MAVTV 500

MAVTV 500

Verizon IndyCar Series
Venue	Ontario Motor Speedway (1970–1980) Auto Club Speedway (1997–2005, 2012–2015)
Corporate sponsor	Marlboro (1997–2001) Toyota (1998–2005) Yamaha (2002) King Taco (2003) Lucas Oil (2012–2015)
First race	1970
First ICS race	2002
Last race	2015
Distance	500 mi (800 km) – 1970–1978 USAC, 1979–1980 CART, 1997–2002 CART, 2012–2015 IRL 400 mi (640 km) – 2002–2005, IRL
Laps	200 (1970–1980, 2002–2005) 250 (1997–2003, 2012–2015)
Previous names	California 500 (1970–1980) Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota (1997, 1999–2001) Yamaha Indy 400 (2002 IRL) The 500 presented by Toyota (1998 & 2002 CART) King Taco 500 (2003 CART) Toyota Indy 400 (2003–2005) MAVTV 500 (2012–2015)

The MAVTV 500 was an IndyCar Series race held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The event represented a continuous lineage of open wheel oval racing in the Southern California-area that dates back to 1970. Since 2012, the event had been sponsored by MAVTV, a motorsports cable channel owned by Lucas Oil.

For many years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the race served as the season finale for the CART series. From 2012-2014, it served as the finale for the IndyCar Series.

In 2015, the race was moved to June. Despite several journalists calling the 2015 edition one of the best IndyCar races, the race did not return on the schedule for 2016.

History

USAC

Open wheel oval racing in southern California dates back to the USAC California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, held from 1970–1980. The race was part of Indy car racing's "triple crown", and at its inception, was held in high prestige. The inaugural running was considered a huge success, with 187,000 in attendance. However, the track fell into financial troubles, and closed in 1980. Subsequent runnings were never able to match the success of the 1970 event.

Indy car races were also held at nearby Riverside, but only from 1967–1969 (prior to the opening of Ontario) and again from 1981–1983 (after Ontario closed).

CART

CART renewed the 500-mile oval race in 1997 at the newly built California Speedway in Fontana, California. The new track was built just 4 miles (6.4 km) from the previous Ontario circuit. The event was held under the moniker Marlboro 500, and served as the CART season finale. This event was held through 2002. The race became known for closed-course record speeds, and fast and competitive racing, owing much to the track's width.

The 1999 race is considered a tragic day in the history of CART, after the fatal crash of Greg Moore. The 2003 event was cancelled due to the Old Fire.

Along with the popular Long Beach Grand Prix, the Southern California area featured two major open wheel CART races annually for a time.

Indy Racing League / IndyCar

In 2002, the IRL IndyCar Series added a 400-mile race to the facility. Fontana became the first facility to host races from both rival open wheel series (CART and IRL), although the race distance was different (500 vs 400 miles). The Toyota Indy 400 was held through 2005. However, crowds dwindled, and the event was removed from the calendar.

The now-unified IndyCar Series returned to Fontana for the 2012 season with a 500-mile fall night race under the lights. The race served as the season finale from 2012-2014. For 2015, the race was moved to June.

Closed-course speed records

Two world closed course speed records were established in qualifying for the CART event. Maurício Gugelmin, driving a Reynard/Mercedes established a one-lap time of 30.316 seconds (average speed of 240.942 miles per hour (387.759 km/h) in 1997. At the time, CART officials recognized the track measurement as 2.029 miles (3.265 km). Gugelimin had furthermore turned an unofficial lap of 242.333 miles per hour (389.997 km/h) during the morning practice.

On October 28, 2000, Gil de Ferran of Penske Racing topped Gugelmin's time driving a Reynard/Honda. The lap time by de Ferran was 30.255 seconds at an average speed of 241.428 miles per hour (388.541 km/h). Using the more common track measurement of 2.0 miles, de Ferran's lap translated into an average speed of 237.977 miles per hour (382.987 km/h).

• In 2002, the 500-mile CART series race averaged 197.995 mph, and stood as the fastest 500-mile race in history (either open wheel cars or stock cars) for a dozen years. The record stood until the 2014 Pocono 500.
• The 2003 IRL/IndyCar race was the fastest circuit race ever in motorsport history, with an average speed of 207.151 mph (333.306 km/h) over 400 miles (643.737 km).

Race results

Ontario Motor Speedway

Race winners of the original California 500 held at Ontario Motor Speedway.

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
						Laps	Miles (km)
USAC Championship Car
1970	September 6	Jim McElreath	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Coyote	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:07:22	160.106
1971	September 5	Joe Leonard	Vel's Parnelli Jones	Colt	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:16:55	152.354
1972	September 3	Roger McCluskey	Lindsay Hopkins	McLaren	Offy	200	500 (804.672)	3:17:58	151.54
1973	September 2	Wally Dallenbach Sr.	Patrick Racing	Eagle	Offy	200	500 (804.672)	3:10:17	157.66
1974	March 10	Bobby Unser	All American Racers	Eagle	Offy	200	500 (804.672)	3:11:04	157.017
1975	March 9	A. J. Foyt	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Coyote	Foyt	200	500 (804.672)	3:14:22	154.344
1976	September 5	Bobby Unser	All American Racers	Eagle	Offy	200	500 (804.672)	3:29:26	143.246
1977	September 4	Al Unser	Vel's Parnelli Jones	Parnelli	Cosworth	200	500 (804.672)	3:17:16	154.687
1978	September 3	Al Unser	Chaparral Racing	Chaparral	Cosworth	200	500 (804.672)	3:26:40	145.158
CART Indy Car World Series
1979	September 2	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Penske	Cosworth	200	500 (804.672)	3:24:22	146.794
1980	August 31	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Penske	Cosworth	200	500 (804.672)	3:11:51	156.372

Auto Club Speedway

Races held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
PPG CART World Series/FedEx Championship
1997	September 28	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing	Reynard	Mercedes-Benz	250	500 (804.672)	3:02:42	166.575	Report
1998	November 1	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	250	500 (804.672)	3:17:54	153.785	Report
1999	October 31	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	250	500 (804.672)	2:57:17	171.666	Report
2000	October 30	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	250	500 (804.672)	3:38:04	139.563	Report
2001	November 4	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	Lola	Toyota	220*	440 (708.111)	2:59:39	149.073	Report
2002	November 3	Jimmy Vasser	Team Rahal	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	250	500 (804.672)	2:33:42	197.995	Report
2003	November 9	Cancelled due to wildfires in the San Bernardino Mountains.								Report
Indy Racing League/Verizon IndyCar Series
2002	March 24	Sam Hornish Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	400 (643.737)	2:13:49	179.345	Report
2003	September 21	Sam Hornish Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	400 (643.737)	1:55:51	207.151	Report
2004	October 3	Adrian Fernández	Aguri-Fernández Racing	G-Force	Honda	200	400 (643.737)	2:14:13	178.826	Report
2005	October 16	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	400 (643.737)	2:22:23	168.567	Report
2006 – 2011	Not held
2012	September 15	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	250	500 (804.672)	2:57:34	168.939	Report
2013	October 19	Will Power	Penske Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	250	500 (804.672)	3:13:43	154.867	Report
2014	August 30	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	250	500 (804.672)	2:32:58	196.111	Report
2015	June 27	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Dallara	Honda	250	500 (804.672)	2:57:41	168.846	Report

• 2001: Race started late because of rain and was shortened because of darkness.

Firestone Indy Lights

Season	Date	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
					Laps	Miles (km)
Auto Club Speedway
1997	September 27	Clint Mears	Lola	Buick	50	100 (160.934)	0:52:16	116.467
1998	October 31	Mark Hotchkis	Lola	Buick	50	100 (160.934)	0:39:41	153.395
1999	October 30	Jonny Kane	Lola	Buick	50	100 (160.934)	0:46:52	129.902
2000	October 29	Scott Dixon	Lola	Buick	50	100 (160.934)	0:33:08	183.672
2001	November 4	Townsend Bell	Lola	Buick	44*	88 (141.622)	0:29:23	182.334
2002	Not held
2003	September 20	Mark Taylor	Dallara	Infiniti	50	100 (160.934)	0:41:14	145.536
2004	October 2	James Chesson	Dallara	Infiniti	50	100 (160.934)	0:40:51	146.894
2005	October 16	Wade Cunningham	Dallara	Infiniti	50	100 (160.934)	0:43:07	139.17
2006 – 2011	Not held
2012	September 15	Carlos Muñoz	Dallara	Honda	50	100 (160.934)	0:37:38	159.41
2013	October 19	Carlos Muñoz	Dallara	Honda	50	100 (160.934)	0:32:10	186.552

• 2001: Race shortened due to time limit.

External links

• Champ Car Stats: Ontario archive, Fontana archive
• Ultimate Racing History: Ontario archive, Fontana archive