2025 IndyCar News / Misc

St. Pete and Detroit were both revived and reimagined and have done fine since. Edmonton also got some decent run.
I thought St. Pete was older than that. My mistake.

Detroit should have been left on Belle Isle. I can usually ignore the background scenery but the current circuit runs through some truly unattractive vistas. Overlooking that, I don't think it's as entertaining a race.
 
I thought St. Pete was older than that. My mistake.

Detroit should have been left on Belle Isle. I can usually ignore the background scenery but the current circuit runs through some truly unattractive vistas. Overlooking that, I don't think it's as entertaining a race.
St. Pete, like Dallas, can trace some lineage back to Trans-Am headliners in the 80’s and 90’s. But it was revived as an IndyCar event in the mid-2000’s. I’d say that one has actually become one of the marquee events on the calendar.

GM is moving out of the Ren. Cen. for a new HQ location about a mile away next year. Not sure how that’ll affect the race from 2026-onwards, but I definitely wouldn’t rule out another layout change.
 
I’m always jealous of your even keeled and well informed responses in the Indy Car threads ha ha, this is all well put, im usually emotional and first thought post kind of member. I just wish the series raced at 1-2 more ovals a year with not such big a gap in the start to the season, it’s a huge disservice that the first oval of the year is The 500. TMS slotted in so perfectly as an appetizer for the fans and casuals to May. It’s a shame we’re probably not getting TMS back anytime soon.
I’m with you, and would love to see them continue to race at Texas since they finally figured out the new surface after several years of trying. I have the same desire for a Chicagoland or Homestead type, with a cheese grater surface that would allow for good wheel-to-wheel without becoming a dangerous pack race. But there are some unfortunate realities when it comes to the economics and logistics of such events, not the least of which is who mostly owns those tracks now.
 
The Rangers and Cowboys are both official partners in the event, so that’s indeed a big deal. At 2.73 miles long it should be one of the longer circuits on the calendar - definitely the longest for a street venue.

 
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Okay, why? Do I not get it for the same reasons I don't understand why Michael Jordan is a big deal in NASCAR?

Thanks.
For one, it simply makes the race a lot more financially viable if Penske Entertainment is able to bring in co-promoters capable and willing to spend big money - in this case, one of them being the most valuable sporting franchise in the world. Needless to say, there’s also a ton of brand identity and reach built up between them, so when they do cross-promote IndyCar will be able to reach a lot more potential fans/attendees than they would on their own.

It also pretty much ensures this will actually be a well-organized and well-presented event, since those franchises and that district as a whole has a ton of experience in hosting major events like the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, College Football Playoff, concerts, and so on. So it won’t really be all that much like a standard fare IndyCar street course. Probably more similar to what you see at F1’s Miami Grand Prix.
 
IndyCar fans: We want more ovals!

IndyCar: Best we can do is a street race in Arlington, Texas.
They actively tried to keep racing at Texas in 2024! Hell, it was provisionally on the calendar until the NASCAR date got moved to the spring late in the process. I’m not sure any other oval stands out as something that could have an event put together in the near future, as unfortunate as that is.
 
2022 Indy Pro 2000 & 2024 Indy NXT champion Louis Foster signs with RLL. Good hire here, I was a bit worried both that RLL would have to take a pair of pay drivers and that Foster would end up a part-timer somewhere.

 
Cheaper to buy a ride here i guess
You can run a full season for somewhere in the $1-1.2M range, so quite a bit cheaper than trying to find anything competitive in Xfinity or even Trucks again. But after how unceremonious her NASCAR exit was, I’m not super surprised she decided to switch things up in general. It just didn’t seem like it was going to work out there at all.

Why not, there is a chance this will suit her better than NASCAR.
She has magnitudes more oval experience than everyone else she’ll be competing with, so I think she needs to do exceptionally well on those next year. I definitely wouldn’t expect her to compete right away on road and street courses. Most everyone else is coming in with at least a few years of single-seater experience and familiarity with the tracks. Even Chadwick took time to adjust when she moved over here, and she came from an actual single-seater background in Europe. So hopefully she’s given some grace.
 
After how abysmal her stock car racing career was, I would be surprised if Deegan is competing for wins in NXT. Hopefully she gets some good results on the ovals. What is her RC racing experience? She'll get destroyed by those guys who already have a bunch of left/right experience.
 
After how abysmal her stock car racing career was, I would be surprised if Deegan is competing for wins in NXT. Hopefully she gets some good results on the ovals. What is her RC racing experience? She'll get destroyed by those guys who already have a bunch of left/right experience.
Everything she’s done so far on paved road courses has been on the NASCAR ladder, plus a few spot starts in IMSA GT4 machinery through Ford. She’ll be behind the eight ball for sure, but she’ll now at least be in a series that offers multiple practice sessions each weekend. Making the transition to Trucks as COVID came and essentially wiped out the typical NASCAR race weekend only hurt her development. There should generally be fewer incidents for her to get caught up in too.
 
Won the FIA F3 championship in 2021 against an unspectacular field, spent the past three years in F2 where he never really competed for the championship but won a handful of races. Got dropped from the Red Bull Junior Team after 2023. This is a nice landing spot for him to rebuild his confidence though. I’m not so sure the NXT grid will be anything special next year so I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins it right away.

 
McLaren will use their driver evaluation test day on the younger Fittipaldi brother later this month at Thermal. A bit amusing that McLaren need to qualify this part…

For removal of doubt, our 2025 lineup is firm with Pato, Nolan and Christian.

 
Shwartzman to Prema!
Pretty surprised about this, I thought they'd go with someone more experienced.
Shwartzman has won in everything he’s raced in and very well could’ve been in F1 if things broke a little differently. It’ll be a tough learning curve with a brand new team and driver together, but they have a lot of talent between them. And between Ilott and Shwartzman both, it’s a good indicator for the series that a couple of youngsters walked away from very healthy factory sports car roles much closer to home to come do this.
 
Sports Business Journal is suggesting that Penske might be trying to purchase the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach from Gerry Forsythe even though Forsythe vowed to keep it an Indycar event forever. There must be a back story. What is motivating Roger to consider the purchase?

 
What is motivating Roger to consider the purchase?
Currently it's the only venue in SoCal hosting national touring auto series (IndyCAR and IMSA). Remember, Roger was the original owner and builder of Fontana. He could see owning another SoCal asset as a decent investment.

=IF= Roger =is= interested in adding NASCAR, it wouldn't necessarily be at the expense of the other series. Personally, I don't think the layout would be a good fit for those heavier cars. I'm sure someone has run them on iRacing or a simulator but I don't know the results.

The tin foil crowd might scream he's trying to go full-on France family and this is the start of him buying every circuit on the IndyCar schedule. :whoopee:
 
Sports Business Journal is suggesting that Penske might be trying to purchase the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach from Gerry Forsythe even though Forsythe vowed to keep it an Indycar event forever. There must be a back story. What is motivating Roger to consider the purchase?

I wonder if NASCAR is still trying to make inroads with Forsythe and possibly make him an offer he can’t refuse, and Penske is trying to defend against that. Though as you said, Gerry has for many years - and especially after buying the other stake this year - reiterated it’ll always be an IndyCar event.

I think generally speaking, though, Penske Entertainment also seem to be increasingly interested in having some sort of ownership or promotional stake in events on the IndyCar calendar and taking over the crown jewel street event could be the next big leap for them.
 
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