Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: LVMS’ Powell: Rumors about IRL race premature

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 | 9:40 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Despite rumors and Internet reports to the contrary, Las Vegas Motor Speedway does not have an agreement to stage an Indy Racing League event in 2004, track general manager Chris Powell said.

Talk in the paddock at both the IRL race in Japan and the CART Champ Car Series race in Long Beach, Calif., last weekend was that the IRL would race at LVMS before next year's Indianapolis 500 in May. Those rumors were reported on the Indianapolis Star newspaper's Internet site last weekend. Powell labeled the report "quite a bit premature."

Powell said he has had "very, very preliminary" discussions with IRL officials about bringing the series back to the 1.5-mile LVMS oval but added that it was highly unlikely the track would want an IRL race before the Indy 500.

"I would say the conversations we've had (with the IRL) in 2003 are no more substantive than the conversations we've had in the last couple years," Powell said. "I would say (the rumors are) quite a bit premature and I would also say that's the first time I've heard anybody broach the idea of a pre-Indy 500 event here in Las Vegas."

LVMS hosts its annual NASCAR Winston Cup Series race in March and one of its two NHRA national events in April, leaving little time to properly prepare for and promote another major event in that time frame. LVMS has not hosted an IRL race since the 2000 season.

Among the sticking points in the LVMS negotiations with the IRL the past two years are believed to be the series' sanctioning fee and the time of year in which to hold the race. Powell said he is open to bringing the 8-year-old series back to Las Vegas if the deal makes sound business sense for the track.

"It has got to be the right business deal for Las Vegas Motor Speedway and for the IRL -- but that has been the same case for the last couple of years when we've had this discussion," Powell said. "'I don't want to be overly optimistic that there will be a race nor pessimistic that there will not."

"It's a little sore, but so is my whole body," Dixon said. "But it could have been a lot worse. I'm looking forward to getting back on the track when the month of May gets under way."

Dixon was battling with Tony Kanaan for the lead late in the race when the two cars made contact and crashed. Kanaan's left arm was broken in the incident.

In the Team Player's media guide, Tracy lists "winning the 2002 Indy 500" among the most memorable moments of his career and "passing Helio Castroneves for the lead at the Indy 500 on the final lap" as his most memorable on-track moment of the 2002 season.

IRL officials ruled that Tracy's last-lap pass of Castroneves came after a caution flag had been displayed and relegated him to second place. Team Kool Green, for which Tracy drove last season, later had its appeal of the decision denied.

"I still feel and know that based on the evidence that is there at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in their film department, I know that I won the race," Tracy said recently. "It's really politics that have dictated the outcome of the race; there's really nothing I can do about it."