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by Paul Haney

1. Thursday, a test day. Uploaded 8/27/99
2. Brian Berthold back at Team Gordon. Uploaded 8/29

Chicago is a three-hour drive north from Springfield, Illinois, my new home. I figured there wasn't any reason to start real early and get caught in rush hour traffic so I left about 6:30 am. I got on I55 North and got off at the Cicero Avenue exit three hours later. This is the first-ever race at a brand new facility so the usual confusion and chaos on the first day of a race event was multiplied times a thousand.

The Formula Atlantic and Indy Lights practice sessions had been scheduled for 8 and 9 am so the support series could blow the dirt off the track and lay down some rubber. But rain had stopped only an hour before and the track was still drying.

I took this photo when I first got to the track. The view is from pit in toward Turn 1.

Phones and television monitors were still being installed. Ceiling tiles were down all over the building as last-minute wiring went on.

Much of the infield had not been paved and many expensive motor homes sat in mud. Truckloads of wood chips were dumped and spread to help mitigate the mud.