Sprint Cup is getting some company at the Brickyard. Four hundred miles of racing wasn't enough and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is adding the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Grand-Am Road Racing to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on July 26-29 in what they are calling “The Super Weekend at the Brickyard.”
It will be the first time in IMS history that races will take place on the 2.5-mile oval and 2.534-mile grand prix road course during the same weekend when the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Grand-Am Road Racing will make their IMS debuts.
The 19th annual Brickyard 400 for the Sprint Cup Series will race on the oval Sunday, July 29, with the Nationwide Series also racing on the oval the previous day. Grand-Am will conduct separate races for its Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge on the 13-turn IMS road course on Friday, July 27.
“The Super Weekend at the Brickyard will offer non-stop excitement for every auto racing fan with the addition of the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Grand-Am road racing,” said Jeff Belskus, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation president and CEO. “There will be competitive, fender-rubbing action from many different types of machinery for four days, featuring established stars and rising talents, on both the IMS oval and road course. This will be an unforgettable event and the start of a great new racing tradition at the Speedway.”
The road course was appearing as if it was going to go unused for the first time since its creation for the U.S. Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship race in 2000. The Speedway hosted that event through 2007, when MotoGP added Indy to its schedule. Next year MotoGP will go to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin instead. The Grand-Am races will be the first sports car races held on the IMS road course.
“This is a great day for Grand-Am and for sports car racing in North America,” said Grand-Am President Tom Bledsoe. “Grand-Am has the finest sports car racing in North America, and we're proud that we'll be able to showcase our racing – with the Rolex Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge – at Indy. Grand-Am is an organization on the move, and this announcement personifies that fact.”
Ticket orders for the 2012 Super Weekend at the Brickyard will be accepted starting Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. Orders can be made at www.imstix.com and through the IMS Ticket Office at (317) 492-6700, or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, or by visiting the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.
Details on ticket pricing, race distances for the Nationwide Series and two Grand-Am events and the complete event schedule will be released at a later date.
In addition, the weekend will also feature Brickfest, a music festival that will be first held during the 2011 Brickyard 400 weekend.