Twenty years ago today, the IRL held its first race in Orlando - MotorSportsTalk

Some 20 years ago today, North American open-wheel racing came to a fork in the road, and took it.

What had been one series, the PPG IndyCar World Series, split off into IndyCar (still using CART as another name) and the Indy Racing League.

It followed Tony George’s message released in 1994 that he set out to carve a path for young North American open-wheel drivers, with an all-oval schedule and teams using older IndyCars. Thus, the IRL was born.

The IRL staged its first race as a separate, broken off entity under the auspices of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

A name you’ve probably since forgotten, Buzz Calkins, won the race at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando – a track that is no longer operational – over a then-unheralded 24-year-old kid out of Rushville, Ind. named Tony Stewart.

It began an 11-year run from 1996 to 2007 of an open-wheel split, which ended in February 2008 when the IRL, then IndyCar and CART, which folded after 2003 and the ashes of which were formed as Champ Car, came back together for unification. Or mergification, if you prefer.

If you feel like spending an hour and a half reliving the first IRL race, you can at this YouTube page.

The results are linked here, via ChampCarStats.com.

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Chase Sexton announced on Instagram he will sit out this weekend’s Pro Motocross race at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California after a practice crash on Tuesday left him with a concussion.

Sexton’s crash on Tuesday happened during a test session at Fox Raceway.

“Bummed to make this post but I’ll be sitting out this weekend,” Sexton said. “As you guys saw I had a big one during qualifying at Pala, then another one on Tuesday this week that banged me up pretty good. Nothing broken just need a few days to get back to 100%.”

Despite his crash in the first qualification session in Pala, California, Sexton mounted up for both motos and finished second in each race behind his teammate Jett Lawrence, who was making his Motocross debut and won with a pair of first-place finishes. Sexton padded his SuperMotocross points’ lead over the injured Eli Tomac, who is still second in the combined Supercross and Motocross standings despite missing the SX finale at Salt Lake City and the outdoor opener with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Sexton has an advantage of 78 points over Cooper Webb and cannot give up his SMX lead by missing this round.

At stake, however, is the risk of losing ground to Lawrence in the Pro Motocross championship. Sexton currently trails his teammate by six points and is liable to lose significant ground this weekend.

In addition to his concussion, Sexton has also been diagnosed with mononucleosis and the combination of the two conditions caused the team to make the difficult decision to keep him out of the lineup at Hangtown.

“I’m super-bummed to miss this weekend’s race,” Sexton said in a press release. “I feel like I rode well at Pala, and I was really looking forward to Hangtown because it’s a good track for me. Unfortunately, I was already pretty banged up from my qualifying crash on Saturday, and now with mono and Tuesday’s concussion on top of it, I want to do the right thing and hopefully be back on the track soon.”

A return date for Sexton has not yet been announced.

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Other 2023 Injury News

450 riders
Eli Tomac, Achilles tendon | It was just a freak deal
Justin Barcia, collarbone and shoulder
Jason Anderson, vertebrae
Christian Craig, elbow
Marvin Musquin, wrist
Malcolm Stewart, knee | Signs two-year extension
Aaron Plessinger, hip | returned at Salt Lake City
Dylan Ferrandis, concussion | Will not return until Motocross
Cooper Webb, concussion | returned at Pala

250 riders
Nate Thrasher, hip
Stilez Robertson, leg
Cameron McAdoo, shoulder
Seth Hammaker, arm and wrist
Austin Forkner, knee | Injury isn’t the hardest part
Jo Shimoda, collarbone | returned at Atlanta
Jalek Swoll, arm | returned at Pala

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