Newport Beach’s Wheldon Gets Indy Lights Ride
Daniel Wheldon of Newport Beach signed a one-year contract with the PacWest Racing Group to drive in the Indy Lights series in 2001.
Wheldon, 22, drove for Cal Wells’ Santa Margarita-based PPI Motorsports in the Toyota Atlantic Series last season and was named rookie of the year. He won two races, reached the podium seven times and won four pole positions.
Indy Lights, like Toyota Atlantic, is a development series for the open-wheel CART Championship Series.
HORSE RACING
Attendance at Los Alamitos Race Course took another substantial dip, but the track posted an increase in overall handle during the 140-night meet that closed Sunday.
Total handle for the meet was $178,771,144, $9.2 million more than 1999. With gamblers in Texas leading the way, out-of-state handle from satellite wagering increased 12.6%, while in-state handle was up 8.6%. The biggest gain in viewership came from Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, where an average of $20,130 a night was bet on Los Alamitos races via satellite.
On-track attendance, which has plummeted during the last decade, dropped another 4.8% to a nightly average of 1,647.
Los Alamitos begins year-round racing Jan. 5 with programs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
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