IndyCar: The series confirm return to the Auto Club Speedway

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As Auto123.com had revealed yesterday , the IZOD IndyCar Series will feature a return at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California next year.

The series will return to the D-shaped oval that counts 14-degree turns and a 3,100-foot fronstretch for a night race in the autumn of 2012.

It will be the third IZOD IndyCar Series race in California, following Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in April and Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma in August.

The two-mile oval in Fontana, originally owned by Roger Penske, first held a race for former CART’ series initial 500-miler in 1997 when it had roughly 50,000 permanent seats.

But Champ Car/CART was gone by 2003 – replaced by the Indy Racing League. The three IRL races (2003-2005) drew less than 10,000 people annually with only a few sections of the grandstands open.

The circuit is also sadly known as the venue where Canadian Greg Moore was fatally injured in a violent crash on the 10th lap of the CART season finale, the Marlboro 500, in 1999.