Round 9: Firestone 600, Texas Motor Speedway, 10th-11th June, 2016.
This Saturday's race at Texas Motor Speedway, will mark the second half of the 2016 season.
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 AOWR 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 the following year. In 2014, the race was further extended to 600 kilometers.
In 2001, CART scheduled the "Firestone Firehawk 600" at TMS for April 29th. However, 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 subsequent settlement as a key reason for CART's eventual demise.
Some Trivia:
Driver with the most wins, 4.
Hélio Castroneves: 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013.
Team with the most wins, 8.
Team Penske: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013.
Track Layout:
Length: 1.5 Miles (2.4 km)
Turns: 4
Lap record:
Paul Tracy, April 28 2001. 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:
Scott Dixon,
Chip Ganassi Racing,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet.
Laps: 248
Distance: 372 Mi (598.676 Km)
Time: 1:52:48.
Average speed: 191.94 Mph (308.89 km/h)
TV Coverage:
NBCSN, 8:00pm ET.