LV left off CART schedule for now

Monday, Nov. 5, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. -- Championship Auto Racing teams released a 19-race schedule for 2002 with new races in Denver, Montreal and Mexico City -- but not Las Vegas.

CART chairman and CEO Joe Heitzler, however, said he would meet with Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell today in hopes of finalizing an agreement to stage a race next year in Las Vegas.

"We'll be going to Montreal, Denver and Mexico City next year -- three of the world's top cities," Heitzler said. "Additionally, we will be announcing, in the short future, some additional April and May races.

"We would like to race in Las Vegas. We are almost like a perfect fit for Las Vegas."

Heitzler confirmed that the series is looking to hold a Saturday night race at the 1.5-mile superspeedway and sources said the date CART and LVMS are looking at is May 18.

"CART wants to keep its product differential of racing on all surfaces and Las Vegas Motor Speedway is an oval that would really turn our drivers on," Heitzler said. "With a good arrangement with the state and with the city (of Las Vegas), we could put on a night race that starts at six o'clock and would be on in prime time back East.

"We would also work with the casinos and everyone to make sure that we're not interrupting what has been a successful marketing pattern for the city; we would be complementing the city."

Heitzler would not detail what specific issues are keeping CART and LVMS from finalizing a deal, but said he wished the speedway's officials were a "little more aggressive" in their approach to a potential race.

"This is a speedway that has only one major event in it for the entire season and I would (think) they would be a little bit more committed to trying to make a deal happen," Heitzler said.

Heitzler said he has been impressed with the enthusiasm expressed by Governor Kenny Guinn, Mayor Oscar Goodman and representatives of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in bringing the open-wheel series to Las Vegas.

"What we're talking about here is it's more than just a race, it's an attitude and we're getting great feedback from the state and from the city," Heitzler said.

"I have to compliment the way the state has projected itself. Everyone is consistent with the message, everyone is consistent with the passion, everyone is consistent with the energy (but) some need to catch up to that energy."

Heitzler also suggested that the series could race in Las Vegas without the involvement of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"The race track is not the only place we can run a race in Las Vegas," Heitzler said. "If we could work with Oscar (Goodman) and say to him, 'Look, you can get (exposure) to 283 countries (via live television); let's take a part of downtown, off the Strip, and let's go have ourselves a (street) race that no one else would be able to equal.'

"We'd be able to have an event if we could find the right casino to get involved with it."