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Texas was modified for the IRL in 1997 by widening the tri-oval with extra asphalt on the inside; this reduced the track length from 1.5 miles to 1.485 miles. So, that change was just for the purpose of correcting the race length to the actual, advertised distance of 600km.
I was sort of evening out the race distance for Barber compared to Mid Ohio. Also, I was hoping to possibly take fuel just a bit more out of the discussion for Barber.
Yeah, it can kind of give the impression that Long Beach and Toronto are in a demoted position, when they're the shortest (even street) races on the calendar by a noticeable margin.
I don't think St. Petersburg warrants such a long race, by distance, especially when comparing it to the other temporary circuits. Furthermore, it's not much faster than Long Beach, and certainly no quicker than Toronto. It's slower than Belle Isle, and speaking of which, it seemed like there was as much on-track overtaking shown today at Belle Isle (in 164.5 miles) as I saw on the coverage of this year's St. Petersburg race (covering 198 miles).
If Gateway returns, I think the old CART race distance should work alright: 236 laps (299.72 miles).
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