IndyCar

2016 IndyCar calendar: Road America, Phoenix and Boston added

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  • #307851

    IndyCar has announced its 2016 calendar which starts earlier in the year, finishes later, and sees three events swapped for new locations.

    Perhaps the biggest surprise is the disappearance of MOLA Motorsport Park in Louisiana which was a new addition to the calendar this year, though its first race was blighted by heavy rain. The poorly-attended round at Fontana has also gone, along with the Milwaukee Mile event.

    The best news is surely the return of the fabulous Road America course, while IndyCar also returns to another venue for the CART glory days: Phoenix. Finally there is also a brand-new event for 2016 on the streets of Boston, which will be the penultimate race of the year.

    13 March – St. Petersburg
    2 April – Phoenix International Raceway
    17 April – Long Beach
    24 April – Barber Motorsports Park
    14 May – Grand Prix of Indianapolis
    29 May – Indianapolis 500
    4 June – Belle Isle, Detroit
    5 June – Belle Isle, Detroit
    11 June – Texas Motor Speedway
    26 June – Road America
    10 July – Iowa Speedway
    17 July – Toronto
    31 July – Mid-Ohio
    21 August – Pocono
    4 September – Boston
    18 September – Sonoma Raceway

    For those keeping count, the 2016 16 calendar features six street races (two of which are Detroit’s double-header), five road courses and five ovals.

    #307861
    R.J. O’Connell
    Participant

    Going back to Barber next year hoping to see Newgarden win again. Maybe a full weekend instead of just a Sunday afternoon and evening.

    #307862
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Do we know already which races will have Double Points?

    #307908
    VMaxMuffin
    Participant

    I’m excited to see Phoenix and Road America added, and Boston could be good too, but disappointed to see the loss of some of the other events for different reasons:

    Milwaukee – the track has a lot of history with IndyCar and it produces great short oval racing. The 2 races I’ve watched at it have been great so I’m sorry to see it go. IndyCar should be learning from F1’s mistakes and be doing more to protect its heritage.

    Fontana – IndyCar thrives on big ovals. Ovals are where the sport came from and there, where the cars are averaging way over 200mph per lap and are dicing for position, is where the series is most unique. On road/street courses it’s like a slower version of F1 using heavier cars. Don’t get me wrong, I love the road racing in the IndyCar too, but I think that they need to be keeping big ovals like Fontana for the variety. It’s also worth noting that poor attendance has been partly due to it being slap bang in the middle of South Californian summer. Who do you know who likes sitting still in an uncovered grandstand for hours on end in the middle of the Californian summer? No one! So push the race further towards late September/October.

    NOLA – it’s sad to see an event go after only one attempt. There were teething problems and the event had lots of rain, but surely they should have given it another go. I don’t really see why it isn’t being given a second shot.

    On another note, I think IndyCar needs more ovals in general. Every year they make a big deal of having a great mix of road, street and oval tracks – usually having no more than a difference of one between the number of each type – but in reality I think they’re cheating here. They should be counting the road and street courses as one unit – aiming for 8 road/street and 8 ovals or something like that. Maybe, due to the fact that IndyCar seems to like road racing, they should have something like 5 road courses, 4 street courses and 6 ovals (to maintain 15 events). But the oval category needs to be bigger because that’s the sport’s heritage and its unique feature. Bring IndyCar to Michigan instead of Fontana (seeing as California has 2 other Indycar events) as it’s also a 2 mile oval. Also consider bringing IndyCar to “NASCAR country” in the South and East coasts – maybe Charlotte, North Carolina (1.5mi similar to Texas Motor Speedway), Atlanta, Georgia (also similar to TMS) Darlington, South Carolina (1 and a bit mi egg-shaped oval), Homestead-Miami, Florida (1.5 mile “regularly shaped oval”) and so on. There are lots of NASCAR oval racing fans here that IndyCar should try to reach out to. Maybe they could even negotiate running at a Sprint Cup event? There’s also been mention of bringing back Gateway in Illinois which I think would be a great track to run at. So, bring on the ovals!

    #307911
    Craig Woollard
    Participant

    @keisalex Hopefully a total of zero of them.

    As for the calendar, it is very sad to see Fontana and Milwaukee go, especially after the races it produced this year. However I simply don’t think that Fontana could have got that season-ending slot that it wanted. Interestingly enough there’s no clash with Le Mans, which might play into the hands of a particular Penske driver who has a test with Porsche later this year. I couldn’t care less about NOLA. It didn’t seem that great wet or dry.

    I’m very excited to see Road America and Phoenix on the calendar, and nobody knows what Boston will produce. I do like the variation in the circuits visited. We have 15 very different tracks being used next year, and not a Tilkedrome in sight.

    In my ideal world, we would have 20 races, five on road courses, street courses, short ovals and big ovals, spread across a season between March and October. We don’t quite have that, but at least it’s less compact than last year.

    #307919
    SP
    Participant

    Milwaukee wasn’t very well attended, and the promoter moved on. They couldn’t find a replacement. For whatever reason it doesn’t draw as well as it used to. Wouldn’t have been helped by Road America being nearby and the State Fair occupying the site in August, making a good date difficult to find. To be honest the racing hasn’t been that great there in recent years, the corners only have one groove that works. Phoenix should be a lot better based on Dixon’s comments after testing.

    Fontana wanted a late night race, but that would mean crowning the Indycar champion at 1am EST and harming the TV numbers (IIRC there was also some disagreement on the sanctioning fee).

    As for other ovals, they’ve been talking to Gateway (which is in Missouri, by the way) and 2017 seems likely. With ISC (Nascar) owning most of the ovals in the country, it’s extremely difficult to get a race at places like Michigan. I don’t think there’s a huge fan crossover either (Nascar always outdrew Indycar at Fontana).

    #307954
    Iestyn Davies
    Participant

    Not surprised that NOLA was dropped; good additions in Phoenix and Road America for Milwaukee. If Boston runs into trouble, would they try and renegotiate with Fontana? It’s a shame they can’t do an event at Laguna Seca given their restrictions (and they lost MotoGP). Or Mexico a little early, before the next F1 race?

    The calendar does need to be expanded really, which is happening for 2017 (Mexico, Gateway), but it would be nice to see Indycar venture back to Brazil or Australia as well (although the cost might be prohibitive), once they feel strong enough that the TV ratings are moving back in the right direction.

    They should pick up some good support there with Castroneves, Kanaan, Dixon, Power & Briscoe, while if Montoya wins at Le Mans to complete the triple crown, that will be another source of good PR (which would have been boosted further by being the Indycar champion, if not for double points).

    #307997
    Joey-Poey
    Participant

    It’s sad to see Milwaukee go. It’s good to see some variety in the tracks they race and being a short, flat oval, it was unique on the schedule. But as has been said: if the money isn’t there, there’s not much you can do.

    Fontana? Good riddance. I’m sorry, but that track is too dangerous for the cars now. I hope this is a sign that they’ve learned their lesson and are avoiding pack racing ovals. The only reason a death happened at Pocono instead of Fontana is sheer dumb luck.

    As for NOLA leaving, it was frankly more of a club course than a place for Indycar. There was nothing distinct about the circuit and there isn’t a huge motorsports culture down there as far as I know. It’s not a big loss.

    As for the additions, I hope Phoenix will help fill the hole that Milwaukee left, but I doubt it will with it’s currently layout. The old Phoenix was more flat and tricky. I think this will be more akin to someplace like Iowa. not my cup of tea, but hey, at least it has some history with Indy. Road America: I hate driving it in iRacing, but it’s puts on GREAT racing, so good to see it return. It’s about time. Though, will they be running the chicane version? That kink before the kettle bottoms is *scary*. And as for Boston, ATTENTION iRACING: GET THIS ONE. It’s in your back yard, for goodness sake! And they’ve already got licensing deals with Indycar, so one can hope they’ll get a new streetcourse on the service “soon.”

    #307998
    VMaxMuffin
    Participant

    @joey-poey the racing we saw at Fontana was due to some stuff with the aero rules that I believe they would have done something to fix. If you look at the races before last year’s new aero kits it was not pack-style racing.

    As for Road America, I’m pretty sure they’re running without the chicane. They tested that way at least.

    #308016
    MatK77
    Participant

    …they’ve been talking to Gateway (which is in Missouri, by the way)

    I thought it was over the river, in Madison?

    As @vmaxmuffin said, they could have tweaked the aero to fix the pack racing at Fontana we saw this year, the temperature change caught everyone off guard.

    I can’t say I was fond of the NOLA track, and after this debacle I can’t say I’m surprised it’s gone.

    So Milwaukee is gone again – no great surprise now that Andretti is having legal difficulties with his own marketing company. Even with his help, promotion was poor outside of the five counties. In the last couple of years the crowd was at least as good as Pocono – if not better – and certainly leagues ahead of Fontana. I don’t doubt it’ll be back at some point, this has happened before. The same nostalgic wave that returned Road America and Phoenix to the calendar (both with less than stellar crowd numbers last go-around) will give the Mile another chance in a few years time. I just hope people show up at the new venues. I was at the test last month and the attendance was encouraging, and I can confirm they weren’t using the chicane.

    I was planning on making the trip to Boston, but things may not be sitting on solid ground out there: Boston Herald article

    The series’ momentum looked positive for a while, but now I’m not so sure.

    #308076
    SP
    Participant

    These things are always more complicated than they look on the surface… Indycar took the time to talk to other parties about promoting the event, but they also have constraints to work under. They can’t schedule the event in June because of Detroit and Road America, and they can’t have it in August because the State Fair has exclusive use of the site. The only other good month is July, which has 3 races in it already.

    I recall that Milwaukee’s owner, the state of Wisconsin, got rid of the previous promoter around 2010 forcing the cancellation of the event that year. Andretti Sports Marketing took over and were given a sanctioning fee discount. ABC Supply shifted their financial backing entirely to Pocono for 2016, which I’m sure had some effect.

    Andretti sold his interest in ASM. The new company is named after his former co-owners Taylor and Lopes.

    As for Boston, some of the roads are owned by the state and not the city. So another layer of bureaucracy to go through. This isn’t Azerbaijan where one guy can push through an F1 race. What Boston does have in its favour is corporate sponsorship (LogMeIn was announced as the presenting sponsor for example) and the support of the city’s mayor. Since there are 10-11 months for the track to be completed (which Tony Cotman’s firm is working on) I wouldn’t panic just yet.

    Not sure I agree on Phoenix having poor attendance. It wasn’t packed compared to Nascar, but the removal was rather sudden in 2006. Jay Frye negotiated a much better deal for the track compared to the offer made in 2012 by Indycar under different leadership. An April night race is something fans have been interested in for a while, and it’s a major market without any existing races nearby (unlike Fontana / Long Beach).

    What is also notable about the 2016 schedule is continuity for existing events and date equity. The majority of the races are on multi-year deals. St Petersburg will be on its 12th consecutive running. Phoenix has a multi-year deal in place for Saturday April 2nd with Indy Lights running in support. Long Beach will host its 42nd running and continues to have a packed support card. Barber Motorsports Park is signed through 2017, 2016 will be the 7th Indycar race there. Texas is also on the same date as before, hosting its 27th Indycar race. Toronto goes back to its traditional July date in 2016 (it had to be moved for 2015 due to the Pan-Am Games), and has 30 years of history now. Iowa remains on the same weekend in July, coming up on its 10th running. Etc.

    #319506

    With the Boston race cancelled it now seems IndyCar will go to Watkins Glen instead:

    No complaints here about that, it’s a belting circuit. However the possibility of a post-season non-championship race in China has ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ written all over it:

    #319507
    VMaxMuffin
    Participant

    I don’t understand* why they don’t look at a return to Surfers Paradise. I think they would be welcomed back with open arms (it was a great event, and there’s also Queenslander Will Power who is at the top of his game in the series), and while the original circuit is sadly no longer an option, the current shortened circuit is still an awesome track and it’s a comparable length to other street circuits on the calendar like St Petersburg and Toronto.

    *OK, yes it’s a money thing, but really if they can go to China, they can go to Australia. And I’d be surprised if there were more fans in China, even given the larger population.

    Also, RE Watkins Glen – awesome! I’m honestly surprised they’re going there, I thought they wouldn’t consider the safety up to scratch (particularly at the top of the esses), but I’m glad I was wrong.

    #319509
    R.J. O’Connell
    Participant

    Reminds me of the Champ Car GP of Korea that was attempted three times from 2004-06 and failed each time. Thanks OWRS.

    #319525
    Atticus
    Participant

    A top-category open-wheeler on The Glen is stupid fast, especially with the recent repave – and that’s not a complaint either. The Glen is one of the top 5 best race tracks in the world.

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