In September 1992, Sega announced that it had partnered with the engineering group GE Aerospace to create its new arcade system board, the Model 2. The heads of Sega's regional offices began discussing ideas for games to demonstrate the Model 2's capabilities. Sega's previous board, the Model 1, had debuted in 1992 with "Virtua Racing", which was popular in Japan and Europe. Tom Petit, president of Sega's American arcade division Sega Enterprises USA, suggested that NASCAR would be an attractive brand to use for a Model 2 game in the US. Though Sega Europe's Vic Leslie had reservations due to the greater popularity of Formula One in Europe, Sega of Japan executives approved the concept. In the US for a meeting on the Model 2, director and producer Toshihiro Nagoshi was given tickets to a NASCAR race, and recalled how it was a new experience for him because it was not a known style of racing in Japan.