PIR unveils NASCAR bus to celebrate race weekend.

Phoenix International Raceway has unveiled the latest addition to the Valley's fleet of passenger buses - a 40-passenger New Flyer Phoenix Metro vehicle featuring bigger-than-life graphics depicting a NASCAR race vehicle on each side.

The bus offers 710sq.ft. of display space which features realistic illustrations of a NASCAR stock car on one side, and a NASCAR truck on the other. The rear of the bus shows the Phoenix International Raceway logo, telephone number and website address. The graphics were designed by Laurie Brosius of the ISC Creative Department in Daytona Beach, Florida, and produced and applied by Ad Graphics.

"This bus is really a rolling billboard for racing," said Robin Braig, executive vice-president and general manager at Phoenix International Raceway, "With a NASCAR stock car on one side and a NASCAR Craftsman truck on the other, there's no way anyone can deny knowing that Phoenix really is a great racing town. And with an all-new, four-race NASCAR weekend as the next event on our calendar, we think this bus will definitely make and keep our fans aware of what's coming up in October."

NASCAR Winston Cup racing has been coming to Phoenix since 1988, with some combination of NASCAR Craftsman Truck, Busch Series and Featherlite Southwest races occasionally sharing the bill. This year, for the first time ever, all four series will race at the 'Desert Jewel' during the NASCAR Dura Lube 500 weekend over 25-28 October.

"We wanted to do something really unique to showcase our first four-day NASCAR weekend," said Scott Simpson, the track's director of advertising and promotions, "We figured that, if John Madden has his Outback Steakhouse Madden Cruiser to help promote Outback Steakhouse, why shouldn't we have a big PIR NASCAR bus to promote our first-ever four-NASCAR race weekend?"

The bus will serve passengers on the three major routes in Phoenix, including the Red Line from downtown to the north-west area of the city, the Blue Line from south Phoenix to the north-east part of the Valley, and the 'O' line which travels north and south on Central Avenue.

The 2001 NASCAR Weekend features the return of the NASCAR Winston Cup stars, on Sunday 28 October, for the Dura Lube 500. Leading up to that race will be the Albertsons/Osco Drug 125 NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series event on Thursday 25 October; the Chevy Silverado 150 NASCAR Craftsman Truck race on Friday; and Saturday's Outback Steakhouse 200 NASCAR Busch Series race.