Thursday, August 08, 2002
IRL, CART go head-to-head
Open-wheelers hours apart at Kentucky, Mid-Ohio
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS - The country's two top open-wheel racing series will be about 185 miles apart this weekend. The CART Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio takes place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, while Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., is host for the Indy Racing League's Belterra Casino 300.
It's the closest thing CART and the IRL will have to head-to-head competition geographically this season, but officials of both tracks say they're not concerned.
Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Cassis said he was expecting about 50,000 fans Sunday. The track seats 66,000.
Last year's race, also on the same weekend as the Mid-Ohio CART event, drew about 47,000 fans, plus 18,000 for qualifying.
Speedway general manager Mark Cassis said ticket sales for the event were slightly above last year's pace and credited the improvement to a bobblehead doll promotion. Bobbleheads of drivers Al Unser Jr., Buddy Lazier or Ohioan Sam Hornish Jr. will be given to the first 15,000 fans.
Mid-Ohio said it drew a combined 150,000 fans each of the past two years for CART practice and qualifying Friday and Saturday and the race Sunday. Unofficial published estimates have placed the race-day crowd at 80,000-90,000.
The track's president, Michelle Trueman Gajoch, said attendance should be about the same this year.
She said about 40 percent of those attending CART events at Mid-Ohio come from within the state.
“CART races on road courses tend to draw a core audience from a fairly large area, and they'll show up no matter what's going on elsewhere,” she said. “Our biggest concern is weather.”
Cassis said he was more concerned about competition closer to home, such as the Reds and the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tennis tournament in Mason.
Cassis said the speedway draws mostly from the Cincinnati, Dayton, Louisville and Lexington areas, with stronger attendance than he expected from Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, as well.
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IRL, CART go head-to-head
