2001 IRL zMax Atlanta 500 Classic 

Crazy how Texas is now the only 1.5 mile oval left on the IndyCar schedule when tracks of that configuration just like Atlanta used to be a staple of this series. They have all basically left and become NASCAR-only tracks!

28:14 -Casey Mears internal dialogue "Fuck this I'm going to NASCAR"

The race happened the same weekend Driven came out and the Texas CART fiasco. Not the best weekend for open wheel racing

So i randomly searched for this footage and am so happy it was posted. I'm more of a stock car fan, but I did attend this race. I remember "the big one" at 27:00, but I mainly remember that high pitched scream of these cars. A sound like no other! Thank you for posting!

27:00 The crash looks so eerily similar to Las Vegas 2011.

1:03:03

0:29 somebody’s opening a canned drink, hopefully Michelob Ultra

@greatassistant Most likely. Also during the 1998 race with the huge backstretch accident, a tire can be seen skimming acorss the empty backstretch grandstands.

You'll see that sidepod camera shot in CART, too, Bob.

@Tiger31193 Yes. As noted in the description 2 tires made their way into the stands.

that wreck reminded me way too much of Dan Wheldons crash. How this racing was even allowed is beyond me. These guys truly were insane.

2:08 Start 3:59 Brandon Erwin crash 27:00 The Big One

Shades of Wheldon at las Vegas on lap 53.

Honestly, had ISM/SMI/NASCAR hadn't renovated and reconfigured Atlanta into the disaster that it is right now, I would actually be lobbying for IndyCar to return to Atlanta...... but that's pretty much wishful thinking at this point

this racing always scared me

Actually not a bad crowd considering it was Atlanta. Looks like 20-25k. And that's a lot for them at the time. It's actually a nice facility...too bad they're not there anymore.

1:03:05 oh shit

I knew they came off the air early when Greg Ray won the race at Atlanta because they took longer, and we didn't see Greg Ray in Victory Lane because the National Hot Rod Association was coming up.

I don't understand how come the race wasn't red flagged after that 11 car crash

A lot of cars crashed coming out of turn 4 and into the front stretch, and they continued under caution. Why the red flag didn't come out?

Row 1: 2 Ray/35 Ward, Row 2: 51 Cheever, Jr./28 Dismore, Row 3: 55 Hattori/4 Hornish, Jr., Row 4: 14 Salazar/12 Calkins, Row 5: 91 Lazier/10 McGehee, Row 6: 88 Dare/99 Hamilton, Row 7: 8 Sharp/3 Unser, Jr., Row 8: 21 Giaffone/92 Wattles, Row 9: 98 Boat/15 Fisher, Row 10: 24 Buhl/32 Andre, Row 11: 7 Gregoire/9 Schroeder, Row 12: 11 Dr. Miller/16 Witherill, Row 13: 6 Herb/30 Erwin, Row 14: 31 Mears. ;-)

thank you so much for this upload!

The Big One at 27:00.

It's too bad that the CART/IRL split hampered the growth of Indycar. Because both series put on excellent racing during this time 👍🏻

Look at 30:56! Is this a tire flying over the catchfence?

1:03:07 Oh, sh*t! kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Heyyyy I was at this race when I was 9. Sam Hornish owned this race

with only 1 Nascar race a year there. they should look into bringing the IndyCars back around March.

38:35 Professor Jason Priestly

@docripoff19 Thanks!

so, they had different companys building the oldsmobile motor? i'm curious as to win it stopped, and why they didn't touch on that more, it would have led to a bit more interest in the engine wars rather than oldsmobile wins everything

@805motorsport 0:28 can of pop or opening xD but in all seriousness i think they will come back to atlanta because of what they did to the cars at texas. But i still dont trust 1.5 mile tracks, and im sure if they do they will try to slow the cars down even more. But i dont think its a smart idea.

was anybody injured in the crash?

or the fact they never made an effort to advertise the race in the area like they do with the nascar races.

I can't help but feel like the accident on lap 54 was one of the reasons why CART cancelled the Texas race the next day. It's a wonder no one was killed in that accident.

reggie miller had 35 pts idgaf

The IRL in the days BD.

@de31168 Maybe its beacause of that they never came back to Atlanta, just like Charlotte, isn't?

i think indycar will return to atlanta in 2013, because i want it to become the season finale and randy bernard is planning 20 races 50/50 ovals/road & street circuits.

atlanta will come back in 2013 cuz the track has room for an indycar race if they can make adjustments

Randy is gone. Vic E-mail indycar and Atlanta Motor Speedway and tell them you want a race there.

1:03:09