Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: IRL will take its show on the road for 2005 campaign

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 | 9:44 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.

Date -- Venue (type)

March 6 -- Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

March 19 -- Phoenix International Raceway (1-mile oval)

April 30 -- Twin Ring Motegi, Japan (1.5-mile oval)

May 29 -- Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval)

June 11 -- Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

June 25 -- Richmond International Raceway (3/4-mile oval)

July 3 -- Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

July 16 -- Nashville Superspeedway (1.33-mile oval)

July 24 -- The Milwaukee Mile (1-mile oval)

July 31 -- Michigan International Speedway (2-mile oval)

Aug. 14 -- Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

Aug. 21 -- Pikes Peak International Raceway (1-mile oval)

Aug. 28 -- Infineon Raceway (1.77-mile road course)

Sept. 11 -- Chicagoland Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

Sept. 25 -- Watkins Glen International (3.4-mile road course)

Oct. 16 -- California Speedway (2-mile oval)

After being known as an all-oval series since its inception in 1996, the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series will add two road-course races to its schedule in 2005.

Watkins Glen International in New York and Infineon Raceway in Northern California will join the IRL schedule next season, series officials announced Tuesday.

Also, the IRL will move its traditional season finale from Texas Motor Speedway to California Speedway. Texas Motor Speedway, which has held two IRL races since 1998, will host only one race this season as a result of its picking up a coveted second NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race beginning next season.

"The addition of Watkins Glen and Infineon Raceway to our schedule is really a landmark for the Indy Racing League," Ken Ungar, IRL senior vice president, said.

"From a business perspective, it helps us access not only two important markets geographically for us, but also to bring the excitement of IndyCar racing to road racing fans and open up opportunities for us in terms of serving race fans as well as race teams and drivers who enjoy that racing and sponsors who are committed to road racing."

IRL president and CEO Tony George said the addition of the two road races is a natural progression for the series. George repeatedly has denied comments attributed to him when he founded the IRL that it would be exclusively an all-oval series.

"I think that road racing is something that we've always had on our agenda from the time we started with the Orlando race in 1996," George said Tuesday. "Between 1994 and 1996, we were sort of developing a vision for the Indy Racing League, as it came to be known. All along, we had contemplated running road courses and street circuits possibly at some point in time, with a real focus on preserving and protecting the open-wheel oval racing aspect of major-league open-wheel racing.

"But we view road racing as something that we want to have as part of our schedule, and it will be now, beginning in 2005. We've always said if and when the right opportunity presented itself, we would add road racing."

The IRL will not use the same layouts the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series use at Infineon and Watkins Glen. The series will race on a modified 10-turn, 1.77-mile course at Infineon and use the 11-turn, 3.4-mile "long course" at Watkins Glen.

For the fifth consecutive year, Las Vegas Motor Speedway will not be a part of the 2005 IRL schedule. LVMS general manager Chris Powell said that, once again, he and IRL officials could not agree on a date that was acceptable to all the parties involved.

"We had very good conversations with Tony George and Ken Ungar and the issue was a date (couldn't be found) that was acceptable to three entities: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the IRL and ABC/ESPN."

LVMS will host an open-wheel race this year for the first time since 2000, but it will be the rival Champ Car World Series. The Champ Cars will run as part of a doubleheader with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at LVMS on Sept. 25.

CHAMP CARS AT LVMS: Powell said that he expects the Champ Car World Series to return to LVMS next season -- again as part of a doubleheader with the Truck Series.

"I think everyone involved is favorably looking at running the same dual events in 2005," Powell said of Champ Car and NASCAR. "I can't speak for Champ Car, but I think this is going to be a very successful event for everybody involved and I think our schedule in 2005 will be very similar to what we have this year."

Champ Car has yet to release its 2005 schedule.

SMITH REPLACES GIDLEY: Former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Guy Smith will drive the No. 17 Rocketsports Racing entry in Sunday's Champ Car World Series race at Road America, team owner Paul Gentilozzi announced Tuesday.

Smith, 28, will replace Memo Gidley, who drove the car for two races after rookie Nelson Philippe parted ways with the team after five races.

"This has been a long time coming so I'm over the moon about the opportunity Rocketsports Racing has given me," Smith said. "I did Indy Lights a few years ago with the intention to move up the ladder, but at the time the openings weren't there.

"I fell into sports cars and had a fantastic few years -- not least with the win at Le Mans. That win though, also served to fire me up again as I had reached the pinnacle of sports car racing, so it was time for a new challenge."

Gidley piloted the car to an 11th-place finish two weeks ago on the streets of Vancouver, British Columbia. He finished 16th in his debut with Rocketsports Racing in the Molson Indy Toronto.

UNSER BACK TO ATLANTIC: Al Unser, the 21-year-old son of Al Unser Jr., will compete in two Toyota Atlantic Championship races this month for Brooks Associates Racing, the team announced Tuesday.

Unser, who made one start in the series in April in Long Beach, will drive one of the team's cars in this weekend's Toyota Atlantic race at Road America and the Aug. 29 event in Montreal.

Unser has made four starts in the Indy Racing League Menards Infiniti Pro Series this season for Keith Duesenberg and has three third-place finishes and a fifth-place showing.