2003 British Grand Prix, Race report
The race began with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello on pole, alongside Renault's Jarno Trulli. Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren-Mercedes started from third, while world champion and championship leader Michael Schumacher started from fifth. Barrichello made a poor start, allowing both Trulli and Räikkönen past on an incident-free first lap. Ralf and Michael Schumacher retained their starting positions of fourth and fifth. On the sixth lap, the headrest of David Coulthard dislodged while traversing the first corner (Copse), forcing him to pit for a replacement under safety regulations, and causing a safety car period to allow marshals to clear the track.


2003 British Grand Prix, Race report
Upon the resumption of green flag racing, Barrichello closed the gap to Räikkönen before passing him on lap 11. On the following lap, a man invaded the circuit and another safety car period was necessitated. As it was close to the period when the drivers would be making their scheduled pit stops, the vast majority of cars decided to pit under the safety car. The second placed cars from the respective teams were forced to queue up in the pit lane waiting for service, causing them to drop many places. Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya were all outside of the top ten. Of the leading contenders, Trulli was in fourth place while both Räikkönen and Ralf Schumacher had jumped Barrichello when in the pits.


2003 British Grand Prix, Race report
The Toyotas of Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis – who had opted not to pit – were leading, while Coulthard was in third, having not required a pit stop after his earlier unscheduled headrest replacement. Räikkönen passed Trulli immediately after the restart before clearing team-mate Coulthard on the same lap. Barrichello then passed a slowing Ralf Schumacher on the 17th lap while Räikkönen also passed Panis before chasing down the leading da Matta. Ralf Schumacher was forced to pit after encountering difficulties, while at the same time Michael Schumacher was unable to pass Alonso.


2003 British Grand Prix, Race report
By the 26th lap Barrichello was still trying to pass Trulli, and the two leaders continued to extend their lead. Barrichello and Montoya eventually passed Trulli by the end of the 27th lap, before Panis fell victim to both on the 29th. Da Matta eventually ceded the lead after pitting on the 30th lap to Räikkönen. Barrichello then set the fastest lap after being cleared of traffic, taking the lead after Räikkönen pitted for the second time. Barrichello continued to cut the advantage, but Räikkönen regained the lead with a reduced margin following the Brazilian's second stop.


2003 British Grand Prix, Race report
After closing in, Barrichello passed Räikkönen after pressuring him into a mistake. Michael Schumacher eventually passed Trulli on the 46th lap, but an unforced error by Räikkönen allowed Montoya to seize second position. In the closing phase of the race, Coulthard passed both da Matta and Trulli to earn fifth place.


2003 British Grand Prix, Track invasion
On the 11th lap, as the procession of cars exited the Becketts corner onto the Hangar straight, Neil Horan cleared the fence wearing a kilt, waving banners with statements "Read the bible" and "The Bible is always right" and ran towards the sequence of cars, forcing several cars to swerve to avoid him. He eventually returned to the grass runoff area at the side of the track after the cars had passed for the lap, and was tackled by a track marshal.


2003 British Grand Prix, Track invasion
He was later charged with aggravated trespass and pleaded guilty in a Northampton court, stating that he took the open gate as a sign from God, although the prosecution contended that his act was premeditated as he had already prepared the banners prior to attending the Grand Prix. He was later jailed for two months.


2003 British Grand Prix, Track invasion
The incident prompted comparisons to the events at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, where volunteer track marshal, Frederick Jansen van Vuuren, ran across the main straight to aid a car and was hit at 170 mph by Tom Pryce, who couldn't see him until it was too late because of the steep crest on the straight. Both Van Vuuren and Pryce were killed by the impact. A similar incident occurred at the 2000 German Grand Prix when a disgruntled ex-Mercedes employee walked along part of the circuit in protest before being arrested. This caused a safety car, which eliminated the lead of Mika Häkkinen, driving for McLaren Mercedes. Unlike the German protester, Horan ran directly down the middle of the track, and intentionally towards oncoming cars and lurching towards some of them.


2003 British Grand Prix, Track invasion
The race led to fears that Formula One bosses Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, who had been highly critical of the media and corporate facilities of Silverstone, would use the incident to drop the race from the Formula One calendar, with Ecclestone saying "It wasn't necessary – the race was exciting enough without it. But the security wasn't good enough". However, drivers and team officials defended the circuit, with Montoya stating "This was one of the best races of the year, even with the spectator. It was so much fun today," and Sauber boss Peter Sauber stated "When a man sets himself on fire in the street in Paris, no one blames Paris", while McLaren-Mercedes boss Ron Dennis said "There is no way you can prevent it happening".


2003 British Grand Prix, Track invasion
Stephen Green, the marshal who handled Horan, was later awarded the BARC Browning Medal for "outstanding bravery in tackling a track invader during the 2003 British Grand Prix at Silverstone", the second recipient after David Purley 31 years previously.


2003 British National Track Championships
The 2003 British National Track Championships were a series of track cycling competitions held from 17–23 August 2003 at the Manchester Velodrome.


2003 British Open
The 2003 British Open was the 2003 edition of the British Open professional ranking snooker tournament, that was held from 8–16 November 2003 at the Brighton Centre, Brighton, England. Stephen Hendry won the tournament by defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan nine frames to six in the final. The final saw a record 5 centuries in a row from the two players (three from O'Sullivan and two from Hendry, including a 135), which remains a joint record for consecutive centuries made between two players in a professional tournament match and is a standalone record for ranking events and finals.


2003 British Open, Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales between 21 and 25 September 2003.


2003 British Rally Championship
The 2003 British Rally Championship season was the 45th season of the British Rally Championship. The season consisted of seven rounds — the Rally of Wales, scheduled for 22–23 March, was cancelled — and began on 25 April, with the Pirelli International Rally in the north east of England. The season ended on 26 October, at the Tempest South of England Rally. The series was organised by the Royal Scottish Automobile Club.


2003 British Rally Championship
The title was won by Englishman Jonny Milner and Welsh co-driver Nicky Beech, driving a Toyota Corolla WRC.


2003 British Rowing Championships
The 2003 British Rowing Championships known as the National Championships at the time, were the 32nd edition of the National Championships, held from 18–20 July 2003 at the Strathclyde Country Park in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. They were organised and sanctioned by British Rowing, and are open to British rowers.


2003 British Speedway Championship
The 2003 British Speedway Championship was the 43rd edition of the British Speedway Championship. The Final took place on 5 July at Arlington Stadium in Eastbourne, England. The Championship was won by Scott Nicholls, who beat Dean Barker, David Norris and Joe Screen in the final heat.


2003 British Touring Car Championship
The 2003 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 46th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
For 2003 all three main manufacturers in the premier Touring class ran three cars. Reigning champions Vauxhall cut down to three Astra Coupes by axing its Egg Sport squad and entering three VX Racing-liveried cars, run once again by Triple 8. 2002 champion James Thompson and runner-up Yvan Muller remained, and Paul O'Neill moved across from Egg Sport to take the third seat.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
MG expanded to three West Surrey Racing-run ZSs, with Colin Turkington joining 2002 drivers Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes after impressing in his debut season with the Team Atomic Kitten MG squad, which had also been run by WSR.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
Arena Motorsport ran three Civic Type Rs for Honda, with only Irishman Alan Morrison remaining from the 2002 line-up. Matt Neal replaced Andy Priaulx (who left to contest the European Touring Car Championship with BMW) after moving from Vauxhall, and teenager Tom Chilton filled the third seat after an impressive debut year in the Barwell Motorsport-run Astra. Proton again returned as a fourth manufacturer, retaining both David Leslie and Phil Bennett in its two Impians.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
Vic Lee Racing switched from the ex-works Peugeot 406 Coupe's to a pair of brand new  Peugeot 307 designed by Sergio Rinland, former chief designer at the Sauber Formula 1 team. Reigning independents cup champion Dan Eaves was retained alongside Carl Breeze who raced for the team for most of 2002. Meanwhile, Tim Harvey swapped his crash helmet for a microphone, joining ITV's commentary team. Breeze would leave the team after the Rockingham races, moving to GA Motorsport in the seat vacated by Gavin Pyper. Daniel Buxton would in turn take Breeze's seat at VLR, graduating from the Clio Cup which he had been dominating at the time.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
Gavin Pyper had started the season strongly in the GA Motorsport Vauxhall Astra Coupe, winning the independents class five times in the ten races he contested and leading the class when he was forced to withdraw due to a lack of funding. With Breeze now in Pyper's car Paul Wallace switched from GA's production Alfa Romeo to a second Astra which the team had entered for Gareth Howell at Silverstone.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
Howell himself later reappeared in another ex-Triple 8 Astra for Team Dynamics from the Snetterton rounds onwards.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
Production class champions Synchro Motorsport graduated to the touring class with champion driver James Kaye running an ex-works Honda Civic Type R.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Touring
Also stepping up was Rob Collard with his self-run team, entering an ex-works Vauxhall Astra Coupe that had been driven by Aaron Slight in 2002.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Production
Barwell Motorsport headed the Production class field after stepping back down from the Touring class and acquiring Synchro Motorsport's title winning Honda Civic Type Rs, which were driven by young debutante Luke Hines, and Alan Blencowe, moving from GA Motorsports. Edenbridge Racing cut down to a single BMW 320i for single seater convert Michael Bentwood, with Tom Boardman switching to John Batchelor's team (now known as Team Varta) in a new Peugeot 307. Jim Edwards Jnr returned in a Honda Accord as the team's second driver. A Peugeot 306 GTi and a second 307 joined the Varta line-up midway through the season together with Jay Wheals and Richard Marsh, and each of the four drivers raced more than one of these chassis across the remainder of the year.


2003 British Touring Car Championship, Changes for 2003, Team and driver changes - Production
GA Motorsport campaigned Alfa Romeo 156s for a fourth year, with Chris Ryan and Paul Wallace driving. However, Ryan withdrew after an expensive crash in the second round at Brands Hatch, and Wallace was called up to the team's Touring class assault mid-season. Mark Fullalove joined the grid mid-season with his own team, driving the Peugeot 306 he had raced for Tech-Speed Motorsport in 2002, while Jason Hughes was another late entry in a Nissan Primera run by his own Kartworld Racing team.


2003 British Virgin Islands general election
General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 16 June 2003. It was won by the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP), which took 54.4% of the vote and 8 of the 13 available seats on the Legislative Council. After the election the NDP formed a Government for the first time in its history. Both major parties - the NDP and the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) actually increased their share of the overall vote at the expense of minority parties and independents. No independents or any minority parties won any seats. The NDP won all four of the territorial-at-large seats.


2003 British Virgin Islands general election, Results
The NDP's victory was largely as a result of sweeping all four of the At-large seats. However, with each voter being able to cast four votes per ballot, the margin between the bottom NDP candidate (Paul Wattley) and the top VIP candidate (Reeial George) was a mere 41 votes, out of a total of 7,351 ballots cast (a margin of 0.5%). The other key win for the NDP was in the Fifth District where Delores Christopher carried the seat for the NDP by a wafer thin margin of just 3 votes in a constituency where a total of 20 ballots were rejected by elections officers.


2003 British Virgin Islands general election, Results
Voters exercised a largely binary choice between the two main parties. No third party candidate or independent polled well in any area. In the Territorial seats, Alred Frett in the Fifth District was the highest vote-getter, with a mere 7.1% of the votes. In the At-large seats, the top eight spots went to the four candidates for each of the two main parties, with a massive drop off in numbers of votes for the ninth place candidate (Conrad Maduro, a former elected representative on the United Party ticket, but running in 2003 as an independent).


2003 British Virgin Islands general election, Results, Individual territorial seats
The winning candidate is highlighted in blue. The previous incumbent is indicated in bold.


2003 British motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2003 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2003 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 11–13 July 2003 at the Donington Park circuit.


2003 British motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (motoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round eight has concluded.


2003 Broadway musicians strike
The 2003 Broadway musicians strike was a strike by the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, American Federation of Musicians Local 802 union members, and other Broadway unions such as Actors' Equity Association and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The strike lasted from Friday, March 7, 2003 to early Tuesday morning, March 11, 2003.


2003 Broadway musicians strike, Background
In negotiations over the Local 802 collective bargaining agreement, the League of American Theatres and Producers proposed to reduce minimum orchestra size requirements from 24-26 to as low as 7 members, with a virtual orchestra filling the gaps. Producers also threatened to replace all musicians with a virtual orchestra if they went on strike. In response, Local 802 developed the "Save Live Broadway" campaign, which garnered media attention and a petition with over 30,000 signatures. However, an agreement between Local 802 and the Producers could not be reached by the deadline, 12:01 AM on March 7, 2003, so the musicians were forced to strike.


2003 Broadway musicians strike, Strike activity
325 musicians from Local 802 were joined by 650 actors from the Actors' Equity Association and 350 stagehands from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in the strike. The loss of employees from these unions caused all Broadway musicals (except Cabaret, which had a different contract because it was performed at Studio 54) to shut down for the duration of the strike. Those on strike picketed Broadway theatres and staged a mock funeral for live music in Times Square, with many famous Broadway actors in attendance, including Harvey Fierstein.


2003 Broadway musicians strike, Settlement
Because of the great strain on New York's economy, with $7 million lost per performance for New York businesses (taxis, restaurants, and hotels), Mayor Michael Bloomberg intervened and invited Bill Moriarity, president of Local 802, and Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theaters and Producers, to meet at Gracie Mansion on the night of March 10, 2003 to continue negotiations. Bloomberg also appointed Frank J. Macchiarola, chairman of the Districting Commission, as mediator.


2003 Broadway musicians strike, Settlement
After all-night negotiations, parties agreed to reduce minimum requirements for musicians from 24-26 to 18-19, which would stay in effect for the next 10 years. Mayor Bloomberg announced that the unions had reached a settlement and Broadway was "no longer dark" the morning of March 11, 2003.


2003 Brown Bears football team
The 2003 Brown Bears football team was an American football team that represented Brown University during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Brown tied for second in the Ivy League.


2003 Brown Bears football team
In their sixth season under head coach Phil Estes, the Bears compiled a 5–5 record and were outscored 246 to 244. C. Garnett, B.J. Grinna and K.R. Slager were the team captains.


2003 Brown Bears football team
The Bears' 4–3 conference record placed them in a four-way tie for second in the Ivy League standings. They outscored Ivy opponents 193 to 192.


2003 Brown Bears football team
Brown played its home games at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.


2003 Brownlow Medal
The 2003 Brownlow Medal was the 76th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. Nathan Buckley of the Collingwood Football Club, Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans, and Mark Ricciuto of the Adelaide Football Club all won the medal by polling twenty-two votes each during the 2003 AFL season.


2003 Brownlow Medal
Buckley and Goodes polled three votes in matches only twice during the season – the least by any Brownlow Medal winner.


2003 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes, and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and they are read and tallied on the evening.


2003 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
As the medal is awarded to the fairest and best player in the league, those who have been suspended during the season by the AFL Tribunal (or, who avoided suspension only because of a discount for a good record or an early guilty plea) are ineligible to win the award; however, they may still continue to poll votes.


2003 Broxbourne Borough Council election
The Broxbourne Council election, 2003 was held to elect council members of the Broxbourne Borough Council, the local government authority of the borough of Broxbourne,  Hertfordshire, England.


2003 Broxbourne Borough Council election, Results summary
An election was held in all of the 13 wards on 1 May 2003.


2003 Broxbourne Borough Council election, Results summary
The British National Party gained 1 seat from the Conservative Party in Rosedale Ward


2003 Broxbourne Borough Council election, Results summary
The new political balance of the council following this election was:


2003 Brunei Premier League
Statistics of the Brunei Premier League for the 2003 season.


2003 Brunei Premier League, Overview
It was contested by 20 teams, and Wijaya FC won the championship.


2003 Brunei Premier League, Overview
On 5 October, Wijaya beat Indera in their final match of the season courtesy of a solitary Norsillmy Taha goal. DPMM FC would win the championship if they produced the same result against ABDB the following day, as they had a superior goal difference to Wijaya's in their identical league win-loss record.


2003 Brunei Premier League, Overview
On 6 October, ABDB beat DPMM 3-1 through a penalty by future DPMM captain Rosmin Kamis followed by goals scored by Sardillah Abdullah and Samdani Judin to hand the title to Wijaya.


2003 Bucknell Bison football team
The 2003 Bucknell Bison football team was an American football team that represented Bucknell University during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Bucknell tied for third in the Patriot League.


2003 Bucknell Bison football team
In their first year under head coach Tim Landis, the Bison compiled a 6–6 record. Tim Johnson and Mike Leatherman were the team captains.


2003 Bucknell Bison football team
The Bison outscored opponents 299 to 284. Bucknell's 4–3 conference record tied for second out of eight in the Patriot League standings.


2003 Bucknell Bison football team
Bucknell played its home games at Christy Mathewson–Memorial Stadium on the university campus in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.


2003 Budweiser Shootout
The 2003 Budweiser Shootout was the first exhibition stock car race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. The 25th running of the Budweiser Shootout, and the first to be held at night, it was held on February 8, 2003, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway, before a crowd of 75,000 spectators. Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won the 70-lap race starting from the 19th position. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon finished in second, with Roush Racing's Matt Kenseth third. It was Earnhardt's first Budweiser Shootout victory, and his first at Daytona International Speedway in the Cup Series since the 2001 Pepsi 400.


2003 Budweiser Shootout
Although Geoff Bodine won the pole position by lot, he was immediately passed by Jimmie Johnson going into turn one. Kurt Busch led laps five to 15 until Earnhardt passed him on lap 16, who retained the position until every driver was required to make a mandatory ten-minute pit stop at the conclusion of lap 20. Ten laps later, Gordon became the leader, which he maintained until all competitors made a second pit stop on the 50th lap and Mark Martin assumed the position. Gordon returned to the first position on lap 56, and held it until Earnhardt passed him ten laps later. Earnhardt maintained the lead in the final four laps to win the event. No yellow flag cautions were issued during the race, which had 13 lead changes among seven different drivers.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Background
The 2003 Budweiser Shootout was the first of two non-points scoring exhibition stock car races of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, the 25th edition of the event, and the first time it was held at night. It was held on February 8, 2003 in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a superspeedway that holds NASCAR races. Its standard track is a four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.0 km) superspeedway. Daytona's turns are banked at 31 degrees, and the front stretch (the location of the finish line) is banked at 18 degrees.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Background
The Budweiser Shootout was created by Busch Beer brand manager Monty Roberts as the Busch Clash in 1979. The race, designed to promote Busch Beer, invites the fastest NASCAR drivers from the previous season to compete. The race is considered a "warm-up" for the Daytona 500. It was renamed the Bud Shootout in 1998. The name changed to the Budweiser Shootout in 2001, the Sprint Unlimited in 2013 and the Advance Auto Parts Clash in 2017.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Background
There were 19 drivers eligible to compete in the race, including the 15 pole position winners from the 2002 season and four previous shootout winners. Races where qualifying was cancelled due to rain or where the points leader started from the pole position did not count. Tony Stewart was the race's defending champion. The race was 70 laps long, with two segments of 20 and 50 laps separated by a ten-minute pit stop. During the pit stop, teams could change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments but could not change springs, shock absorbers or rear ends.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Background
Should the race be stopped, pit crews were permitted to work on their cars in either the garage or on the pit road. Yellow caution and green-flag laps were scored in the race and the second segment would be extended beyond 50 laps if it was deemed necessary. Every rolling restart had cars alongside each other in pairs, and all lapped competitors were required to move to the rear of the field.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Background
In other changes, NASCAR mandated every car to run a 13.6-US-gallon (51 l; 11.3 imp gal) fuel cell from the standard 22-US-gallon (83 l; 18 imp gal) cells in a bid to have an additional pit stop and prevent multi-car accidents. Furthermore, all the teams were required to utilize a new car package, which underwent 18 alterations to remove several aerodynamic differences (such as the rear spoiler and the deck lid) between each of the four makes of car that competed in the Cup Series to provide parity across the field. The body design of the updated car package had a uniform appearance at its center, but its front and rear underwent a minor reshaping.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Practice and qualification
Two practice sessions were held on Friday before the race. The first session lasted for 55 minutes, and the second 60 minutes. Ryan Newman set the fastest lap in the first practice session with a time of 48.330 seconds, ahead of Jeff Gordon in second and Stewart third. Terry Labonte was fourth-fastest, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch fifth and sixth. Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott, Matt Kenseth, and Ricky Rudd rounded out the session's top ten drivers.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Practice and qualification
Labonte ran faster in the final practice session, setting a lap of 47.787 seconds to pace the field; Earnhardt was second, and Stewart duplicated his first practice session result in third place. Mark Martin placed fourth; Ward Burton came fifth, and Kenseth was sixth. Kevin Harvick, Dale Jarrett, Ken Schrader, and Gordon completed the top ten quickest competitors.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Practice and qualification
For qualifying, the nineteen participants that appeared to race chose their starting positions by lot, a feature that is unique to the event. Geoff Bodine drew the pole position, with Johnson, Busch, Rudd and Kenseth in second through fifth. Ricky Craven drew sixth place, and Jarrett chose the seventh position. Todd Bodine, Martin, and Burton selected positions eight, nine and ten. Schrader, Stewart, Elliott, Rusty Wallace, and Newman drew the following five placings. Harvick, who drew sixteenth, was followed by Labonte and Gordon. Earnhardt chose the nineteenth and final starting position for the race.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Practice and qualification
Once the lot was completed, Bodine said, "This is what's called brotherly love and I'm happy to be able to help Brett out. It's a tune up for Brett to get ready for the 125s (qualifying races) and the Daytona 500. I love my brothers Brett and Todd. When we put our helmets on it gets a little heated, but this is going to be a lot of fun."


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
The 70-lap race commenced at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05:00), and was broadcast live in the United States on Fox. Commentary was provided by play-by-play announcer Mike Joy, with analysis from three-time Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip, and former crew chief Larry McReynolds. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were clear with the air temperature at 52 °F (11 °C); a 60 percent chance of rain was forecast though none fell on the circuit. Hal Marchman, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Country music group SHeDAISY performed the national anthem, and actress and model Susan Ward commanded the drivers to start their engines. No driver moved to the rear of the field during the pace laps.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
At the start, Bodine was passed by Johnson entering turn one. On lap three, he felt one of his tires rubbing on his car's bodywork. Bodine drove to the garage on that lap, where suspension damage was discovered, and it necessitated his retirement from the race on the fourth lap. After the first four laps, every driver was separated by seven-tenths of a second. Johnson lost the lead to Busch on lap five. Busch led the next ten laps until Earnhardt overtook him in turn three to lead the 16th lap.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
During the three abreast racing action, Wallace left-rear tire lost pressure and burst two laps later, slowing him. He remained on the lead lap, because the ten-minute pit stops for tires, fuel and car adjustments followed soon after on lap 20. At this point, Earnhardt led Busch, Johnson, Gordon and Kenseth. Earnhardt told his crew chief Tony Eury Jr. he wanted fuel and tires with no chassis adjustments because he felt comfortable with his car.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
Once green flag racing resumed, Kenseth went to the outside and overtook Earnhardt for the lead on lap 22. Both drivers exchanged first place over the next seven laps, until Gordon executed a bump and run technique on Kenseth in the first turn for the lead on lap 30. On the 50th lap, every driver elected to make a second pit stop. Most competitors had two tires installed to their cars, though Johnson's pit crew replaced all four of his tires.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
Martin, Schrader, Todd Bodine and Rudd opted to have a fuel stop; after all the pit stops were completed, Martin took the lead on lap 52, as varying team strategies changed the running order. Martin led the next four laps before Gordon got ahead of him to return to the lead. Earnhardt moved to fifth position by the 59th lap, before advancing to third place soon after. On lap 64, Earnhardt steered left to attempt a pass on Gordon for first place, though he was unable to overtake the latter because there were no cars to provide him with drafting assistance, which led Gordon to believe the inside was the ideal position to drive on.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
Two laps later, Earnhardt signalled to Newman he required drafting assistance. Newman clung onto Earnhardt's rear bumper panel, and the manoeuvre moved the latter on the outside lane past Gordon at turn three for the lead. Gordon could not respond to Earnhardt in the final four laps, as the remainder of the field went two abreast behind him, and Earnhardt held off Gordon and Kenseth to win the race after starting from last on the grid. It was Earnhardt's maiden Budweiser Shootout victory, and his first at Daytona International Speedway in the Cup Series since the 2001 Pepsi 400.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race
Gordon finished second, Kenseth third, Newman fourth, and Burton fifth. Schrader was in second in the final seven laps as a tailwind increased his top speed, though he fell to sixth after an overtake to the outside of Earnhardt failed to materialize. Johnson, Rudd, Harvick, and Craven rounded out the top ten finishers. No yellow caution flags were issued since no driver had an accident or made contact with another car, and there were 13 lead changes among seven different participants. Gordon's 31 laps led was the most of any competitor. Earnhardt led four times for a total of 13 laps.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race, After the race
Earnhardt appeared in Victory Lane to celebrate his third victory at Daytona International Speedway. He earned $205,000 for the victory, and performed donuts in the infield grass in front of a crowd of 75,000 people. Earnhardt was unsure as to how he won the race, "There was so much happening the last two laps and there's so much going on in your mind. You're trying to watch who is running up on the top and who is running on the bottom and you're trying to get help from those guys and get pushes. But I stayed out front.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race, After the race
That's a tough win." Gordon said of his second-place finish, "When Junior got up there, I didn't think he had enough momentum. Then everyone started battling for second and third and it got real crazy out there. After that, it was everyone getting what they could. He's so good at these restrictor plate races." Third-placed Kenseth said the night time conditions were instrumental in determining the race's final result since the track temperatures were cooler than they were during the day, "Being at night, all three lanes had grip. It was intense for us and good for the fans."


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race, After the race
Drivers held positive reviews of the updated car package. Wallace noted competitors could draft efficiently and that drivers could not pull away from each other, "My car handled pretty good the whole entire run. The cars, aerodynamically, stuck pretty tight. I feel real good about it." Harvick said the on-track competition resembled the initial races where cars had roof flaps installed on top of them to reduce top speeds, and he revealed there was a negligible difference in car handling, "That was pretty wild racing to tell you the truth. (The cars) suck up really good.


2003 Budweiser Shootout, Race, After the race
You could pass, you could push, you could shove. They get a lot better run than the other cars used to for some reason." Kenseth said he felt the package prevented 95 percent of the possible illegal modifications to the spoilers for the Daytona races, "Everybody used to roll the spoilers down as much as they could, everybody would cheat the templates as much as they could." Craven said of the driving observed during the event, "It was like a 2½-mile Martinsville. It was perfect." The race took 58 minutes and four seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 0.180 seconds.


2003 Buffalo Bills season
The 2003 Buffalo Bills season was their 44th in the league. The team failed to improve upon their previous season's output of 8–8, and finished at 6–10. The team missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.


2003 Buffalo Bills season
The Bills started the season strong, opening the season with a dominating 31–0 blowout of the New England Patriots (They would not win another game against the Patriots until 2011). It was their largest margin of victory in a season opener since 1992, and their first regular-season shutout in four years. The Bills' second game was a convincing three-touchdown win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. But Buffalo lost seven of their next nine games and finished the season with three consecutive losses. The Bills' final game of the season was a 31–0 shutout loss to the New England Patriots – the reverse of the score by which the Bills beat New England in Week One.


2003 Buffalo Bills season
Head coach Gregg Williams' contract was not renewed after the 2003 season.


2003 Buffalo Bills season
Van Miller, the team's longtime play-by-play announcer, announced his retirement after week 2 of the season; his retirement took effect at the end of the season.


2003 Buffalo Bills season, Offseason, Free Agency
The Bills bolstered their defense by signing former Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Sam Adams, former Denver Broncos safety Izell Reese, former Houston Texans linebacker Jeff Posey and former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Takeo Spikes during the offseason.


2003 Buffalo Bills season, Offseason, Free Agency
The Bills also traded for tight end Mark Campbell and signed kicker Rian Lindell during the offseason.


2003 Buffalo Bills season, Offseason, Free Agency
During the preseason, the Bills signed Lawyer Milloy after he was released by the New England Patriots.


2003 Buffalo Bills season, Offseason, NFL Draft
The Bills traded away their first pick in the 2003 draft (#14 overall) to the New England Patriots for Drew Bledsoe in the previous draft. They obtained their first pick (#23 overall) from the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for Peerless Price.


2003 Buffalo Bulls football team
The 2003 Buffalo Bulls football team represented the University at Buffalo in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Bulls offense scored 177 points while the defense allowed 445 points.


2003 Bulgarian Cup Final
The 2003 Bulgarian Cup Final was the final match of the 2002–03 edition of the Bulgarian Cup competition. It was the 21st consecutive Bulgarian Cup final match after the competition was established and 63rd national cup final overall.


2003 Bulgarian Cup Final
The match was held on 21 May 2003 at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria. Levski Sofia beat Litex Lovech 2–1. The win gave Levski their 24th Bulgarian Cup success.


2003 Bulgarian Figure Skating Championships
The 2003 Bulgarian Figure Skating Championships were the National Championships of the 2002–03 figure skating season. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing on the senior level.


2003 Bulgarian Figure Skating Championships
he results were used to choose the teams to the 2003 World Championships and the 2003 European Championships.


2003 Bulgarian Figure Skating Championships, Results, Ice dancing
* Ina Demireva / Tsvetan Georgiev were the junior national champions and only competitors, and the ISU recognizes them as the senior silver medalists.


2003 Bulldogs RLFC season
The 2003 Bulldogs RLFC season was the 69th in the club's history. Coached by Steve Folkes and captained by Steve Price, they competed in the NRL's 2003 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season 3rd (out of 15), and making the finals after finishing the previous season with the wooden spoon due to salary cap breaches. The Bulldogs went on to come within one game of the 2003 NRL Grand final but were knocked out by the Sydney Roosters.


2003 Bulldogs RLFC season, Players
On contract: Braith Anasta, Roy Asotasi, Hazem El Masri, Jamie Feeney, Tony Grimaldi, Glenn Hall, Ben Harris, Corey Hughes, Glen Hughes, Shane Marteene, Willie Mason, Travis Norton, Mark O'Meley, Luke Patten, Adam Perry, Steve Price, Steve Reardon, Andrew Ryan, Brent Sherwin, Willie Talau, Johnathan Thurston, Matt Utai, Nigel Vagana (two to be added).


2003 Bulldogs RLFC season, Players
Off contract: Gavin Lester, Brett Howland, Dennis Scott, Nathan Sologinkin.


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt
The 2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt was an alleged plot in the landlocked African country Burkina Faso that took place in October 2003. The attempted coup was carried out against long-time strongman President Blaise Compaoré and his Congress for Democracy and Progress regime, and resulted in the imprisonment of several members of the armed forces and political dissidents. Over a decade later, Compaoré would finally be overthrown in the 2014 Burkinabé uprising.


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt, History, Background
Blaise Compaoré, a central military figure in the revolutionary government of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, came to power by leading a 1987 coup that killed Sankara. Abolishing many of Sankara's radical reforms, Compaoré took control of a country that had seen multiple failed and successful coups since its independence in 1960 – most of them carried out by the military. During his time in power he was accused of many human rights abuses, using a heavy hand to put down resistance.


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt, History, Background
To facilitate this, he created the Regiment of Presidential Security (RSP), an elite force accused of numerous extrajudicial killings and acts of torture. The RSP's loyalty to Compaoré was doubtful, despite their service – in October 1996 several soldiers of the Regiment, among them the commander Hyacinthe Kafando, were put on trial for plotting to launch a coup, possibly with Ivorian involvement. Other than the threat of military coups, Compaoré also faced opposition from civic society, such as a large 1999 general strike.


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt, History, Plot and trial
On 7 October 2003, the alleged attempted coup – and its failure – was announced publicly by Abdoulaye Barry, a government prefect chairing the military court of the capital Ouagadougou. Several had been arrested, and detained by the police. Most of them were connected to the military, especially the Regiment of Presidential Security. The highest-ranking officer to be arrested was Commander Bernadin Poda, accused of siphoning army funds to finance the coup. Among those arrested were also Michel Norbert Tiendrébéogo (leader of the Social Forces Front, a Sankarist political party), and the Christian pastor Israël Pascal Paré. The number of people arrested during the crackdown varies between sources, with some saying 10, others 12, and yet others 16.


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt, History, Plot and trial
At least one of the supposed plotters died in police custody under suspicious circumstances. The person in question, Sergeant Moussa Kabore, was alleged to have hanged himself in his cell on 8 October. The United States embassy expressed concern over the treatment of other detained individuals connected to the coup attempt, and the Burkina Faso Movement for Human and People's Rights (MBDHP) complained that many of the detained had been held without being charged for far longer than the law allowed. In early November MBDHP activists were finally allowed to see the prisoners, and reported that their conditions were "acceptable".


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt, History, Plot and trial
According to government sources, the main instigator of the coup attempt was the Captain Luther Diapagri Oualy, who was to face treason charges. The prosecutor general Abdoulaye Barry stated that Oualy had been in contact with foreign powers, meeting with government representatives in Côte d'Ivoire and Togo in September 2003. Both countries denied any involvement in the plot. In November 2003, Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Youssouf Ouédraogo stated to various diplomats that the coup had been intended to take place during a cabinet meeting, using weapons received from the Regiment of Presidential Security. Captain Oualy was alleged to have purchased three 4x4 pick-up vehicles, for this purpose.


2003 Burkinabé coup d'état attempt, History, Plot and trial
Several months later, late at night during 17 April 2004, a military court in Ouagadougou announced the trial verdict. Captain Luther Diapagri Oualy was sentenced to ten years in prison, without parole. Six other people were punished, among them pastor Israël Pascal Paré.


2003 Burnley Borough Council election
Elections to Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, England were held on 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election with a by-election in the Whittlefield with Ightenhill ward. The British National Party won the popular vote and gained the most seats, although the Labour party retained overall control of the council.


2003 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election
Elections to Bury Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 1 May 2003. One-third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party kept overall control of the council.


2003 CA-TennisTrophy
The 2003 CA-TennisTrophy was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna in Austria and was part of the International Series Gold of the 2003 ATP Tour. It was the 29th edition of the tournament and took place from 6 October until 12 October 2003. First-seeded Roger Federer won the singles title.


2003 CA-TennisTrophy, Finals, Doubles
Yves Allegro /  Roger Federer defeated  Mahesh Bhupathi /  Max Mirnyi 7–6(9–7), 7–5


2003 CA-TennisTrophy – Doubles
Joshua Eagle and Sandon Stolle were the defending champions but did not compete that year.


2003 CA-TennisTrophy – Doubles
Yves Allegro and Roger Federer won in the final 7–6(9–7), 7–5 against Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi.


2003 CA-TennisTrophy – Singles
Roger Federer was the defending champion and won in the final 6–3, 6–3, 6–3 against Carlos Moyá.


2003 CAA Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2003 CAA Men's Basketball Tournament was held from March 7–10, 2003 at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. The winner of the tournament was UNC-Wilmington, who received an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.


2003 CAF Champions League
The 2003 CAF Champions League was the 39th of the CAF Champions League, the Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Enyimba of Nigeria defeated Ismaily of Egypt in the final to win their first title.


2003 CAF Champions League, Top goalscorers
The top scorers from the 2003 CAF Champions League are as follows:


2003 CAF Champions League Final
The 2003 CAF Champions League Final was at the end of the 2003 CAF Champions League.


2003 CAF Champions League Final
It was a football tie held over two legs in December 2003 between Ismaily  of Egypt, and Enyimba of Nigeria.


2003 CAF Champions League Final
Enyimba won the final with aggregate score of 2-1 and became the 1st Nigerian club to win the cup.


2003 CAF Champions League Final, Qualified teams
In the following table, finals until 1996 were in the African Cup of Champions Club era, since 1997 were in the CAF Champions League era.


2003 CAF Champions League Final, Venues, Enyimba International Stadium
Enyimba International Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Aba, Nigeria. It is currently used mostly for football matches. It serves as a home ground of Enyimba International F.C. The stadium holds 16,000 people after the installation of seats.


2003 CAF Champions League Final, Venues, Enyimba International Stadium
It currently has a semi-artificial lawn of a high standard.


2003 CAF Champions League Final, Venues, Ismailia Stadium
Ismailia Stadium is located in Ismailia, Egypt, and has a total capacity of 18,525. It is used by Ismaily SC, and was one of the stadiums used in the African competitions.


2003 CAF Champions League Final, Format
The final was decided over two legs, with aggregate goals used to determine the winner. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule would have been applied, and if still level, the tie would have proceeded directly to a penalty shootout (no extra time is played).


2003 CAF Champions League group stage
The group stage of the 2003 CAF Champions League was played from 9 August to 19 October 2003. A total of eight teams competed in the group stage, the group winners and runners-up advance to the Knockout stage playing semifinal rounds before the final.


2003 CAF Champions League group stage, Format
In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the Knockout stage.


2003 CAF Cup
The 2003 CAF Cup was the 12th and final edition of the African continental club competition for runners up of the respective domestic leagues. It was won by Moroccan team Raja Casablanca who beat Cotonsport Garoua from Cameroon over two legs in the final.


2003 CAF Cup
In following seasons, the CAF Cup was merged with the African Cup Winners' Cup to form the CAF Confederation Cup.


2003 CAF Cup, First round
1LISCR withdrew before the first leg and were subsequently banned for 3 years by CAF.


2003 CAF Super Cup
The 2003 CAF Super Cup was the 11th CAF Super Cup, an annual football match in Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), between the winners of the previous season's two CAF club competitions, the African Cup of Champions Clubs and the African Cup Winners' Cup.


2003 CAF Super Cup
The match took place on 7 February 2003, on Cairo Stadium in Cairo, Egypt, between Zamalek, the 2002 CAF Champions League winner, and Wydad, the 2002 African Cup Winners' Cup winner. Zamalek won the match 3–1 to retain the trophy, as the first team to win the tournament for three times.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana
The 2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts in Valencia in Spain and was part of the International Series of the 2003 ATP Tour. The tournament ran from 28 April through 4 May 2003. Juan Carlos Ferrero won the singles title.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana, Finals, Doubles
Lucas Arnold /  Mariano Hood defeated  Brian MacPhie /  Nenad Zimonjić 6–1, 6–7(7–9), 6–4


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana – Doubles
Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes were the defending champions but did not compete that year.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana – Doubles
Lucas Arnold and Mariano Hood won in the final 6–1, 6–7(7–9), 6–4 against Brian MacPhie and Nenad Zimonjić.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana – Doubles, Seeds
Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana – Singles
Gastón Gaudio was the defending champion but lost in the quarterfinals to Flávio Saretta.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana – Singles
Juan Carlos Ferrero won in the final 6–2, 6–4 against Christophe Rochus.


2003 CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana – Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.


2003 CARIFTA Games
The 32nd CARIFTA Games were held in the Hasely Crawford National Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on April 19–21, 2003. A detailed report on the results was given.


2003 CARIFTA Games, Participation (unofficial)
Detailed result lists can be found on the CFPI and the "WorldJunior Athletics History" website. An unofficial count yieldsthe number of about 427 athletes (219 junior (under-20) and 208 youth(under-17)) from about 23 countries:  Anguilla (3), Antigua and Barbuda (15),Aruba (4), Bahamas (64), Barbados (21), Bermuda (7), British Virgin Islands(7), Cayman Islands (13), Dominica (4), French Guiana (2), Grenada (47),Guadeloupe (20), Guyana (15), Haiti (7), Jamaica (70), Martinique (19),Netherlands Antilles (15), Saint Kitts and Nevis (6), Saint Lucia (8), SaintVincent and the Grenadines (5), Trinidad and Tobago (66), Turks and CaicosIslands (8), US Virgin Islands (1).


2003 CARIFTA Games, Records
In the boys' U-20 category, Usain Bolt from Jamaica set three new gamesrecords finishing the 200 metres in 20.43s (wind: -1.1 m/s), the 400 metres in46.35s, and together with the Jamaican 4 × 100 m relay team in 39.43s. In triplejump, Ayata Joseph from Antigua and Barbuda set a new mark of 16.20metres. In shot put, Jamaican Kimani Kirton achieved 17.33 metres. Inthe discus throw competition, the old mark of 50.41 metres by Jamaican Dwayne Henclewood from the year 2000 was improved three times. First, Kimani Kirton from Jamaica threw 51.25 metres in his second attempt. Then, Eric Mathias from the British Virgin Islands reached 51.43 metres in his fifth attempt, before setting the final mark of 55.20 metres in the last attempt.


2003 CARIFTA Games, Records
In the girls' U-20 category, Camile Robinson from Jamaica finished the 400metres hurdles in 56.61 seconds. The Jamaican 4x400 metres relay team setthe new record to 3:36.20. Peaches Roach from Jamaica andLevern Spencer from Saint Lucia jumped 1.86 metres high.


2003 CARIFTA Games, Records
In the boys' U-17 category, Romaine Gordon from Jamaica won the 100 metres hurdles in the new record time of 13.12s (wind: (-1.8 m/s).


2003 CARIFTA Games, Records
Finally, in the girls' U-17 category, Kimberly Williams from Jamaica set the new record in triple jump of 12.18 metres (wind: 0.3 m/s), and the Jamaican4x400 metres team achieved 3:39.50.


2003 CARIFTA Games, Austin Sealy Award
The Austin Sealy Trophy for themost outstanding athlete of the games was awarded to Usain Boltfrom Jamaica. He won 4 gold medals (200m, 400m, 4 × 100 m relay, and 4 × 400 m relay) inthe junior (U-20) category, achieving three new games records.


2003 CARIFTA Games, Medal summary
Medal winners are published by category: Boys under 20 (Junior), Girls under 20 (Junior), Boys under 17 (Youth), and Girls under 17 (Youth). Complete results can be found on the CFPI and the "World Junior Athletics History"website.


2003 CARIFTA Games, Medal table
The medal count has been published. It is in agreement with an unofficial medal count.


2003 CART season
The 2003 Champ Car World Series, the twenty-fifth and final in the CART-era of American open-wheel car racing, consisted of 18 races,  beginning in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 23 and concluding in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on October 26. For sponsorship purposes, it was branded as Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.


2003 CART season
The intended final event, scheduled to be held in Fontana, California on November 9 was canceled due to wildfires, one of which was known as the "Grand Prix Fire", burning in and around San Bernardino County.


2003 CART season
The Drivers' Champion was Paul Tracy. Rookie of the Year was Sébastien Bourdais. At the end of the season, the operations of a now bankrupt CART were assumed by Open-Wheel Racing Series, who continued to brand its top series as the Champ Car World Series.


2003 CART season
This marks the first season since 1993 without Michael Andretti.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams
With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the Indy Racing League for the 2003 season, Cosworth became the exclusive engine supplier for the CART series. Their 2.65L XFE turbo V8 powerplant continued to be badged by Ford. Bridgestone continued on as an exclusive tire supplier for the series. Starting in 2003, CART began branding itself as the Champ Car World Series, and a marketing agreement between CART and the two suppliers resulted in the full branding of "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford."


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 Champ Car World Series season.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams, Team changes
With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the Indy Racing League for the 2003 season, four CART teams joined them in the rival series as well. Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Green Racing (a merger of the former Team Green and Michael Andretti's Team Motorola) and Mo Nunn Racing became full-time IRL competitors for the 2003 season. Meanwhile, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing  went against flow and jumped from the IRL to CART. Team Rahal and Fernández Racing split their efforts between the two series, each reducing their Champ Car teams to a single car. Dale Coyne Racing returned to full-time status after a partial season effort in 2002.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams, Team changes
Four new teams joined the series. Businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and Craig Pollock, who previously managed the British American Racing Formula One team, started the PK Racing team. Long-time Trans-Am competitor Paul Gentilozzi expanded his Rocketsports Racing team to include a Champ Car effort. Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi would go on to become two of the owners of the series in 2004 after the CART organization went bankrupt. Formula One and Champ Car champion Emerson Fittipaldi and businessman Jamie Dingman formed Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing while Formula One and Champ Car veteran Stefan Johansson formed American Spirit Team Johansson.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams, Driver changes
Along with the major changes to the team lineup to the series, a great many new faces made their debut in 2003. Of the nineteen drivers at the season opener in St. Petersburg, nine were rookies. Most notable was 2002 Formula 3000 champion Sébastien Bourdais who joined Newman/Haas Racing. Bourdais would impress immediately by taking pole in his first race, winning his fourth race, and finishing fourth in the season championship.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams, Driver changes
Walker Racing had a lineup of two rookies, Rodolfo Lavín and Darren Manning, who actually debuted at the 2002 race at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in England but was still considered a series rookie. Three rookie teams campaigned with rookie drivers. Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing ran Tiago Monteiro, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing chose Mario Haberfeld, while PK Racing began the year with Patrick Lemarié.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams, Driver changes
Familiar Champ Car drivers also found themselves in new surroundings for 2003. With Chip Ganassi Racing gone to the IRL, Bruno Junqueira took over the #1 car at Newman-Haas, replacing Cristiano da Matta who moved on to Formula One after winning the 2002 CART season. With Team Green also gone to the IRL, Paul Tracy moved over to Team Player's. Tracy would reward his new team with the season championship. Alex Tagliani lost his Player's seat to Tracy but found a ride with the new Rocketsports Racing team. Champ Car's elder statesman Jimmy Vasser joined the new American Spirit Team Johansson team after Team Rahal downsized to a single car. His teammate there was series rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay. Herdez Competition tabbed veteran Roberto Moreno for their expanded two car team.


2003 CART season, Drivers and teams, Driver changes
The list of drivers not changing teams was short. Patrick Carpentier at Player's, Mario Domínguez at Herdez, Michel Jourdain Jr. at Team Rahal, Oriol Servia at Patrick Racing, and Adrian Fernández continued to drive his own car.


2003 CART season, Season summary, Schedule
O  Oval/Speedway R  Dedicated road course S  Temporary street circuit


2003 CART season, Season summary, Driver breakdown
* Alex Tagliani started on pole at Milwaukee but was not awarded the bonus point for it when the qualification session was rained out. The grid was set by practice times. This result is not counted in Tagliani's season total in this table.


2003 CBA All-Star Game
The 2003 Continental Basketball Association All-Star Game was the 37th All-Star Game organised by CBA since its inception in 1949 and the first after 2000. It was held at the 7,500 seat Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on March 22, 2003. The National Conference defeated the American Conference 140-125 and Versile Shaw	was named the Most Valuable Player.


2003 CBA All-Star Game, The 2008 ABA All-Star Game events, CBA Long Distance Shootout
Malik Dixon of Dakota Wizards was the winner beating Puerto Rican Larry Ayuso of Grand Rapids Hoops in the final.


2003 CBA All-Star Game, The 2008 ABA All-Star Game events, CBA Fan-Jam
Bryant Notree of the Gary Steelheads won the slam-dunk competition beating Cory Hightower of the Great Lakes Storm in the final.


2003 CBA All-Star Game, The 2008 ABA All-Star Game events, The Game
MVP Versile Shaw scored 29 points, picking up 7 rebounds, Fred Vinson had 24 pts while Tyson Wheeler had 14 assist for the National Conference. Albert White scored 28, Cory Hightower 27, Bryant Notree had 21 points and 9 rebounds and Fred Vinson 24 points for the winners.


2003 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2003 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 32nd CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in conference history. It was played between March 14 and March 22, 2003. First round games were played at campus sites, while all 'super six' games were played at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. By winning the tournament, Michigan won the Mason Cup and received the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.


2003 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
The tournament featured four rounds of play. In the First Round, the first and twelfth seeds, the second and eleventh seeds, the third and tenth seeds, the fourth and ninth seeds, the fifth and eighth seeds and the sixth and seventh seeds played a best-of-three series. All six victors in the first round advance as the newly minted 'Super Six' and play only single-elimination for the duration of the tournament. The top two ranked winners receive byes into the semifinals while the four other teams play in the quarterfinals to determine the other qualifiers. In the semifinals, the remaining highest and lowest seeds and second highest and second lowest seeds play a single-game, with the winners advancing to the finals. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament.


2003 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against


2003 CECAFA Cup
The 2003 CECAFA Cup was the 27th edition of the CECAFA Cup, which involves teams from Southern and Central Africa. The matches were played in Sudan, from 30 November to 10 December. Burundi, Djibouti and Somalia withdrew before the draw of the groups for the tournament, complaining of financial difficulties. Just before the tournament, Ethiopia withdrew, and Tanzania also withdrew after the tournament started. Tanzania originally withdrew on the 27 November 2003, after their government did not pay for travel arrangements to Sudan.


2003 CECAFA Cup
A day later though, on the 28 November, Tanzanian business magnate Azim Dewji produced cash to pay for airplane tickets, but the connecting flight from Nairobi, Kenya, to Khartoum, Sudan, were all full. Yahya Mata, chairman of the interim committee of the Football Association of Tanzania (abbreviated to FAT), stated that "We have pulled out of the tournament, after failure to secure connecting flights from Nairobi to Khartoum", the second withdrawal within four days prompted ridicule. In July 2003, Tanzania had been fined $5,000 USD, and forced to pay $11,313 USD to Sudan for the team not showing up for their final qualification match for the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, who then cited financial difficulties, and were estimated to be in $100,000 USD of debt.


2003 CECAFA Cup
Including Tanzania, there were eight teams who competed at the tournament, compared to ten in the previous competition. A team withdrew from each group, Tanzania from group A and Ethiopia from group B before any matches were played, meaning that only three teams competed in each group, and only three matches were played in each group. Hosts Sudan won both of their group stage matches, and Rwanda also emerged from group A on goal difference. Kenya progressed from group B with a win and a draw, as did Uganda. Uganda and Rwanda beat Sudan and Kenya respectively, both on penalties. Kenya won the third place play-off, followed by Uganda beating Rwanda in the final to win the tournament.


2003 CECAFA Cup, Background
The CECAFA Cup is considered Africa's oldest football tournament, and involves teams from Central and Southern Africa. The tournament was originally named the Gossage Cup, contested by the four nations of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (modern day Tanzania), and Zanzibar, running from 1929 until 1965. In 1967, this became the East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup, often shortened to simply the Challenge Cup, which was competed for five years, until 1971, before the CECAFA Cup was introduced in 1973. The 2002 champions were Kenya, and they duly won their group in 2003, but were knocked out in the quarter-finals against Rwanda on penalties. The 2003 champions, Uganda, finished fourth in the 2002 competition.


2003 CECAFA Cup, Participants
8 teams competed, three teams from the original tournament competed (excluding Tanganyika, which changed names and is currently called Tanzania).


2003 CECAFA Cup, Group stages
The group stage began on 30 November and ended on 4 December with both Group A and Group B's final matches. The matches were partaken every other day, and the groups played on the same days: the 30 November, the 2 December, and the 4 December. At the end of the group stage, the two teams who finished bottom of their group were eliminated, whereas the teams positioned in the top two slots in the groups progressed to the knock-out rounds. The group stage competitors were diminished by the withdrawal of both Tanzania and Ethiopia, one team from each group.


2003 CECAFA Cup, Group stages
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order):


2003 CECAFA Cup, Team statistics
Teams are ranked using the same tie-breaking criteria as in the group stage, except for the top four teams.


2003 CEMAC Cup
The 2003 CEMAC Cup was the first edition of the CEMAC Cup, the football championship of Central African nations. It is the successor of the UDEAC Cup from 1984 to 1990. Originally the first edition was planned to take place in Bangui, Central African Republic in 2002, but it was canceled.


2003 CEMAC Cup
The tournament was held in the Congo. All matches were played in Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat, Brazzaville.


2003 CFL Draft
The 2003 CFL Draft took place on Wednesday, April 30, 2003. 53 players were chosen for Canadian Football League teams from among the eligible CIS football players from Canadian universities, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. Of the 53 draft selections, 32 players were drafted from Canadian Interuniversity Sport institutions.


2003 CFL Draft
Notably, the Calgary Stampeders had the first and second overall picks in the draft, which was only the third time in CFL Draft history that a team had the first two selections in a draft. The Toronto Argonauts were the first to accomplish this via trade in the 1982 CFL Draft and the Ottawa Renegades had done this the year before as they were awarded the first and second overall selections as an expansion team in the 2002 CFL Draft.


2003 CFL Draft, Trades
In the explanations below, (D) denotes trades that took place during the draft, while (PD) indicates trades completed pre-draft. This is a partial list due to references being limited.


2003 CFL season
The 2003 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 50th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 46th Canadian Football League season. The pre-season began on May 30, 2003 and the regular season started on June 17, 2003. Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan hosted the 91st Grey Cup on November 16, with the Edmonton Eskimos defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34–22.


2003 CFL season, CFL News in 2003
The Canadian Football League made a new five-year television deal with TSN and the CBC on February 27. Through the new agreement, TSN and CBC will be broadcasting 77 games, which is the most in CFL history. The CFL also introduced new specialty weekends that includes the Canada Day Bash, the Labour Day Classic and the Gridiron Thanksgiving. CFL.ca launched its new website in July.


2003 CFL season, CFL News in 2003
The CFL also assumes control of the Toronto Argonauts on July 29 and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on August 15. The league appointed Paul Robson as the interim Operations Manager of the Argonauts and appointed Alan Ford to become interim Operations Manager of the Tiger-Cats. The CFL then announced the sale of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to Bob Young on October 7 and then announced the sale of the Toronto Argonauts on November 15 to Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon.


2003 CFL season, CFL News in 2003
TSN achieved the second-highest viewership in CFL history. The CFL also had an (+2%) increase in attendance for the second straight season with more than 2 million fans filling the seats at Canadian football games. About 4.4 million Canadian homes viewed the 91st Grey Cup game between the Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Eskimos played in Regina. Plus, the CFL signed long-term partnership deals with Reebok, Rogers and Sun Microsystems.


2003 CFL season, Regular season standings, Final regular season standings
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points


2003 CFL season, Grey Cup playoffs
The Edmonton Eskimos are the 2003 Grey Cup Champions, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34–22, at Regina's Taylor Field. The Eskimos got their revenge on the Alouettes, who defeated Edmonton in front of their hometown crowd at the 90th Grey Cup. The Eskimos' Jason Tucker (WR) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player and the Alouettes' Ben Cahoon (SB) was the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.


2003 CFU Club Championship
The 2003 Caribbean Football Union Club Championship was an international club football competition held in the Caribbean to determine the region's qualifier to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Seven teams from four football associations played in the 2003 edition, contested on a two-legged basis. A Round of 16 and a preliminary round were scheduled but never played due to 11 teams withdrawing from the competition.


2003 CFU Club Championship
The Trinidad and Tobago Professional Football League had the edge over the Jamaica National Premier League in the semifinals, winning both ties to set up an all-T&T final. San Juan Jabloteh finally beat W Connection on penalty kicks to advance to the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.


2003 CFU Club Championship, Match, Second Round
San Juan Jabloteh received a bye due on withdrawn  Fontenoy United or  Newtown United.


2003 CFU Club Championship, Match, Semifinals
* both matches played at Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, Trinidad and Tobago.


2003 CFU Club Championship, Match, Final
San Juan Jabloteh 2003 CFU champions, advance to 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup quarterfinals.


2003 CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2003 CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was played between March 14 and March 16, 2003 at Tri-City Arena in Kearney, Nebraska. By winning the tournament, Wayne State received College Hockey America's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.


2003 CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
The tournament featured six teams. The top two teams from the regular season received byes to the semifinals where they played the winners from the quarterfinal games. The two semifinal winners met in the championship game on March 16, 2003, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.


2003 CHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format, Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against


2003 CIS football season
The 2003 CIS football season began on August 29, 2003, and concluded with the 39th Vanier Cup national championship on November 22 at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, with the Laval Rouge et Or winning their second championship. Twenty-seven universities across Canada competed in CIS football this season, the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football, under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).


2003 CIS football season, Results, Regular-season standings
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime Losses, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points


2003 CIS football season, Results, Top 10
Ranks in italics are teams not ranked in the top 10 poll but received votes. NR = Not Ranked. Source:


2003 CIS football season, Results, Championships
The Vanier Cup was played between the champions of the Mitchell Bowl and the Uteck Bowl, the national semi-final games. In 2003, the Uteck Bowl replaced the long-standing Churchill Bowl, which had been competed for since 1989 as a national semi-final game. Along with the Mitchell Bowl, the semi-final games now worked on a fully rotating basis, with the winners of the Canada West conference Hardy Trophy visiting the winners of the Atlantic conference Loney Bowl championship for the Uteck Bowl. The Ontario conference's Yates Cup championship team hosted the Dunsmore Cup Quebec champion for the Uteck Bowl.


2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The 2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 38th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It was won by Club Toluca after a 5–4 aggregate win over countryfellow club Morelia in the final. The tournament was held between March 6 and October 8. The 16-team format was scrapped for an eight-team format in 2004.


2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, Qualified teams, North American zone
Club Toluca - 2002 Apertura champion Morelia - 2002 Apertura runner-up Club América - 2002 Verano champion Club Necaxa - 2002 Verano runner-up Los Angeles Galaxy - 2002 MLS Cup champion and 2002 MLS Supporters Shield winner New England Revolution - 2002 MLS Cup runner-up San Jose Earthquakes - 2002 MLS Supporters Shield runner-up Columbus Crew - 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup winner


2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, Qualified teams, Central American zone
Alajuelense - 2002 UNCAF Interclub Cup winner Árabe Unido - 2002 UNCAF Interclub Cup runner-up Motagua - 2002 UNCAF Interclub Cup third place Comunicaciones - 2002 UNCAF Interclub Cup fourth place Municipal - 2002 UNCAF Interclub Cup semifinal runner-up FAS - 2002 UNCAF Interclub Cup semifinal runner-up


2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, Qualified teams, Caribbean zone
W Connection - 2002 CFU Club Championship finalist Arnett Gardens - 2002 CFU Club Championship finalist


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF).


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one country, with games played in both United States and Mexico. The games were played in Mexico City, Miami, and for the first time in a northern U.S. city, Foxborough. The format of the tournament stayed the same as in 2002: twelve teams were split into four groups of three, the top two teams in each group would advance to the quarter-finals. Colombia and Brazil were invited, with the latter sending an Under-23 team.


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The United States' Landon Donovan put four past Cuba in the quarterfinals in a 5–0 win, but the defending champions went out to Brazil in the semi-finals. The South Americans scored a goal in the 89th minute and added a penalty in extra time to win 2–1. Mexico won their first championship since 1998, beating Brazil 1–0 in extra time.


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Squads
The 12 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 18 players; only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final
The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final was a football match to determine the winners of the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The match was held at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, on 27 July 2003. A rematch of the 1996 final, it was contested by the winners of the semi-finals, Mexico and Brazil. Both teams met in the group stage at the start of the competition, with Mexico beating Brazil 1–0. Both teams progressed to the knockout stage, reaching the final where Mexico would beat Brazil 1–0 again with a late golden goal from Daniel Osorno.


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification, UNCAF Qualification Tournament
The UNCAF Nations Cup acted as the Gold Cup qualifying tournament for the Central American teams. The teams qualifying were Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador


2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup squads
These are the squads for the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup.


2003 CONCACAF U-17 Tournament qualification
The qualification for the 2003 CONCACAF U-17 Tournament took place between August 2002 and January 2003.


2003 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament
The 2003 CONCACAF U-20 Qualifying Tournament was held to determine the four CONCACAF entrants into the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was hosted in United Arab Emirates.


2003 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament qualifying
This article features the 2003 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament qualifying stage. Caribbean and Central American teams entered in separate tournaments. The North American teams Canada and Mexico automatically qualified, as well as main tournament hosts Panama (Central America) and the United States (North America). Eighteen Caribbean teams entered, of which two qualified and five Central American teams entered, of which two qualified.


2003 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament qualifying, Caribbean, Group Stage, Group C
All matches were played in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Antigua and Barbuda were disqualified, they were supposed to be group host but were too late informing that their field was unavailable for play.


2003 COSAFA Cup, Quarter-Finals
The four quarter-finalists of the 2002 edition South Africa, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia received byes into quarter-finals.


2003 CPISRA Soccer World Championships
The 2003 CPISRA Football 7-a-side World Championships was the world championship for men's national 7-a-side association football teams. CPISRA stands for Cerebral Palsy International Sports & Recreation Association. Athletes with a physical disability competed. The Championship took place in Argentina from 8 to 22 October 2003.


2003 CPISRA Soccer World Championships
Football 7-a-side was played with modified FIFA rules. Among the modifications were that there were seven players, no offside, a smaller playing field, and permission for one-handed throw-ins. Matches consisted of two thirty-minute halves, with a fifteen-minute half-time break. The Championships was a qualifying event for the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.


2003 CPISRA Soccer World Championships, Venues
The venues to be used for the World Championships were located in Buenos Aires.


2003 CSIO Gijón
The 2003 CSIO Gijón was the 2003 edition of the Spanish official show jumping horse show, at Las Mestas Sports Complex in Gijón. It was held as CSIO 5*.


2003 CSIO Gijón
This edition of the CSIO Gijón was held between August and September.


2003 CSIO Gijón, Nations Cup
The competition was a show jumping competition with two rounds. The height of the fences were up to 1.60 meters. The best six teams of the eleven which participated were allowed to start in the second round.


2003 CSIO Gijón, Nations Cup
Ran on 30 August 2003, Ireland won its first Nations Cup at Gijón ever.


2003 CSIO Gijón, Nations Cup
Grey penalties points do not count for the team result.


2003 CSIO Gijón, Gijón Grand Prix
The Gijón Grand Prix, the Show jumping Grand Prix of the 2004 CSIO Gijón, was the major show jumping competition at this event. It was held on 2 August 2004. The competition was a show jumping competition over one round with tie-break for the riders that made 0 points in the main round, the height of the fences were up to 1.60 meters.


2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team
The 2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team represented California Polytechnic State University during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season.


2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team
2003 was the last year Cal Poly competed as an NCAA Division I-AA independent. In 2004 they would become a charter member of the new Great West Football Conference. The 2003 Mustangs were led by third-year head coach Rich Ellerson and played home games at Mustang Stadium in San Luis Obispo, California. The team finished the season with a record of three wins and eight losses (7–4). Overall, the team outscored its opponents 316–241 for the season.


2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team, Team players in the NFL
No Cal Poly Mustang players were selected in the 2004 NFL Draft.


2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team, Team players in the NFL
The following finished their college career in 2003, were not drafted, but played in the NFL.


2003 Calder Cup playoffs
The 2003 Calder Cup playoffs of the American Hockey League began on April 9, 2003. Twenty teams, the top ten from each conference, qualified for the playoffs. The seventh-, eighth-, ninth-, and tenth-placed teams in each conference played best-of-three series in the qualifying round. The four winners, in addition to the other twelve teams that qualified, played best-of-five series for conference quarterfinals. The remaining 8 teams played best-of-seven series for conference semifinals and conference finals. The conference champions played a best-of-seven series for the Calder Cup. The Calder Cup Final ended on June 12, 2003 with the Houston Aeros defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs four games to three to win the first Calder Cup in team history.


2003 Calder Cup playoffs
Houston's Johan Holmqvist won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as AHL playoff MVP and also set a record for most minutes played by a goaltender in a single playoff with 1498. Jarret Stoll of the Hamilton Bulldogs set an AHL playoff record for the fastest goal from the start of a period by scoring 4 seconds into the 3rd period on May 22, 2003 against Binghamton. Hamilton's Michael Ryder ended the longest game in AHL history when he scored at 14:56 of the fourth overtime in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Final. However, this record was eclipsed during the 2008 Calder Cup Playoffs.


2003 Calder Cup playoffs, Playoff seeds
After the 2002–03 AHL regular season, 20 teams qualified for the playoffs. The top ten teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs. The Hamilton Bulldogs were the Eastern Conference regular season champions as well as the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy winners with the best overall regular season record. The Grand Rapids Griffins were the Western Conference regular season champions. Division champions were automatically ranked 1-3.


2003 Calder Cup playoffs, Bracket
The top 6 teams in each conference receive byes to the Conference Quarterfinals. In each round, the highest remaining seed in each conference is matched against the lowest remaining seed. In the qualification round, all games are played at the arena of the higher seed. In each round the higher seed receives home ice advantage, meaning they receive the "extra" game on home-ice if the series reaches the maximum number of games. There is no set series format for each series after the Qualification Round due to arena scheduling conflicts and travel considerations.


2003 Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council election
Elections to Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 1 May 2003. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control. The total turnout of the election was 34.44% (47,601 voters of an electorate of 138,228). The winning candidate(s) in each ward is highlighted in bold.


2003 Calgary Stampeders season
The 2003 Calgary Stampeders season was the 46th season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 65th overall. The Stampeders finished in 5th place in the West Division with a 5–13 record and failed to make the playoffs.


2003 California Golden Bears football team
The 2003 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second year under head coach Jeff Tedford, the Golden Bears compiled an 8–6 record (5–3 in Pac-10, tied for third) and outscored their opponents 457 to 341.


2003 California Golden Bears football team
The Bears were led on the field by sophomore quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a junior college transfer who became the starter on Septermber 20 against Illinois. In his second start the following week, Rodgers led Cal to a 21–7 halftime lead over third-ranked USC before being replaced due to injury in the second half by Reggie Robertson. The Bears won in triple overtime, 34–31. In late December, Cal defeated Virginia Tech 52–49 in the Insight Bowl at Phoenix; Rodgers passed for 394 yards and was the game's offensive MVP.


2003 California Golden Bears football team
Rodgers tied Cal's season record with five 300-yard games and set a Cal record for the lowest percentage of passes intercepted at 1.43%. The Golden Bears' statistical leaders included Rodgers with 2,903 passing yards, Adimchinobe Echemandu with 1,195 rushing yards, and Geoff McArthur with 1,504 receiving yards.


2003 California Proposition 53
Proposition 53 was a California ballot proposition on the October 7, 2003, special recall election ballot. It failed to pass with 3,020,577 (36.2%) votes in favor and 5,318,065 (63.8%) against. It was placed on the ballot by a vote of the state legislature on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11 (ACA 11).


2003 California Proposition 53
Supporters of the measure argued that state infrastructure had been neglected through many years of growth, while opponents argued that California's budget crisis has been exacerbated by budgeting inflexibility from past spending set-aside propositions like this one.


2003 California Proposition 53, Official summary
Summary of Legislative Analyst's Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact:


2003 California Proposition 54
Proposition 54 was a California ballot proposition on the October 7, 2003 gubernatorial recall election ballot. It failed to pass with 3,144,145 (36.1%) votes in favor and 5,541,314 (63.9%) against. It was placed on the ballot through the initiative process.


2003 California Proposition 54
Proposition 54 would have amended the Constitution of California to prohibit the state government and local governments from using racial classifications in most of its business. Its official title was Racial Privacy Initiative. Supporters of the measure said it was the first step towards a "colorblind" society, while opponents felt that it would make it more difficult for the state to provide services and identify and correct racial disparities.


2003 California Proposition 54
This issue might normally have been more contentious had it not been overshadowed by the recall election of Governor Gray Davis on the same ballot.


2003 California Proposition 54, Official summary
Summary of Legislative Analyst's Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact:


2003 California gubernatorial recall election
The 2003 California gubernatorial recall election was a special election permitted under California state law. It resulted in voters replacing incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. The recall effort spanned the latter half of 2003. Seven of the nine previous governors, including Davis, had faced unsuccessful recall attempts.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election
After several legal and procedural efforts failed to stop it, California's first-ever gubernatorial recall election was held on October 7, and the results were certified on November 14, 2003, making Davis the first governor recalled in the history of California, and just the second in U.S. history (the first was North Dakota's 1921 recall of Lynn Frazier). California is one of 19 states that allow recalls. Nearly 18 years after the 2003 election, California held a second recall election in 2021; however, this recall was unsuccessful, failing to oust Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, California recall history
The California recall process became law in 1911 as the result of Progressive Era reforms that spread across the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The ability to recall elected officials came along with the initiative and referendum processes. The movement in California was spearheaded by Republican Governor Hiram Johnson, a reformist, who called the recall process a "precautionary measure by which a recalcitrant official can be removed." No illegality has to be committed by politicians in order for them to be recalled. If an elected official commits a crime while in office, the state legislature can hold impeachment trials. For a recall, only the will of the people is necessary to remove an official. Nineteen U.S. states, along with the District of Columbia, allow the recall of state officials.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, California recall history
Before the successful recall of Gray Davis, no California statewide official had ever been recalled, though there had been 117 previous attempts. Only seven of those even made it onto the ballot, all for state legislators. Every governor since Ronald Reagan in 1968 has been subject to a recall effort. Gray Davis was the first governor of California whose opponents gathered the necessary signatures to qualify for a special election. Davis also faced a recall petition in 1999, but that effort failed to gain enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, California recall history
Davis's recall at the time was only the second gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. The first governor recall occurred in 1921, when North Dakota's Lynn J. Frazier was recalled over a dispute about state-owned industries, and was replaced by Ragnvald A. Nestos. A third gubernatorial recall election occurred in Wisconsin in 2012 which unlike the previous two, failed.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, California recall history
The 2003 recall was prompted by some actions taken by Davis and his predecessor, Governor Wilson. Many people were upset with the governor's decision to block the enactment of Proposition 187, which had been found unconstitutional by a Federal District Court. Davis, who had opposed the measure, decided not to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court, effectively killing the ballot measure. He also signed two new restrictive gun-control laws. Also, many people were very angry about the ongoing California electricity crisis.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, California recall history
The crisis was brought on by a series of deregulatory moves, including a bill signed into law by the previous Governor. As Davis's recall transpired before he had served half of his term as governor, he remained eligible to serve another term, should he win a future election for the California governor post.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, California law
Under California law, any elected official may be the target of a recall campaign. To trigger a recall election, proponents of the recall must gather a certain number of signatures from registered voters within a certain time period. The number of signatures statewide must equal 12% of the number of votes cast in the previous election for that office. For the 2003 recall election, that meant a minimum of 897,156 signatures, based on the November 2002 statewide elections.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, California law
The effort to recall Gray Davis began with Republicans Ted Costa, Mark Abernathy, and Howard Kaloogian, who filed their petition with the California Secretary of State and started gathering signatures. The effort was not taken seriously until Rep. Darrell Issa, who hoped to run as a replacement candidate for governor, donated $2 million to a new committee, Rescue California, which then led the effort. Eventually, proponents gathered about 1.6 million signatures, of which 1,356,408 were certified as valid.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, California law
Under most circumstances in which a recall campaign against a statewide elected official has gathered the required number of signatures, the governor is required to schedule a special election for the recall vote. If the recall campaign qualified less than 180 days prior to the next regularly scheduled election, then the recall becomes part of that regularly scheduled election. In the case of a recall against the governor, the responsibility for scheduling a special election falls on the lieutenant governor, who in 2003 was Cruz Bustamante.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, Political climate
The political climate was largely shaped by the California electricity crisis of the early 2000s, during which many people experienced a tripling in the cost of their energy consumption as rolling blackouts happened throughout the state. The public held Davis partly responsible, although the causes included Federal deregulation and California's Electric Utility Industry Restructuring Act, signed into law by Governor Wilson. Driving the outcome of the recall was the perception that Davis had mismanaged the events leading up to the energy crisis.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, Political climate
It was claimed that he had not fought vigorously for Californians against the energy fraud, and that he had not pushed for legislative or emergency executive action against the fraudulent companies soon enough. He was said to have signed deals agreeing to pay energy companies fixed yet inflated prices for years to come based on those paid during the crisis. Opponents felt that a corporate-friendly Republican governor could shield California politically from further corporate fraud.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, Political climate
Others speculated that the corporations involved sought not only profit, but were acting in concert with Republican political allies to cause political damage to the nationally influential Democratic governor. Still others, such as Arianna Huffington, argued that Davis's fundraising and campaign contributions from various companies, including energy companies, rendered him unable to confront his contributors.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Background, Political climate
Davis had accepted $2 million from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and used his political connections to pass an estimated $5 billion raise for them over the coming years. That led many people throughout California to believe Davis was guilty of corruption, even if he did not meet the standard necessary for prosecution.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
Backers of the recall effort cited Davis's alleged lack of leadership, combined with California's weakened and hurt economy. According to the circulated petition:


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
[Governor Davis's actions were a] gross mismanagement of California Finances by overspending taxpayers' money, threatening public safety by cutting funds to local governments, failing to account for the exorbitant cost of the energy, and failing in general to deal with the state's major problems until they get to the crisis stage.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
Opponents of the recall said the situation was more complicated, for several reasons.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
The entire United States and many of its economic trading partners had been in economic recession. California was hit harder than other states at the end of the speculative bubble known as the "dot-com bubble"—from 1996 to 2000—when Silicon Valley was the center of the internet economy. California state expenditures soared when the government was flush with revenues. Some Californians blamed Davis and the state legislature for continuing to spend heavily while revenues dried up, ultimately leading to record deficits.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
Also, the California electricity crisis of 2000–2001 caused great financial damage to the state of California. The legal issues still were not resolved in time to alleviate California's dire need for electricity, and the state instituted "rolling blackouts" and in some cases instituted penalties for excess energy use. In the recall campaign, Republicans and others opposed to Davis's governance sometimes charged that Davis did not "respond properly" to the crisis.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
In fact most economists disagreed, believing that Davis could do little else—and anyone in the governor's office would have had to capitulate as Davis did, in the absence of federal help. The Bush administration rejected requests for federal intervention, responding that it was California's problem to solve. Still, subsequent revelations of corporate accounting scandals and market manipulation by some Texas-based energy companies, mainly Enron, did little to quiet the criticism of Davis's handling of the crisis.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
Davis swept into the governor's office in 1998 in a landslide victory and a 60% approval rating as California's economy roared to new heights during the dot-com boom. Davis took his mandate from the voters and sought out a centrist political position, refusing some demands from labor unions and teachers' organizations on the left. The Democratic Davis, already opposed by Republicans, began losing favor among members of his own party. Nevertheless, Davis's approval ratings remained above 50%.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
When the California electricity crisis slammed the state in 2001, Davis was blasted for his slow and ineffective response. His approval rating dropped into the 30s and never recovered. When the energy crisis settled down, Davis's administration was hit with a fund-raising scandal. California had a $95 million contract with Oracle Corporation that was found to be unnecessary and overpriced by the state auditor. Three of Davis's aides were fired or resigned after it was revealed that the governor's technology adviser accepted a $25,000 campaign contribution shortly after the contract was signed. The money was returned, but the scandal fueled close scrutiny of Davis's fundraising for his 2002 re-election bid.


2003 California gubernatorial recall election, Arguments about the recall drive
In the 2002 primary election, Davis ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He spent his campaign funds on attack ads against California Secretary of State Bill Jones and Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, the two well known moderates in the Republican primary. The result was that his opponent in the general election was conservative Republican and political newcomer Bill Simon, who was popular within his own party but unknown by the majority of the state population. The attacks from both sides turned off voters and suppressed turnout; Davis ultimately won with 47% of the vote. The suppressed turnout had the effect of lowering the threshold for the 2003 recall petition to qualify.