara Casino. The complex will carry
the NASCAR Cafe banner and will include a 400-seat upstairs
dining area, as well as a dual track ride where guests race
in simulated NASCAR Winston Cup race cars on a roller
coaster type track through the Cafe. In addition, an
existing 35,000-square-foot venue called SpeedWorld will be
converted to the NASCAR Cafe theme, featuring virtual
reality racing simulators and two 3-D motion simulator
theatres. The Las Vegas NASCAR Cafe, scheduled to open in
early '99, will be the chain's fourth outlet, joining
locations in Myrtle Beach, Nashville and Orlando (NASCAR).
VIVA LAS VEGAS: NASCAR made its Las Vegas debut with
the Las Vegas 400, but it "won't go down as the kind of
exciting show NASCAR or the city is famous for providing,"
according to Holly Cain of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS.
Although many of the capacity crowd of 107,000 "remained
seated" during the race and "some fans even left before" it
ended, "most" of the crowd "appeared to enjoy its
experience." Traffic delays "made for lots of late
arrivals," but the Speedway hired .38 Special to play a
concert after the race to "alleviate some of the post-race
congestion" (Holly Cain, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/2).
