Kansas Speedway&#8217;s proactive approach to being awarded the rights to build a hotel and casino on its grounds continues today when officials will announce that another racing series has committed to holding an event at the facility.</p><p>Roger Edmondson, president of the Grand American Road Racing Association, said that if a road course is built in the infield of the speedway, his group will move a Rolex Sports Car Series race to Kansas.</p><p>&#8220;We are extremely excited about the prospect of racing at Kansas Speedway,&#8221; Edmondson said. &#8220;Currently, we only have one Grand-Am Rolex Series event in the Heartland of America.&#8221;</p><p>Getting the Grand-Am race &#8212; as is the case with getting a second Sprint Cup date, a national recreational vehicle rally and the road course itself &#8212; is dependent upon a decision by the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board to select Kansas Speedway as the site to build a Wyandotte County casino.</p><p>Four groups are vying for rights to build and operate a casino in the Village West area. Representatives of all four groups have made initial presentations to the state board.</p><p>The Kansas Speedway group, which is headed by International Speedway Corp., the speedway&#8217;s parent company, would put its casino on the outside of turn two of the track. The casino would be a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which would be built and operated by the Cordish Company.</p><p>During the speedway group&#8217;s presentation to the board on Aug. 13, ISC president Lesa France Kennedy said if awarded casino-building rights, she would petition NASCAR to bring a second yearly Sprint Cup race to the track. France Kennedy is also a member of the NASCAR board of directors.</p><p>NASCAR chairman and chief executive officer Brian France told <em>The Star</em> he believed that Kansas Speedway was capable of successfully holding a second Cup race and that this area of the country is underserved by the series.</p><p>Since then, ISC has committed to building an infield road course for use by a professional racing series and private auto clubs if the speedway group is awarded the casino.</p><p>Grand-Am is one of the top sports-car racing series in North America. Cars in the series range from exotic Le Mans-like prototypes to grand touring cars. They all take to the track at the same time, making for large fields and tricky racing. The cars are driven by teams of two or more.</p><p>The series&#8217; marquee event is the Rolex 24 at Daytona, one of the most prestigious sports-car races in the world. The race lasts 24 hours and features the world&#8217;s top sports-car drivers blended, in recent years, with NASCAR drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart.</p><p>The series featured 14 other races this year. Those were held at places like Infineon Raceway in California, Watkins Glen International in New York, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.</p><p>&#8220;This would just add to our portfolio of events,&#8221; Kansas Speedway president Jeff Boerger said. &#8220;It will bring more fans and a higher level of competition. This is the premier road-racing series in the country.&#8221;</p><p>Boerger said a Grand-Am race likely would be partnered with a companion event at the speedway.</p><p>&#8220;Possibly with the IndyCar series, like they do in Miami,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We believe there is a demand for (big-time sports car racing) here, we believe there is a need for something like this.&#8221;