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INDIANAPOLIS, Monday, Aug. 18, 2003 – Two-time IRL IndyCarTM Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. and Panther Racing, the team he won the championships with in 2001 and 2002, will part ways at the conclusion of the 2003 season.

Hornish joined the team in 2001 and has since earned nine victories. His nine career wins is an IndyCar Series record. The latest victory came in dominating fashion Aug. 17 at Kentucky Speedway when Hornish led 181 of the 200 laps en route to a victory in the No. 4 Pennzoil Panther Racing Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone.

“To leave Panther Racing at the end of this year is the hardest decision that I have ever made,” Hornish said. “Panther Racing is a great team with great people and tremendous partners. I am extremely proud of the success that we have been able to achieve together and truly appreciate the chance that I was given to demonstrate my talents on the track. I would like to leave Panther with a third consecutive IRL championship and that is where my focus will be from now until season's end.”

Panther Racing officials said Hornish will make his future driving intentions known by the end of August.

“We have had a magical ride since Sam joined Panther Racing in 2001, and we hope to secure a third championship this season,” said team co-owner John Barnes. “It was clear yesterday, when we won Kentucky, that this combination is the toughest in open-wheel racing today. But things change and sometimes people need to step out of a comfort zone and stretch a bit. We wish Sam the best in whatever he decides to pursue.”

Hornish and Panther Racing are fifth in the IndyCar Series point standings with 308 points. He is 77 points behind leader Tony Kanaan, who has 385.

Officials from Panther Racing, which has a record 12 wins in the IndyCar Series, will begin compiling a short list of drivers to fill the vacancy left by Hornish.

“There are a lot of talented drivers who have expressed an interest in driving for Panther Racing,” Barnes said. “We will begin our search immediately to determine what direction Panther Racing will take for 2004.”

SPARTA, Ky. -- Maybe it was the new engine in his Chevrolet, or maybe Sam Hornish Jr. just didn't want to surrender his status as the Indy Racing League's top driver.

Whatever the reason, Hornish, the two-time defending IRL IndyCar Series champion, set series records for average speed and career wins Sunday in the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

The 24-year-old Hornish averaged 197.897 mph, shattering the series speed record of 180.917 mph, set by Alex Barron on July 27 at Michigan International Speedway.

The CART series speed record is 197.995 mph, set by Jimmy Vasser at California Speedway on Nov. 3, 2002.

Hornish's win in a Pennzoil Panther Racing Chevrolet was his first this season but his ninth in an IndyCar Series race. No other driver has won more than eight series races. Hornish has won all three races in which he has started on the pole, as he did Sunday.

"You really have to have the car handling well around here," Hornish said. "I could move it anywhere I wanted. One of the things I had today is I could run on the bottom, where it's bumpier, but it's a faster line. I just kept it where it needed to be and we ran a great race."

Hornish wasn't slowed much by caution flags. The race went under the yellow only once, another series record. The previous record low for caution flags was two, at Walt Disney World in 1997.

The first 146 laps were run under a green flag, setting two more series records. The previous record for laps under green to start a race was 100, set June 15 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The record for consecutive laps under green had been 123, set at Walt Disney World in 1996 -- the series' first race.

Hornish's victory came against the closest starting field by time in series history. The 20-car field was separated in qualifying by .5367 of a second. The previous closest field was in 1999 at Atlanta, when a 25-car field was separated by .62.

Like other Chevrolet drivers on the IRL circuit, Hornish received a boost when the IRL approved a new engine for those cars on July 19. Kentucky hosted the first event in which all the circuit's Chevy drivers competed with the new powerplant.

Hornish led for 181 laps of the 200-lap race. Only two other drivers, Scott Dixon and Bryan Herta, finished on the lead lap.

Dixon, driving a Toyota for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, trailed Hornish by 1.1712 seconds, with Herta almost 15 seconds behind.

"Those guys were setting a pace, and we were trying our best, but we just couldn't match it," Herta said of Hornish's team.

Series leader Tony Kanaan finished sixth and maintained his narrow lead in the point standings. Kanaan has 385 points, followed by Castroneves (377), Dixon (373), Gil de Ferran (372) and Hornish (308). Hornish entered the race seventh in the point standings.

Hornish stretched his lead to more than 16 seconds before the lone caution, the result of an engine fire in Kenny Brack's car.

"Sam had a great car today, and we just didn't have enough to catch him today," Dixon said.

Eighteen of the 20 cars that started the race finished. Scott Sharp finished 13th but set a series record by starting in his 70th consecutive race. He had shared the previous record of 69 with Eddie Cheever Jr. and Buddy Lazier. Sharp has started every series race since Walt Disney World in 1998.

SPARTA, KY. - Results Sunday of the Belterra Casino Indy 300 IRL IndyCar Series event at Kentucky Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Chevrolet, 200, $148,000
2. (2) Scott Dixon, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 200, $94,750
3. (13) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 200, $97,500
4. (8) Al Unser Jr., Dallara-Toyota, 199, $63,600
5. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Toyota, 199, $55,400
6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 199, $47,100
7. (6) Robbie Buhl, Dallara-Chevrolet, 199, $45,800
8. (14) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 199, $44,600
9. (4) Gil de Ferran, Dallara-Toyota, 199, $44,600
10. (7) Tomas Scheckter, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 199, $43,300
11. (10) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Chevrolet, 198, $42,400
12. (16) Roger Yasukawa, Dallara-Honda, 198, $40,700
13. (18) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Toyota, 198, $40,600
14. (9) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Chevrolet, 198, $38,100
15. (5) Greg Ray, Panoz G Force-Honda, 197, $38,000
16. (20) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Chevrolet, 196, $35,700
17. (19) A.J. Foyt IV, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 196, $34,400
18. (12) Tora Takagi, Dallara-Toyota, 196, $34,400
19. (15) Kenny Brack, Dallara-Honda, 146, oil leak, $33,100
20. (17) Alex Barron, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 104, fuel pump, $31,900
21. (DNS) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Chevrolet, 0, did not start, $31,900

Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 197.897 mph.
Time of race: 01:29:44.6120.
Margin of victory: 1.1712.
Cautions: 1 for 10 laps.
Lead changes: 9 among 5.
Lap leaders: Hornish 1-54, Castroneves 55, Kanaan 56-57, Takagi 58-60, Hornish 61-108, Castroneves 109-112, Herta 113, Kanaan 114, Takagi 115-121, Hornish 122-200 .
Point standings: Kanaan 385, Castroneves 377, Dixon 373, de Ferran 372, Hornish 308, Unser 291, Brack 279, Scheckter 266, Sharp 262, Takagi 241.

Season Points with rank, season total and driver name.
1 385 Tony Kanaan
2 377 Helio Castroneves
3 373 Scott Dixon (*)
4 372 Gil de Ferran
5 308 Sam Hornish, Jr.
6 291 Al Unser Jr
7 279 Kenny Brack
8 266 Tomas Scheckter
9 262 Scott Sharp
10 241 Tora Takagi (*)(**)
11 209 Buddy Rice (*)
12 207 Roger Yasukawa (R)(*)
13 192 Greg Ray
14 187 Dan Wheldon (R)(*)
15 182 Robbie Buhl
16 170 Buddy Lazier
17 169 Bryan Herta
18 160 Sarah Fisher
19 159 Felipe Giaffone
20 145 Alex Barron
21 145 AJ Foyt IV (R)(*)
22 119 Vitor Meira (*)
23 111 Jaques Lazier
24 80 Michael Andretti
25 72 Dario Franchitti
26 43 Shigeaki Hattori
27 35 Shinji Nakano (*)
28 26 Scott Mayer (R)
28 26 Tony Renna (*)
30 17 Jimmy Kite
31 8 Robby Gordon
32 6 Airton Dare
33 5 Robby McGehee
34 4 Jimmy Vasser
35 2 Richie Hearn
36 1 Billy Boat

(R) = Season Rookie
(*) = Indy Rookie
(**) = Tora Takagi was assessed a 23-point penalty at TX1

SPARTA, Ky. -- Sam Hornish Jr. won his third career pole and first of the season Saturday during qualifying for the Indy Racing League event at Kentucky Speedway,

Hornish drove a lap of 219.614 mph for the Belterra Casino Indy 300 to lead the closest starting field by time in IRL history.

The 20-car field is separated by 0.5367 seconds. The previous closest field was in 1999 in Atlanta, when a 25-car field was separated by 0.62 seconds.

Hornish's pole was the first of 2003 for an IRL driver with a Chevrolet engine. The Pennzoil Panther Racing driver's previous best qualifying effort this year was third, at both Homestead-Miami Speedway and Richmond International Raceway.

He won the two previous races in which he took the pole, at Chicagoland Speedway and Homestead-Miami in 2002.

Hornish's qualifying run was a bit of a surprise because the 24-year-old driver from Defiance, Ohio, had only the 15th-fastest lap time during Saturday's practice runs.

"We didn't do too much qualifying set-up stuff in the morning practices, we just really worked on our race car,'' said Hornish, the series champion in 2001 and 2002.

"I think we had a better race car than we did a qualifying car,'' Hornish said. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. Chevrolet really went out on a limb and did what they had to do to be able to put us up here and be able to be fast.''

Scott Dixon, with a Toyota engine, ran a qualifying lap of 219.358 mph to earn a spot on the outside of the front row on Sunday.

"I had a very good run,'' Dixon said. "The car was perfectly balanced for the first lap and very loose on the second lap. I had to get out of it because I nearly lost it. I think we got as much as we could out of the car.''

Marlboro Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran -- the winners of the last three Indianapolis 500s -- will start on the second row.

Vitor Meira had the third-fastest practice run, but crashed into the outside retaining wall in the second turn and fractured his right wrist, said IRL medical services director Henry Bock.

Meira, who drives for Johns Manville, did not try to qualify his car and was not medically cleared to drive on Sunday.

"It's kind of bittersweet, because we were good and we were quick,'' said Meira, 23rd in the IRL points standings. "We were right there in second or third, doing our final qualifying simulation. I just spun. I was trying hard and just spun. Sometimes, that's the way it goes.''

Jeff Simmons of Western Union Speed Team won the IRL Infiniti Pro Series Kentucky 100 on Saturday, beating Cory Witherill by 0.1119 seconds. Simmons' average speed was 142.432 mph. Thiago Medeiros, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Ed Carpenter rounded out the top five.

Tom Wood was injured during a crash on lap 52, when his car and a car driven by his teammate, Brandon Erwin, touched heading into the third turn.

Wood, 46, was airlifted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. Bock said Wood had fractures to his middle back, right knee, right foot and both ankles. Wood had full feeling in his extremities and was scheduled to undergo surgery Saturday night.

IRL INDYCAR SERIES SCHEDULE SET FOR 16 RACES IN 2004
All events to be broadcast live on ABC/ESPN;
Three night races on schedule

SPARTA, Ky., Saturday, Aug. 16, 2003 – Indy Racing League officials announced a 16-race schedule for the 2004 season, highlighted by the 88th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and a new event at The Milwaukee Mile.

The 2004 season marks the ninth year of competition for the IRL IndyCarTM Series. The 16-race schedule, featuring all ovals, equals the 2003 season for the largest number of events on an IRL IndyCar Series season schedule. All 16 events will be broadcast live on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, including six consecutive ABC telecasts from July 25 to Sept. 12. All races also will be broadcast by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.

For the third consecutive year, Homestead-Miami Speedway will play host to the season opener, the Toyota Indy 300, with ESPN televising the event scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 29. The season will end with an ABC-televised race, the Chevy 500 on Sunday, Oct. 17 at Texas Motor Speedway. TMS has played host to the IRL season finale since 1999.

“Entering our ninth season in 2004, the IRL IndyCar Series schedule continues to evolve, as it offers one of the most competitive motorsports environments in the world,” said Ken Ungar, senior vice president of business affairs for the Indy Racing League. “We appreciate the input of our teams and thank the tracks for their efforts to grow the IndyCar Series.”

The 88th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 30 and will be broadcast for the 40th consecutive year by ABC. The relationship is the second-longest running partnership by a sporting event and a network.
Though most of the events remain near their traditional dates, there have been a few date changes.

The Milwaukee Mile will play host to its first IndyCar Series race on July 25, while the Pikes Peak event has been moved from June to Aug. 22. The IndyCar Series’ lone date outside of the United States, the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi, will be announced in the near future.

For the first time in series history, there will be two consecutive night races, with the Bombardier 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway taking place back-to-back on June 12 and June 26, respectively. The other night race, the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, is scheduled for July 17.

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