The 2014 IndyCar Schedule Is...

Not that bad!

March 30- St. Petersburg
April 13- Long Beach
APril 26- Barber
May 10- Grand Prix of Indianapolis (IMS road course)
May 25- Indianapolis 500
May 31/June 1- Belle Isle
June 7- Texas
June 28/29- Houston
July 6- Pocono
July 12- Iowa
July 19/20- Toronto
August 3- Mid-Ohio
August 17- Milwaukee
August 24- Sonoma
August 30- Fontana

Are there things that you'd like to see different?

Yes.

Does ending by Labor Day weekend tie IndyCar's hand behind their back?

Yes.

Is it the worst schedule?

No.

It really isn't bad at all. There are races practically every other weekend except for the two week break in June between Texas and Houston and a few stretches of three or four consecutive weeks of races.

Isn't that what everybody wanted?

Yes but not from the last weekend of March to the end of August. Now racing every other weekend from the beginning of March to mid-October when this season ends gives me shivers of excitement but it's not practical if the season is ending by Labor Day weekend.

Barber on a Saturday is puzzling especially since NASCAR races that night at Richmond and it leaves Sunday wide open for IndyCar.

Ending by Labor Day weekend handcuffs IndyCar over future events. With Milwaukee moving to August 17th it is now the weekend after the Tudor United SportsCar Championship races at Road America. But Milwaukee's move was strategic because that is usually around the time of Wisconsin State Fair and Andretti Sports Marketing is trying to entice the fair crowd to see the IndyCar race. Can you blame them for doing that? No.

Milwaukee in August does make it difficult for Road America to return, especially as a IndyCar/TUSC doubleheader as track president George Bruggenthies would like. The hurdle preventing a schedule featuring both Milwaukee and Road America is Belle Isle. If Belle Isle is any other weekend but the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 and the weekend of Road America, Milwaukee and Road America are both on the schedule together today.

There is no reason Belle Isle has to be the weekend after Indianapolis other than that is what the race sponsor GM/Chevrolet want but what GM/Chevrolet wants might not be what is best. Belle Isle wants a doubleheader on ABC they can have it but that doesn't mean it has to be the weekend after Indianapolis. The question would then become where could Belle Isle go so it allows for IndyCar to go to Milwaukee the weekend after Indianapolis and allow for sports cars to continue to join IndyCar at Belle Isle?

When it comes to IndyCar spreading their current oval races across the schedule, it makes sense and I have said IndyCar should have an oval race a month but IndyCar shouldn't just take what they have and spread it thin. They have to add ovals and that's easier said than done. The series and ovals have to work to make them a financially viable option for both parties. Ovals cannot be ignored. IndyCar only needs three, maybe four ovals to create a better balance. This isn't CART but during CART final renaissance in the late 90s and the turn of the millennium, nine ovals was sufficient. IndyCat currently has six ovals and another three or four, especially if they are any of the following would be great: Phoenix, Michigan, Loudon, Kentucky, Kansas, Chicagoland, Richmond or Motegi.

With the 2014 IndyCar season starting in late March, it will create a five month hiatus from the end of the 2013 season. With 2014 ending on the penultimate day of August to keep a five month offseason the 2015 IndyCar season would have to start by the beginning of February. I don't think it is impractical to accomplish but it won't be easy.

Mark Miles is pursuing a international winter season but that in of it's self has it's hang ups. Miles plan is southern hemispheres races prior to the start of the North American season with races around the Pacific Rim afterward. It's not a bad idea but Miles has to get IndyCar on permanent tracks and not a world tour of street courses. São Paulo is not returning because the city doesn't want to close down the three quarter of a mile stretch of highway that is used as a straightaway. IndyCar wants to go to Brazil, look at Interlagos. I don't want to hear IndyCar can't go their because Formula One goes their because you know what? I don't buy it. Back in the earlier 1990s that might have been the case but today Formula One couldn't care less. If IndyCar is going to the Pacific Rim get permanent facilities. Zhuhai in China, Motegi, maybe even Sepang. That doesn't mean the series can't go to any street courses. Surfers Paradise would be nice but if you do go to a new street course, make sure it isn't half-assed.

The question is if Miles is looking at the Pacific and southern hemisphere, what about Europe? There has to be a market their for IndyCar. Whether the races are at the two European ovals, Rockingham and Lausitzring, two road courses such as Imola and Mugello or a road course and an oval, Europe should be considered as a destination if IndyCar is going international.

Of course whatever does become of an IndyCar international winter season, it has to be feasible for all the teams involved. You can't have an international season that is only practical for Penske, Ganassi, Andretti, Schmidt and Rahal. You have to make sure the likes of Ed Carpenter Racing or Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing are just as capable of going international as the top of the grid.

You can only hope 2014 is the final transition season for IndyCar. If IndyCar (not Mark Miles, not the teams, not the drivers, not Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi or Michael Andretti or Honda or Chevrolet), If INDYCAR as a whole, that means everyone involved from the front office to the person driving the truck for Dale Coyne Racing to and from Fontana, can work together and strive to make theses ideas become reality, IndyCar will be going forward and in a hurry.

2014 would be bad people. Let's celebrate the series and the excitement that is to come this weekend at Fontana and in the year to come.