Davey Hamilton had a discussion with ims officials about running wing car's using turn 4 and part of the road course. The article is on hose heads ( column section ) under Florida open wheel.
(Sorry I don't know how to link it )

Florida Open Wheel

By Richard Golardi



Southern Sprint Car Series Has Tentative 2016 Start Date, Indy Short Oval Still a Go

By Richard Golardi

Davey Hamilton’s lunch meeting at a restaurant on Main Street in Speedway, Indiana on Tuesday with Doug Boles and Mark Miles covered a range of topics, including one that I had reported on previously. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway management team and Hamilton discussed the subject of using a temporary infield short oval at the speedway for winged sprint car racing with Hamilton’s King of the Wing sprint car series. The 3/8 mile flat oval would use a portion of the current road course near turn four of the big oval. A wide sweeping turn in the road course is located there. The new short oval would not make its debut during the month of May with the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Instead, it may likely see its first race in June 2016, as part of the Midwest race weekend with the national King of the Wing Series.



Davey Hamilton prefers this June race date, since the sprint car teams that participate in the national King of the Wing series will be in the area for the Midwest race weekend, previously three races in late June. All these teams, including some from California and the Northwest, will now also get to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway short oval. The status of this short oval was unknown for a short time after Hamilton left the USAC management position he held from March to June this year. But he has assured me that the planning for this 2016 race is still moving forward. The history making sprint car race will see the return of larger front engined open wheel race cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since the last front engined Indy 500 car started in the 1960s.

With the TBARA on hiatus, and without a sanctioned race since 2014, Davey Hamilton appears to have the scenario in Florida that he had been waiting for since January. Hamilton had previously said that he did not want to directly compete with the TBARA in Florida by scheduling winged sprint car racing in the state if the TBARA was active. At a January 2015 meeting in Gibsonton, he declared that he did want to move forward with the King of the Wing regional series for Florida and the Southeast, later named the Southern Sprint Car Series. A winter series was identified as the most desirable time period, a desire further reinforced by the number of Florida race dates rained out this summer. With a November to late March race season, the Southeast regional series will race during the dry season in Florida, and during a time when the population swells with temporary winter residents.

With Davey Hamilton preparing for the final 2015 King of the Wing race weekend in California in late November, there will not be enough time to set up a Southeast winter series this year. The tentative plan will be to begin racing in November 2016. This will still be during the three year period of transition which allows 360 motors to race along with restricted 410 motors (2015 to 2017). Hamilton stated that he will be flexible with this three-year rule, to allow the maximum number of Florida teams to participate with the sizable out-of-town contingent expected for a King of the Wing winter series. The series may have two races per month, beginning in November and continuing through March or April. It would include the traditional Pensacola and Mobile race weekend, which has been held in March or April in recent years. This weekend may be moved back to March, to allow those teams that brought a car to Florida for the winter to return home in time for their regular race season to begin.

Hamilton did mention a recent discussion with Dave Steele in addition to the meeting with Doug Boles, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway President, and Mark Miles, the Hulman & Company CEO. This was the first time that I had spoken to Davey Hamilton since late June, during the King of the Wing Midwest race weekend. That race weekend is poised to get a great deal more attention next year with the likely addition of a race at the new infield short oval at the Indy Motor Speedway. Hamilton did not mention if this would result in one of the three Midwest tracks on this year’s King of the Wing schedule being left off the 2016 schedule.

Thanks Richard

Can we all say WOW!!!???