From the North American Touring Car Championship Media Room:

"The recent announcement, however, of the withdrawal of Chrysler's participation has affected the position and perceived strength of the Championship to a degree that is, at this time, considered irreparable. Rather than provide potentially unrealistic expectations for the Championship's teams, sponsors, event promoters and others, it has been very regretfully decided that the 1998 Super Touring program will not take place. A comprehensive evaluation of the feasibility of continuing the Championship in 1999 will be undertaken."

The full text of the announcement is also available from the Super Touring Championship page.

What does this mean? Well, basically the North American Touring Car racing series is dead! Chrysler was the only car manufacturer fielding an official "factory racing team" during the 97 season. And though there were rumors that Toyota was considering fielding a factory team in 98, any such plans have been nixed because of Chrysler's decision. But we may be able to revive the NATCC with your help!

From what I understand, part of Chrysler's decision was based on reports in some magazines that Touring Cars have no following here in the US. So what can we do about this? Spread the word to your friends about Touring Car, and write letters to AutoWeek at:

It seems that AutoWeek requests that you include a phone number in letters to the editor, but I don't know if that's necessary.

We also should send mail to Speed Sport News and to Chrysler's Motosports department, but I've been unable to find addresses for either of these. I would appreciate it if someone who knows these could e-mail it to me at jackr@umich.edu. Thanks.

AutoWeek also takes e-mail on their web page or at awletter@crain.com. You can also send mail to your favorite car magazines like Car and Driver or Motor Trend.

If you have a web page, you might also want to include the following HTML in your web page:

<H2 ALIGN="center">
    <A HREF="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jackr/touring/snatc.html">NATCC
    '98 season cancelled!</A>
</H2>
<P ALIGN="center">
    <A HREF="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jackr/touring/snatc.html"><IMG
    SRC="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jackr/touring/gfx/snatc.gif"
    WIDTH="390" HEIGHT="60" BORDER="0"
    ALT="Save North American Touring Car"></A>
</P>

Let's get the word out on this, and even if we don't manage to save the '98 season, hopefully we can ensure that this great racing series is back in North America for another season in '99.