Texas Motor Speedway Sues CART

Claims lost profits due to cancellation of April 29 event

Las Vegas, May 9, 2001 -- Reacting to the "cancellation" of an April 29th event, Texas Motor Speedway has filed suit against Championship Auto Racing Team (CART). The lawsuit alleges lost profits and is seeking "compensation for expenses incurred by the speedway, lost profits and other damages," according to a report in the Las Vegas Review Journal. The Speedway is also apparently upset that CART has not returned a sanction fee and purse worth an estimated $2 million.

The decision to cancel the race was made because of dizziness experienced by drivers during practice, when their speeds reached over 230 mph. Officials were not able to slow the cars enough to ensure the drivers' safety. This decision to cancel the race came only hours before its scheduled start. [click here for more background]

Predictably, the parties in this matter disagree. Eddie Gossage, general manager of the Texas track said: "We wanted to avoid this suit, but CART has not been very responsive regarding the losses and damages suffered by Texas Motor Speedway and its fans." [The Review Journal did report that the speedway has begun the process of refunding the millions of dollars in tickets to the fans.] CART responded with a statement which read "Naturally, CART intends to defend itself against this counterproductive and meritless action band believes it will prevail."

Not much is known about what the future will hold in this situation. The lawsuit was the first time in which the event was referred to as being "canceled" instead of the keeping open the possibility for making up the race at a later date. ESPN2 reported that "This is unprecedented territory.You just don't know what the repercussions are going to be because it's probably still too early, but it's kind of sent a tremor through the whole racing community." An ESPN2 reporter stated that "I'm very surprised that this has gone to the courts already. I would have thought that CART would have done whatever possible to try and refund whatever money needed to be done and then maybe Texas would also extend a hand because now it looks like it's going to get ugly."

Sources:

Wolf, J., Las Vegas Review Journal , May 9, 2001
ESPN2

Matthew Roberts