Off the track, the 2001 season was an unmitigated disaster for CART under the leadership of Joseph Heitzler. It included two race cancellations; a disastrous European tour that coincided with the
September 11 attacks and witnessed a severe accident to former series champion
Alex Zanardi in which he lost both of his legs; infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure of
Honda and
Toyota; the loss of the series' television contract; the departure of longtime tracks
Michigan International Speedway and
Nazareth Speedway; the loss of
Firestone as the series' tire supplier and its replacement by parent company
Bridgestone; and the defection of
Team Penske to the rival
Indy Racing League (IRL) at the conclusion of the season.
Team Penske and
Team Motorola joined
Chip Ganassi Racing in having concurrent IRL teams to run in the
2001 Indianapolis 500, with Penske's
Helio Castroneves winning the race. In an unusual move, CART "sanctioned" the participation of teams in the race; this was an attempt to allow Penske's primary sponsor,
Marlboro, to appear on cars in the 500, as they were prohibited from being in more than one racing series by the
Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This legal maneuver was not successful, and Penske's cars ran without advertising.
DaimlerChrysler shut down their CART program as an engine manufacturer via
Mercedes-Benz brand as the company decided to move to
NASCAR Winston Cup Series via the
Dodge brand in the
same year.
The original calendar called for 22 races on five continents, by far the most ambitious calendar CART had ever attempted. With the
race at Texas being canceled and the
Rio 200 being dropped, the 2001 season ultimately had the same number of races as
the previous year.
For the first time, CART would race in the United Kingdom and Germany and also return to Mexico for the first time in almost twenty years.
The original calendar released on August 5, 2000, had the first round of the season at
Jacarepaguá in Brazil, but disagreements with the track owners several months later led to the event being dropped.
The removal of Gateway from the calendar meant that
Memorial Day weekend would be empty, allowing several teams and drivers the opportunity to compete at the
Indianapolis 500.
The 2001 season was the final time Michigan Speedway appeared on the calendar.
The Indianapolis 500 was an
Indy Racing League event that was also sanctioned by CART but awarded no points towards the CART Championship.
^Alex Zanardi's car was impacted from the side by
Alex Tagliani's car at
EuroSpeedway Lausitz. He lost both of his lower legs in the impact. This signaled the end of his open-wheel racing career.