2014 USCR Schedule Preview

Seeing as I have taken the time to look at the 2014 IndyCar schedule and make predictions of when and where the top American open-wheel series will race, and seeing as some of those IndyCar dates could also feature USCR, I should do the same for the top American sports car series.

According to Racer Magazine's Marshall Pruett, the inaugural USCR calendar is days away from being announced and should feature eleven events. The main events from Grand-Am and ALMS such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, Sebring, Petit Le Mans and Watkins Glen have all been viewed as givens for 2014 with the remaining races falling into place. We know the 24 Hours of Daytona will be January 25-26. Sebring will fall around St. Patrick's Day. Petit is going to be a October date. Watkins Glen is a the beginning of the summer. That's what you can build around.

Grand-Am and ALMS shared a weekend at Road America this August, though nothing has been confirmed, I don't see why USCR couldn't return to Road America in August. Both series go to Laguna Seca, that should stay put but will it take ALMS' May date or Grand-Am's September date? What about Austin? Grand-Am went in March. ALMS is going in a fortnight as an undercard to FIA World Endurance Championship. I don't see why you wouldn't run with WEC again in 2014. The only question is does WEC keep their September date paired with São Paulo so WEC teams only make one trip across the Atlantic or do they move it to March to open their season? I think the former is more likely than the latter but that's me.

There are a lot of questions over Belle Isle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Mosport, Kansas, Mid-Ohio and Lime Rock Park.

As noted in the latest 2014 IndyCar schedule update, Radio Le Mans John Hindhaugh said Belle Isle could move to Labor Day weekend and be an IndyCar/USCR doubleheader. Belle Isle hosted IndyCar and ALMS on Labor Day weekend in 2007 and 2008 but knowing IndyCar wants to end their season by Labor Day, I just don't see Belle Isle being IndyCar's choice for a season finale. I do see the Belle Isle race weekend moving. The 2013 date clashed with the Le Mans test day, something USCR probably wants to avoid seeing as top teams such as Corvette and SRT Viper will likely have to participate in that test as well as other top USCR drivers. Seeing as how I couldn't see it staying in early June but I couldn't see it being Labor Day weekend, I moved it the middle of July.

Moving Belle Isle to July raises other questions. Mid-July featured Mosport for ALMS and Indianapolis for Grand-Am in 2013. The Indianapolis date could move. There is the possibility USCR leaves the NASCAR weekend at Indianapolis to join IndyCar if they should run a IMS road course race the second weekend in May. Running USCR with IndyCar in May would all but confirm Laguna Seca being held in September as the 2014 IMS IndyCar road course date is the same weekend ALMS has run at Laguna Seca the past few years.

Mosport has not been confirmed for 2014 and could be squeezed out of July if Belle Isle were to move to July and Indianapolis stay in the summer. ALMS ran Mosport at the of end August for many years and seeing as how the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series went to the track Labor Day weekend this year and how I am not putting Belle Isle Labor Day weekend in 2014 and the people who own the Truck series owns USCR, it wouldn't be the craziest thing ever to see Mosport move to Labor Day weekend.

If Belle Isle were to move to July and Indianapolis stay in July those races likely would be held back-to-back weeks with Mosport moving (if it even gets on the schedule at all) back at least a month.

Baltimore needs a date but talks are sports cars are likely to return in 2014. I moved Baltimore to April in the latest IndyCar schedule update because it would get the race out of the heat of the summer and fill a month long gap for IndyCar in the spring. It would also fill a month long gap for USCR and have three consecutive race weekends of IndyCar and USCR sharing the bill which isn't the worst thing in the world.

So quick recap of where we stand as of now:
Daytona: January 24-25th.
Sebring: March 15th.
Long Beach: April 12th.
Baltimore: April 26th.
Indianapolis: May 10th (Should the race join IndyCar).
Watkins Glen: June 29th.
Belle Isle: July 19th (Possibly Mosport is Belle Isle stays in June or moves to Labor Day).
(Indianapolis: July 25th if it stays in the summer).
Road America: August 10th.
Mosport: August 30th (If it happens at all or Belle Isle isn't moved to Labor Day weekend).
Petit Le Mans: October 18th.

As I said before, if Indianapolis moves to May, Laguna Seca will all but be officially a September date, which happens to be this weekend. Should USCR continue to run Austin and race the same weekend as WEC and that date holds serve in 2014, that race would take place a fortnight later. The real question is Kansas. It looks like it's going to happen, mostly because it's a International Speedway Corporation track and ISC and USCR are owned by the same people. Does Kansas return to it's August date it ran this year? I don't see why not. ALMS CEO and USCR COO Scott Atherton made it known that USCR's goal is to establish it's own identity. I don't see Kansas being run with either NASCAR weekend at Kansas and the Saturday night road course race Grand-Am had this year, while not the most exciting race in the world, was a pretty cool sight and if Kansas were to return, I'd like to see the Saturday night race return as well.

With all that squared away, the calendar would looks like this:

Daytona: January 24-25th.
Sebring: March 15th.
Long Beach: April 12th.
Baltimore: April 26th.
Indianapolis: May 10th (Should the race join IndyCar).
Watkins Glen: June 29th.
Belle Isle: July 19th (Possibly Mosport is Belle Isle stays in June or moves to Labor Day).
(Indianapolis: July 25th if it stays in the summer).
Road America: August 10th.
Kansas: August 16th.
Mosport: August 30th (If it happens at all or Belle Isle isn't moved to Labor Day weekend).
Laguna Seca: September 7th.
Austin: September 20th
Petit Le Mans: October 18th.

There is one major problem with this calendar. There are thirteen dates and Marshall Pruett said there will only be eleven. I honestly believe Mosport gets left off. It's unfortunate for a great Canadian fan base but, just like IndyCar reunification and their failure to get Toronto on the 2008 calendar, Mosport will get the same short end of the stick from USCR. With that one off the calendar, I'll be honest, I can't see another getting dropped. All seem to have strong support of being on the 2014 calendar. I think there will be twelve rounds.

Now what about the likes of Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Barber and Mosport. I see Lime Rock and Mosport getting Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge races. It's a good alternative to not getting a USCR event and who knows, maybe they are on the 2015 USCR schedule. As for Mid-Ohio and Barber, I think they could get a Continental Tire Sports Car races but that series isn't going to have a bunch of standalone events. They are still going to run with USCR at probably all but the street course races. That's nine events, add Lime Rock and Mosport and CTSCC is running out of room. Could CTSCC run with IndyCar or NASCAR at Mid-Ohio and IndyCar at Barber? Possibly. We'll have to wait and see.

Let's finalize the 2014 USCR schedule. After going through the above, here is what I got:

Daytona: January 24-25th.
Sebring: March 15th.
Long Beach: April 12th.
Baltimore: April 26th.
Indianapolis: May 10th (Should the race join IndyCar).
Watkins Glen: June 29th.
Belle Isle: July 19th.
(Indianapolis: July 25th if it stays in the summer).
Road America: August 10th.
Kansas: August 16th.
(Belle Isle: August 30th should it move to Labor Day).
Laguna Seca: September 7th.
Austin: September 20th
Petit Le Mans: October 18th.

There is the gap due to Le Mans but that is acceptable and the 24 Hours of Le Mans makes up for it. There is a fair amount of spacing during the summer, especially if USCR moves Indianapolis to May. The only other conflict I see is Kansas. I have been holding out the possibility the Houston IndyCar doubleheader will be Friday and Saturday night so the races aren't held in the brutal afternoon heat and humidity and Houston could fall the same weekend as USCR at Kansas. I would like all motorsport series, especially the ones in the United States, to have open dialogue with one another and avoid scheduling races head-to-head on the same day and spreading races out. If (and it's a pretty big if) Kansas and Houston are the same Saturday night that benefits no one. Kansas however cannot simply slide back to the following Saturday night because that Saturday night the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Bristol. That would be even worse. Could Kansas be the Friday night or Sunday night Houston weekend or the Sunday night after Bristol? Maybe but I don't think a Friday or Sunday night event would get as well of a draw or TV rating as a Saturday night race. However, until Houston is officially announced to be in August and is officially announced as a night event, this will not be problem.

The good news is all the speculation of what the inaugural USCR season will looks like could end in a matter of days. Exciting times these are for sports car racing.