People Places & Racing News

IRL ADDS TORONTO, EDMONTON AND LONG BEACH RACES IN 2009 AND OTHER RACING NEWS

NEW SCHEDULE: The IRL IndyCar Series set an 18-race schedule for 2009, adding road courses at Exhibition Place in Toronto, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and Edmonton (Alberta) to the slate. The oval race at Nashville (Tennessee) Superspeedway was dropped and races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway were not added this year.

NEW MAN: Christian Byrd, son of Bristol Motor Speedway General Manager Jeff Byrd, has been named executive director and GM of zMax Dragway @ Concord, the state-of-the-art drag strip at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which will debut September 11–14.

ANOTHER ONE GONE: USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida, held its last race Saturday night, August 3. The three-quarter-mile asphalt oval has been sold to a developer who plans to tear it down and build a warehouse on the site.

TESTING: As part of an effort to keep events like the tire-wear debacle that plagued the recent Allstate 400 at the Brickyard from happening, Goodyear has scheduled a test session at the speedway for the fall of this year and a second one for next spring.

POWER RANKINGS: Despite having the week off, NHRA Top Fuel point leader Tony Schumacher remained at the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings. Schumacher, a five-time world champion, has won eight times in 15 races this season. The National Speed Sport News Power Rankings are published weekly in the 74-year-old motorsports publication.

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