Longest race on schedule set to go
Coca-cola 600 has the auto racing spotlight all to itself this season
The Monaco Grand Prix has been canceled.
The Indianapolis 500 is postponed until August.
Only the Coca-cola 600 is still scheduled as planned.
The most celebrated day in motorsports has been whittled down to the third course, 600 miles around Charlotte Motor Speedway in NASCAR’S longest race of the year. What began as the World 600 in 1959 became the nightcap to a spectacular day of automobile racing treasured annually by fans.
The Sunday before Memorial Day begins in the French Riviera as Formula One races the streets of Monaco. The race began in 1929 and has been held every year since 1959 until the coronavirus pandemic wiped out a portion of F1’s season.
Then it is on to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street for the Indy 500. It started as the International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race in 1911, grew into “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and has run on Memorial Day weekend every year since 1946. Roger Penske, in his first year as owner, has postponed the race two months because of the pandemic.
It means NASCAR is alone in the spotlight Sunday night, just as NASCAR has been for the past week. The stock car series, using a tight health screening plan and aided by its close proximity to states with relaxed restrictions, has already completed three races in the past week.
The race itself is one of the most grueling of the season.
Coca-cola 600
When:
■ Tv/radio: Fox-23, WSDE 1190 AM, 94.3 FM/100.1 FM
6 p.m.