New England 300 - Christian Fittipaldi Notes

Christian Fittipaldi Notes, Quotes: New England 300

‘Some real fans of motorsports’

For the first of two visits to the New England region of the country, this weekend Christian Fittipaldi and the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team head to the 1.058-mile New Hampshire International Raceway for Sunday’s New England 300 kilometer race. The raceway is the only track in the New England region that the NASCAR Winston Cup series visits. The track first hosted Winston Cup racing in 1993, but has also played host to other sanctioning bodies including CART. Fittipaldi competed on the track in CART competition in 1995.

In the summer of 2002 Fittipaldi signed on to drive for the legendary Petty Enterprises. An open-wheel star, Fittipaldi, 33, is a two-time CART race winner (California Speedway and Road America) and Formula One World Championship driver. Fittipaldi is the first-ever Brazilian native to run full time in NASCAR’s top series and is the only full-time NASCAR driver to have raced full-time in Formula One and CART.

The thoughts of Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge driver Christian Fittipaldi heading into New Hampshire:

“There are a lot of race fans everywhere. If you take a step back and look at the big picture, race fans are all over the globe - or maybe that’s just what I’ve been able to witness first hand. Fans, just like the racing, are different depending on where you are. In Europe the fans are very loyal to the country and to Formula One racing. They are fans of the drivers from their own country. They will cheer for the German drivers, the French drivers, or the Brazilian drivers. In America the fans are more loyal to a specific driver, and to an extent, the car make.

“Look around this weekend at New Hampshire. Look at the t-shirts or hats that the fans are wearing. They’ll be wearing Kyle Petty t-shirts or whoever their favorite driver might be. That’s what makes NASCAR fans the most unique. They are diehard fans and very loyal to their favorite driver. I am excited and looking forward to continuing to build my fan base in this series. We could use a few more Christian Fittipaldi t-shirts in the stands, don’t you think?

“The fans in New Hampshire love racing. They have a nice facility and the fans in New Hampshire pack this track no matter who or what is racing there. That’s the kind of places that you like to go to. You want to go to the tracks where the fans love racing and want to see good, hard racing. I think you see a lot of that in the fans in New Hampshire. They only get two shots a year to see the Winston Cup series and I know they really enjoy it.

“One of the other differences between the fans in Formula One to fans here in NASCAR is the fact that NASCAR races are three days long. Formula One races are only two days, but most of the fans come on race day. You don’t see a lot of camping or people staying in campers. They come race morning and just come to see the race. The races are very well attended, but the fans mostly attend on race day.

“NASCAR races are more events than races from a fan’s standpoint. I bet campers started to pull in at New Hampshire as early as Monday for this weekend’s race. They will camp all week, cook on their grills at night, eat a bowl of Cheerios in the morning, head to the track all day, and the next day do it all over again. The race turns into an event and that’s good for the fans. It was different for me to see this, but it’s pretty cool.

“I am excited to get to New Hampshire and I know that the fans are just as excited. It’s good to see such a strong fan base in NASCAR and it’s really evident when you go to New Hampshire. I just hope that when I look up into the stands that all I’ll see is a blanket of fans wearing Cheerios Yellow t-shirts cheering for this team.”

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