CART targets May 16 for race in Las Vegas

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003 | 10:29 a.m.

Feb. 22 -- St. Petersburg, Fla.

April 18 -- Long Beach, Calif.

May 16 -- Las Vegas (venue to be confirmed)

May 23 -- Monterrey, Mexico

June 5 -- The Milwaukee Mile

June 20 -- x-Portland (Ore.) International Raceway

July 3 -- Cleveland

July 11 -- Toronto

July 25 -- Vancouver, British Columbia

Aug. 8 -- Road America (Wis.)

Aug. 15 -- Denver

Aug. 29 -- Montreal

Sept. 12 -- Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Calif.)

Oct. 24 -- Surfers Paradise, Australia

TBA -- y-Miami

TBA -- y-Mexico City

TBA -- y-Seoul, South Korea

TBA -- y-California Speedway

England event status to be determined.

x-Subject to final commercial terms

y-2004 sanctioning agreements in place

CART, which is in the process of being bought out by a private ownership group, listed "Las Vegas, Nevada" as its third race of the season but added "venue to be confirmed" after the May 16 date.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell said that the facility does not yet have a signed agreement with CART or Open Wheel Racing Series -- the group that is attempting to purchase the series.

"We have had some conversations with CART about such a race being here, but we don't have anything confirmed," Powell said Thursday.

CART has not raced in Las Vegas since 1984, when it ended a two-year run on a temporary modified oval in the parking lot of Caesars Palace. The 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway has not hosted an open-wheel race since 2000, when the Indy Racing League held the last of five race annual races at the track.

The 2004 CART schedule includes 19 races but only 12 confirmed dates or venues. Races in Las Vegas, Portland, Ore. and Brands Hatch, England, are listed as pending. Races in Miami, Mexico City, Seoul, South Korea, and Fontana, Calif., are listed without dates but with sanctioning agreements in place.

The 2004 season is scheduled to open Feb. 22 in St. Petersburg, Fla., and then move to Southern California for the successful Long Beach Grand Prix. The Las Vegas race tentatively is scheduled as the third race of the season and, if finalized, would be run on the same weekend as qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 and two weeks before the 88th running of the Indy 500.

According to an Associated Press report, CART on Thursday also disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it was in default on some of its financial obligations and was in danger of running out of money next month.