NASCAR off on wrong foot with Mexican media

MEXICO CITY -- Drivers who make their living weaving race cars through a crowded track at high speeds were stymied by the streets of the Mexican capital on Wednesday.

Traffic in Mexico City kept two featured guests away and delayed by more than an hour the start of a media event to promote a U.S. stock car event. Only one of the promised drivers eventually showed up.

The media event was to be attended by Adrian Fernandez and Michel Jourdain Jr., the best known of 10 Mexican drivers who will compete in the March 6 race, an event on the NASCAR Busch Series.

Local reporters began hissing and whistling when the event hadn't started nearly an hour after it was supposed to. Organizers said traffic had delayed the drivers. Only little-known driver Jorge Goeters appeared.

"We are relying on a lot of support from the Mexican public," Goeters said.

He wasn't getting it from Mexican reporters.

The news conference ended abruptly when a local newspaper reporter took the microphone and demanded to know how professional racers could be so delayed by regular traffic.

"Aren't they better drivers than all of us?" he asked, drawing a spattering of applause.