The study shows

that events at Atlanta Motor Speedway, one of premier motorsports venues

in the country, are projected to bring in $2.275 billion of the city's

$4.5 billion income from sports over the next five years. That's more

than double the impact of the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Falcons combined.

"Atlanta

Motor Speedway is obviously responsible for a huge part of the sports

business in this town," said Gary Stokan, president of the Atlanta

Sports Council. "Race events bring people from all over the world

to Atlanta, much more than the local teams and local events."

The second

largest contributor to the local sports economy, the Atlanta Braves, is

projected to contribute just over $526 million over the next five years.

The Hawks will chip in another $163 million, and the Falcons will add

$48 million.

But those figures

pale in comparison to the billions of dollars generated by Atlanta Motor

Speedway's five major events each year: the Cracker Barrel Old Country

Store 500, NAPA 500, Aaron's 312, Midas 500 Classic and Georgia Boot 400.

"When

you look at the attendance just for the NAPA 500 and

Cracker Barrel

Old Country Store 500, that's equivalent to filling up the Georgia Dome

several times, just for a single race," Stokan said. "That doesn't

even include the support races at AMS."

Atlanta Motor

Speedway hosts three marquee racing weekends. March features the Cracker

Barrel Old Country Store 500 Winston Cup race and the Aaron's 312 Busch

Series race.

In 2001, the

Indy Racing Northern Light Series event will move to April, bringing race

fans the Atlanta 500 Classic. And November caps the season for two premier

racing series with the NAPA 500 Winston Cup season finale and the Georgia

Boot 400 ARCA finale.

"People

might be surprised at the amazing impact Atlanta Motor Speedway events

have on the metro Atlanta area, given all that Atlanta has to offer,"

Atlanta Motor Speedway President and General Manager Ed Clark said.

"We're

very proud to be recognized as one of the key elements in Atlanta's highly

successful and storied sports tradition."

And while Stokan

laughingly admits that the money is nice, he praises Atlanta Motor Speedway

for a far more important function as well.

"The amount

of attention Atlanta Motor Speedway attracts from people in every state

and from all across the world is invaluable," Stokan said. "In

addition to the many race fans and media members who come to Atlanta,

there are millions more watching on national TV. The Winston Cup and Indy

Racing events garner a tremendous amount of media, and that's the kind

of attention you can't pay for."

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