Saturday, November 20, 1999
Speedway schedule offers 3 weekends of racing
ARCA, IRL, truck series christen track
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPARTA — Kentucky Speedway's schedule for the inaugural season next summer offers auto racing fans three weekends of action featuring stock cars, trucks and Indy cars.
The tentative schedule, announced Friday, starts the weekend of June 16-17, followed July 1-2 with a combination of testing and racing, and two premier racing events to conclude the season Aug.26-27.
“We have now signed for a NASCAR Slim Jim All-Pro Racing Series (stock car) event for June 16, followed by the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on June 17,” Speedway executive vice president and general manager Mark Cassis said Friday.
Just two weeks after the popular Craftsman Series pickup trucks leave the 1.5-mile tri-oval in Gallatin County, the open-wheel Indy Rac ing League descends on the track for a testing session.
“This is a mandatory test required by IRL for any new racing venue,” Cassis said. “All the IRL drivers and teams will be here.”
To capitalize on the appearance of the Indy cars, Kentucky Speedway is working on an Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) event for the same weekend.
The IRL cars will test Saturday, July 1, and Cassis said there is a good chance that some type of ARCA racing will occupy the track Sunday, July 2.
“We want to give racing fans another full weekend,” he said. “We might have ARCA twin 50-mile or twin 75-mile races, maybe some type of all-star event.”
The final big weekend is Aug.26-27, when ARCA returns for the Blue Grass Quality Meats 200 stock car-race Saturday and the IRL comes in for the Belterra Resort Indy 300 on Sunday.
Cassis also said Friday that the Speedway is close to opening its season-ticket program. So far the track has dealt exclusively with personal seat licenses and luxury suite sales.
“We're putting the information together now and should be ready to offer season-ticket packages in about two weeks,” he said.
Kentucky Speedway has 70,000 seats available for the 2000 season, although the track is constructed so seating can be expanded to 150,000 if and when the track lands a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race.
The Speedway also announced the addition of another corporate sponsor, Tide detergent, one of Procter & Gamble's leading brands. Other corporate sponsors already on board include Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Cintas and Ford.
There also will be a special area on the back straightaway, directly across from the main grandstand and the start-finish line, where people can lease spaces for RVs and motor homes.
“We will have 130 spaces that people can reserve for $1,500 each,” Cassis said. “Each space is 16 feet by 45 feet, and all have electrical hookups. It will be a terrific place to watch a race.”
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