Wednesday, August 08, 2001
40,000-plus expected for IRL race
By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Kentucky Speedway is gearing up for its final racing weekend of 2001, which included a record-setting crowd and mostly favorable weather.
The Indy Racing Northern Light Series, better known as the IRL, will conclude the speedway season with the Belterra Casino Indy 300 on Sunday (1:30 p.m., ABC).
Friday, the weekend begins with ARCA trucks, USAC Midgets and Baby Grand stock races. Saturday includes IRL pole day and a NASCAR Gatorade All-Pro race.
The speedway season has included a Greater Cincinnati sports record crowd of 70,338 for a NASCAR Busch race on June 16.
“We're looking at over 40,000 this Sunday,” speedway general manager Mark Cassis said. “We'd like to get to 45,000 if things go right.”
Mostly, things have gone right. There have been some postrace traffic jams, but nothing like the rain-induced parking and traffic problems at the inaugural event in June 2000.
A new I-71 interchange, located about two miles south of the Sparta exit, should improve traffic flow for 2002.
Lately, the speedway has been ironing out some bumps in the track's asphalt surface. The bumps have appeared periodically since the facility opened.
“We discovered some bumps along the backstretch recently, and we've been grinding them out,” Cassis said. “We've sealed them up and we're ready to go.”
IRL driver Sam Hornish Jr., the season points leader, said Kentucky's surface is no different than most. Hornish tested at the track last week.
“When the ground settles at the newer tracks, it's hard to keep it level,” Hornish said. . “We've seen the same thing at places like Texas. It's no big deal.”
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