Las Vegas Motor Speedway
On October 16, 2011, the final race of the 2011 IndyCar season, the IZOD IndyCar World Championship, was held at Las Vegas. However, the race was halted by a horrific crash on lap 11 that involved 15 cars, some of which became airborne, and some of which burst into flames. The crash began when Wade Cunningham made light contact with James Hinchcliffe, but the situation turned into a big pile-up of cars. The crash allowed a red flag to be waved almost instantly, due to the remains of the damaged cars and the amount of debris on the track.
Ekiden
The Izumo Ekiden in Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture of western Japan marks the beginning of the collegiate ekiden season and is for male university athletes. Teams come from all over Japan. The race is 6 stages (8k, 5.8k, 8.5k, 6.5k, 5k, 10.2k.) covering 43.1 kilometers. The 20th annual race was held on October 13, 2008. Since 1998, a select team of Ivy league alumni runners from the United States has competed and found the competition quite stiff. The Ivy league representatives have finished in the last half of the field each time.