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Enough is enough Ganassi will compete at Indy after four-year hiatus
Posted: Monday May 22, 2000 09:17 PM
INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - The cold war that has divided open wheel auto racing into two camps in the United States melted a little Monday when Chip Ganassi Racing said it would return to the Indy 500 after a four-year absence. "It was time to experience the Indy 500 again," said Ganassi, a former driver who raced in Indianapolis in the 1980s. Ganassi, whose team has won the CART championship the past four years, said he was bringing drivers Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia, the 1999 CART champion, and 1996 champion Jimmy Vasser back to the famed Indy 500 to be run May 28. Ganassi is the first of the leading CART team owners to decide to bring his team. Derrick Walker, another CART owner, has previously announced a separate full-time Indy Racing League team. Tony George, chairman of the board and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was cautiously optimistic that having a leading CART team would bring back all the teams that competed at Indy before the 1995 split in the racing world. "This can be viewed as a step, a baby step," he said, adding "but it's Chip's step." George founded the Indy Racing League (IRL) at the end of 1995 and CART teams have stayed away from the Indianapolis 500 since it became part of the IRL beginning in 1996. CART had scheduled a competing race against the Indy 500 on the same weekend since 1996. This year is the first time since then that CART owners had the option of running in Indianapolis due to a break in the schedule. "We have decided the time is right to give our drivers, our team and our sponsors the chance to experience the Indianapolis 500 -- the biggest auto race in the world," said Ganassi. Each series has similar looking rear engined cars, but each has separate rules on chassis construction and engine construction. Ganassi announced that he will race a G-Force chassis, built in Britain, with an Aurora (Oldsmobile engine) for the Indy 500. In CART, he said that he will run a Lola (also British built) with Toyota power.
Ganassi said he is considering running in an IRL event in
Las Vegas April 22 as a tune-up for Indy.
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