Friday, Jan. 17, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
There was a time when it appeared CART would stage its first night race on the 1.5-mile superspeedway at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
As late as the winter of 2001, LVMS president and general manager Chris Powell was holding discussions with the open-wheel series about staging a race here under the lights in 2002. The talks broke down, however, but CART obviously never gave up on the idea of running a night race.
Now the open-wheel series will have two. CART president and CEO Chris Pook announced Thursday that the Champ Car World Series will stage night races this season at both the Milwaukee Mile and Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. The May 31st race on the one-mile Milwaukee oval will be the first night race in the facility's 100-year history.
Paul Tracy, a Las Vegas resident and defending champion of the Milwaukee race, said he is looking forward to running under the lights.
"I think it's a great opportunity for CART to host its first night race at a track with such tradition and heritage," Tracy said. "I understand the track has been revamped and moved into the 21st century and I'm excited to be going there as the defending champion for this historic event."
This year's race will mark the 102nd Champ Car event at the historic facility.
"We wanted to do something special for Milwaukee and for the fans that have supported us over all these years," Pook said. "We are excited about the opportunities that running a night race presents and are glad to be able to present something new in such a valuable market for Championship Auto Racing Teams."
So excited, in fact, that CART will stage another night race on July 5 at the 2.106-mile temporary road course in Cleveland. Like Tracy, Las Vegas resident Patrick Carpentier said he is eager to defend his title in the series' first-ever night race on a road course.
"I'm really excited about the move to a night race," Carpentier said. "I've never raced at night in my CART career or in any other racing but I go see other forms of racing such as the World of Outlaws and it's a really great show.
"The (Cleveland) track is so wide open that it should be even better for us at night and will definitely add more excitement to it. I'm sure it will be every bit as exciting for the fans as it will be for the drivers."
Iowa-based Musco Lighting, which installed the lighting system at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as well as many other racing facilities, will construct temporary lighting towers in both Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Pollock, who was a co-owner of the British American Racing F1 team, said he has narrowed his search for a driver to "three or four candidates" but would not disclose to whom he is talking. Published reports have indicated that former F1 driver Mika Salo is the leading candidate to get the ride with the new PK Racing team.
"To be racing with such an elite group of drivers, it really hit me hard because I know it's such a prestigious class and just to be considered to be a part of it is wonderful," said Busch, who won four races last season and finished third in points.
"It's just an honor to be considered one of the elite and to be recognized and to be invited into IROC for the class of 2003."
The four-race IROC series will open Feb. 14 at Daytona International Speedway. The remaining races will be held April 5 at Talladega Superspeedway, July 12 at Chicagoland Speedway and Aug. 2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Hall of Fame Racing will be headquartered in Dallas and maintain a shop in Charlotte, N.C. Former Trans-Am driver Bill Saunders will oversee the operation. Aikman said the team does not yet have a driver lined up for the 2004 season.
FIA, the sport's governing body, said the moves were being taken because teams have failed to cut costs on their own.
"Despite the disappearance of two Formula One teams in the last 12 months, nothing has been done to save money," FIA said in a statement. "Last October, the Formula One teams rejected all the FIA's cost-saving proposals. The teams themselves have had several meetings but produced nothing."
FIA also will eliminate traction control, launch control and automatic gearboxes for all or part of 2003 and outlaw them in 2004.
The featured Trophy Truck division will run four laps each day starting at 11:10 a.m. and will be followed each day at 12:30 p.m. with four laps by the unlimited Class 1.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. holds the official Pro Stock E.T. mark at 6.750 seconds, and Mark Osborne holds the speed record at 204.35 mph. Both records were set in 2001.
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