IRL Finalizes 2001 Schedule
The Indy Racing Northern Light Series has released its final and official 2001 schedule, and it differs little from the preliminary version announced in June.
Between now and then, a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was added -- bringing the number of races to 13 -- and the dates for the Kentucky and Texas events were changed.
In addition, the gaps between races, which this year has been as long as 49 days twice, have been reduced. The longest period of inactivity next year will be 29 days between the Atlanta race and the Indianapolis 500. A lot of that time, of course, will be spent at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for practice and qualifications.
Tony George, IRNLS president and Chief Executive Officer, sees the elimination of the downtime as one of schedules strongest points.
"There are fewer long gaps in the schedule, keeping the exciting competition of the Indy Racing Northern Light Series in the spotlight more often," George said.
The schedule has also been compacted into a seven-month period, compared to the current 10-month span. The current season began in January at Walt Disney World Speedway and ends Oct. 15 at Texas. Next year the season begins in March at Phoenix International Raceway and ends at Texas in September.
"This will give our teams and their sponsors plenty of time to plan for next year, and the date changes enhance the growth of our series," George said.
The Kentucky Speedway event now is set for Sunday, Aug. 12, and will be broadcast live on ABC. In addition, the season finale at Texas Motor Speedway will move up two weeks to Sept. 16. That race will also be on ABC.
In addition to the changing of race dates, IMS also announced that the final day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 will be moved back to Sunday, May 20. It was scheduled for Saturday, May 19, as part of the return to the three-week format for practice and qualifying. Now, practice will take place on that Saturday.
Every race on the IRNLS schedule will be broadcast live on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
"The Indy Racing League would like to thank the race organizers who have all worked hard with us in producing this 2001 Northern Light Series schedule," said Bob Reif, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the league. "We are very proud of this schedule, and we have already begun working on the 2002 schedule."