Road America, OWRS reach agreement for 2004 race.
The Champ Cars World Series will headline the Grand Prix of Road America on 8 August, after the circuit and the series' new owners - Open Wheel Racing Series - reached an agreement to stage the 23rd consecutive event at the track shortly after OWRS had seen off an attempt by the IRL to drive it out of business.
The Champ Cars World Series will headline the Grand Prix of Road America on 8 August, after the circuit and the series' new owners - Open Wheel Racing Series - reached an agreement to stage the 23rd consecutive event at the track shortly after OWRS had seen off an attempt by the IRL to drive it out of business.
Although circuit president and general manager George Bruggenthies had earlier told previous series owner CART that it had breached its 2004 sanctioning agreement by attempting to assign a non-transferable contract to the OWRS, he admitted that he was happy to have agreed a deal to bring Champ Cars back to the historic Elkhart Lake venue.
"We've reached an agreement for the 2004 Champ Car race," Bruggenthies confirmed, "and we're delighted that fans can start making summer racing plans that include both Road America and Champ Cars in August."
According to Bruggenthies, Road America had objected to CART selling its contract in violation of the stipulation that said neither party could sell or transfer the document, principally because it feared that it would be left without a race date for August 2004. Although the IRL has hinted at the possibility of adding road courses to its current oval-only schedule, the move would not take effect until 2005 at the earliest.
The uncertainty, however, was diffused when OWRS acquired the assets of the bankrupt CART series during a bidding war held in the US Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis.
"Our position has never been against hosting a Champ Car race," Bruggenthies insisted, "Our concern was the uncertainty about the event because of CART's bankruptcy. We're very happy to be a part of Champ Car's 2004 schedule and look forward to seeing the teams and drivers at Road America in August."
The terms of the one-year contract were not disclosed.
Other series slated to compete during the Grand Prix weekend include Motorock Trans-Am Tour for the BF Goodrich Cup, Toyota Atlantic, a Barber Dodge Pro Series
double-header and the new-for-2004 Formula BMW.
