CART’s race in Chicago is back on.
CART will rent the Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero and self-promote an open-wheel race at the facility on June 30.
This development comes less than a month after the track announced it was suspending its auto racing operation and canceling both the CART and NASCAR Craftsman Truck races scheduled for this summer.
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An official announcement could come as early as Tuesday, though neither Chicago Motor Speedway Chairman Charles Bidwill nor CART would confirm it.
However, Bidwill did say Monday, “The day after we made our announcement, CART goes, `Gee, maybe we should sit down and talk, maybe we’d like to lease the facility from you.’ We’re right there now. . . . It looks like the contract is done.
“I think CART was playing a game of chicken with us. They are going to lease from us and run their own race. I think they were just so concerned about losing the Chicago market.”
Chicago, indeed, is in CART’s plans.
“At this point, we’re not in a position to comment specifically,” said Adam Saal, CART’s vice president of communications. “But Chicago remains an important market to CART. Speaking in general terms, we want to race there in both the short term and long term.”
The first CART race at the Speedway, in 1999, attracted a capacity crowd of 70,000. But the crowds dwindled in succeeding years and when CART and the Speedway failed to agree on a sanctioning fee for this summer’s event, the Speedway decided to shut down, at least temporarily.
But the loss of a major market like Chicago would have been particularly damaging to CART, which is struggling domestically as the feud between it and the Indy Racing League continues to split the fan base for open-wheel racing. That is one reason it is no surprise that CART is willing to rent the Speedway and put on a race itself.
Another is the recent appointment of Chris Pook as CART’s president and CEO. At root, he is a promoter. In 1975, he founded and then nurtured the Grand Prix of Long Beach. With the exception of the Indianapolis 500, Long Beach is now the most successful Indy-car race in the United States and it annually draws about 250,000 fans to its three days of activity.
Pook seems well-equipped to take on a challenge like Chicago, where CART reportedly will pay the cost of transforming the facility from a horse track–Sportsman’s Park–to an auto racing track for just this event.
The truck race remains canceled and it is unclear whether Target, which has been the title sponsor of all three CART races here, will do the same this summer.