2009 IndyCar Schedule

[lnin0]

The IndyStar is reporting this today,

"The complete 18-race track lineup will be revealed today.

The season will begin April 5 with the street course race in St. Petersburg, Fla., and end Oct. 11 at Homestead-Miami Speedway."

IndyCar.com is saying the entire 2009 schedule will be released Wed at 11AM EST.

It has been reported that Nashville and Las Vegas are out. Also odds are good Toronto is in. So fill in the blanks until 11AM.

1) St Pete

May - Indy 500

18) Homestead

[johntt]

The 2009 IndyCar Series schedule:
DateTrackLayoutSun 5-AprStreets of St. Petersburg1.8-mile street courseSun 19-AprStreets of Long Beach1.968-mile street courseSun 26-AprKansas Speedway1.5-mile ovalSun 24-MayIndianapolis Motor Speedway2.5-mile ovalSun 31-MayThe Milwaukee Mile1.0-mile ovalSat 6-Jun *Texas Motor Speedway1.5-mile ovalSun 21-JunIowa Speedway.875-mile ovalSat 27-Jun *Richmond International Raceway.75-mile ovalSun 5-JulWatkins Glen International3.4-mile road courseSun 12-JulStreets of Toronto1.721-mile street courseSun 26-JulEdmonton City Centre Airport1.973-mile airport courseSat 1-Aug *Kentucky Speedway1.5-mile ovalSun 9-AugMid-Ohio Sports Car Course2.258-mile road courseSun 23-AugInfineon Raceway2.245-mile road courseSat 29-Aug *Chicagoland Speedway1.5-mile ovalSun 6-SepThe Raceway at Belle Isle Park2.906-mile street courseSat 19-SepTwin Ring Motegi1.5-mile ovalSun 11-OctHomestead-Miami Speedway1.5-mil oval
* - night race
Schedule subject to change.

Here it is. Iowa and Texas are contracted until the end of 2009 so they had to be included, hopefully then they can be get rid of (talk is of Nascar Nationwide replacing its road race at Mexico with Iowa).

No Cleveland, No Road America, No Michigan (they expressed interest after unification). No New Hampshire either.

...and where is Surfers!?

The IRL were too hasty at the beginning of the year in talking about a clean sheet for the 09 schedule. 2010 will be the clean sheet, this one is merely transitional.

[jonm2]

why would you want to get rid of texas and iowa?

they are both successful events.

i want to see road america and michigan, but its all about the finanaces, and its not feasible at the moment (it would seem)

[enemy-ace]

No Surfer's Paradise?

[johntt]

Originally Posted by jonm2

why would you want to get rid of texas and iowa?

they are both successful events.

i want to see road america and michigan, but its all about the finanaces, and its not feasible at the moment (it would seem)

You shouldn't be running open wheel cars around a 24-degree banked 1.5 mile oval. Thats Nascar territory.

re. Iowa, its a great short track but its better suited to Nascar (i'm hoping that the Mexico date the Nationwide series had gets replaced by Iowa). There are also better short tracks that Indycars should run on.

IMO they should run Indy, Michigan, Fontana, New Hampshire, Motegi, Milwaukee and Phoenix.

The reason for the lack of Road America, Michigan et al is due to the contracts they still hold with places like Texas and Iowa.

[Purist]

As it says at the bottom though, the schedule is "subject to change', so don't have a cow just yet.

Surfers is supposed to be locked in, so I'd expect something on that front. I suppose that if SMI made good on its threat that that would provide some more breathing room in the schedule, though that occurrence wouldn't exactly be a good thing overall.

Something odd I noticed is the length listed for the Belle Isle course (2.906 miles). I'm guessing it's probably a typo, but it did get me wondering for a second.

[johntt]

Barnhardt on Surfers

We are in active conversations regarding '09. We are keeping a couple of slots open for them. And we're hopeful it can be announced. When we conclude those we'll certainly let everyone know.

But we're hopeful we will get them included for '09. But just can't indicate that as yet.

Full interview here: http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=12179

[lnin0]

The 2009 IndyCar Series schedule:
Date Track Layout
Sun 5-Apr Streets of St. Petersburg 1.8-mile street course
Sun 19-Apr Streets of Long Beach 1.968-mile street course
Sun 26-Apr Kansas Speedway 1.5-mile oval
Sun 24-May Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5-mile oval
Sun 31-May The Milwaukee Mile 1.0-mile oval
Sat 6-Jun * Texas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval
Sun 21-Jun Iowa Speedway .875-mile oval
Sat 27-Jun * Richmond International Raceway .75-mile oval
Sun 5-Jul Watkins Glen International 3.4-mile road course
Sun 12-Jul Streets of Toronto 1.721-mile street course
Sun 26-Jul Edmonton City Centre Airport 1.973-mile airport course
Sat 1-Aug * Kentucky Speedway 1.5-mile oval
Sun 9-Aug Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 2.258-mile road course
Sun 23-Aug Infineon Raceway 2.245-mile road course
Sat 29-Aug * Chicagoland Speedway 1.5-mile oval
Sun 6-Sep The Raceway at Belle Isle Park 2.906-mile street course
Sat 19-Sep Twin Ring Motegi 1.5-mile oval
Sun 11-Oct Homestead-Miami Speedway 1.5-mil oval

* - night race
Schedule subject to change.

Wish Cleveland was in there - I see a nice date mid July between the two Canada races.

Also might feel more balanced if they can move Watkins Glen up some and an oval or two back towards its spot but I imagine they did the best they could.

Surfers has been confirmed for this Oct 26 so hopefully in 09 they can slot it in that big gap between Sep-Oct on the way back from Japan

[OVERSTEER]

I sure hope they Race at Rockingham (UK) and Eurospeedway sometime in the near future.

[bil588]

2009 Schedule Reactions

by Robin Miller

7-30-08

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...ule-reactions/

Why no Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca?

[racer69]

Originally Posted by lnin0

Surfers has been confirmed for this Oct 26 so hopefully in 09 they can slot it in that big gap between Sep-Oct on the way back from Japan

Surfers can't be slotted in between Japan & Miami as the Gold Coast race shares top billing with the local V8Supercars, and they'd never agree to a date so close to the Bathurst 1000 (second week of October)

[Peter Ford]

I hoping that the surfer's round will be added to the 09 schedule.

[gomick]

It bloody better be added - reckon they should race in Mexico City too, huge crowd would turn up, good to see Toronto back aswell

[Fish_Flake]

What does September 13 look like for the V8s? It would be a tight fit getting everything from Detroit to Australia in a week, but it certainly could be done if the right deal is struck. Move the Chicagoland date to August 15, and give the teams the last week of August to get ready for Detroit and the Pacific Swing.

[mclaren2007]

I was planning to go to Surfers in the future and if its not on the schedule, Indy Racing League would have made a huge mistake.

Why does it have to be at the end?? Why not make it at the start of the championship like it was in the early years.

They need Cleveland and Surfers and get rid of bloody Japan!! It would be neat seeing them on the Suzuka Circuit rather than f****** Motegi.

[Teretonga]

You have a series that starts as late as April..... How many races has NASCAR got in by then???

Then it starts with street races and one oval before it cruises up to the Indy 500....
Surely you would have flicked in a major oval venue or two earlier in the season to build momentum and interest in Indy.... but no, it hasn't happened.

They have a desire to finish the series in the country rather than outside it but they pick a dead horse venue that struggles to make a crowd... How is that going to look on TV? Like no one wants to bother?

They drop some of the most successful and producitve venues for dead horse venues that don't make it at all...
OK so they have contracts to fulfil, I can understand that, but surely you would work with venues that are major in terms of crowd and events to find win/win solutions because that is important to your series...but no.. they don't. All we get is a lame 'maybe next year'.
I do think they have found themselves with an overabundance of good venues and solid events but are hamstrung with contracts to some lame events but the whole issue just seems to wreak of poor management and I am not convinced they understand what they're doing.

There are a lot of enthusiasts on these pages who could do a far better job.

It seems TG isn't really interested in anything but Indy and that everything swings around that one event. The rest isn't of any real concern to him or his people.

All the talk about business plans etc don't really cut it. This is not a good schedule... It seems TG just doesn't understand or get what many of the people on this forum do understand and know...

[ford prefect]

Perhaps you had best send your CV in then?

They obviously don't need professional people who can see the bigger picture and understand underlying reasons and the cause and effects of race scheduling.

All they need is a group of fanboys like us!

[Stefvh]

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=12175

The IndyCar Series will be a part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Centennial Celebration with the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race scheduled for May 24.

All is said.

[jonm2]

Originally Posted by johntt

The reason for the lack of Road America, Michigan et al is due to the contracts they still hold with places like Texas and Iowa.

Michigan does no promotion, and no one shows up. Thats why it isnt on the scheldule.

Road America was paid by Champ Car to hold a race, whereas the IRL likes to paid a sanctioning fee, therefore no race for IRL in 09.

These 2 tracks not being on the scheldule has nothing to do with Iowa or Texas (both of which are successful and well attended)

[garbo6]

Originally Posted by Fish_Flake

What does September 13 look like for the V8s? It would be a tight fit getting everything from Detroit to Australia in a week, but it certainly could be done if the right deal is struck. Move the Chicagoland date to August 15, and give the teams the last week of August to get ready for Detroit and the Pacific Swing.

V8 Supercars have their Bathurst lead up 500km 2 driver endurance race usually around September 13. It would most likely have been scheduled for this weekend (a chance of being scheduled on September 6 or 20). September 13 would probably be vetoed by the V8s, the same as September 27 and October 4.

[bil588]

IndyCar Series interview about 2009 schedule

Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division of the Indy Racing League

Q: Terry, I know we've spoken about this throughout the season. How close did Portland come to being on this schedule, and where did the ball drop on it?

TERRY ANGSTADT: Well, thanks very much for the call and the question. And I think characterizing it as a dropped ball is maybe a little severe. We had a great meeting with a number of representatives from the Portland area. In fact, two different groups.
And we are quite confident through some of our further due diligence that that's a market that we know has a lot of open wheel fans. It has a good history. We think the venue is good and interesting, and we think we're going to get there. It did not develop in time to include it for 09. But we certainly have a continued interest.

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=12179

http://www.portlandraceway.com/

I hope the contracts with the boring tracks are over after 2009.

[indycool]

Read Angstadt's comment above that they couldn't get together on a deal. In fact, I imagine that most of the ones that aren't on the schedule are because IRL and track couldn't strike a bargain, the dates couldn't be worked out, TV couldn't be worked out, weather couldn't be worked out, teams didn't want to run there, sponsors didn't want to go there or promoters didn't want to risk the money.

A lot of things go into scheduling.

[Purist]

Well, I hope they really get their butts in gear for 2010. Cleveland and Road America are great events to have, and provide some of the best road racing there is to be had anywhere. Also, Houston and Portland or Seattle would be prudent markets to get back to; Portland has been doing upgrades, and Pacific Raceways is doing a major refurbishment.

With NASCAR dropping Mexico City, this could be a good opening to go for that venue, and attract a few up-and-coming local drivers who would really bring the crowds in down there.

Getting back to Mont Tremblant, though unlikely I suspect, would be great icing on the cake. Nothing against Montreal, but I definitely prefer St. Jovite as a circuit.

[indycool]

Doubt it on Cleveland because A) They want to build condos in place of the airport, and B) Promoters lose their cabooses there. Road America, IMO, has a chance because Mid-Ohio did, but there's its close proximity to Milwaukee to consider.

IMO, Houston has NO chance and Portland hasn't been self-funding for years and there's no indication that it's about to start.

Mexico City? Doubt it, all the previous attendance lies notwithstanding. Mont Tremblant -- the most beautiful setting I've ever seen for a race track -- probably not because that'd be three races in Canada and I doubt they're going to do that.

[Purist]

I hope you're wrong on most of those.

I'll be honest, I just automatically start tuning out when the business talk starts. I've heard all the basics of it before, and I'm desensitized to it, not to mention, I have no confidence or conviction that the news is going to be the least bit positive when "business" is brought up in a serious way in the discussion.

I must say, I didn't think with this many added events that I could be this underwhelmed/disappointed by an 18-race IRL schedule. For core events with Indycars, the essential races in my mind are Milwaukee, Indy, Road America, Long Beach, Cleveland, Watkins Glen, St. Petersburg, Mexico City, Surfers Paradise, Toronto, and Mid Ohio.

The events at Michigan, Phoenix, etc would pretty much have to be rebuilt at this stage. And although the racing can be quite good, Texas and a number of the other ovals just don't register as having that same impact or iconic status for me as those venues I mentioned above. Perhaps I'm just kind of burned-out on moderate to high banked 1.5-mile ovals. At the very least, I don't get much sense of individuality with a lot of those various oval events, which is certainly a harder thing to do at an oval as compared to road and street courses.