Motorsports
China, Bahrain hot, Canada not for F1
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 12, 2003
PARIS - The 2004 Formula One schedule was released Thursday, with Canada dropped from the racing calendar, Belgium restored and China and Bahrain included for the first time.
The U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis, usually held in September, was moved to June 20.
The Grand Prix of Bahrain will be run April 4, the third round of the 17-race series. The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai will be the 15th race of the season on Sept. 26.
Both races are subject to new tracks, both still under construction, passing inspections by the world governing body.
As previously announced, the Canadian GP in Montreal was removed because of the introduction of anti-tobacco laws.
The Belgian GP, dropped this year because of a tobacco advertising ban, was reinstated for 2004 after the Belgian parliament eased the restrictions. The race, scheduled for Aug. 29 at Spa-Francorchamps, is listed as provisional pending ratification of the tobacco law.
The French Grand Prix, scheduled for July 11 at Magny-Cours, is subject to a contract being signed.
In 2005, F1 plans to add a race in Turkey. Groundbreaking on a track outside Istanbul was held Wednesday.
Crew chief's wife dies
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The wife of Dale Jarrett's crew chief and two of her sisters were killed when the limousine they were in burst into flames after being hit from behind by a pickup truck.
Tara Howell Parker, 29, died late Wednesday, police said. Parker was married to Shawn Parker, crew chief for Jarrett's No.88 Robert Yates Racing team.
"I can't put into words the grief we feel," Yates said. "We are all in shock right now. All we can do is support Shawn, and what he needs to do, as well as Tara's family."
Megan Elizabeth Howell, 16, and Mysti Howell Poplin, 24, both of Mocksville, also died, police said. All three were passengers in the limousine.
The driver of the pickup truck, Jeffrey Niles McFayden of Greensboro, was charged with driving while impaired and three counts of second-degree murder. He was in Guilford County Jail held in lieu of $300,000 bond.
Jarrett spokeswoman Penny Copen said plans are being made to replace Parker as crew chief for Sunday's New Hampshire 300.
RUTHERFORD TO RACE: Johnny Rutherford, who won the 1974, 1976 and 1980 Indy 500s, will be among 10 former Indy car drivers who will take part in a 25-lap race at Texas Motor Speedway on Oct. 12 just before the IndyCar series' season-ending Chevy 500. The event is being called the Firestone Heroes of Indy.
Drivers will race identically prepared Thunder Roadsters on the quarter-mile paved oval front-stretch. The cars will resemble the roadsters that dominated Indy car racing during the 1950s and 1960s.
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