The Season's End...Rounds 15-17.
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:02 pm
Back in March, the IndyCar Series began its' 10th season at Homestead and, it's been a blast, but the 2005 season has but three events left on the calendar, and three great but very different venues.
Round 15 takes us to the Chicago suburbs, namely Joliet, Ill., home to the fictional Blues Brothers of "The Blues Brothers" movie, Elwood and Joliet Jake and to the Chicagoland Speedway, site of the Chicagoland Indy 300. While it will have a festive atmosphere, it will be tinged with a lot of solemnity and somber reminders of the world we live in now, for the race is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2005.
Round 16 finds the series up in the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York, to the historic Watkins Glen facility, for the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix, the second natural-terrain road course on the schedule. While NASCAR, which also uses the track, uses the short course, the IndyCars will take to the long course, a 3.4-mile, 11-turn beast which will test the drivers' fitness, just as Infineon did today.
Round 17, the 2005 season finale, brings us to the Inland Empire of Southern California, and to the California Speedway, for the Toyota Indy 400. Built on the grounds of the old Kaiser Steel Mill, the track still sports the old water tower and smoke stack featured in the movie "Terminator 2", and the track has seen three of the closest races in series history, plus in 2003, the fastest race in series history. Expect this year's round to be an all-out, 400-mile slugfest, especially if both the overall and rookie points battles are settled by then.
Round 15 takes us to the Chicago suburbs, namely Joliet, Ill., home to the fictional Blues Brothers of "The Blues Brothers" movie, Elwood and Joliet Jake and to the Chicagoland Speedway, site of the Chicagoland Indy 300. While it will have a festive atmosphere, it will be tinged with a lot of solemnity and somber reminders of the world we live in now, for the race is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2005.
Round 16 finds the series up in the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York, to the historic Watkins Glen facility, for the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix, the second natural-terrain road course on the schedule. While NASCAR, which also uses the track, uses the short course, the IndyCars will take to the long course, a 3.4-mile, 11-turn beast which will test the drivers' fitness, just as Infineon did today.
Round 17, the 2005 season finale, brings us to the Inland Empire of Southern California, and to the California Speedway, for the Toyota Indy 400. Built on the grounds of the old Kaiser Steel Mill, the track still sports the old water tower and smoke stack featured in the movie "Terminator 2", and the track has seen three of the closest races in series history, plus in 2003, the fastest race in series history. Expect this year's round to be an all-out, 400-mile slugfest, especially if both the overall and rookie points battles are settled by then.