IndyCar 2021 schedule shakeup

AndyMarquisLive

AndyMarquisLive

I love short track racing (Taylor's Version)
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IndyCar heading for a schedule shake-up in 2021

There is going to be an oval race prior to the 105th Indianapolis 500, but another oval has been erased from the 2021 IndyCar schedule without ever turning a wheel and a popular short track is high…
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Penske's turning INDYCAR into CART.
 
Horrible schedule. Why not some of these (like 2-3 of them)?

- Pocono? (New aeroscreen makes it safer)
- New Hampshire? (Why not Musket 200 weekend?)
- Milwaukee Mile? (Pair it with the late model race that they get a solid crowd for)
- Kansas/Miami/Phoenix maybe again? (Seriously Roger can't make a deal with ISC to do SOMETHING?)
- Gateway doubleheader? (They already did this?)
- Iowa? (Who knows what's going on?)
- Chicago/Kentucky??? (Is this getting bulldozed or why not IndyCar?)

Also Nashville Superspeedway is viable if the street race ends up going under?
 
AuzGrams said:
Horrible schedule. Why not some of these (like 2-3 of them)?

- Pocono? (New aeroscreen makes it safer)
- New Hampshire? (Why not Musket 200 weekend?)
- Milwaukee Mile? (Pair it with the late model race that they get a solid crowd for)
- Kansas/Miami/Phoenix maybe again? (Seriously Roger can't make a deal with ISC to do SOMETHING?)
- Gateway doubleheader? (They already did this?)
- Iowa? (Who knows what's going on?)
- Chicago/Kentucky??? (Is this getting bulldozed or why not IndyCar?)

Also Nashville Superspeedway is viable if the street race ends up going under?
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I have a feeling Chicagoland is getting bulldozed. Kentucky, IDK. I thought that place was doing well.
 
I doubt it is anything intentional. You hitch your wagon to two families that control most of the ovals in this country and there’s not much you can do when they start shutting places down or throwing away contracts.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I doubt it is anything intentional. You hitch your wagon to two families that control most of the ovals in this country and there’s not much you can do when they start shutting places down or throwing away contracts.
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Yet Roger takes a backseat for the Brickyard RC race, and ISC isn't willing to offer them a race or 2?

Work with Pocono, work with the Dover Motorsports tracks (Nashville, Dover maybe?), go back to Milwaukee during their late model weekend.

I've never understood why they can't make New Hampshire work, personally. They already are going to Texas which is SMI.
 
AuzGrams said:
Yet Roger takes a backseat for the Brickyard RC race, and ISC isn't willing to offer them a race or 2?

Work with Pocono, work with the Dover Motorsports tracks (Nashville, Dover maybe?), go back to Milwaukee during their late model weekend.

I've never understood why they can't make New Hampshire work, personally. They already are going to Texas which is SMI.
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The Brickyard weekend probably works out well for the series with Cup being there. Roger has wanted a third IndyCar race at IMS since he bought it, and piggybacking off of NASCAR probably ensures a much larger crowd than a random standalone weekend not in May. After all, butts in seats are what pay the bills, not TV. I don’t think he had much leverage there.

If you believe KodiakRusty there’s still mutual interest between Pocono and IndyCar. In a post-COVID world maybe they want themselves another race weekend if NASCAR continues to take just one. Whatever the situation is there is odd because even last year when they revealed the 2020 schedule Miles said Pocono was on it as recently as two or three days before, and then somehow it wasn’t?

Andretti tried and tried and tried to make Milwaukee work but it just never did. Yet those same people show up in droves at Road America. Idk. That place basically is what it is at this point.

It depends on what individual track promoters want in a lot of these cases. I don’t think any top senior leaders at SMI or NASCAR care about holding IndyCar events. I give him and his track a lot of ****, but Texas works strictly because Eddie Gossage has a strong interest in making IndyCar work there. Steve Page was open about how IndyCar was a money loser at Sonoma but they made it work out of personal interest, until Laguna Seca came calling back. If it weren’t for the big NASCAR TV payout they probably wouldn’t be able to take that loss every year, which is why Kentucky and Chicagoland are basically non-starters now.
 
IndyCar races at speedways were fun to watch most of the time. They should run a couple more races at 1.5ers and return to Michigan or Pocono.
I was hoping they'd go to Fontana for one final race before the reconfiguration.
 
FLRacingFan said:
The Brickyard weekend probably works out well for the series with Cup being there. Roger has wanted a third IndyCar race at IMS since he bought it, and piggybacking off of NASCAR probably ensures a much larger crowd than a random standalone weekend not in May. After all, butts in seats are what pay the bills, not TV. I don’t think he had much leverage there.

If you believe KodiakRusty there’s still mutual interest between Pocono and IndyCar. In a post-COVID world maybe they want themselves another race weekend if NASCAR continues to take just one. Whatever the situation is there is odd because even last year when they revealed the 2020 schedule Miles said Pocono was on it as recently as two or three days before, and then somehow it wasn’t?

Andretti tried and tried and tried to make Milwaukee work but it just never did. Yet those same people show up in droves at Road America. Idk. That place basically is what it is at this point.

It depends on what individual track promoters want in a lot of these cases. I don’t think any top senior leaders at SMI or NASCAR care about holding IndyCar events. I give him and his track a lot of ****, but Texas works strictly because Eddie Gossage has a strong interest in making IndyCar work there. Steve Page was open about how IndyCar was a money loser at Sonoma but they made it work out of personal interest, until Laguna Seca came calling back. If it weren’t for the big NASCAR TV payout they probably wouldn’t be able to take that loss every year, which is why Kentucky and Chicagoland are basically non-starters now.
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I'd be interested to see what Milwaukee could do if they did a doubleheader with the ASA Midwest Tour late model race, seemed like they had a pretty big crowd for it in 2019(?) I want to say. I think Roger would be a better promoter than Andretti but who knows.

Iowa has been rumored to be for sale? I have no clue what's going on there. I think a doubleheader weekend at Gateway & Iowa would help the oval situation.

Maybe these are Covid economy issues and they can rebound in 2022 because my interest is a little low at IndyCar road courses sometimes.
 
AuzGrams said:
Yet Roger takes a backseat for the Brickyard RC race, and ISC isn't willing to offer them a race or 2?

Work with Pocono, work with the Dover Motorsports tracks (Nashville, Dover maybe?), go back to Milwaukee during their late model weekend.

I've never understood why they can't make New Hampshire work, personally. They already are going to Texas which is SMI.
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Lol watch the highlights of Indycar at Dover and you'll see why they will never be back.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I doubt it is anything intentional. You hitch your wagon to two families that control most of the ovals in this country and there’s not much you can do when they start shutting places down or throwing away contracts.
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That seems highly improper. Its weird how someone who competes within the series owns basically every race track you go to.

Kind of a bit like Ferrari having such huge leverage in F1.
 
AuzGrams said:
I'd be interested to see what Milwaukee could do if they did a doubleheader with the ASA Midwest Tour late model race, seemed like they had a pretty big crowd for it in 2019(?) I want to say. I think Roger would be a better promoter than Andretti but who knows.

Iowa has been rumored to be for sale? I have no clue what's going on there. I think a doubleheader weekend at Gateway & Iowa would help the oval situation.

Maybe these are Covid economy issues and they can rebound in 2022 because my interest is a little low at IndyCar road courses sometimes.
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They did have over 6,000 for the Midwest Tour last year, but that probably isn’t enough of an indicator to appeal to any major series and it lacks any sort of municipal support too. That was the first race there in five years so it seems most people consider the Mile damaged goods now.

If Iowa really isn’t happening, it would look like NASCAR is shuttering it or looking to offload it. The doubleheader this year was already a rental weekend by IndyCar so that itself isn’t promising. I believe the other tracks this year still paid a sanctioning fee, albeit at a significant discount.

It’s certainly possible some of this is COVID-induced and only time will tell for sure. One positive to keep in mind is that the Nashville street race was a prospect for years, and it finally got worked out and signed off on within a year of Penske owning the series.
 
Reck said:
That seems highly improper. Its weird how someone who competes within the series owns basically every race track you go to.

Kind of a bit like Ferrari having such huge leverage in F1.
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It may have looked different if Penske had held onto his tracks instead of selling them to ISC. Not Rockingham, but it’s possible we’d still have Michigan, Auto Club, and Nazareth. But hard not to take advantage of what ISC was willing to pay back then when they and SMI were trying to buy everything up.
 
FLRacingFan said:
It may have looked different if Penske had held onto his tracks instead of selling them to ISC. Not Rockingham, but it’s possible we’d still have Michigan, Auto Club, and Nazareth. But hard not to take advantage of what ISC was willing to pay back then when they and SMI were trying to buy everything up.
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Never bring up Nazareth around me.

It hurts to see that track rot away like that.
 
  • No lowa or COTA
  • Richmond gets taken off without even getting a chance to host
  • Texas Doubleheader sounds awful if it’s the same as the last two races there
  • Nashville is going to be another awful street course that won’t last
  • Indy doesn’t need two RC races honestly
Honestly not a big fan of the schedule. Half of it is pretty good and the other is meh
 
Should of worked with NASCAR and been part of the same Road America weekend
 
IMSA and IndyCar having separate weekends, one week apart, at Detroit is...odd. Would like to know what the rationale there is.

Mid-Ohio and Road America hosting on the same weekend isn’t good. Kinda miffed that NBC can’t carve out two hours during the Olympics somewhere to put Mid-Ohio where it usually is. A fair number of people would go to both events if they could.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Anyone checked this schedule against NASCAR's top series' schedules yet?

9 out of 17 on NBC's broadcast network, for those of you with no NBCSN access.
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March 7 - St. Pete/Las Vegas
April 18 - Long Beach/Richmond
May 2 - Texas/Kansas
June 13 - Detroit/Texas ASR
June 20 - Road America/Nashville
July 4 - Mid-Ohio/Road America
July 11 - Toronto/Atlanta
August 8 - Nashville/Watkins Glen

I don’t think many of those should conflict.
 
I try not to complain much and try to be an upbeat member of these parts but this schedule leaves me uninspired. I'm bummed Indy Car couldnt find a few races at Kentucky, Chicagoland, Iowa, Phoenix, Michigan, Richmond and so forth.... Im kinda over the street courses for this series too at least go to cool ones like Cleveland Airport like CART used to. I still think they are worried about how long the Rona is going to linger too with the amount of Double headers and Indianapolis getting 3! races. All in all I wish this series had 2-3 more ovals on it. While people pine for Milwaukee Mile to come back ( It's Indy Car's North Wilkesboro to the fans) I wish Cleveland Burke Lakefront Aiport would come back!
 
rd45usa said:
Sounds like it came down to budgets for next year on the loss of some tracks.


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All tracks that lost major events this year.

Especially COTA losing absolutely everything, including the biggest of them all in the U.S. GP. It makes sense in light of the the fact that SMI leased the track for the NASCAR weekend next year and will be promoting and operating the event. That place is strapped for cash and I can’t imagine them being able to host F1 much longer.
 
FLRacingFan said:
March 7 - St. Pete/Las Vegas
April 18 - Long Beach/Richmond
May 2 - Texas/Kansas
June 13 - Detroit/Texas ASR
June 20 - Road America/Nashville
July 4 - Mid-Ohio/Road America
July 11 - Toronto/Atlanta
August 8 - Nashville/Watkins Glen

I don’t think many of those should conflict.
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Oh, I wasn't worried about conflicts. I was hoping for double-headers!

Hey, Roger! Put Darlington on the schedule!! :XXROFL:
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Oh, I wasn't worried about conflicts. I was hoping for double-headers!

Hey, Roger! Put Darlington on the schedule!! :XXROFL:
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Ahhh. I’d bet Trucks will be back with them at Gateway, the Brickyard doubleheader is there in August, the Trucks at Texas stayed with the All-Star weekend.

Them splitting the Detroit weekend into two is weird and I kinda have a feeling they might try Xfinity or Truck there but that’s just pure speculation.

Oh, and I still think NASCAR needs to bring a series back to Portland too.
 
Two races on the Indianapolis road course and a doubleheader on the worst big oval track? No Iowa? I think this is one of the worst schedules IndyCar has ever had
 
The TrackSide Online folks are saying they’ve heard rumors Iowa has been bought or is being bought, not by Penske, but there’s nothing available as far as public record yet. I suppose we’ll hear soon enough if anything has in fact gone down there.

I didn’t hear this until today but apparently there were rumblings of them going to the Daytona road course too. Obviously that didn’t happen, but it sounds like it was discussed and perhaps tabled until the future.

Essentially some stuff fell apart, mostly out of their control, and some contingencies were ready to go (second races at Texas and Indy road) and some weren’t. I don’t think Roger Penske has a beef against ovals suddenly.
 
Ironically they decide on some street race in Nashville, when Nashville Superspeedway pops out of the woodwork, capable and ready to host an IndyCar race (probably single file, but still an oval none the less).

Seriously, can we have Pocono, Richmond, Iowa, New Hampshire, and maybe even Phoenix or Milwaukee or Nashville SS (street race pending) come 2022??
 
If/when Iowa is sold, it sounds like it will come with a ton of debt. Penske would rather lease the track for a weekend than buy it himself. Gateway doubleheader and 2022 appearances from Kentucky/Chicagoland aren’t off the table.

 
I really wouldn't mind Chicago & Kentucky as Xfinity/Truck/ARCA standalone facilities along with an IndyCar date..... seems like MAYBE that could keep them afloat.

Both series need some sort of identity/difference from the Cup Series & IndyCar needs ovals badly.
 
I lost interest in this sport once Wheldon died. He wasn't my driver but I always felt the ovals produced the best racing. Hoping they'll be at the new Auto Club in 2022 and I've always wanted to see these cars at Martinsville
 
RacerrecaR said:
I lost interest in this sport once Wheldon died. He wasn't my driver but I always felt the ovals produced the best racing. Hoping they'll be at the new Auto Club in 2022 and I've always wanted to see these cars at Martinsville
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I'd love to see something like that but I don't see them ever going to a half mile. I'd love to be wrong.
 
Looks like no more Freedom 100.

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