Baltimore will not be on either the 2014 or 2015 schedule after having to vacate their Labor Day weekend date due to conflicts with a Navy-Ohio State college football game next year and American Legion conference in 2015. This is a terrible blow for IndyCar as this looks to be the second race IndyCar will not retain from 2013, something the series has struggled to do over the past decade. Should the IMS road course race be added to the schedule, it will make up for one of the dropped race weekends but the net change of race weekends looks to be negative for another season.
Reportedly there was talking of hosting the Baltimore race in June, however the hang up was the conflict with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and, though not mentioned, IndyCar already hectic June.
With Baltimore out of the question, here is the a mock 2014 schedule (confirmed dates are bold):
St. Petersburg: March 28-30th.
Barber: April 6th.
Long Beach: April 13th.
IMS road course: May 10th.
Indianapolis 500: May 25.
Belle Isle: May 30-June 1st.
Texas: June 7th.
Milwaukee: June 14th.
Iowa: June 22nd.
Pocono: July 6th
Toronto: July 19-20th.
Mid-Ohio: August 1-3rd.
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).
I had been putting Baltimore in either early-May or mid-August, depending on where Houston fell. This schedule features a month long break from Long Beach to the rumored IMS road course race. Should São Paulo remain on the schedule and keep their late-April, early-May date, it could solve that problem. However, until São Paulo is confirmed to return, it looks like 2014 will feature one less race weekend (15) and the same amount of races (19) as 2013.
