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Sunday, July 01, 2001

By The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Indy Racing League will go to Michigan and Pennsylvania for the first time as part of its 14-race schedule next year.

The schedule is the most extensive for the six-year-old circuit, which expanded this season to 13 races. IRL owner Tony George released a schedule that continues the circuit's pattern of growth.

Atlanta Motor Speedway was dropped after four years of playing to mostly empty seats at the 124,000-seat speedway. This year's Atlanta 500 drew an estimated 40,000 fans to the track April 28.

The schedule, which includes races at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn and Nazareth Speedway in the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania, was announced at Richmond International Raceway, where the IRL competed for the first time late last night.

The schedule includes events in traditional NASCAR hotbeds like Richmond, Nashville and Kentucky, and the addition of the two tracks where the series' rival, CART, has been hosting races since as far back as 1979.

Since it started with a three-race schedule in 1996, the IRL has fluctuated between nine and 11 races per season until it grew to 13 this year.

First pole for Ralf

MAGNY-COURS, France -- Ralf Schumacher is in position to push his older brother around today in the French Grand Prix.

By winning the first pole of his Formula One career in qualifying yesterday, Ralf earned a car-length advantage on the staggered grid. He intends to keep it, just the way Michael did at the start of his victory a week ago, when he forced Ralf to the edge of the asphalt in the European Grand Prix.

"I owe him one definitely," Ralf said. "If it comes down to it, I would do the same. I have to defend my position as he has."

On his 26th birthday, Ralf was a hundredth of a second faster than his brother Michael, 32, hustling his Williams-BMW around the 2.64-mile Nevers Magny-Cours circuit in 1 minute, 12.989 seconds.

Michael set the early pace with a time of 1:13.574 in his Ferrari. But Ralf bettered that, slicing 2.643 seconds from the pole time his brother posted a year ago.

Defending race champion David Coulthard, who trails points leader Michael by 24, was third-fastest at 1:13.186. His McLaren-Mercedes will line up opposite that of teammate Mika Hakkinen, who got around in 1:13.268.

Musgrave wins

WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- Homestate favorite Ted Musgrave overpowered previously dominant Jack Sprague with 30 laps remaining and won the NASCAR truck series race.

Musgrave, who pulled away to beat Sprague by 2.304 seconds -- about 20 truck lengths -- won for the fourth time in 11 races and moved to fourth place in the Craftsman Series standings. He also became the seventh different winner in seven races at The Milwaukee Mile.