CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY CART's season finale is postponed dues to fires

The King Taco 500 slated Sunday won't be run in San Bernardino.
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- The CART season-finale, scheduled for Sunday at California Speedway, has been postponed indefinitely due to the state of emergency caused by a series of wildfires in and around San Bernardino County.
Bill Miller, president of the speedway, said CART officials wanted to run the event as scheduled and there were lengthy discussions between the track and the sanctioning body on Monday and Tuesday before the track made its decision.
"They felt the situation had the potential to clear up, and it's true that it could. But we took the responsibility into our own hands and told them, 'This is what we're going to do,' " Miller said Tuesday. "Where we saw this developing the last day, it made this decision pretty easy."
CART officials were not immediately available for comment.
Several options
Miller said the speedway gave CART several options on rescheduling the King Taco 500. He said the track is in use more than 300 days a year and there are very few open dates available between now and the end of 2003.
"The event is not canceled at this point, it is postponed," Miller said. "But they have to make a decision soon."
The track is located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
"We have been monitoring the fire situation since it began last week in the northern section of Fontana, approximately five miles from the speedway," Miller said. "As the fires have continued to spread, several issues were considered for us to arrive at this decision, including the proximity of the fire, the air quality, transportation issues and staffing requirements from a fire safety, medical, security and volunteer standpoint needed to stage an event."
Safety is important
He also noted the safety of track employees, volunteers and fans is most important.
There were estimates by late Tuesday that the fires known as the Grand Prix and the Old Fires, which have now merged, have burned more than 80,000 acres in the San Bernardino area and that more than 3,500 firefighters are battling the blaze.
A NASCAR Winston West race, scheduled for Saturday, also was postponed to an undetermined date.