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SCCA Adds Long Beach and Houston to 1998 Trans-Am Series Schedule

23 February 1998

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.”


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1998 NTB Trans-Am Series Schedule

Date            Event/Venue
April 5         Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif.1
May 17          Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, Homestead, Fla.2
May 25          Dodge Dealers Grand Prix, Lime Rock Park, Lime Rock, Conn.3
June 6          Motor City 100, ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix, Detroit, Mich.1
June 14         The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio2
June 28         Sprint PCS Grand Prix of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.2
July 11         Medic Drug Cleveland Grand Prix, Cleveland, Ohio1
July 26         West Michigan Grand Prix, Grand Rapids, Mich.2
August 2        Le Grand Prix Player’s de Trois-Rivieres, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Can.3
August 8        The Bud at the Glen Weekend, Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.4
August 15       The Texaco/Havoline 200 Weekend, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.1
Sept. 27        Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, Colo.3
October 3       The Texaco Houston Grand Prix, Houston, Texas1

1 - CART FedEx Championship Weekend
2 - NTB Trans-Am/USRRC Can-Am and GT Championship Weekend
3 - NTB Trans-Am Headline Weekend
4 - NASCAR Winston Cup Weekend