Rift Between IRL and CART Affects Indy 500

01/24/96

The Associated Press is reporting that a number of large sponsors will not attend this year's Indy 500, but will rather go to the U.S. 500 in Detroit Michigan. Major sponsors are picking sides in the Indy Racing League/Championship Auto Racing Teams dispute, which means that some of them will not attend the Indy 500.

The dispute started when Speedway officials started a new racing circuit called the Indy Racing League. They made up new qualifying rules for the Indy 500 in an attempt to garner participation in the league, including a provision that could reserve 25 of 33 Indy 500 racing slots for IRL teams.

CART teams showed little interest in the IRL and were upset with the new rules. They decided to have another race and invented the U.S. 500, which is scheduled to run in Michigan on the same day as the Indy 500.

Major companies with strong ties to CART--including Honda, Toyota, Miller Brewing and Mercedes Benz have all announced their refusal to participate in the Indy 500 or their intention to scale back their participation.

Paul Dever --- The Auto Channel