When looking forward to the 2013 IZOD IndyCar schedule, there were only two confirmed oval races and one of those was the Indy 500. One race that wasn't scheduled yet had been on the series calendar essentially since the inception of the IndyCar series: Texas Motor Speedway. However, there has been ongoing friction between the two entities ever since Dan Wheldon was killed in a horrendous accident at the end of last season in Las Vegas. But any hostility was put aside and the show will go on next season in Fort Worth.
According to an AP story, it was announced that Eddie Gossage's Texas Motor Speedway and Randy Bernard's IndyCar have settled their disagreements and approved a date of June 8th for a night race at the Texas facility.
Being one of the more successful races on the circuit other than the Indy 500, each year Texas has usually had the next best event on the calendar besides the infamous race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Las Vegas & Houston problems
After the terrible tragedy at Las Vegas, which is the sister track to Texas, IndyCar officials, drivers and fans had some doubts as to whether they should race at these mile-and-an-half tracks or not. Also, the fencing is what actually caused Wheldon's death and nothing much had been done regarding making this problem area safer.
And the friction between the two parties has been palpable. Along with concerns about safety, the two antagonists were at odds over IndyCar putting another race in the Texas market (Houston, October 6th). The general thought was that people in the industry questioned whether there were any discussions or negotiations going on between the Texas and IndyCar groups - but the uncertainty ended with this announcement. It was also announced that the NASCAR Trucks will race on that same weekend in support of the IndyCars.
Last year's agreement to run this season in Texas wasn't reached until the very end of 2011. This year's IndyCar event was won surprisingly by Justin Wilson who had never won an oval race before. Helio Castroneves leads the current drivers for most wins at Texas with three.
Exact starting times are not known but tickets will go on sale next week.
Sources - Texas Motor Speedway
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Daryle has been involved in motorsports most of his life and has three decades of experience inside racemarketing, plus for several years has blogged about every type of racing.
