As expected, the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule added three different tracks to the calendar and extended the season by five weeks, so that it now concludes in mid-September.
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March 13 Streets of St. Petersburg ABC 12:30 p.m. The season opener will be March 13, 16 days earlier than 2015, while the season finale will be run September 18, almost three weeks later than last season.
The moves go a few way toward addressing criticism that IndyCar’s compressed season – mainly meant to avoid competing with the National Football League on television in the fall – kept the series out of the spotlight for too long and placed too much burden on mechanics and other team personnel.
Neither Igdalsky nor Mark Miles, IndyCar’s CEO, would say whether Pocono is paying a smaller sanctioning fee to host next year’s race. There hasn’t been better motor racing than what we’ve seen out of IndyCar over the last several years.
The head of the IndyCar circuit insisted there are “no local impediments” to holding a high-speed race in Boston next year, despite the fact promoters have failed to secure approval from state agencies controlling much of the course.
“This obviously is such a special weekend for me”, he said.
“The 2016 season is defined by the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500”, said Miles. “We look forward to crowning IndyCar champions in Sonoma for many years to come”. “They further enrich our heritage and I think they speak to the staying power and now the growing popularity of Indy auto racing”.
IndyCar is banking on strategic television placement to increase still-low – but improving – broadcast ratings.
Miles hopes to start the 2017 season even earlier, targeting a February event at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. The one-mile oval hosted 61 Indy vehicle races from 1964-2005.
Another future goal is to eliminate gaps in the schedule.
Detroit will again be the only stop on the circuit to feature two races back-to-back on the same weekend in 2016, Miles said, while acknowledging that an effort had been made to bring back the popular double-header that had proved so popular in Toronto in 2013 and ’14. The Verizon IndyCar Series will return to Belle Isle on June 4-5 for the only doubleheader on the 2016 schedule. “You don’t have the ability to work ahead because you only have two, prepared race cars per team”.
“It’s really a great step by INDYCAR to spread the season out a bit more”.
Any concerns were quickly eclipsed by the enthusiasm of those involved for Tuesday’s announcement, and for the return of a series to a track that went a decade without it.
Marco Andretti enjoys racing at the track, which is about a 40-minute drive from his Bushkill Township home.
“We believe that (marketing) from a television perspective, that’s earlier in the year”, Miles said. “We’ve been trying to talk to them for a substantial amount of time”. There are hurdles to clear.
Fans of vintage racing will have multiple opportunities to see historic machines take to the road course, highlighted by the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival (June 2-5) and the Classic Sports Racing Group Charity Challenge (Oct. 1-2).
IndyCar racing is heading to the Phoenix worldwide Raceway once more. “We take pride that INDYCAR entrusts our talented production team to televise the series’ final eight races, including being able to award the IndyCar championship on NBCSN each year”.
► Miles is impressed with improvements at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis, an optimistic sign the oval track could return to the schedule in 2017.
“Road America is a no-brainer”.
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Added Dixon, who has raced on both tracks, “Road America and Phoenix are great venues and two of the best choices that we could have to add to the schedule. I believe that the city is going to embrace it and it’s going to be a very successful event”. “Hopefully we can get Watkins Glen back on our schedule sometime in the near future, as well”.
