Firestone 600

Firestone 600

IndyCar Series
Venue	Texas Motor Speedway
Corporate sponsor	Firestone
First race	1997
Distance	598.676 km (372.000 mi)
Laps	248
Previous names	Spring Race True Value 500 (1997–1998) Longhorn 500 (1999) Casino Magic 500 (2000–2001) Boomtown 500 (2002) Bombardier 500 (2003–2004) Bombardier Learjet 500 (2005–2006) Bombardier Learjet 550 (2007–2009) Firestone 550 (2010, 2012–2013) Firestone Twin 275s (2011) Fall Race Lone Star 500 (1998) Mall.com 500 (1999) Excite 500 (2000) Chevy 500 (2001–2004)
Most wins (driver)	Hélio Castroneves (4)
Most wins (team)	Team Penske (8)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Dallara (23) Honda & Oldsmobile (9)

The Firestone 600 is an IndyCar Series race held at Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth, Texas. The race is held on a Saturday night in early June. From 1997 until 2005, it served as the first race after the Indianapolis 500. It resumed this place in 2010 and in 2011. When it debuted in 1997, it was the first IndyCar race in the state of Texas since 1979.

Since its inception, the Firestone 600 has widely been considered the second-largest oval track race on the IndyCar Series calendar (second only to the Indy 500) in terms of attendance, popularity, and prestige.

History

The first Championship/Indy car races in the Dallas/Fort Worth area took place at Arlington Downs Raceway in nearby Arlington, Texas. AAA sanctioned five races from 1947–1950. USAC sanctioned ten Championship car events at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas. The race was discontinued when the track closed in 1981.

In 1997, the IndyCar Series debuted at the track on a Saturday night in early June. It marked the first-ever superspeedway night race for American open wheel racing. During the race, one of the electronic scoring wires malfunctioned in the pit area, which caused unexpected scoring errors. Billy Boat was scored as the leader, and took the checkered flag as the winner. Arie Luyendyk, who felt he had been robbed of the win, stormed victory lane, where he was lunged at by Boat's owner, A. J. Foyt. Quickly the fight broke up. The next morning, it was determined that Luyendyk actually was the official winner. Foyt refused to return the trophy, and the race has since become a famous part of Texas Motor Speedway lore. Luyendyk received a replacement, and the "official" trophy years later, presented to him by track president Eddie Gossage.

The IndyCar Series races at Texas have widely been regarded by media, fans, and competitors, as the best racing in the series. Side-by-side racing has produced some of the closest two-car and three-car finishes in series history.^[1][2]

Fall race

From 1998–2004, a second 500 km IndyCar Series race was held at the track in the fall. Known commonly as "Texas II," the race was always held during the day. It served as the IndyCar Series' season finale for each of its runnings. The fall race was discontinued after 2004 when the Ferko lawsuit forced NASCAR to eliminate the Grand Slam and give the circuit its desired second Nextel Cup race.

In 2003, Gil de Ferran was leading on lap 187 when Kenny Bräck crashed on the backstretch. The massive accident seriously injured Bräck, and he raced only limitedly afterwards. With the race winding down under caution, and with cleanup still ongoing, officials stopped the race after 195 laps when it was clear they would not have time to go back to green. de Ferran was declared the winner in what was his final race in IndyCar (he had announced his retirement during the season).

Race length

When the track opened, the one-lap distance was measured as 1.5 miles (2.4 km). IndyCar Series races were originally 208 laps (312 mi/500 km) long. In 2001, timing and scoring officials revised the measurement as 1.455 miles (2.342 km), and the races were changed to an even 200 laps (291 mi/468.319 km). In 2007, the race was lengthened to 228 laps in an effort to create a longer product for time value purposes. Using the traditional 1.5-mile (2.4 km) measurement, the race became 342 miles (550.4 km). However, official IndyCar timing and scoring maintained the 1.455-mile (2.342 km) measurement, and the race was officially 331.74 miles (533.88 km). In 2014, the race was extended to 600 kilometers.^[3]

In addition, the start time was moved to 9:00 p.m. CDT (10:00 p.m. EDT) so the event would take place almost entirely under the lights, rather than in the mid-summer twilight.^[4]

Twin races

For 2011, a special Twin race format was adopted, a throwback to the USAC-style twin races of the 1970s and early 1980s. The race would consist of two 275-km (114 laps) races, with each race declaring a separate winner, and each race awarding half points towards the season championship. The starting lineup for the first race was determined during standard time trials. After the completion of the first race, a "halftime" was observed, and the starting lineup for the second race was determined by a random draw.

A mild controversy resulted from the halftime draw for the second race's lineup. It differed from previous "twin" races where the finishing positions for the first race determined the lineup, or the finishing positions were inverted. It was considered unfair by some,^[5] and it was magnified when points contenders Will Power and Dario Franchitti drew 3rd and 28th starting positions, respectively. For 2012, the twin-race format was scrapped.

Champ Car race

The CART Champ Car series scheduled a race at the track for April 29, 2001. Following practice and qualifying, however, the race was cancelled "due to irresolvable concerns over the physical demands placed on the drivers at race speeds."^[6] All but four drivers reported they had experienced vertigo-like symptoms due to lateral g-forces from driving in excess of 230 mph (370 km/h) on the steep 24 degree banks.

The Dayton Indy Lights race was completed with two cautions.

Past winners

AAA Championship car history (Arlington)

Season	Date	Race Name	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
							Laps	Miles (km)
1947	November 2	Arlington 100	Ted Horn	Ted Horn Enterprises	Horn	Offy	95	100.89 (162.366)	1:10:25	86.001
1948	April 25	Arlington 100	Ted Horn	Horn Enterprises	Horn	Offy	95	100.89 (162.366)	1:17:00	78.644
1949	April 24	Arlington 100	Johnnie Parsons		Kurtis	Offy	95	100.89 (162.366)	1:16:40	83.15
	July 17	Universal Speedways Race of Champions	Mel Hansen		Lesovsky	Offy	50	53.1 (85.456)
1950	April 30	MGM Sweepstakes	Duane Carter		Sprint Car		30	31.86 (51.273)	0:22:44	84.087

USAC Championship car history (College Station)

See Texas World Speedway

Season	Date	Race Name	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
							Laps	Miles (km)
1973	April 7	Texas 200	Al Unser	Vels Parnelli Jones	Parnelli	Offenhauser	100	200 (321.868)	1:18:19	153.224
	October 6	Texas 200	Gary Bettenhausen	Team Penske	McLaren	Offy	100	200 (321.868)	1:05:58	181.91
1976	August 1	Texas 150	A.J. Foyt	Gilmore Racing	Coyote	Foyt	75	150 (241.401)	0:52:04	172.885
	October 31	Benihana World Series of Auto Racing	Johnny Rutherford	Team McLaren	McLaren	Offenhauser	100	200 (321.868)	1:19:50	150.315
1977	April 2	Texas Grand Prix	Tom Sneva	Team Penske	McLaren	Cosworth	100	200 (321.868)	1:16:05	157.711
	July 31	American Parts 200	Johnny Rutherford	Team McLaren	McLaren	Cosworth	100	200 (321.868)	1:13:05	164.191
1978	April 15	Coors 200	Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth	100	200 (321.868)	1:09:08	173.594
	August 6	Texas Grand Prix	A.J. Foyt	Gilmore Racing	Coyote	Foyt	100	200 (321.868)	1:15:27	159.06
1979	April 8	Coors 200	A.J. Foyt	Gilmore Racing	Coyote	Foyt	100	200 (321.868)	1:32:37	129.574
	July 29	Lubrilon Grand Prix	A.J. Foyt	Gilmore Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth	100	200 (321.868)	1:13:39	162.934
1980	Race cancelled

Indycar Series history (Fort Worth)

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
1996–97	June 7, 1997	Arie Luyendyk*	Treadway Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:19:48	133.903	Report
1998	June 6	Billy Boat	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:08:46	145.388	Report
	September 20	John Paul, Jr.	Byrd/Cunningham Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:21:53	131.931	Report
1999	June 12	Scott Goodyear	Panther Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:00:06	150.069	Report
	October 17	Mark Dismore	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:14:16	135.246	Report
2000	June 11*	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	1:47:20	169.182	Report
	October 15	Scott Goodyear	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	1:43:36	175.276	Report
2001	June 9	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	300 (482.803)	1:55:44	150.873	Report
	October 6*	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	300 (482.803)	1:43:36	168.523	Report
2002	June 8	Jeff Ward	Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:45:50	164.984	Report
	September 15	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:46:29	163.981	Report
2003	June 7	Al Unser, Jr.	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Toyota	200	300 (482.803)	1:43:48	168.213	Report
	October 13	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	195*	292.5 (470.733)	1:48:56	156.268	Report
2004	June 12	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:53:24	153.965	Report
	October 17	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	200	300 (482.803)	1:49:32	159.397	Report
2005	June 11	Tomas Scheckter	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:45:47	165.047	Report
2006	June 10	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:34:01	185.71	Report
2007	June 9	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	1:52:15	177.314	Report
2008	June 7	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	2:04:36	159.74	Report
2009	June 6	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	1:55:16	172.677	Report
2010	June 5	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	2:04:47	159.508	Report
2011	June 11	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	114	171 (275.197)	0:54:47	181.649	Report
		Will Power	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	114	171 (275.197)	0:48:09	206.693
2012	June 9	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	1:59:02	167.217	Report
2013	June 8	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	228	342 (550.395)	1:52:17	177.257	Report
2014	June 7	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	248	372 (598.676)	2:01:26	178.301	Report
2015	June 6	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	248	372 (598.676)	1:52:48	191.94	Report

• 1997: Billy Boat took checkered flag as the winner due to scoring error; Luyendyk declared official winner the following day.
• 2000: Postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon due to rain.
• 2001: Postponed from September 16 due to 9/11.
• 2003: Race shortened due to crash involving Kenny Bräck.

Notes

1. IndyCar.com Stats – Closest Finishes
2. At the finish line, IRL's Bombardier Learjet 550 is hardly ever a dud
3. Lewandowski, Dave (2013-09-24). "Fans to get more mileage out of 2014 race at TMS". IndyCar Series. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
4. IRL: Indy Racing League News and Notes 2006-12-12
6. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=63078&FS=CHAMPCAR

External links

• IndyCar.com
• Champ Car Stats
• IndyCar Results Page