The Race Fever Back After Two-Week Layoff
Apr 25, 2008
IndyCar
After a two-week layoff, the Firestone Indy Lights returns to action with the Kansas Lottery 100 at Kansas Speedway on April 27.
The race will be the series’ first on the 1.5-mile oval since 2004 and the first time the race has been held in April.
“I just think it’s going to be really close racing,” said Arie Luyendyk Jr. of Andretti Green Racing/AFS Racing. “We saw in Homestead the cars were pretty difficult to drive from last year for some reason, but I think Kansas is a place that will bring all of the guys together. It’s a track similar to Chicago, and I think it’s just going to really make it interesting for the fans to watch.
“I think a lot of cars are going to be running really close together. I think it’s going to be really important to qualify well and to have a car that will run anywhere on the racetrack, low, high; so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Kansas played host to the first race of what was known as the Infiniti Pro Series in July 2002. Luyendyk, the only driver to race in the series in each of its previous six seasons, said the series has come a long way since that first race at Kansas.
“The competition level has definitely stepped up from then,” he said. “You have a lot of guys trying to get to the IndyCar (Series) and now it seems to be the best route, the only route that seems to be as far as development series is concerned. And we just have a really solid field of 22 to 24 cars consistently now, and that makes the racing that much more fun. And to race with a really good group of guys is always a good thing.”
The three previous winners at Kansas – A.J. Foyt IV, Mark Taylor and Thiago Medeiros --- went on to win the series title.
