Peak Antifreeze Indy 300

The Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 was an IndyCar Series race held at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.

In 2001, American open wheel racing debuted at the circuit with an IndyCar Series event. From 2006 to 2008, the race had served as the final round of the championship and where the series champion was decided.

Indy/Championship car racing first appeared in the Chicago area in 1914-1915 at Galesburg District Fairgrounds. Both races were 100 laps around the 1-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval. AAA held races at Speedway Park, a 2-mile (3.2 km) board track in nearby Maywood, Illinois. The first such race was a 500-mile (800 km) event in 1915. Subsequent races ranged from 10–300 miles, and the final race was held in 1918. The track was eventually demolished, and the Edward Hines Veterans Hospital now stands on its former location.

Although no races would be held in the Chicago area until 1999, the state of Illinois hosted numerous USAC Championship Car races at Springfield and DuQuoin.

A CART race was held at Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero, just outside of Chicago, from 1999-2002. It was discontinued, however, when the track closed after the 2002 race.

Chicagoland Speedway gained a reputation as one of the most competitive oval circuits in the IRL with many races featuring extremely tight racing and close finishes, most notably 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009. No car was able to break from the pack with most of the field usually running together and the leaders often directly nose to nose, similar to racing in NASCAR restrictor plate racing.

Notable races

• 2002: Sam Hornish, Jr. edged Al Unser, Jr. in a photo finish, officially by .0024 seconds in a battle in which the two racers fought for the lead for the final 22 laps side by side with literally no letup and at the head of a huge ten-car two-abreast draft that included Buddy Lazier, Hélio Castroneves, Buddy Rice, Eddie Cheever Jr., and Dan Wheldon.

• 2003: Sam Hornish, Jr. edged Scott Dixon and Bryan Herta in a three-abreast photo finish in one of the closest finishes in Indycar racing history - .01 seconds. Hornish, who led 40 laps, battled Tomas Scheckter, (76 laps led), Dan Wheldon, and Tony Kanaan for the bulk of the race and also had to battle a late charge by Roger Yasukawa in the final six laps. The lead officially changed hands 20 times among eight drivers and was usually contested in multilap wheel to wheel battles inches apart.

• 2007: Dario Franchitti led Scott Dixon by three points in the championship standings going into the race, which was the finale for the season. With two laps to go, Dixon led second-place Franchitti on a restart after a late caution. Both drivers were nursing their fuel mileage, hoping to stretch it to the finish. On the final lap, going into the third turn, Dixon ran out of fuel, and Franchitti slipped by to take the lead, win the race, and win the IndyCar Series championship.

• 2008: Hélio Castroneves begun the race 30 points away from the lead, and he began from the back and charged to the lead. Scott Dixon often ran around the positions 6-10, and Castroneves was often in a points lead position. Dixon began to challenge for the lead, and after two late cautions, Dixon and Castroneves ran 2-wide for the final two laps after battling side by side for the lead for most of the previous 40 laps, and Hélio won the race by 0.0033 seconds or 12⅛ inches, in the second closest finish in the twelve-year history of the series.^[1] Dixon won the championship by 17 points.

Past winners

AAA Championship Car history (Galesburg)

Season	Date	Driver	Car	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
				Laps	Miles (km)
1914	October 22	Ralph Mulford	Duesenberg	100	100 (160.934)	1:32:56	64.562
1915	June 9	Eddie O'Donnell	Duesenberg	100	100 (160.934)	1:36:00	62.496

AAA Championship Car history (Speedway Park)

Season	Date	Driver	Car	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
				Laps	Miles (km)
1915	June 26	Dario Resta	Peugeot	250	500 (804.672)	5:07:26	97.582
	August 7	Dario Resta	Peugeot	50	100 (160.934)	0:58:54	101.862
1916	June 11	Dario Resta	Peugeot	150	300 (482.803)	3:02:31	98.615
	August 19NC	Dario Resta	Peugeot	25	50 (80.467)	0:29:52	100.419
	October 14	Dario Resta	Peugeot	125	250 (402.336)	2:24:16	103.966
1917	June 16	Earl Cooper	Stutz	125	250 (402.336)	2:25:28	103.107
	September 3	Ralph DePalma	Packard	25	50 (80.467)	0:28:09	106.548
		Louis Chevrolet	Frontenac	50	100 (160.934)	0:56:29	106.224
	October 13	Tom Alley	Pan-Am / Miller	10	20 (32.186)	0:11:22	105.556
		Ralph Mulford	Frontenac	25	50 (80.467)	0:28:18	105.960
		Pete Henderson	Duesenberg	25	50 (80.467)	0:28:30	105.229
1918	June 22NC	Louis Chevrolet	Frontenac	50	100 (160.934)	0:55:25	108.271
	July 28	Ralph DePalma	Packard	5	10 (16.093)	0:05:24
		Ralph DePalma	Packard	10	20 (32.186)	0:10:50	110.73
		Ralph DePalma	Packard	15	30 (48.28)	0:16:54	106.42

^NC Non-championship event

CART Champ Car history (Cicero)

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
1999	August 22	Juan Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	225	231.525 (372.603)	1:53:38	122.236	Report
2000	July 30	Cristiano da Matta	PPI Motorsports	Reynard	Toyota	225	231.525 (372.603)	2:01:23	114.432	Report
2001	July 29	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	225	231.525 (372.603)	1:45:12	132.031	Report
2002	June 30	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Toyota	250	257.25 (414.003)	2:07:00	121.524	Report

IndyCar Series history (Chicagoland)

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
2001	September 2	Jaques Lazier	Team Menard	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	300 (482.803)	1:45:57	172.146	Report
2002	September 8	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	2:04:40	146.319	Report
2003	September 7	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:38:58	184.294	Report
2004	September 12	Adrian Fernández	Fernández Racing	G-Force	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	2:09:31	140.825	Report
2005	September 11	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:47:50	169.16	Report
2006	September 10	Dan Wheldon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:33:37	194.828	Report
2007	September 9	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:44:54	173.886	Report
2008	September 7	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	2:01:05	150.648	Report
2009	August 29	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:42:34	177.827	Report
2010	August 28	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:47:50	169.161	Report

Indy Pro Series/Indy Lights

CART Indy Lights history (Cicero)
Season	Date	Winning Driver
1999	August 22	Scott Dixon
2000	July 30	Scott Dixon
2001	Not held
IRL Indy Pro Series/Indy Lights Series history (Joliet)
2002	September 8	Aaron Fike
2003	September 6	Mark Taylor
2004	September 11	Thiago Medeiros
2005	September 11	Jeff Simmons
2006	September 9	Wade Cunningham
2007	September 9	Logan Gomez
2008	September 7	Arie Luyendyk Jr.
2009	August 29	Daniel Herrington
2010	August 28	James Hinchcliffe

References

• IndyCar.com race page
• champcarstats.com