IRL to add #2 and #3 to podiums
But Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has honored only the winner of the Indianapolis 500 since the race began in 1911, will not have such a ceremony.
"You're not going to even ask me that question, are you?" Speedway spokesman Ron Green said Tuesday.
Indy won't be alone in declining to participate. Texas Motor Speedway has done so, too.
"It's perfectly fine for road-course racing or street-course racing, but you don't do that in oval-track racing," said Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway.
Gossage said honoring more than the winner of a grueling oval-track race is trivializing the accomplishment.
"It's like youth soccer where everybody gets a prize," he said. "What's next? Does everybody get a certificate of participation?"
IRL spokesman John Griffin said all other races on the league's schedule will have a podium celebration, beginning with the March 29 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Indy Star
02/12/08 Copying from Champ Car and F1, and perhaps another signs a merger is at hand with Champ Car, the Indy Racing league will add the 2nd and 3rd place drivers to their victory lane celebrations in 2008 at all tracks except Indy and Texas. The top-3 finishers will stand atop the podium with the winner one step higher than the other two.