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| Venue | Homestead-Miami Speedway |
|---|---|
| Corporate sponsor | GAINSCO Auto Insurance |
| First race | 1985 |
| First IndyCar race | 2001 |
| Distance | 300 miles |
| Number of laps | 200 |
| Previous names | CART Champ Car race Beatrice Indy Challenge (1985) Miami Indy Challenge (1986) Nissan Indy Challenge (1987-1988) Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota (1995-2000) Grand Prix Americas (2002) Grand Prix Americas presented by sportsbook.com (2003) IRL race 20th Anniversary Miami Grand Prix (2002) Toyota Indy 300 Presented by XM Satellite Radio (2006) XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 (2007) |
The GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 is an Indy Racing League Series race held at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.
The first championship car race that took place in the Miami area was on February 22, 1926 at the Fulford-Miami Speedway in nearby Fulford. A 300-mile race sanctioned by AAA took place only once at the 1.25-mile wooden board track. Peter DePaolo was the winner.
Modern American open wheel racing in the Miami-area dates back to 1985. In that year, the CART series began racing on a temporary street circuit in Tamiami Park, a small outdoor sports facility in the nearby suburb of Tamiami. The event lasted through 1988, and twice included the CART Marlboro Challenge all star race.
In 1995, race promoter Ralph Sanchez brought open wheel racing back to Miami. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, Sanchez began redeveloping a devestated area of Homestead, Florida into the Homestead Motorsports Complex. For 1995 only, while the track was still under construction, Sanchez held a CART race on the Bicentennial Park street circuit, on Biscayne Bay. The course was formerly used by IMSA from 1983-1993.
In 1996, after construction was complete, CART debuted at the Homestead oval with a 200-mile CART Champ Car event. In 1997, the race was lengthened to 225 miles. In 2001, the event switched to an Indycar Series event and was again lengthened, to 300 miles.
For each of its years through 2000, the race served as the CART series season opener. CART also used the facility as their venue for "spring training" (offseason testing). From 2002-2008, the race served as the IndyCar Series season opener. In 2007-2008, the race was held under the lights. After a schedule reorganization, the race was moved to become the season ending race for 2009.
Since 2007, the event has been part of the Speed Jam, a twin race combo weekend with the Rolex Sports Car Series along with concert festivities. The event proved to be successful in the predominantly Latino city of Miami & Homestead.
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Past winners
- Further information: Streets of Miami
Atlantics/Indy Lights winners
| Season | Date | Winning Driver | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CART Atlantic Series history (1.4 mile infield road course) | |||||
| 1996 | March 3 |  Tony Ave |
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| 1997 | March 1 | Anthony Lazzaro |
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| 2000 | March 25 |  Dan Wheldon |
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| 2000 | March 26 | Buddy Rice |
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| Indy Pro Series/Indy Lights Series history (1.485 mile oval) | |||||
| 1996 | March 3 |  David Empringham |
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| 1997 | March 2 | David Empringham |
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| 1998 | March 15 |  Shigeaki Hattori |
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| 1999 | March 21 |  Mario Dominguez |
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| 2003 | March 2 | Mark Taylor |
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| 2004 | February 29 | Phil Giebler |
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| 2005 | March 6 | Travis Gregg |
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| 2006 | March 26 | Jeff Simmons |
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| 2007 | March 24 | Alex Lloyd |
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| 2008 | March 29 | Dillon Battistini |
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Rolex Sports Car history (Homestead)
- 2007
Bill Auberlen/ Matthew Alhadeff - 2008 Scott Pruett/
Memo Rojas
References
External links
- Google Maps satellite image of former Bicentennial Park race course
- eTracks map of Tamiami Park circuit
- Google Maps satellite image of former Tamiami Park race course
| Previous race:
Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 |
Current Indycar Series Races |
Next race: |
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 12 December 2008, at 17:52.
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