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©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing DETROIT (June 16, 2000) - Building on an expanded list of scheduling opportunities and a newly defined strategic direction, Championship Auto Racing Teams took another step toward completing its 2001 schedule today by announcing that it will not return to race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Interim CART President and CEO Bobby Rahal said the FedEx Championship Series will not return to the South Florida venue in 2001 after racing there the past five seasons. Earlier this week, CART announced that it will not return to Dover Downs' Gateway International Raceway, which is near St. Louis, to race in the 2001 season. As part of that announcement, CART disclosed that it was working with Delaware-based Dover Downs Entertainment, which promotes the highly successful Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on the FedEx Championship Series schedule, to develop racing opportunities in nine urban markets - Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. CART announced in April that it will make a first-ever stop in Monterrey, Mexico, next spring. Additional dates, and the remainder of the 2001 schedule, are expected in the coming months. "With the continued growth and interest in our racing series - both domestically and overseas - we are faced with several difficult scheduling decisions," said Rahal, who was named to the CART position after the resignation of Andrew Craig earlier Friday. "Requests for FedEx Championship Series events are at an all-time high and we must make the most prudent choices for CART, its fans, sponsors, race teams and shareholders. "It is CART's belief that it is in the best interest of our race series that we move in a different direction as we prepare for next year. We sincerely appreciate the time and effort put forth in support of our series by Homestead and we wish them well as they move ahead in 2001 and beyond." CART's 2000 schedule consists of 20 races in five countries on four continents. The season opened March 26 at Homestead and concludes October 29 at California Speedway east of Los Angeles. Canadian Paul Tracy is the series' points leader after six races in the world's fastest open-wheel racing series. Round 7 of the series is Sunday - the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit at The Raceway on Belle Isle. All FedEx Series races are broadcast domestically on ABC and ESPN television and CART's worldwide television coverage encompasses more than 200 countries and 1 billion viewers annually.
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