The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve sits on an island is in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Credit: Courtesy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Montreal offers NASCAR unique racing experience

Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is used to hosting major events -- it's been the home of the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix since 1978 -- so it's no surprise that with eight months to go before the Busch Series makes its Canadian debut, few changes need to be made to the track on the Ile Notre-Dame.

The track's Web site is busy selling tickets for seats in grandstands temporarily named after some of NASCAR's greatest drivers.

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Want to see the action in the pits and the start-finish line? Pick either the Petty or Waltrip stands, although the cars will still funnel into the Ayrton Senna corner. Other stands have been named Allison, Pearson, Wallace, Jarrett and Johnson -- the reference there is probably to 50-time winner Junior and not 2006 Nextel Cup champion Jimmie.

"The response has been overwhelming," Busch Series director Joe Balash said. "One of the good challenges we have right now is they're talking about adding additional grandstands because of the response of people wanting to buy tickets.

"It's very unique. It's the first time we've had a chance to race on a circuit that's on an island. It's a very beautiful facility. The city is very accommodating. It's going to be a really cool place to come watch a race."

Balash visited the track recently and said efforts are under way to make the facility compatible for the Busch Series. That may seem simple for a 2.71-mile track that hosts the world-wide frenzy that is F1, but Balash said the two series have very different requirements.

"You've got two differences of philosophy about how the series travel, between a NASCAR series and a Formula One series," Balash said. "When F1 comes into town, they're bringing most of their equipment in containers and they're unloading their equipment into the garages and put the containers off property, away from the garage area.

"When a NASCAR race comes into town, we're bringing 50 haulers that park in the garage area. The footprint is completely different."

In addition, the Busch Series will have twice the number of starters, so in addition to needing a longer pit road, some teams will be forced to work on their cars out in the open.

"They have very nice garage facilities, it's to accommodate a fewer number of cars," Balash said. "I think right now there's 38 bays.

"We'll use a couple of those bays for inspection and probably put our points leaders into the remaining bays. The rest of the haulers will do like we do at many facilities around the country -- they'll work from the garage area during the practice sessions."

One thing that track organizers do for the F1 race that NASCAR may copy is the idea of floating storage space. Since the man-made island is in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, barges can be docked alongside the garage area.

"There's some unique things that they offer: their ability to put barges or docks behind the garage area to extend out into the water is something we haven't experienced before," Balash said. "But they're very comfortable with doing that. We're actually looking at doing something like that to give us a little more space."

Like many road courses, the track does not have SAFER barriers installed. And despite the reputation of one corner -- the Wall of Champions -- as a particularly tough spot to negotiate, Balash doesn't see an issue.

"As you know, as we go to Mexico City and also to Watkins Glen, there are not SAFER barriers up on the road courses there as well," he said. "We utilize different types of systems, whether it's the type of extended run-off areas, a gravel trap, something like that on the road courses.

"As we work with our partners, we'll have conversations as to the different turns and that type of thing, and come up with the best solution for the track."

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Speaking of Mexico City, Balash said one thing Busch Series officials won't have to do is escort teams across the Canadian border.

"We're really not looking to put in caravans and those type of things for the border crossing," he said. "There's literally hundreds of American racers that race in Canada every year, hundreds of Canadian racers who come down and race in the U.S., so it's an easier border crossing for the race teams.

"We'll again work with the Canadian government, we'll work with our partners up at the race facility and we'll work with the U.S. government so everybody understands when we're going and when we're coming back and we'll do all the proper paperwork that's needed to cross the border. "

So as the clock counts down, Balash is satisfied that there will be no surprises when the teams show up in August.

"Nothing jumped up and said, 'Hey, here's something that's an issue,'" he said. "We're very comfortable with the progress that we're making.

"Our partners are well aware of what our needs are up there and they're working very diligently with us to accommodate those changes. I don't foresee any issues with us working with them. Our ultimate goal is putting on a great race up there."