IRL makes return to Fontana this weekend

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.

FROM SUN WIRE SERVICES

FONTANA, Calif. -- There were plenty of snickers through the open-wheel racing community a year ago in March when the Indy Racing League made its debut on the West Coast.

It had been a bold move by IRL creator and president Tony George. Not only did the IRL invade Southern California, a long-time stronghold for rival Championship Auto Racing Teams, but at California Speedway.

The move to the Fontana superspeedway, a venue that had produced some of CART's greatest moments, was born of industry politics. A rift between CART's upper management and International Speedway Corp., which owns California Speedway, created the opportunity for the IRL to compete, for the first time, at a track which also had CART on its calendar.

Last year, generous estimates placed the IRL's Sunday crowd at 20,000, almost 95,000 less than would show for the Winston Cup race the following month.

CART supporters chuckled with glee at those numbers. After all, CART had drawn more than 80,000 for its 2001 race five months before at the track, down from the all-time high of more than 100,000 for its 1999 race. The decline continued last November when the CART crowd was estimated at 60,000.

Don't expect a repeat of the small attendance when the IRL returns to Fontana for Sunday's Toyota Indy 400. There are several factors that indicate the crowd for the 200-lap race could more than double: