Yea I'm with you. I'd be happy if Michigan, Texas, Gateway, Milwaukee, Iowa, Richmond, Phoenix and Indianapolis were ovals on the schedule.I figure you get a variety with that in terms of 4 super speedways, 3 short tracks, and an intermediate with Phoenix. The rest can be road courses, real road courses. Not a fan of the street circuit really.
Newgarden and Rossi are a start. They could really have an awesome rivalary, Indy Car isn't just ovals anymore. Sam Hornish was great in IRL and it did zilch to put that series on the map. The next great American Indy Car driver will have to race and win on the variety of Indy Tracks, as well as maybe race in the Rolex 24, take a stab at F1 and maybe do a little NASCAR.
I really hope Roger can be convinced to keep Helio in IndyCar, because the performance is obviously still there. I know he wants a big name along with JPM to jumpstart the IMSA program but he truly does have IndyCar time left in him.
Munoz for sure. I fear he might be done with IndyCar entirely after this.
Budget is his problem. His family money ran out, and he's not really impressive enough to get a big sponsor or OEM to back him. Not a problem with Foyt's longstanding ABC sponsorship, but I don't know where else he could find that.
Whatever oval advantage they'd have they lose on road courses and street circuits, so it'd be a wash. The difference in skill set required to be good in an Indy car on an oval and on a road course is huge, I mean there are guys who will only race on ovals and only on road courses within the series itself.
If they went back to Homestead I'd be there in a heartbeat. Been hoping for that one to return for a while.
I kick myself in the ass, really should have went to Gateway this year. Next year for sure, it's been a bit since I attended an Indy Car race
I liked Fontana but kind of want them to steer away from the big tracks until they get 8 or so ovals that are stable to where they could experiment with other ovals, street circuits or road courses ( Cleveland, Edmonton, Portland hello)
Interesting articles, I really hope Sage Karam gets another shot. I thought he had so much potential
Always a fun race there, was never bored that's for sure.
What I like about IndyCar drivers is that they participate elsewhere a solid amount. You usually see them at the Rolex, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans, and they're starting to go back to Le Mans too. Overprotective sponsors and team owners ruined NASCAR stars running in the Rolex (and the Indy 500 for that matter).
lol, Those are literally the three road/street circuits I want to see back on the calendar the most. Especially Cleveland and Portland.
Yea Indy Car ends early enough and the schedule has enough off weekends where a driver could run other series with no problem, getting out there for exposure would be a good thing. A lot of the Indy guys run the Rolex which is cool.
I loved the Airport circuit in Cleveland so much, Burke Lakefront airport right?
Yep, that's the one. There's never been anything else like it, not even close.
Back in 2015 a big sponsor approached the guy who used to promote back in the 80's and early 90's, asking if he'd be willing to do it again. He wasn't and referred them to Roger Penske, who also declined because he already has the Belle Isle doubleheader on his hands. I don't think discussions went anywhere else after that, but it's good to know someone big out there was interested in reviving it not too long ago. Finding a capable promoter can be difficult though.
We'll find out on Friday, but it's supposed to be someone big who's bringing in the range of $18-20 million through 2020. A lot of what I've heard about Zach is that he spends a lot of time hanging out at the track and is involved in a lot of stuff you might not necessarily see (coaching, radio commentary, etc.) so it sounds like he just networked his ass off. We'll see though.
18-20 mil? That's gotta be a big time recognizable sponsor.
TK is supposed to be going to Foyt. No one really knows about Max, except that he's not going to be back with CGR. A lot of people speculate he could help bring Carlin up to IndyCar, since he ran British F3/GP2/Indy Lights with them and the team is part of the group that his dad is CEO of.
Hartley was a Mercedes F1 reserve driver right? I'm pretty sure he was. Is Rosenqvist that good haven't seen him race ever
