Major Events Are Postponed After Reconsideration

Taking a cue from other sports organizations Thursday, NASCAR and the Indy Racing League postponed scheduled weekend races. .

In the wake of terrorist attacks on Tuesday, NASCAR rescheduled its Winston Cup race at Loudon, N.H., Sunday, as well as a Craftsman Truck race on Saturday at Fort Worth, Texas. The truck race was to have been a preliminary to the IRL’s Chevy 500, the season closer, at Texas Motor Speedway, also postponed. Earlier in the week, the NHRA had postponed its weekend drag racing program, the Keystone Nationals at Reading, Pa.

Only CART, among major U.S. auto racing sanctioning bodies, will go on with its regularly scheduled race, the German 500 Saturday in Klettwitz, Germany.

The IRL race has been rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6, with the truck race the night before. NASCAR’s New Hampshire 300 has been rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving.

“We hated to cancel; it was NASCAR’s decision,” said New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre. “But we agreed with them 100%. You have to think of the people, all the problems they have in New York. I think all our fans will understand, and we’ll honor all their tickets.”

It was only the second non-weather postponement of a major NASCAR race in recent years. The 1998 Pepsi 400 at Daytona Beach, Fla., was postponed from July to October because of wildfires in central Florida.

A number of drivers had questioned the propriety of racing this week, partly because of the tragedy and partly because of travel difficulties.

“There are three things that concern me,” former champion Dale Jarrett said before the decision was made. “Safety-wise, is it safe for our teams and people to be traveling? Second, does it become a distraction to anything that’s going on with our nation as to what needs to take place there?

“Finally, and maybe most importantly, is it the right thing to do? Right now, we need to be concerned with these people and the families of the people that have been involved and we have to make sure that once again our nation is a safe place to live.”

Driver Jeff Burton saw the postponement another way.

“It makes me mad,” he said. “Part of my emotions in this thing is that I want to be sure that the idiots that did this don’t win .... I want to just shove that back into the face of these idiots and show them that we are resilient.”

At Fort Worth, speedway General Manager Eddie Gossage had strongly hoped to get the IRL race in as scheduled, particularly since CART had canceled its race there last April, citing excessive speeds.

“This has been a difficult process for us from the beginning,” Gossage said. “Opinions have been mixed, but it seemed clear from the fans’ response the races should go on as planned. However, with airport operations still in limbo, it is logistically impossible for all of the teams and fans to get here. After more discussions today, we all agreed this was the appropriate thing to do.”

Although CART will race Saturday in Germany, it may well do so without one of its stars. Michael Andretti, who has won a record 40 CART races and whose father, Mario, was a Formula One champion idolized in Europe, had been unable to leave the United States while flights were prohibited.

“We don’t know if Michael will make it over or not, but we’ll still go ahead if he can’t,” said a CART official.

Andretti was the only one of 27 drivers who was not in Germany on Thursday for what will be CART’s first European race.

In a tribute to those who died in the hijacked jetliner attacks in New York and the Pentagon, CART’s cars will drive slowly down pit road between U.S. and German flags before the race. Each car will display a black sticker with the date, Sept. 11, 2001.

CART will run a second European race on Sept. 22 at Rockingham, England.

All Southern California tracks with weekly Saturday night programs--Irwindale, Perris, Ventura and Costa Mesa--will run as scheduled. The Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino was not scheduled this weekend.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.