FONTANA, Calif. -- Wildfires in and around San Bernardino County have brought an end to the CART season one race early.

According to CART's official Web site, the season-ending King Taco 500 originally scheduled to run Sunday at California Speedway has been canceled, and season points champion Paul Tracy -- who clinched in Surfers Paradise, Australia, last weekend -- will be honored next Tuesday at an awards banquet.

The still up-for-grabs second place will go to Bruno Junqueira, who led Michel Jourdain Jr. in the points standings but could have technically been caught had the race been run. Junqueira was the season runner-up last year to Cristiano da Matta.

"Our thoughts are with those families dealing with the disaster in Southern California and we hope for a speedy end to the situation," said CART President and CEO Christopher R. Pook. "Our diligence in pursuing the continuation of the race was only to ensure that we had exhausted every option available to us.

"CART Champ Car regrets that the event has been canceled and we offered to explore every possible avenue, including running the event on Monday or Tuesday at Phoenix International Raceway -- which is owned by California Speedway's parent company International Speedway Corporation -- or running at the California Speedway track sometime next week, allowing us to run this race in a safe manner and have a proper end to the 2003 season."

The only other cancellation in CART's 25-year history was on April 29, 2001, at Texas Motor Speedway when drivers complained of dizziness after practicing on the high speed oval.

Saturday's scheduled NASCAR Winston West race, which would have decided the championship between points leader Scott Lynch and No. 2 Mike Duncan, also has been canceled, according to California Speedway's Web site.

The speedway also has given ticket holders four options, including receiving a refund; applying the money spent toward a 2004 California Speedway event; using the tickets for this weekend's event at Phoenix International Raceway; or donating the money to the American Red Cross Southern California Fire Disaster Relief Fund.

The cancellation means CART ran 18 races this season. Jourdain Jr. enjoys the best finish of his career as he is third in the standings followed by series Rookie of the Year Sebastien Bourdais and Patrick Carpentier.

Bill Miller, president of the speedway, said CART officials wanted to run the event as scheduled and there were lengthy discussions between the track and the sanctioning body on Monday and Tuesday before the track made its decision to postpone.

"They felt the situation had the potential to clear up, and it's true that it could. But we took the responsibility into our own hands and told them, 'This is what we're going to do,''' Miller said Tuesday. "Where we saw this developing the last day, it made this decision pretty easy.''

Tracy, who won his first title in 13 years of CART racing, understood after checking out the scene himself.

"I flew in from Australia and my flight to Las Vegas (out of LA) had been canceled because of the fires so I rented a car and drove home," said Tracy. "I drove by the track and there were fires on both sides of the interstate. I saw lots of fire trucks, smoke and fire and it looked pretty catastrophic.

"It was like being in a fog and I understand a lot of falling ash is on the track itself. We'd like to race, sure, but you've got to think about the safety of the fans first."

The track is located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

"We have been monitoring the fire situation since it began last week in the northern section of Fontana, approximately five miles from the speedway,'' Miller said. "As the fires have continued to spread, several issues were considered for us to arrive at this decision, including the proximity of the fire, the air quality, transportation issues and staffing requirements from a fire safety, medical, security and volunteer standpoint needed to stage an event.''

He also noted the safety of track employees, volunteers and fans is most important.

There were estimates by late Tuesday that the fires known as the Grand Prix and the Old Fires, which have now merged, have burned more than 80,000 acres in the San Bernardino area and that more than 3,500 firefighters are battling the blaze.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.