CART responds to Goodyear's withdraw from open wheel racing
27 October 1999
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
The following is a statement from Tim Mayer, CART Senior Vice
President of
Racing Operations, in regard to today's announcement by Goodyear that the
tire manufacturer will be withdrawing from the FedEx Championship Series
beginning in 2000:
"Given CART's strong commitment to competition, we are obviously disappointed at Goodyear's decision to withdraw from the FedEx Championship Series beginning in 2000. However, we feel that this decision will have no effect on the high quality of racing that we deliver to our fans worldwide. Further, we have the clear support of Firestone for the future. Firestone has been the dominant force in the FedEx Championship Series in recent years and has achieved remarkable success since returning to the series in 1995. Firestone has committed to supply tires to all of our teams until such time as a second tire manufacturer enters the sport. We look forward to helping Firestone showcase its success in Champ Car racing around the globe."
Since Firestone re-entered the FedEx Championship Series in 1995 to provide competition for Goodyear, Firestone has won 61 of 88 events (69%). Firestone has been extremely dominant in the past two seasons in particular. Since the start of the 1998 season and a span of 38 events, Firestone has registered 36 wins (94%) and captured 35 pole positions (92%). One event remains this season, Sunday's Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota at California Speedway.
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