Let's start with the possibility of an road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May. Graham Rahal and Ryan Briscoe tested a few different track configurations the other day and by the sound of it, the series is going to test more different configurations in the near future. While not necessarily the most popular race IndyCar could add to the schedule, and IMS road course race is appearing more and more likely to happen, and if it were to happen it would take place Saturday May 10, 2014. It would not be held that Sunday because that is Mother's Day and the feeling is Saturday would draw better than Sunday. I agree but let's just get this out of the way now, NASCAR is racing that same Saturday at Darlington though at night. So yes, it's racing the same day as NASCAR but the series is not necessarily dropping the ball by not racing on a Sunday.
With that said, the question then becomes what will happen to São Paulo, a race that has taken place in late April/early May the past three years? Recent reports out of Brazil say the race will not happen in 2014 citing the events failure to draw many tourists, traffic problems caused by the street circuit and the promoter, television network Rede Bandeirantes deciding to no longer invest in the event and the city ending their contract. However, Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reported Mark Miles said in a text that all this was, "News to me."
Another interesting rumor to come out about the 2014 IndyCar schedule was made on Radio Le Mans Midweek Motorsport on Wednesday. Host John Hindhaugh said while talking to guest Marshall Pruett that allegedly IndyCar and USCR will be running at Belle Isle Labor Day weekend in 2014 (can be found at the 1:25:30 second mark of the podcast. Hindhaugh reiterated this at 1:43:50 and Pruett said "you can book your travel for that right now.") With IndyCar's plan to end by Labor Day, could Belle Isle be the season finale, knowing what Robin Miller reported three weeks ago that Fontana could move to June? I speculated back in July that Belle Isle could move to August because the current early June date for the race conflicts with the test day for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the creation of USCR and all belief IndyCar and USCR will run a doubleheader at Belle Isle, a move makes sense for USCR teams, especially the GT Le Mans teams Corvette and SRT Viper, who would not be able to do both. Also, seeing as how the conflict particularly involves the factory Corvettes and Chevrolet is the title sponsor of the Belle Isle weekend, I would think the title sponsor would want their major sports car brand in the sports car race they are sponsoring and they easily could negotiate a scheduling change with both IndyCar and USCR.
With Belle Isle possibly moving, could this open the door for a possible return to the week after the Indianapolis 500 for Milwaukee? Andretti Sports Marketing has had some success with the race running on the Saturday before Father's Day but could returning Milwaukee to it's traditional date, sure up the safety of the event once and for all? We'll have to wait and see.
With all this taken to account, as well as other reports from updates (preview, #1, #2), here is a provisional calendar:
São Paulo: March 16th (reportedly moving to earlier in the schedule or it's not going to happen at all).
St. Petersburg: March 22-23rd (reportedly will be a doubleheader and keep it's date).
Barber: April 6th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
IMS Road Course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25th.
Belle Isle or Milwaukee: June 1st (should Belle Isle stay or move and Milwaukee take it's traditional date).
Texas: June 7th.
Milwaukee: June 14th (should Milwaukee not take the weekend vacated by Belle Isle).
Iowa: June 22nd.
Fontana: June 28th or June 29th (reportedly could move to June to condense Triple Crown to three months but not official).
Pocono: July 6th.
Toronto: July 12-13th.
Mid-Ohio: August 3rd.
Baltimore: August 10th (will move from Labor Day due to a conflict with a college football game).
Houston: August 15-16th or 16-17th (throwing out the possibility of this doubleheader becoming a Friday night, Saturday night event. Houston was a night race in 2006).
Sonoma: August 24th.
Belle Isle or Fontana: August 30-31st (Should Belle Isle move and remain a doubleheader or Fontana remains the season finale and either run Saturday or Sunday.
One problem with the calendar above is the month long gap from Long Beach to the IMS road race. Could an event be moved to fill that gap? April 20th is Easter so I doubt a race would take place that weekend but April 27th makes sense as the date to fill. Could Baltimore move to the spring when the weather is cooler? Moving Baltimore frees up the second weekend August, which has been the date sports cars have run at Road America and seeing as Road America is interested in IndyCar returning, keeping that weekend free for a USCR/IndyCar doubleheader might be some forward thinking for 2015.
The calendar, could look like this:
São Paulo: March 16th (reportedly moving to earlier in the schedule or it's not going to happen at all).
St. Petersburg: March 22-23rd (reportedly will be a doubleheader and keep it's date).
Barber: April 6th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
Baltimore: April 27th (will move from Labor Day due to a conflict with a college football game).
IMS Road Course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25th.
Belle Isle or Milwaukee: June 1st (should Belle Isle stay or move and Milwaukee take it's traditional date).
Texas: June 7th.
Milwaukee: June 14th (should Milwaukee not take the weekend vacated by Belle Isle).
Iowa: June 22nd.
Fontana: June 28th or June 29th (reportedly could move to June to condense Triple Crown to three months).
Pocono: July 6th.
Toronto: July 12-13th.
Mid-Ohio: August 3rd.
Houston: August 15-16th or 16-17th (throwing out the possibility of this doubleheader becoming a Friday night, Saturday night event. Houston was a night race in 2006).
Sonoma: August 24th.
Belle Isle or Fontana: August 30-31st (Should Belle Isle move and remain a doubleheader or Fontana remains the season finale and either run Saturday or Sunday.
If I had to finalize this calendar, I'd say São Paulo doesn't happen, Fontana doesn't move to June and Belle Isle doesn't become the season finale but it would make sense that it move to another date. Milwaukee stay put on the Saturday before Father's Day and Baltimore moves to the Spring. Could Belle Isle move to late July after Toronto and before Mid-Ohio? Maybe but it couldn't be the final weekend in July because that is Brickyard 400 weekend and all signs point to USCR running with NASCAR and not the IndyCar IMS road course race, though it's rumored USCR wants to run in May. I see Belle Isle moving but I don't know where to.
Should Belle Isle move and Milwaukee hold their date, the week after the Indianapolis 500 will open up. Could Texas move up? Could another race move to that date? Could Mark Miles be holding his cards to his chest and there is a new event joining the IndyCar schedule? That is a weekend I know many want to see with a race to keep up momentum after the Indianapolis 500.
If I were to make one final prediction on the 2014 schedule today, here is what I envision:
St. Petersburg: March 22-23rd.
Barber: April 6th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
Baltimore: April 27th.
IMS Road Course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25th.
Texas: June 7th.
Milwaukee: June 14th (unless they take the week after Indianapolis).
Iowa: June 22nd.
Pocono: July 6th.
Toronto: July 12-13th.
Belle Isle: July 19-20th (Because I don't see it keeping it's current date and I don't see it Labor Day weekend and this is right in the middle of the two).
Mid-Ohio: August 3rd.
Houston: August 15-16th or 16-17th (holding out the possibility of night events due to summer heat).
Sonoma: August 24th.
Fontana: August 30-31 or September 1st (depends if it is a Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday or Monday night).
Not 100% confident but it's a start and there is plenty of time for more news to break and other dates to be confirmed.
Should Belle Isle move and Milwaukee hold their date, the week after the Indianapolis 500 will open up. Could Texas move up? Could another race move to that date? Could Mark Miles be holding his cards to his chest and there is a new event joining the IndyCar schedule? That is a weekend I know many want to see with a race to keep up momentum after the Indianapolis 500.
If I were to make one final prediction on the 2014 schedule today, here is what I envision:
St. Petersburg: March 22-23rd.
Barber: April 6th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
Baltimore: April 27th.
IMS Road Course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25th.
Texas: June 7th.
Milwaukee: June 14th (unless they take the week after Indianapolis).
Iowa: June 22nd.
Pocono: July 6th.
Toronto: July 12-13th.
Belle Isle: July 19-20th (Because I don't see it keeping it's current date and I don't see it Labor Day weekend and this is right in the middle of the two).
Mid-Ohio: August 3rd.
Houston: August 15-16th or 16-17th (holding out the possibility of night events due to summer heat).
Sonoma: August 24th.
Fontana: August 30-31 or September 1st (depends if it is a Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday or Monday night).
Not 100% confident but it's a start and there is plenty of time for more news to break and other dates to be confirmed.
