CART Champ Car Years
In 1979, both MIS races switched to CART Champ Car sanctioning, remaining 150 - 250 miles (400 km) in length.
In 1980, Ontario Motor Speedway closed, and thus Indycar racing's quadruple crown lost one of its 500-mile (800 km) races. In 1981, the summer race at Michigan was expanded to a 500-mile (800 km) event, replacing Ontario. NBC agreed to broadcast the race live, making it the first 500-mile (800 km) Indy race to be broadcast live. Michigan joined Indianapolis and Pocono for the new Triple Crown of 500-mile (800 km) races. Following the 1986 CART season, the fall race was dropped from the schedule, leaving the Michigan 500 the track's lone Indycar event.
In 1987, the 500-mile (800 km) race began to sponsored by Marlboro. On network television, however, due to tobacco regulations, the race was still advertised as the "Michigan 500." From 1988-1991 the race was part of the Marlboro Million, a cash prize awarded to any driver who won the Marlboro Grand Prix, the Marlboro 500, and the Marlboro Challenge All-Star event in the same year. The prize was never won.
In 1996, the CART series held a second 500-mile (800 km) race, the U.S. 500, the same day as the Indianapolis 500. The race featured a capacity crowd of around 80,000, albeit aided greatly by corporate sponsors who encouraged—and allegedly, in some cases, ordered—their employees to attend. This race was dropped immediately after its only running, partially due to a hope of running the Indy 500 in 1997.
After debris from a crash on the track killed 3 spectators in 1998, corporate sponsorship dropped off drastically, and attendance started to wane. Worse yet, MIS started a massive grandstand expansion program to accommodate the NASCAR crowds, and the smaller crowd looked even smaller in the larger grandstands. In addition, Roger Penske sold the track to ISC in 1999, and ISC lacked the emotional and economic ties to CART.
In spite of a very memorable race—one of a long string of very memorable races—the 2001 CART race was the last sanctioned by that organization at MIS.
Read more about this topic: Firestone Indy 400
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