ACBJ kills NASCAR publication

Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal reports that American City Business Journals has pulled the plug on NASCAR Scene, a publication that started in 1977, and will merge into the monthly NASCAR Illustrated magazine.

Smith writes, “Street & Smith’s Sports Group — a unit of American City Business Journals, which also owns the Charlotte Business Journal, SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily — says the Web site Scenedaily.com will continue to provide coverage of breaking news and NASCAR race coverage.

“With the merger, 18 staff positions at NASCAR Scene were eliminated across editorial and advertising, while others were folded into an enhanced Illustrated that will begin covering the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series for the first time.

“‘Scene’s traditional focus has always been on race coverage,’ says ACBJ President and Chief Executive Whitney Shaw. ‘But readers now want to get those stories almost as soon as the checkered flag drops, so sending them a newspaper that arrives five or six days later became a challenge. Add in the impact of the current economic downturn, which has been magnified in so many businesses tied to NASCAR, and it just became time to refocus.'”

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