IndyCar vigorously pursuing Vegas street race
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| Look for the street race, if it happens, to be down around the Mandalay Bay at the southern end of The Strip |
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard continues to be optimistic the Izod IndyCar Series will have the 16 races in 2012 necessary to satisfy its contract with Izod. IndyCar has only 14 at the moment, with the June 9th event at Texas Motor Speedway in limbo amid financial discussions.
"We'll find something," Bernard said Friday of completing next year's schedule.
The total dipped Thursday when Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of Dan Wheldon's fatal crash in October, was dropped for next season. IndyCar paid the track rental fee the two sides had agreed upon when signing a three-year deal. Bernard said "considerable testing" must be done before IndyCar can return to the 1.5-mile oval. Bernard went to Las Vegas on Thursday to speak to supporters of that event. He hasn't ruled out trying to arrange a street circuit race but said Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course is not a possibility for next year. Indy Star
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12/08/11 With today's announcement that the previously announced IndyCar race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been terminated, we suspect the idea of a Vegas street race instead will get a lot more attention now.
11/16/11 Tony Cotman, one of the architects (along with Martyn Thake) of the highly praised Las Vegas street course used by Champ Car in 2007, is believed to be scouting options for a return to Sin City's streets in 2012. As we have rumored previously if Vegas is to become a street race the series will race near Mandalay Bay and the plan is to close the southern portion of the Las Vegas strip.