Long Beach, Houston added to 1998 schedule

LONG BEACH, HOUSTON COMPLETE 1998 NTB TRANS-AM SERIES SCHEDULE

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (February 18, 1998) -- The NTB Trans-Am Series, America's premier muscle car road racing series, has added the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Texaco Houston Grand Prix to its 1998 schedule.

The addition of the two venues brings the NTB Trans-Am's schedule to 13 events, including races at seven street circuits, four traditional road courses and two road course/oval arena venues.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 4-5 on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., will now be the NTB Trans-Am's season opener, the series' seventh Long Beach visit. The race will be the weekend finale, held Sunday, April 4 following the CART FedEx Championship Series race.

After Long Beach, Round Two will be at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex (May 15-17), followed by Lime Rock Park (May 22-25), Detroit (June 5-7), Mid-Ohio (June 12-14), Minneapolis (June 27-28), Cleveland (July 10-12), Grand Rapids, Mich. (July 24-26), Trois-Rivieres (August 1-2), Watkins Glen (August 6-8), Road America (August 14-16), Fountain, Colo. (September 25-27) and Houston (October 3-4).

"Our goal in 1998 was a schedule balancing a mix of high-visibility street circuits, arena-viewing road course/oval venues and traditional, natural-terrain road courses," said Les Richter, NTB Trans-Am Council Chairman. "With the addition of Long Beach and Houston, we've produced a schedule package that is complete. The NTB Trans-Am Series has a great future ahead of it, and kicking off the season at a venue as prestigious at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is a perfect start to this new era in Trans-Am racing."

The inaugural Texaco Houston Grand Pix on the streets of Houston, Texas, will now be the season finale and the second of two new NTB Trans-Am Series venues slated for 1998 (the West Michigan Grand Prix in Grand Rapids, Mich., is the first new venue on the schedule).

"The NTB Trans-Am Series' new venues are an essential component of the 1998 calendar," said Richter. "The series will be introduced to new spectators who will continue to expand the Trans-Am's swelling fan base and we will be also be extending our reach into new markets."

1998 NTB Trans-Am Series Schedule

Date     Event/Venue
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Apr 05   Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
May 17   Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, Homestead, FL
May 25   Dodge Dealers Grand Prix, Lime Rock Park, Lime Rock, CN
Jun 06   Motor City 100, ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix, Detroit, MI
Jun 14   The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
Jun 28   Sprint PCS Grand Prix of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Jul 11   Medic Drug Cleveland Grand Prix, Cleveland, OH
Jul 26   West Michigan Grand Prix, Grand Rapids, MI
Aug 02   Le Grand Prix Player's de Trois-Rivieres, Trois-Rivieres, PQ
Aug 08   The Bud at the Glen Weekend, Watkins Glen Int'l, Watkins Glen, NY
Aug 15   The Texaco/Havoline 200 Weekend, Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
Sep 27   Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, CO
Oct 03   The Texaco Houston Grand Prix, Houston, TX