IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington: What you need to know

ARLINGTON, Texas - This Sunday, high-octane exhilaration will be on full display in North Texas as IndyCar's Grand Prix of Arlington kicks off on FOX. Here's what you need to know about this weekend's festivities.

When is the Grand Prix of Arlington?

The Java House Grand Prix of Arlington will begin on Sunday, March 15 at 11:30 a.m. on FOX. The warm-up for the event will be broadcast on FS1 at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Where will the race take place?

The race will take place along the streets of Arlington near AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field. See the course below.

The course features 14 turns and will cover 191.1 miles through 70 laps of action, according to indycar.com.

Road closures for race

There will be road closures at North Collins Street, Randol Mill Road, AT&T Way, Cowboys Way, Stadium Drive, Ballpark Way, and Nolan Ryan Expressway.

For parking, race fans should use Highway 360 and Division Street for the south lots or the road to Six Flags for the east and north lots.

There may be heavy traffic because of all the closures, so officials are asking people to plan ahead.

Fans excited for high-speed action

On Friday, IndyCar drivers participated in autograph sessions with fans in the Arlington Entertainment District, as well as a practice race along the course.

Up to 80,000 fans are expected to show up over the course of the weekend. FOX 4's Peyton Yager talked to some of the fans who went out to Friday's event.

One Arlington couple said they bought tickets for Sunday's race as soon as they became available. "Of course we are going to show up for the city and the sport we love," Lynn Nickerson told Yager.

Ryan Lathrop is a diehard IndyCar fan from Indianapolis. He's giving the city an A+ on how they're handling the race.

"We go wherever we can. Wisconsin, Ohio," Lathrop told Yager. "It's very well set up and very well organized from what I have seen so far."

FOX 4 previews the circuit

Racers will be going 200 mph through the streets of Arlington on Sunday, but FOX 4's Steven Dial went decidedly slower when previewing the circuit with IndyCar Arlington Grand Prix President Bill Miller on Wednesday.

Dial rode along the course during Wednesday's Arrow McLaren Fan Fest in Arlington, which featured appearances from McLaren drivers Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard.

Brandon Todd also got to ride-along this week in preparation for the event. See his experience below.

A makeshift hospital on the track

A fully operational medical center will be located behind the grandstands during Sunday's race. 

The GMR Infield Care Center is a self-contained emergency department built from shipping containers. It's stocked with crash carts, medications, and mobile x-ray equipment.

Martha Headrick, a registered nurse for Global Medical Response, has specialized in professional motorsports for nearly 30 years. She says the makeshift hospital is where the most critical cases would land.

"We'll have two doctors, six nurses, and we'll be able to do any trauma, advanced procedures… airway, chest tubes," Headrick told FOX 4's Casey Stegall. "It would be for anything critical care, any trauma, obviously from the track."

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