Round 9: Firestone 600, Texas Motor Speedway, 5th - 6th June, 2015.
On June 7th 1997, the Indy Racing League held the "1997 True Value 500", the 6th round of the fledgling series at the Texas Motor Speedway, or TMS. It was the first night race in the history of American Open Wheel Racing and was won by Arie Luyendyk, driving a Panoz G-Force-Oldsmobile for Treadway Racing. Since then it has been a perennial event on the IndyCar series calendar.
From 1998-2004, the track hosted a second race in October and in 2007, the race distance was increased from 500 to 550 km. In 2011, the 'Firestone Twin 275s' were held, made up of two 275km races, separated by a "halftime", with half points awarded for each race. The grid for the second race was decided by a random draw, which proved so unpopular the twin race format was scrapped for 2012. In 2014, the race was further extended to 600 kilometers.
In 2001, CART scheduled the "Firestone Firehawk 600" at TMS for April 29th but after practice and qualifying, the race was cancelled as most drivers reported vertigo like symptoms and vision problems, after sustaining high lateral forces of 5.5G, due to driving in excess of 230 mph or 370 km/h on the 24 degree banking. TMS sued CART, after it emerged CART officials had ignored repeated requests to test their cars before the race. This resulted in a settlement estimated to have been around $5–7 million, which CART paid to TMS. Many pundits have cited the law suit and settlement as a key reason for CART's eventual demise.
The introduction of aero-kits this season has not been without its problems, particularly with cars taking off during accidents, which happened in practice at the Indy 500. Modifications have been made to the aero-kits to prevent this happening at Superspeedways. However, with the increase in downforce generated by the aero-kits, will track speeds increase sufficiently with a recurrence of the problems faced by drivers in the 2001 CART "Firestone Firehawk 600"?
Some Trivia:
The driver with the most wins is Hélio Castroneves: 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013.
The team with the most wins is Team Penske: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013.
Track Layout:
Length: 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Turns: 4
Lap record: April 28 2001. Paul Tracy, 0:22.542, 239.552 mph-385.521 kmh. Team Green, Reynard 01i-Honda HR-1 V8t, CART FedEx Championship Series.
Last year's winner:
Ed Carpenter,
Ed Carpenter Racing,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet.
Laps: 248
Distance: 372 Mi-598.676 Km.
Time: 2:01:25.5758.
Average speed: 178.301 Mph-286.947 kmh.
TV Coverage:
NBCSN
Green flag at 8:00pm ET.