The breakdown of the time slots go as followed (all times are Eastern):
11am: São Paulo, Indianapolis.
Noon: St. Petersburg, Pocono.
1pm: Houston (race 2).
1:30pm: Barber.
2pm: Baltimore.
2:30pm: Iowa.
3pm: Both Toronto races, Mid-Ohio, Houston (race 1).
3:30pm: Both Belle Isle races.
4pm: Long Beach, Milwaukee and Sonoma.
8pm: Fontana.
8:30pm: Texas.
Four races will see a change in race distance. The season opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will run an additional 10 laps, 110 laps in total, while Milwaukee will be a 250 lap races, instead of 225 and Mid-Ohio will be 90 laps long. Long Beach will be shortened 5 laps to 80. The reason behind these changes are to prevent future fuel mileage races.
Meanwhile the three doubleheader race distances have been announced. Belle Isle will be two, 70 lap races, Toronto will be two, 85 lap races and Houston will be two, 90 lap races.
My Response: I wish the start times were a little more consistent. Back when the schedule was first announced, I took a look at what other events IndyCar races were to be going head-to-head with.
The list goes as followed:
St. Pete (March 24, noon)- NASCAR is at Fontana that day. The race should get in by green flag for NASCAR.
Barber (April 7, 1:30pm)-IndyCar will be up against NASCAR at Martinsville and of course baseball season will have begun.
Long Beach (April 21, 4pm)- NASCAR is at Kansas that weekend. Race should be close to over when Long Beach begins. Other than that, NBA playoffs will have just started and the NHL
Sao Paulo (May 5, 11am)- With an 11am start time, the race may avoid going head-to-head with NASCAR at Talladega. NBA playoffs and Stanley Cup playoffs will be going on.
Indianapolis (May 26, 11am)- Who cares? It's Indianapolis.
Detroit (June 1, 3:30pm & 2, 3:30pm)- NASCAR will be at Dover that weekend. Good news: Detroit Tigers will be out of town that weekend.
Texas (June 8, 8:30pm)- NASCAR is at Pocono the next day, as is the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. If it is anything like 2012, we will be deep in the NBA playoffs and
Milwaukee (June 15, 4pm)- NASCAR is at Michigan the next day.
Iowa (June 23, 2:30pm)- NASCAR will be in Sonoma. Race should get in before the green flag there. Two FIFA Confederations Cup matches.
Pocono (July 7, noon)- NASCAR races at Daytona the day before. Philadelphia Phillies are home that weekend (1:35pm), as are the New York Yankees (1:05pm). Should be the day of the men's finals at Wimbledon but that should be over or close to over by the green flag.
Toronto (July 13, 3pm & 14, 3pm)- IndyCar will be going against NASCAR at New Hampshire on Sunday. Toronto Blue Jays are in Baltimore that weekend.
Mid-Ohio (August 4, 3pm)- Pocono will be hosting there second NASCAR race that weekend. Good news: No Olympics in 2013. Cincinnati Reds are home (1:05pm) and the Cleveland Indians are on the road.
Sonoma (August 25, 4pm)- NASCAR races Saturday at Bristol. NFL preseason will be going on. The World Champion San Francisco Giants are home (4:05pm), Oakland Athletics are on the road that weekend.
Baltimore (September 1, 2pm)- Labor Day weekend. NASCAR is at Atlanta, but they normally run that as a night race. Baltimore should be well over before going green flag there. The Baltimore Orioles are on the road. U.S. Open tennis will be heading into it's final week.
Houston (October 5, 3pm & 6, 1pm)- NFL season will be a month in already. Hopefully the Houston Texans are scheduled either a bye, playing on Thursday night or Monday night that weekend. NASCAR will be at Kansas that day.
Fontana (October 19, 8:30pm)- Saturday night means going against college football. USC will be at Notre Dame that weekend and UCLA are at Stanford. NASCAR is racing Sunday at Talladega.
I think IndyCar missed it.
Where They Missed It?
I get the first race of a doubleheader being in the mid-afternoon but Sunday races on the east coast I don't. Sure the second Belle Isle race is not starting the same time as NASCAR at Dover but remember last year? I don't want a repeat of that.
Wasn't the biggest problem originally with Milwaukee the late start time and how it did not allow people from Chicago to drive back and forth in one day and that's why it was moved to a Saturday afternoon? I don't get the point of moving the race back to 4pm unless their is going to be extra busing to and from place such as Indianapolis and Chicago.
If anything, IndyCar should be starting their races before NASCAR to draw in any potential viewers and have them stay through the entire race by the product they are watching on track. Once the IndyCar race is over the viewer will then change the channel to whatever else they want to watch.
Where They Got It Right?
Texas being on ABC during prime time, one week after a doubleheader on ABC. Pocono starting at noon. Iowa on ABC is great to begin with.
The bigger question is how will these doubleheaders take there toll on the drivers? Street courses are much more demanding than the natural terrain road courses and ovals. Not to mention the toll doubleheaders could take on the equipment, although the DW12 has proven to be quite durable and after seeing Will Power get back out at Fontana after his accident, repairs may not be as bad as we're all thinking.
What Other Lingering Questions Are There?
Heat races at Iowa. I for one want these to return. Hell make ESPN an offer to show them live on ESPN3 the night before. Just came to my mind: Could the later Milwaukee start time be made to accommodate heat races before the race that will be shown live on either NBC Sports Net or online?
How will the grid in the second races of doubleheaders be decided? Should we invert? Have two separate qualifying session? Use the race one results? Use fastest lap from race one? Nobody seems to know what the best option is and that must be figured out.
Overall, the start times are not something to be overjoyed about but the extension of races and the uncertainty of doubleheaders are enough to get some people looking forward to the 2013 season. And it cannot start soon enough.
