Nascar is exploring the use of United States military bases in the United Kingdom as potential venues for races as part of a wider international expansion strategy.
The American series, which has historically confined its points-scoring events to the US, Canada, and Mexico, is now looking well beyond North America for future opportunities.
The initiative, dubbed Operation Overseas Trojan Horse, follows a successful race held at a naval base in San Diego that Nascar believes can serve as a blueprint for global growth.
Nascar chief brand officer Tim Clark told Leaders Week at Stamford Bridge that the San Diego event marked the beginning of something significant for the organisation’s commercial ambitions.
“San Diego on the naval base,” Clark said, “for us, that is the start of something that I think can be really meaningful for our business.”
Clark outlined plans to rotate future events across different military installations, using the US military’s vast global network as a ready-made infrastructure for expansion.
“Our intention is to now start migrating that race around, to move that around to different military installations,” he said, adding that the international opportunity this creates is enormous.
“That also gives us a tremendous opportunity to expand internationally. So where there are United States military installations all over the world, those are leading candidates,” Clark continued.
He was emphatic about the scale of what is possible, saying: “Domestically it’s a big opportunity. Internationally [it’s] huge.”
The UK hosts several US military installations that could fall within scope, including RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, as well as RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, though the US recently withdrew its airfleet from Fairford weeks after a security threat in the area.
Additional US support settlements are spread across Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, and Norfolk, with satellite areas also present in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
Brands Hatch had previously been touted as a potential UK host circuit for Nascar in recent years, though the military base route offers a distinct and logistically different pathway into the British market.
Beyond the UK, the US operates major military bases in locations including Japan, Qatar, continental Europe, and Djibouti, all of which represent potential future Nascar venues under the strategy.
The push for international expansion comes as Nascar faces growing competitive pressure at home from Formula 1, which has surged in global popularity and now holds three US races in Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas.
Formula 1 also competes in Canada and Mexico, further encroaching on the traditional North American heartland that Nascar has long dominated.