CART announced its 2002 schedule, or at...

CART announced its 2002 schedule, or at least a tentative version of it, showing 19 races in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, England, Germany and Australia.

Back on the schedule are the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway at their traditional times, April 14 for Long Beach and the season finale Nov. 3 at Fontana. The other California race will have a date change, however. The road race at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, traditionally run in October, has been moved to June 9.

New to the schedule next year will be road races in Montreal and Mexico City and a street race in Denver. Dropped were street races in Houston and at Detroit’s Belle Isle, and oval events at Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn, Mich., and Nazareth, Pa., as well as Texas Motor Speedway at Fort Worth and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where scheduled races this season were canceled.

CART Chairman Joe Heitzler said more races might be added and heading the speculation list is a Saturday night race in Las Vegas in May.

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IROC, the International Race of Champions, will return to California Speedway next season, after a three-year absence. IROC, which involves 12 drivers from various sanctioning groups racing similarly prepared Pontiac Firebirds, will be a 100-mile race on the two-mile oval April 27 as part of the NASCAR weekend.

IROC was part of the inaugural season at Fontana in 1997, then returned in ‘98, Winston Cup driver Mark Martin winning both times.

The IROC race will be the third of the day on the Saturday before the NAPA Auto Parts 500 Winston Cup race. Also scheduled are the Auto Club 300 for Busch series cars, and the Pontiac Wide Track Grand Prix 200 for Winston West cars.