IRVING, Texas -- Texas Motor Speedway will hold CART events for three
years starting in 2001, adding to a large variety of auto races.
The 600-kilometer race, the Texas 600k, will be held next year on Sunday,
May 6 at the Fort Worth speedway and be televised on ABC.
"We're going to put on one heck of a show," Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 FedEx
Championship Series champion, said.
Vehicles in the Texas 600k are expected to reach speeds of at least 220 mph,
race officials said.
By adding the CART FedEx Championship Series to its 2001 list, Texas Motor
Speedway will host the "single-greatest season any speedway has enjoyed since
the dawn of motor sports," said Eddie Gossage, speedway general manager. The
new race also makes the speedway the only one in the country to feature every
major form of American auto racing.
"This is the culmination of a dream that we've been trying to put together
for a long time," Gossage said.
Texas Motor Speedway, now in its fifth season, also hosts the NASCAR Winston
Cup and Busch Grand National Series races in the early spring. The speedway
also hosts the NASCAR truck series and the Indy Racing League Northern Light
Series, a rival of CART, in the early summer and again in the fall. This year,
the speedway added the American Le Mans and BFGoodrich Trans-Am Series as part
of the Grand Prix of Texas held on the new infield road course.
CART is comprised of 20 races in five countries on four continents in 2000.
Drivers who compete for the series title include Juan Montoya, Michael Andretti
and Vasser.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
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