2000 Armor All IndyCar Series season

The **2000 Armor All IndyCar Series season** was the first season of Indycar World Championship competition and the 88th season of premier American open wheel racing. The season's premier event was the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

Rita Liechti entered the season as the 1999 National Champion, while Escuderia Aguila entered as the 1999 Team's Champion. The 2000 season saw a widespread change in the series landscape, from engine regulations, to a new chassis, and new points system.

Miguel Espinoza became the inaugural Indycar World Driver's Champion, adding to his four National Championships with what would be his final major season title. Escuderia Aguila, likewise, would become the inaugural Indycar World Team's Champion.

## Background

The 2000 season saw the first all around change take place to bring the series to the new Indycar World Championship regulations. Dallara was called on to design and produce a new chassis, the IR-00, which would be used by all entries for the 2000 season. This would mark the permanent end of the multi-chassis era, dating back to the very beginnings in 1909. The Dallara IR-00 chassis was lighter, and smaller than the previous chassis, in part due to the new engine regulations that also took place in the 2000 season. The ratifying of the Indycar World Championship regulations, V10s and larger engines were no longer permitted to be used in the series, with NAMRA going one step further and requiring all engine suppliers to produce naturally aspirated V8 engines. The combination of the Dallara IR-00 chassis and V8 engines would last for 10 years, ending at the end of the 2009 season.

For the first time since the 1985 season, the points system for the series also changed, with all race starters earning points, regardless on if they finished the race or not. Prior to 2000, only the top 15 finishers scored points, and if less than 15 finished the race, then only those that finished would score. Drop rounds were also abolished for the 2000 season, meaning every race of the season counted towards the World Championship.

Ford, Honda, and Mercedes-Benz all returned as engine suppliers from the 1999 season, while Oldsmobile left following the 1999 season citing low entry counts. All three manufacturers would win races in a very competitive season for the engine suppliers.

## 2000 Teams and Drivers

All the teams and drivers listed competed in at least one round of the 2000 season. (R) designates 2000 Rookie of the Year candidates.

## Calendar

The 2000 season calendar was approved and ratified by the North American Motor Racing Association (NAMRA), and the Federation Internationale Course d'Artificielle (FICA) on 1 December 1999. The season was composed of 20 races, including a mix of large superspeedways, intermediate ovals, short ovals, natural terrain road courses, and temporary street circuits.

## Season Summary

### Race 1: Homestead-Miami

Miguel Espinoza kicked off the season by scoring pole position, and leading most the early parts of the race. A lot of competition ensued when Espinoza suffered a poor pit stop, with Alberto Gutierrez battling for the race lead with Victor Takurasi, Casey Ball, Alan Frost, and Daniel Fisher, holding off Takurasi to win the first Indycar World Championship event at Homestead for Team Bobcat. Takurasi finished second for Frostfire Racing, while Ball rounded out the podium for CHM Motorsport. Pole sitter, Espinoza rebounded from 11th to finish in sixth for Escuderia Aguila.

The race was rife with attrition. Adrian Santana, Rita Liechti, David Germain, and Lucio Vargas all fell from top 10 positions due to mechanical failures, two of which caused the only two cautions of the race in what was a accident-free affair.

### Race 2: Long Beach

Espinoza made it back to back pole positions for Escuderia Aguila, who led the first 47 laps uncontested before a caution came out for a crash involving rookies Ahsan Atiyah, and Ham Hyun-Tae, as well as David Germain. Pit stops saw Espinoza once again shuffled down the order, where he struggled to make positions, much unlike how he performed at Homestead. Casey Ball, using track position, led the final 43 laps of the race to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach for CHM Motorsport, inheriting the World Championship lead. Adrian Santana, after finishing 25th at Homestead, finished 2nd for Equipe Brasil, while Alan Frost finished 3rd for Obsidian Racing.

After two races, CHM Motorsport led the World Team's Championship, ahead of Team Bobcat by 3 points. Escuderia Aguila, the defending Team's Champion, were 5th in the team standings, while Highlight Racing suffered miserably to open the season, sitting with just 20 points and outside of the top 10 in team standings.

## See Also

* 2001 Armor All IndyCar Series season, the following year's season.
* Indycar World Championship
* Indianapolis 500
* Champ Car World Series, the current series competing for the Indycar World Championship.