Wikipedia

2002 Infiniti Pro Series

The 2002 IRL Infiniti Pro Series was the first season of the series, which served as the first official developmental series to the Indy Racing League. The Infiniti Pro Series is considered a direct continuation of the original CART-owned Indy Lights series, which operated for 16 years from 1986 to 2001. While the formation of the Pro Series was independent, CART announced shortly after that Indy Lights would fold after the 2001 season. The Pro Series would later adopt the Indy Lights name in 2008 when IndyCar bought the intellectual property from CART, and was subsequently renamed Indy NXT in 2023.

2002 Infiniti Pro Series season
IRL Infiniti Pro Series
Season
Races7
Start dateJuly 7
End dateSeptember 14
Awards
Drivers' championUnited States A. J. Foyt IV
Teams' championA. J. Foyt Enterprises
← 2001 (Indy Lights)
2003 →

The Infiniti Pro Series was first announced on September 1, 2001, with the aim to streamline the path into IRL competition and provide a training ground for aspiring drivers, This initiative was particularly aimed at addressing competitors from the USAC ranks were having a harder time transitioning directly into the IRL in previous years. The season started in the summer of 2002, with a reduced all-oval seven race schedule over two months towards an extended calendar in 2003.[1]

The series had a target budget of $800.000 per season and per car, with featuring a spec Dallara IL-02 chassis and an engine package provided by Infiniti. British builder TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) developed a 3.5 L version of the V8 engine used in the Infiniti Q45, which produced 420 horsepower (310 kW).

A. J. Foyt IV, the youngest driver in the field, was the inaugural champion in a car owned by his legendary, grandfather A. J. Foyt. As of 2023, Foyt IV holds the record as the youngest Indy NXT champion of all time dating back to 1986, at 18 years and three months of age. Foyt IV won four of the seven races, including the inaugural event at Kansas, and was crowned at the final race in Texas against the American-born Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk Jr. The son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk had four second-place finishes, but no wins, finishing behind Cory Witherill at Nashville, Ryan Hampton at Gateway and Aaron Fike at Chicagoland.

Former IRL drivers Cory Witherill, Ronnie Johncox, and Dave Steele participated in the championship, alongside full-time IRL teams A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Kelley Racing, Hemelgarn Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports, although Kelley Racing withdrew from the championship after actor-turned-driver Jason Priestley was seriously injured in a warm-up crash at Kentucky Speedway. The series started with 12 cars at its first round, and the field was up to 16 drivers for the events at Michigan and Kentucky. Eight drivers took part in every round, with three others contesting all but one event.

Team and driver chart

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Team No. Drivers Rounds
Sinden Racing Service[2] 2   Ed Carpenter[3] All
Brian Stewart Racing[4] 3   Marty Roth[5] 1–4, 6–7
Luyendyk Racing[6] 5   Arie Luyendyk Jr.[6] All
Kelley Racing[7] 7   Jason Priestley[7] 1–4
REV 1 Racing[8] 8   Ronnie Johncox[8] All
Sam Schmidt Motorsports[9] 9   Jeff Tillman[10] 3
  Tom Wood[11] 4, 6–7
  Curtis Francois[12] 5
99   G. J. Mennen[9] All
Roquin Motorsports[13] 11   Rolando Quintanilla[14] 2–7
Beardsley Motorsports[15] 12   Matt Beardsley[15] 2–5, 7
A. J. Foyt Enterprises[16] 14   A. J. Foyt IV[16] All
Automatic Fire Sprinklers[17] 27   Gary Peterson[17] All
Ryan Hampton / CGF Racing[18] 34   Ryan Hampton[19] 3–7
Bowes Seal Fast Racing[20] 37   Mike Koss[20] 1–4, 6–7
  Matthew Halliday[9] 5
38 1
43   Dave Steele[21] 3
  Tony Turco[11] 4–6
Hemelgarn 91/Johnson Motorsports[22] 91   Aaron Fike[23] All
92   Cory Witherill[24] All

Schedule

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The initial schedule for the Infiniti Pro Series was announced on February 2, 2002.[25] Competition started halfway through the Indy Racing League season, which the Infiniti Pro Series accompanied at all of its final seven events, with all events being held on ovals. Kansas, Gateway and Texas had all been featured in the last season of Indy Lights competition, which had last visited Michigan in 2000, while Nashville, Kentucky and Chicagoland held an open-wheel feeder series race for the first time.

Rd. Date Race name Track Location
1 July 7 Kansas 100 Kansas Speedway Kansas City, Kansas
2 July 20 Nashville 100 Nashville Superspeedway Lebanon, Tennessee
3 July 28 Michigan 100 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan
4 August 11 Kentucky 100 Kentucky Speedway Sparta, Kentucky
5 August 25 St. Louis 100 Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois
6 September 8 Chicago 100 Chicagoland Speedway Joliet, Illinois
7 September 14 BG Products 100 Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas

Race results

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Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race Winner
Driver Team
1 Kansas Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Arie Luyendyk Jr.   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises
2 Nashville Superspeedway   Ronnie Johncox   Aaron Fike   Cory Witherill   Cory Witherill Hemelgarn 91/Johnson Motorsports
3 Michigan International Speedway   Arie Luyendyk Jr.   Jason Priestley   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises
4 Kentucky Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Cory Witherill   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises
5 Gateway International Raceway   Ryan Hampton   Ryan Hampton   Ryan Hampton   Ryan Hampton Conti-Genoa-Frost Racing
6 Chicagoland Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Gary Peterson   Arie Luyendyk Jr.   Aaron Fike Hemelgarn 91/Johnson Motorsports
7 Texas Motor Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Tom Wood   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Championship standings

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Drivers' Championship

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Scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th   15th   16th 
Points 50 40 35 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
  • The driver who leads the most laps in a race is awarded two additional points.
Pos Driver KAN NSH MIS KEN GAT CHI TXS Points
1   A. J. Foyt IV  R  1* 4 1* 1* 9 6 1* 290
2   Arie Luyendyk Jr.  R  10 2 2 6 2 2* 7 236
3   Ed Carpenter  R  5 5 3 2 3 7 5 226
4   Cory Witherill 3 1* 15 3 11 13 2 213
5   Aaron Fike  R  11 3 4 14 14 1 12 186
6   Ronnie Johncox 9 12 5 4 8 5 8 180
7   Gary Peterson 7 DNS 10 8 10 8 4 163
8   G. J. Mennen  R  8 8 9 15 4 9 9 161
9   Ryan Hampton  R  7 12 1* 14 3 147
10   Marty Roth 6 9 11 13 4 10 138
11   Rolando Quintanilla 11 6 7 6 10 14 137
12   Mike Koss  R  4 10 16 11 11 11 123
13   Matt Beardsley  R  7 14 5 12 13 107
14   Jason Priestley  R  2 6 13 DNS 99
15   Tom Wood  R  10 3 6 83
16   Tony Turco  R  9 13 12 57
17   Matthew Halliday 12 7 44
18   Curtis Francois  R  5 30
19   Dave Steele 8 24
20   Jeff Tillman  R  12 18
Pos Driver KAN NSH MIS KEN GAT CHI TXS Points
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing


In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
(2 points)
  • Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

References

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  1. ^ "Infiniti Pro Series launch transcript". Crash. 2001-09-01. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  2. ^ "Sinden to contest Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. January 16, 2002.
  3. ^ "Sinden sign Carpenter for Pro Series assault". Crash.net. January 26, 2002.
  4. ^ "Brian Stewart Racing moves to Infiniti Pro Series". Autoweek.com. February 12, 2002.
  5. ^ "Roth teams with Stewart in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. April 2, 2002.
  6. ^ a b "Luyendyk Jr. to compete in IRL Infiniti Pro Series". Autoweek.com. May 6, 2002.
  7. ^ a b "Priestley, Kelley Racing enter Infiniti series". Crash.net. April 17, 2002.
  8. ^ a b "Johncox enters IPS as owner/driver". Crash.net. June 29, 2002.
  9. ^ a b c "Drivers looking forward to Infiniti Pro tests". Crash.net. June 21, 2002.
  10. ^ "Jeff Tillman, Budweiser, enter Infiniti Pro Series". Autoweek.com. July 25, 2002.
  11. ^ a b "Wood, Turco To Make Infiniti Pro Series Debuts". Infiniti Pro Series. August 8, 2002. Archived from the original on August 18, 2002.
  12. ^ "Francois to make IPS debut at Gateway". Crash.net. August 21, 2002.
  13. ^ "Roquin to field cars in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. February 12, 2002.
  14. ^ "Nashville: Pre-race quotes". Motorsport.com. July 15, 2002.
  15. ^ a b "Beardsley to compete in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. July 16, 2002.
  16. ^ a b "AJ Foyt IV to race in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. May 29, 2002.
  17. ^ a b "Owner/driver Peterson joins Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. June 18, 2002.
  18. ^ "Genoa places order for Infiniti Pro Series car". Crash.net. December 19, 2001.
  19. ^ "Hampton to make IPS debut at Michigan". Crash.net. July 26, 2002.
  20. ^ a b "Bowes Seal Fast Racing To Enter Infiniti Pro Series". Infiniti Pro Series. April 12, 2002. Archived from the original on February 24, 2003.
  21. ^ "Michigan Indy 400 Notes - Friday, July 26". Indy Racing League. July 26, 2002. Archived from the original on August 16, 2002.
  22. ^ "Hemelgarn announces Infiniti Pro series team". Crash.net. November 30, 2001.
  23. ^ "Hemelgarn/Johnson Motorsports name Fike 2002 driver". Motorsport.com. March 15, 2002.
  24. ^ "Cory Witherill signs with Hemelgarn/Johnson Motorsports". Motorsport.com. March 23, 2002.
  25. ^ "Seven races for Infiniti Pro Series". Crash. 2002-02-02. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
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