Has Champ Car given up on Vegas oval?

A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1, I live in Las Vegas and as of Sunday evening I have not seen or heard any promotion for Saturday's Champ Car race. The only promotion the track is doing is for next year's NASCAR Cup race. The track has already sold at least 80,000 tickets in a 5,000 tickets for $5000.00 promotion to local businesses for this weekend's NASCAR truck race/ Champ Car race. So the crowd will already be there. But Champ Car hasn't done squat to promote their race. I did hear an interview with Paul Tracy on the radio last week but if Champ Car can afford to give the speedway a large 6 figure check you'd think they might spend a little on some advertising. Jason White, Las Vegas

Dear Jason, That may be some indication that Champ Car will not return to the Vegas oval after this year and are hoping to move to the city streets in 2006. Even so, they need to build the brand name in Vegas but from what you are saying that isn't happening, which means after the truck race on Saturday we can again expect an embarrassing mass exodus from the grandstands before and during the Champ Car race. Mark C.