AUGUST 11, 2002

IRL to race on F1 course at Indianapolis?

With CART issuing its calendar over the weekend, there have been rumors in Indy Racing League circles that Tony George may be about to announce that there will be an IRL race on the road course at Indianapolis next season. This would be first step in the expected move to switch IRL from being an oval-only series to going head-to-head with CART on different kinds of circuit.

It has been clear for some time that there is not going to be a compromise solution between the two series and that one must survive and the other must die. The CART calendar, incidentally, does not feature a race in Japan but there are two dates set aside for races in Europe: one at an unnamed circuit on April 27 and the other at Rockingham Motor Speedway on May 4. This will clash directly with the Spanish GP in Barcelona. There will be eight races of the 20 outside the United States: three in Canada, two in Mexico, two in Europe and one in Australia. Only four races will be on ovals (although Chicago is still only a tentative date).