IZOD IndyCar World Championships
The IZOD IndyCar World Championship Presented by Honda was an IndyCar Series race on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, held from 1996–2000, and again in 2011. It was first known as the Las Vegas 500k. The Champ Car World Series held a race at the track during the 2004 and 2005 seasons as doubleheaders with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a street race was held in Las Vegas at the Fremont Street Experience in 2007.
Science Olympiad
Many states also hold invitational tournaments. These competitions serve as "practice rounds" for qualifying tournaments, and are hosted by individual middle schools, high schools and/or colleges. Invitationals occur most commonly in January or February, although there have been some as early as October or as late as April. Teams can participate in invitationals from multiple states depending on availability. At some invitationals, only a few events are held. However, many invitational tournaments mimic regional and state competitions in their competitive intensity. For example, MIT hosts an invitational tournament each year with around 70 teams from over a dozen states, including 20 or more past national qualifiers. Other tournaments, especially in the midwest, are well known for their quality and competitiveness. In this way, teams can gain extra practice before competing in regional, state, or national tournaments. In 2014, Yale University became one of the first institutions of higher education to host a tournament run by Science Olympiad alumni, with several more following over the next few years.