Saturday’s Open Wheel Opening Day at IRP Postponed to August 1

Kyle O'Gara. (Matt Alloway photo)

From Richie Murray

BROWNSBURG, IN (March 21, 2022) – The Open-Wheel Opening Day USAC Midget Special Event and 500 Sprint Car Tour doubleheader, scheduled for Saturday, March 26 at Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, has been postponed to Monday night, August 1.

The new date on the first night of August immediately follows the NASCAR/INDYCAR weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We apologize for the change of plans, but the extended weather forecast was not going to cooperate for a successful kickoff to our Open-Wheel season,” IRP’s Vice President, Track Management and Operations Kasey Coler said.

The reason for the early decision is due to a number of race teams that were preparing to travel cross country in order to participate in Saturday’s event.

To move forward with Saturday’s event, track officials were seeking a race day forecast of at least 50 degrees in ambient temperature and less than an 80 percent chance precipitation, but that threshold was not met by mid-day Monday.

This Saturday’s midget event was to be the milestone 300th USAC sanctioned event on the IRP oval since its construction in 1961. Now, number 300 is scheduled to take place on Friday night, May 27, with a USAC quadruple header featuring the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, a Midget Special Event and the USAC Silver Crown National Championship.

All tickets, including free general admission, as well as reserved seat bundles, will be good for the Monday, August 1 race date for Open-Wheel Opening Day. In addition, FREE parking and camping will be honored as well. Individuals may still reserve free general admission tickets – or paid options such as the Raceway Park Club and reserved seat bundles – at www.RaceIRP.com