2007 IndyCar schedule news/rumours

[rustyfan]

Nashville was confirmed for the 2007 schedule yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed races up to seven. Also, during the race coverage from ChicagoLand the int'l commentators speculated that there would be one or two more non-ovals added to the schedule for next year.

This is how the 2007 schedule stands thus far:

• April 1 – Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
• May 27 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• June 3 – The Milwaukee Mile
• June 9 – Texas Motor Speedway
• June 24 – Iowa Speedway
• July 14 - Nashville Superspeedway
• Aug. 13 – Kentucky Speedway

I think we can expect to see Homestead, Richmond, Watkins Glen, Infineon, Michigan, ChicagoLand and Kansas return to the schedule as well. I have my doubts about Motegi though.

[drdisque]

The Motegi Indycar race is Honda's biggest corporate perk from the series and the sole reason why they built that oval there.

IRL doesn't promote the race, so if it doesn't make money it's not a big deal to them and Honda picks up the costs of transporting all the cars and equipment over to Japan.

They only sell like 30000-40000 tickets, but that's limited by the roads leading to the track, they could probably sell 80000+ with better road links.

[Alfa Fan]

Here's the calender I've seen

11 March Los Angeles
25 March Homestead
01 April St Petersburg
15 April Motegi
22 April Kansas
27 May Indianapolis
03 June Milawaukee
10 June Texas
24 June Iowa
01 July Richmond
08 July Watkins Glen
15 July Nashville
22 July Michigan
5 August Montreal
12 Augst Kentucky
19 August Sears Point
26 August Mid-Ohio
02 September Belle Isle
09 September Chicagoland

[drdisque]

an LA race in March would be only a week or 2 removed from the Long Beach Grand Prix about an hour away.

I doubt the IRL would want to run 3 road course races in a row to end the season before Chicago.

[drewdawg727]

whoa whoa where did all these road courses come from??? Belle Isle? Mid-Ohio? LA?
I'd like to see a reference to this

[Snips1]

It's possible that Mid-Ohio, Montreal and Detroit will be added to the 2007 clanander, and Michigan could be dropped

[luke]

So how many more ex champ car races are there now? ovals are different street circuits were created by champ car well established by them at where they are racing for '07 if that is final for some...anyway its just a little odd why they can't be original and make their own successful events with only just a few original IRL. But hey that's just my opinion.

[Fish_Flake]

Originally Posted by luke

So how many more ex champ car races are there now? ovals are different street circuits were created by champ car well established by them at where they are racing for '07 if that is final for some...anyway its just a little odd why they can't be original and make their own successful events with only just a few original IRL. But hey that's just my opinion.

Because that would be a logical idea, and this is still Tony George we're talking about.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Snips1

It's possible that Mid-Ohio, Montreal and Detroit will be added to the 2007 clanander, and Michigan could be dropped

Mid ohio, detroit, LA are fantasies. Montreal may be a possibility, but does nascar really want to share the billing with the irl as they stampede into canada. Likely not.

[drewdawg727]

thanks, mountainstar

[mountainstar]

To expand some more:

Mid-Ohio- Open wheel racing at MO in any form doesn't seem to be in the business plan of the track.

Detriot- I remember reading some scribbles recently about belle isle. The city owns belle isle and having a race is far down their list of priorities. I heard what was the track would need a ton of infrastructure work, including the appropriate approval from the city. Even IF, and that's an if because there is no promoter stepping forward, including RP, you fast tracked it, there is no way it could happen for next year.

LA: Again there is no one who has stepped forward to either promote or get approvals from the city to run an event. People have talked about going head to head against the long beach gp by running this fantasy race within 2 weeks of it. That is total stupidity starting a new race against a long established race like long beach. But again, there is nobody out there who has raised their hand and said hey I'm interested in maybe promoting this.

[Tenoch]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Detriot- I remember reading some scribbles recently about belle isle. The city owns belle isle and having a race is far down their list of priorities. I heard what was the track would need a ton of infrastructure work, including the appropriate approval from the city. Even IF, and that's an if because there is no promoter stepping forward, including RP, you fast tracked it, there is no way it could happen for next year.

Not to mention that Detroit City Hall is bankrupt and has no money to spend on basic things, like police and fire departments. I really doubt that they will be willing to shell even more more money for a one day event like they did with the Super Bowl which in the end dont contribute much to the local economy.

[drewdawg727]

So if open wheel racing isn't priority at MO, what is? Bikes?

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by drewdawg727

So if open wheel racing isn't priority at MO, what is? Bikes?

Definately.

I remember an interview years ago with michelle trueman and they thought the bikes brought much more revenue to the track than anything.

[Snips1]

The Detroit race could be at Sept. 2nd

[drewdawg727]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Definately.

I remember an interview years ago with michelle trueman and they thought the bikes brought much more revenue to the track than anything.

See how smart i am?

I figured it looked like a bike track more than anything...with all the up and down hills located just about everywhere on the track. I'm sure that it brought entertainment for CART to be there in the past.

[Tim Northcutt]

They also run the ALMS, Grand-Am and Historics there.

The SCCA Runoffs were held there for years, but now NASA will be there for their nationals in the autumn

[Hazza]

CNN are reporting that AGR, Ganassi etc will be testing at Daytona International Speedway (Yes, THAT one...) later this year to see if it would make a suitable test venue...


...And if it would make a suitible test venue Barnhardt has stated that it'd be a bit of a waste just to test there...

How goddamn cool is that?

[Hazza]

And thoose who don't trust me on my word alone...

Originally Posted by CNN

Barnhart said the Ganassi, Andretti, Penske and Panther teams will test at Daytona on Sept. 26-27 to determine whether the track is suitable as a permanent IRL test site. If that works out, he said, a race at the high-banked NASCAR track would get serious consideration.

"Ultimately, I don't think we want to be looking at a facility just as a test facility," the IRL boss said. "If things go well in the first year of testing, then I would hope the league and the facility would have an eye toward racing there in the future."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

[Snips1]

Originally Posted by Hazza

And thoose who don't trust me on my word alone...



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

Thet are testing on the road course

[Tim Northcutt]

This articel ran in the Indy Star today...

If the tests go well, they may race ther in 2008

Here is the link

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...609200454/1052

[Tim Northcutt]

BTW....

If they do, it'll be on the road course and not the oval.

[drewdawg727]

Why do they need more road courses? IRL looks to be changing into yet another series where the ovals are slowly gonna be weeded out at this rate.

[Tim Northcutt]

The oval's 31-degree banks at full throttle would be too much G-Forces on the drivers and would be dangerous, so the Oval is not an option...

And I did not gather anything from Mr. Barnhart's statement that would imply that the IRL would drop an oval for the Daytona road course.

I think it will be an added date to the schedule, if it ever comes about.

IMO, I think it would make sense to do Daytona in or as part of Speedweeks in February....Daytona is a different market than Miami or Tampa/St. Pete...

[luke]

I read somewhere that open wheel racing was banned from using the oval since the '50s after a tragic accident. (Daytona)

The 19 round schedule above I very much doubt especially this season with just the 14 rounds. I think more realistically 17.

My guess is the Michigan speedway will be dropped in exchange for the Belle Isle street race. Down to attendnace as it had dropped each year and a street race is a certainty in terms of getting the fans to turn up as you're bringing the racin' to the fans. Wonder what layout it shall be. Ex CART layouts?