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©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing Nazareth Speedway President and General Manager Craig Rust confirmed today that CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) will not return to the historic one-mile oval after the 2001 season. The CART Board of Directors voted not to renew Nazareth's contract after it expires in May, 2001. Nazareth Speedway received formal written notification of CART's decision last week from President of Racing Operations Hal Whiteford. "We feel we helped build a loyal, open wheel fan base in the Northeast, so we are disappointed in CART's decision not to return to Nazareth Speedway" Rust said. "Our community is losing a great event, but we will still have an exciting schedule. We will also continue our efforts to bring other forms of world class motorsports to the Lehigh Valley." Nazareth Speedway has hosted a CART event since 1987, one year after former track owner Roger Penske bought the facility and turned a one-mile dirt track into a state-of-the-art, one-mile paved oval. Nazareth Speedway hosted either a September or October event for the first eleven years, but the race was moved to the spring starting in 1996. The track has hosted CART races in September (six times), October (three times), April (three times) and May (three times). The Robert Bosch Corporation, maker of Bosch Spark Plugs, has been the title sponsor of the event since its inception and Toyota has been the presenting sponsor since 1997. Tickets for the 15th and final CART race at Nazareth Speedway will go on sale Saturday, December 9. Tickets will also go on sale for the NASCAR Busch Series (May 19-20), the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (August 25-26) and Truxpo (September 15-16) - a truck and lifestyle expo that features monster truck racing. "We will continue to focus our efforts on building solid motorsports entertainment for the fans," Rust said. "Our NASCAR events have a popular following and our first annual Truxpo event in September was a huge success. We are also aggressively pursuing other motorsports series to come to Nazareth Speedway in 2002 and beyond."
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