The American Le Mans Series officially replaced the dwindling IMSA GT Championship after the 1998 season.
The first official ACO-backed event had been held at the 1998 Petit Le Mans, which was part of the IMSA GT season but allowed ACO-spec cars to compete.
The success of the event allowed Panoz to form the American Le Mans Series, which continued until its merger with Grand-Am in 2013.
Originally the season finale was supposed to be the Grand Prix of San Diego held on a 1.5 mile Road course at the former Naval Training Center.
However, the season finale would eventually be moved to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to construction delays.