The IRL's schedule

The IRL’s new schedule looks pretty good to me, but for the fact that – after following the series, um, seriously since 2002 – the number of oval races is diminishing and the quantity of road and street courses is going up. I would also have liked to see more races than the 18 on the schedule as it stands – with the caveat “subject to change.”

You would think that, after working in CART since the ‘80s, I’d be more in tune with the latter discipline than the former, but I love watching the Indy cars get it on when they’re turning left. There’s a level of high-paced adrenaline and the chess games, at 30-40 mph more than those popular NASCAR tin-tops that is awesome.

Still, I applaud the Indy Racing League in changing it around and putting Homestead at the rear and St Pete up front of the lineup for next year. As Curtis Gray of HMS put it, the track and the city are accustomed to hosting big shows. The greater Miami area can handle a lot of activity and, with at least 10 drivers IndyCar Series making this Gold Coast their home, it’s appropriate. That track never worked as a season opener but the other side of the peninsula sure will.

Thank goodness there will be an as-planned date in my hometown of Long Beach, as this city really gets behind the event and is, after all, the prototype for street races, hitting its 35th anniversary in the process next year. If you’ve never been, Long Beach is one of those rites of passage that becomes necessary as a check-off.

Finally, the series gets into ovals at Kansas the last weekend of April and segues into the year of May, one rite of passage I love every year. Sure it takes forever, but the intrigue of seeing who’s hot and who’s not and when, well, that’s what’s so great about it.

And no matter how much I admire Eddie Gossage and love his Texas Motor Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile is a traditional stop for the Indy cars after Indianapolis. Let’s keep it that way, particularly since MM management has decided it’s better to promote than sit on their hands, leading to better fan attendance at this historic mile-long oval track.

Of course I would have liked to see the return of the Cleveland race that was so popular with CART/Champ Car fans and teams alike, if not the media. The hike from media center in the terminal at Burke Lakefront Airport has always separated those who are in shape from those who are not. The track layout is awesome – Edmonton copied it superbly for their use and that venue has been successful – and will continue, which is good news.

The lack of a race at Nashville Superspeedway is sad – and due to a distinct lack of promotion, despite the protestations of the track’s general manager Cliff Hawks – but not nearly so deplorable as the IRL’s decision last year to forego a contest at Michigan International Speedway. MIS, one should recall, was built for the Indy cars and, with support series on the docket drew plenty of fans.

That was the problem with MIS – they didn’t have any support races for the IRL and nobody bothered to show up and watch a single show that happened late in the afternoon. The only good thing about that race in Michigan was no traffic problems getting in and out. The hotels still gouged like it was a Cup date, but nobody came.

So the Indy Racing League goes on with a good mix of short, medium and large ovals, road and street circuits for its 18-race schedule in 2009. Unfortunately, there’s not a 2-mile oval on that schedule because MIS and Auto Club Speedway at Fontana aren’t included. Both fell off the docket due to a lack of interest by owner ISC, which also happens to manage some other circuits where the League races, notably Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

SMI would have liked to have more than their trio of tracks on the schedule (Texas, Kentucky and Infineon) but the IRL “couldn’t find the right date” for New Hampshire and wanted to race on the parking lot road course at Las Vegas, rather than the 1.5-mile oval where they’ve competed before. What makes them think that Gossage and Bruton – as well as son Marcus – Smith would have neglected the necessary promotions to make both of those ovals work well for the League? These are some of the best, very best promoters in the racing business.

When it was announced Andretti Green Promotions were buying the Toronto Indy contract, it was a given the IRL would return to that Canadian city, especially since Michael Andretti has won seven races on those city streets. He also has a favorite sushi restaurant near the venue and likely missed it. AGP have shown their ability to promote and conduct races – St Pete has been theirs since day one – and should be good with this race, as well, especially since the infrastructure is already in place and the fans are rabid. What more could they possibly want?

What more could we want? Well, I’d like to see 20 races, with the season starting much earlier than the first week in April. And I’d like to see the inclusion of the oval at Vegas and, perhaps, New Hampshire. But then, I’d also like to see Cleveland and Portland, OR back on the schedule, which would mean getting rid of a couple of events that don’t draw the world to the IRL’s doorstep.

Enough of this rant! At least the mechanics will have a few weekends off once the summer grind begins, for once, rather than having to put up with six straight weekends on the road as they have this year. That’s tough on camaraderie – see Andretti Green Racing – and equally hard on marriages.

Life will go on and, hopefully, the IRL will succeed with this new schedule. It has some good points to it but, as Terry Angstadt regularly said during Wednesday’s teleconference, “It’s not perfect.”

© 2008 Anne Proffit