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2002 Infiniti Pro Series

October 20, 2023

The 2002 IRL Infiniti Pro Series was the first season of the series, which served as the first official developmental series to the Indy Racing League. The Infiniti Pro Series is considered a direct continuation of the original CART-owned Indy Lights series, which ran for 16 years between 1986 and 2001. While the formation of the Pro Series was independent, CART announced shortly after that Indy Lights would fold after the 2001 season. The Pro Series would later adopt the Indy Lights name in 2008 when IndyCar bought the intellectual property from CART, before being renamed into Indy NXT in 2023.

2002 Infiniti Pro Series season
IRL Infiniti Pro Series
Season
Races7
Start dateJuly 7
End dateSeptember 14
Awards
Drivers' champion A. J. Foyt IV
Teams' championA. J. Foyt Enterprises
← 2001 (Indy Lights)
2003 →

The Infiniti Pro Series was first announced on September 1, 2001, with the aim to streamline the path into IRL competition and provide a training ground for aspiring drivers, especially as competitors from the USAC ranks were having a harder time transitioning directly into the IRL in previous years. The season started in the summer of 2002, with a reduced all-oval seven race schedule over two months towards an extended calendar in 2003.[1]

The series had a target budget of $800.000 per season and car, with a spec Dallara IL-02 chassis and an engine package provided by Infiniti. British builder TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) developed a 3.5 L version of the V8 engine used in the Infiniti Q45, which produced 420 horsepower (310 kW).

A. J. Foyt IV, the youngest driver in the field, was the inaugural champion in a car owned by his legendary grandfather A. J. Foyt. As of 2023, Foyt IV still holds the record as the youngest Indy NXT champion of all time dating back to 1986, at 18 years and three months of age. Foyt IV won four of the seven races, including the inaugural event at Kansas, and was crowned at the final race in Texas against the American-born Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk Jr. The son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk had four second-place finishes, but no wins, finishing behind Cory Witherill at Nashville, Ryan Hampton at Gateway and Aaron Fike at Chicagoland.

Former IRL drivers Cory Witherill, Ronnie Johncox and Dave Steele took part in the championship, as well as full-time IRL teams A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Kelley Racing, Hemelgarn Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports, although Kelley withdrew from the championship after actor-turned-driver Jason Priestley was seriously injured in a warm-up crash at Kentucky Speedway. The series had 12 cars at its first round, and the field was up to 16 drivers for the events at Michigan and Kentucky. Eight drivers took part in every round, with three others contesting all but one event.

Team and driver chart Edit

Team No. Drivers Rounds
Sinden Racing Service[2] 2   Ed Carpenter[3] All
Brian Stewart Racing[4] 3   Marty Roth[5] 1–4, 6–7
Luyendyk Racing[6] 5   Arie Luyendyk Jr.[6] All
Kelley Racing[7] 7   Jason Priestley[7] 1–4
REV 1 Racing[8] 8   Ronnie Johncox[8] All
Sam Schmidt Motorsports[9] 9   Jeff Tillman[10] 3
  Tom Wood[11] 4, 6–7
  Curtis Francois[12] 5
99   G. J. Mennen[9] All
Roquin Motorsports[13] 11   Rolando Quintanilla[14] 2–7
Beardsley Motorsports[15] 12   Matt Beardsley[15] 2–5, 7
A. J. Foyt Enterprises[16] 14   A. J. Foyt IV[16] All
Automatic Fire Sprinklers[17] 27   Gary Peterson[17] All
Ryan Hampton / CGF Racing[18] 34   Ryan Hampton[19] 3–7
Bowes Seal Fast Racing[20] 37   Mike Koss[20] 1–4, 6–7
  Matthew Halliday[9] 5
38 1
43   Dave Steele[21] 3
  Tony Turco[11] 4–6
Hemelgarn 91/Johnson Motorsports[22] 91   Aaron Fike[23] All
92   Cory Witherill[24] All

Schedule Edit

The initial schedule for the Infiniti Pro Series was announced on February 2, 2002.[25] Competition started halfway through the Indy Racing League season, which the Infiniti Pro Series accompanied at all of its final seven events, with all events being held on ovals. Kansas, Gateway and Texas had all been featured in the last season of Indy Lights competition, which had last visited Michigan in 2000, while Nashville, Kentucky and Chicagoland held an open-wheel feeder series race for the first time.

Race results Edit

Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race Winner
Driver Team
1 Kansas Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Arie Luyendyk Jr.   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises
2 Nashville Superspeedway   Ronnie Johncox   Aaron Fike   Cory Witherill   Cory Witherill Hemelgarn 91/Johnson Motorsports
3 Michigan International Speedway   Arie Luyendyk Jr.   Jason Priestley   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises
4 Kentucky Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Cory Witherill   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises
5 Gateway International Raceway   Ryan Hampton   Ryan Hampton   Ryan Hampton   Ryan Hampton Conti-Genoa-Frost Racing
6 Chicagoland Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Gary Peterson   Arie Luyendyk Jr.   Aaron Fike Hemelgarn 91/Johnson Motorsports
7 Texas Motor Speedway   A. J. Foyt IV   Tom Wood   A. J. Foyt IV   A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Championship standings Edit

Drivers' Championship Edit

Scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th   15th   16th 
Points 50 40 35 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
  • The driver who leads the most laps in a race is awarded two additional points.
Pos Driver KAN NSH MIS KEN GAT CHI TXS Points
1   A. J. Foyt IV  R  1* 4 1* 1* 9 6 1* 290
2   Arie Luyendyk Jr.  R  10 2 2 6 2 2* 7 236
3   Ed Carpenter  R  5 5 3 2 3 7 5 226
4   Cory Witherill 3 1* 15 3 11 13 2 213
5   Aaron Fike  R  11 3 4 14 14 1 12 186
6   Ronnie Johncox 9 12 5 4 8 5 8 180
7   Gary Peterson 7 DNS 10 8 10 8 4 163
8   G. J. Mennen  R  8 8 9 15 4 9 9 161
9   Ryan Hampton  R  7 12 1* 14 3 147
10   Marty Roth 6 9 11 13 4 10 138
11   Rolando Quintanilla 11 6 7 6 10 14 137
12   Mike Koss  R  4 10 16 11 11 11 123
13   Matt Beardsley  R  7 14 5 12 13 107
14   Jason Priestley  R  2 6 13 DNS 99
15   Tom Wood  R  10 3 6 83
16   Tony Turco  R  9 13 12 57
17   Matthew Halliday 12 7 44
18   Curtis Francois  R  5 30
19   Dave Steele 8 24
20   Jeff Tillman  R  12 18
Pos Driver KAN NSH MIS KEN GAT CHI TXS Points
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing


In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
(2 points)
  • Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

References Edit

  1. ^ "Infiniti Pro Series launch transcript". Crash. 2001-09-01. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  2. ^ "Sinden to contest Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. January 16, 2002.
  3. ^ "Sinden sign Carpenter for Pro Series assault". Crash.net. January 26, 2002.
  4. ^ "Brian Stewart Racing moves to Infiniti Pro Series". Autoweek.com. February 12, 2002.
  5. ^ "Roth teams with Stewart in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. April 2, 2002.
  6. ^ a b "Luyendyk Jr. to compete in IRL Infiniti Pro Series". Autoweek.com. May 6, 2002.
  7. ^ a b "Priestley, Kelley Racing enter Infiniti series". Crash.net. April 17, 2002.
  8. ^ a b "Johncox enters IPS as owner/driver". Crash.net. June 29, 2002.
  9. ^ a b c "Drivers looking forward to Infiniti Pro tests". Crash.net. June 21, 2002.
  10. ^ "Jeff Tillman, Budweiser, enter Infiniti Pro Series". Autoweek.com. July 25, 2002.
  11. ^ a b . Infiniti Pro Series. August 8, 2002. Archived from the original on August 18, 2002.
  12. ^ "Francois to make IPS debut at Gateway". Crash.net. August 21, 2002.
  13. ^ "Roquin to field cars in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. February 12, 2002.
  14. ^ "Nashville: Pre-race quotes". Motorsport.com. July 15, 2002.
  15. ^ a b "Beardsley to compete in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. July 16, 2002.
  16. ^ a b "AJ Foyt IV to race in Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. May 29, 2002.
  17. ^ a b "Owner/driver Peterson joins Infiniti Pro Series". Crash.net. June 18, 2002.
  18. ^ "Genoa places order for Infiniti Pro Series car". Crash.net. December 19, 2001.
  19. ^ "Hampton to make IPS debut at Michigan". Crash.net. July 26, 2002.
  20. ^ a b . Infiniti Pro Series. April 12, 2002. Archived from the original on February 24, 2003.
  21. ^ . Indy Racing League. July 26, 2002. Archived from the original on August 16, 2002.
  22. ^ "Hemelgarn announces Infiniti Pro series team". Crash.net. November 30, 2001.
  23. ^ "Hemelgarn/Johnson Motorsports name Fike 2002 driver". Motorsport.com. March 15, 2002.
  24. ^ "Cory Witherill signs with Hemelgarn/Johnson Motorsports". Motorsport.com. March 23, 2002.
  25. ^ "Seven races for Infiniti Pro Series". Crash. 2002-02-02. Retrieved 2023-10-04.

October 20, 2023
2002, infiniti, series, 2002, infiniti, series, first, season, series, which, served, first, official, developmental, series, indy, racing, league, infiniti, series, considered, direct, continuation, original, cart, owned, indy, lights, series, which, years, b. The 2002 IRL Infiniti Pro Series was the first season of the series which served as the first official developmental series to the Indy Racing League The Infiniti Pro Series is considered a direct continuation of the original CART owned Indy Lights series which ran for 16 years between 1986 and 2001 While the formation of the Pro Series was independent CART announced shortly after that Indy Lights would fold after the 2001 season The Pro Series would later adopt the Indy Lights name in 2008 when IndyCar bought the intellectual property from CART before being renamed into Indy NXT in 2023 2002 Infiniti Pro Series seasonIRL Infiniti Pro SeriesSeasonRaces7Start dateJuly 7End dateSeptember 14AwardsDrivers championA J Foyt IVTeams championA J Foyt Enterprises 2001 Indy Lights 2003 The Infiniti Pro Series was first announced on September 1 2001 with the aim to streamline the path into IRL competition and provide a training ground for aspiring drivers especially as competitors from the USAC ranks were having a harder time transitioning directly into the IRL in previous years The season started in the summer of 2002 with a reduced all oval seven race schedule over two months towards an extended calendar in 2003 1 The series had a target budget of 800 000 per season and car with a spec Dallara IL 02 chassis and an engine package provided by Infiniti British builder TWR Tom Walkinshaw Racing developed a 3 5 L version of the V8 engine used in the Infiniti Q45 which produced 420 horsepower 310 kW A J Foyt IV the youngest driver in the field was the inaugural champion in a car owned by his legendary grandfather A J Foyt As of 2023 Foyt IV still holds the record as the youngest Indy NXT champion of all time dating back to 1986 at 18 years and three months of age Foyt IV won four of the seven races including the inaugural event at Kansas and was crowned at the final race in Texas against the American born Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk Jr The son of two time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk had four second place finishes but no wins finishing behind Cory Witherill at Nashville Ryan Hampton at Gateway and Aaron Fike at Chicagoland Former IRL drivers Cory Witherill Ronnie Johncox and Dave Steele took part in the championship as well as full time IRL teams A J Foyt Enterprises Kelley Racing Hemelgarn Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports although Kelley withdrew from the championship after actor turned driver Jason Priestley was seriously injured in a warm up crash at Kentucky Speedway The series had 12 cars at its first round and the field was up to 16 drivers for the events at Michigan and Kentucky Eight drivers took part in every round with three others contesting all but one event Contents 1 Team and driver chart 2 Schedule 3 Race results 4 Championship standings 4 1 Drivers Championship 5 ReferencesTeam and driver chart EditTeam No Drivers RoundsSinden Racing Service 2 2 nbsp Ed Carpenter 3 AllBrian Stewart Racing 4 3 nbsp Marty Roth 5 1 4 6 7Luyendyk Racing 6 5 nbsp Arie Luyendyk Jr 6 AllKelley Racing 7 7 nbsp Jason Priestley 7 1 4REV 1 Racing 8 8 nbsp Ronnie Johncox 8 AllSam Schmidt Motorsports 9 9 nbsp Jeff Tillman 10 3 nbsp Tom Wood 11 4 6 7 nbsp Curtis Francois 12 599 nbsp G J Mennen 9 AllRoquin Motorsports 13 11 nbsp Rolando Quintanilla 14 2 7Beardsley Motorsports 15 12 nbsp Matt Beardsley 15 2 5 7A J Foyt Enterprises 16 14 nbsp A J Foyt IV 16 AllAutomatic Fire Sprinklers 17 27 nbsp Gary Peterson 17 AllRyan Hampton CGF Racing 18 34 nbsp Ryan Hampton 19 3 7Bowes Seal Fast Racing 20 37 nbsp Mike Koss 20 1 4 6 7 nbsp Matthew Halliday 9 538 143 nbsp Dave Steele 21 3 nbsp Tony Turco 11 4 6Hemelgarn 91 Johnson Motorsports 22 91 nbsp Aaron Fike 23 All92 nbsp Cory Witherill 24 AllSchedule EditThe initial schedule for the Infiniti Pro Series was announced on February 2 2002 25 Competition started halfway through the Indy Racing League season which the Infiniti Pro Series accompanied at all of its final seven events with all events being held on ovals Kansas Gateway and Texas had all been featured in the last season of Indy Lights competition which had last visited Michigan in 2000 while Nashville Kentucky and Chicagoland held an open wheel feeder series race for the first time Rd Date Race name Track Location1 July 7 Kansas 100 Kansas Speedway Kansas City Kansas2 July 20 Nashville 100 Nashville Superspeedway Lebanon Tennessee3 July 28 Michigan 100 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn Michigan4 August 11 Kentucky 100 Kentucky Speedway Sparta Kentucky5 August 25 St Louis 100 Gateway International Raceway Madison Illinois6 September 8 Chicago 100 Chicagoland Speedway Joliet Illinois7 September 14 BG Products 100 Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth TexasRace results EditRound Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race WinnerDriver Team1 Kansas Speedway nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp Arie Luyendyk Jr nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp A J Foyt IV A J Foyt Enterprises2 Nashville Superspeedway nbsp Ronnie Johncox nbsp Aaron Fike nbsp Cory Witherill nbsp Cory Witherill Hemelgarn 91 Johnson Motorsports3 Michigan International Speedway nbsp Arie Luyendyk Jr nbsp Jason Priestley nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp A J Foyt IV A J Foyt Enterprises4 Kentucky Speedway nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp Cory Witherill nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp A J Foyt IV A J Foyt Enterprises5 Gateway International Raceway nbsp Ryan Hampton nbsp Ryan Hampton nbsp Ryan Hampton nbsp Ryan Hampton Conti Genoa Frost Racing6 Chicagoland Speedway nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp Gary Peterson nbsp Arie Luyendyk Jr nbsp Aaron Fike Hemelgarn 91 Johnson Motorsports7 Texas Motor Speedway nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp Tom Wood nbsp A J Foyt IV nbsp A J Foyt IV A J Foyt EnterprisesChampionship standings EditDrivers Championship Edit Scoring systemPosition 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th Points 50 40 35 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 19 18 17 16 15 14The driver who leads the most laps in a race is awarded two additional points Pos Driver KAN NSH MIS KEN GAT CHI TXS Points1 nbsp A J Foyt IV R 1 4 1 1 9 6 1 2902 nbsp Arie Luyendyk Jr R 10 2 2 6 2 2 7 2363 nbsp Ed Carpenter R 5 5 3 2 3 7 5 2264 nbsp Cory Witherill 3 1 15 3 11 13 2 2135 nbsp Aaron Fike R 11 3 4 14 14 1 12 1866 nbsp Ronnie Johncox 9 12 5 4 8 5 8 1807 nbsp Gary Peterson 7 DNS 10 8 10 8 4 1638 nbsp G J Mennen R 8 8 9 15 4 9 9 1619 nbsp Ryan Hampton R 7 12 1 14 3 14710 nbsp Marty Roth 6 9 11 13 4 10 13811 nbsp Rolando Quintanilla 11 6 7 6 10 14 13712 nbsp Mike Koss R 4 10 16 11 11 11 12313 nbsp Matt Beardsley R 7 14 5 12 13 10714 nbsp Jason Priestley R 2 6 13 DNS 9915 nbsp Tom Wood R 10 3 6 8316 nbsp Tony Turco R 9 13 12 5717 nbsp Matthew Halliday 12 7 4418 nbsp Curtis Francois R 5 3019 nbsp Dave Steele 8 2420 nbsp Jeff Tillman R 12 18Pos Driver KAN NSH MIS KEN GAT CHI TXS Points Color ResultGold WinnerSilver 2nd placeBronze 3rd placeGreen 4th amp 5th placeLight Blue 6th 10th placeDark Blue Finished Outside Top 10 Purple Did not finishRed Did not qualify DNQ Brown Withdrawn Wth Black Disqualified DSQ White Did not start DNS Blank Did notparticipate DNP Not competing In line notationBold Pole positionItalics Ran fastest race lap Led most race laps 2 points Ties in points broken by number of wins or best finishes References Edit Infiniti Pro Series launch transcript Crash 2001 09 01 Retrieved 2023 10 04 Sinden to contest Infiniti Pro Series Crash net January 16 2002 Sinden sign Carpenter for Pro Series assault Crash net January 26 2002 Brian Stewart Racing moves to Infiniti Pro Series Autoweek com February 12 2002 Roth teams with Stewart in Infiniti Pro Series Crash net April 2 2002 a b Luyendyk Jr to compete in IRL Infiniti Pro Series Autoweek com May 6 2002 a b Priestley Kelley Racing enter Infiniti series Crash net April 17 2002 a b Johncox enters IPS as owner driver Crash net June 29 2002 a b c Drivers looking forward to Infiniti Pro tests Crash net June 21 2002 Jeff Tillman Budweiser enter Infiniti Pro Series Autoweek com July 25 2002 a b Wood Turco To Make Infiniti Pro Series Debuts Infiniti Pro Series August 8 2002 Archived from the original on August 18 2002 Francois to make IPS debut at Gateway Crash net August 21 2002 Roquin to field cars in Infiniti Pro Series Crash net February 12 2002 Nashville Pre race quotes Motorsport com July 15 2002 a b Beardsley to compete in Infiniti Pro Series Crash net July 16 2002 a b AJ Foyt IV to race in Infiniti Pro Series Crash net May 29 2002 a b Owner driver Peterson joins Infiniti Pro Series Crash net June 18 2002 Genoa places order for Infiniti Pro Series car Crash net December 19 2001 Hampton to make IPS debut at Michigan Crash net July 26 2002 a b Bowes Seal Fast Racing To Enter Infiniti Pro Series Infiniti Pro Series April 12 2002 Archived from the original on February 24 2003 Michigan Indy 400 Notes Friday July 26 Indy Racing League July 26 2002 Archived from the original on August 16 2002 Hemelgarn announces Infiniti Pro series team Crash net November 30 2001 Hemelgarn Johnson Motorsports name Fike 2002 driver Motorsport com March 15 2002 Cory Witherill signs with Hemelgarn Johnson Motorsports Motorsport com March 23 2002 Seven races for Infiniti Pro Series Crash 2002 02 02 Retrieved 2023 10 04 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2002 Infiniti Pro Series amp oldid 1180917672, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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