We are a quarter of the way through 2026. It will be 2027 before we know it. Before we get there, many great races are still to take place. This last month saw a few more series begin their 2026 seasons, and we are in full swing. It is constant action from now through the end of November even if Formula One will have two fewer races in April. It is not a bad place to be.
Notes From Research
March is always a month where I am knocking off the rust. It takes a second to get back in the rhythm of preparing for a race weekend, thinking of topics, noticing trends and then deep-diving into the numbers to answer questions in my mind.
The biggest issue is getting to the point, and sometimes I find an answer to a question, but I also find a few different answers to questions I didn't even know I wanted answered. In some moments, it works to share it all at once. At other times, it is better to stick to the task and not create clutter.
With this being the end of the month, I figured I would share some notes from research that didn't make it any previous post this month.
Not Completing the First Lap of the Season
This goes back to prior to the Phoenix weekend. In the Track Walk for that race, I looked over drivers who failed to complete the opening lap of the season, drivers who started the race but didn't get around to finish a lap. For two drivers, that happened in 2026 with Santino Ferrucci and Mick Schumacher each getting caught in an accident when Sting Ray Robb locked up his tires entering turn four. Robb was able to continue. Ferrucci and Schumacher hit the showers early.
Looking over box scores to see how many drivers failed to finish an opening lap of a season, I found a few notes.
In 1957, the first lap of the season was at the Indianapolis 500, and technically neither Elmer George nor Eddie Russo got that far as they had an accident on the pace lap. We covered that George would win later that season, but for Russo he would not start another race until the 1960 Indianapolis 500. He made it 84 laps in that race.
For Tom Frantz, he started the 1981 CART season opener from Phoenix, his first start since the September 15, 1979 Michigan race, but Frantz didn't make it a lap before the turbocharger broke. That was Frantz's only appearance of the season. He failed to qualify for four races in 1982, but he did make the Michigan race that July and last 20 laps before losing an engine.
Some notable names have failed to complete an opening lap of a season. It happened to Chip Ganassi on debut in 1982. It happened to Teo Fabi and the Porsche program in 1990. It happened to Bobby Rahal and Raul Boesel in 1994.
In 1998, Robbie Goff qualified 16th for the Indy Racing League season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway. Groff would have an accident before the first lap was completed. It ended up being the final start of Groff's IndyCar career. He failed to qualify two month later at Phoenix and that was it for his career.
Maybe the worst opening lap incident was the 1999 CART season opener at Homestead. It was a three-car accident. Naoki Hattori and Al Unser, Jr. got together in turns one and two and Raul Boesel was collected in the accident. None of those three drivers were at the next race at Motegi.
For Hattori, he suffered a double compound fracture in his left leg in accident, and it should be noted Homestead was his debut. What a start to a career! Unser, Jr. also broke his legs in the accident. Hattori would not return until Belle Isle in August. Unser, Jr. only missed two races and was back for Nazareth in May.
For Boesel's sake, his Motegi absence was the plan. Boesel was only at Homestead because Paul Tracy was suspended for the season opener due to a number of incidents in the 1998 season, and Boesel filled the #26 Team Green entry. Boesel did race seven days after Homestead in the IRL race at Phoenix where he completed 147 laps before oil pressure issues ended his race.
Multiple Drivers Leading the Most Laps
This hasn't come up in a post, but in the aftermath of the Arlington race, what stood out the most in the box score was Kyle Kirkwood, Álex Palou and Will Power all finished tied for the most laps led. All three drivers led 16 laps. I could not think of the last time that had happened. I knew there were races that had two drivers tied for the most laps led. I could not think of one where three drivers were tied.
In the immediate aftermath of the Arlington race, I got to digging, and I found it had happened once before.
September 21, 1975: Gordon Johncock, A.J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford all led 33 laps at Trenton and they finished 1-2-3 in that order. It was a 100-lap race. New Jersey's own Wally Dallenbach led lap 25 of the race.
I was surprised how few races had multiple drivers lead the most laps.
It has only happened 12 times in IndyCar history. It should be noted a great number of races, especially pre-World War II are lacking information on total laps led for each driver. It is possible it has happened more but we do not have it recorded. Coincidentally enough, the first known occasion of it happening was pre-World War II and it was in the Indianapolis 500. In 1938, Floyd Roberts and Jimmy Snyder each led 92 laps. Rex May was the only other driver to lead that day. Roberts won, Snyder was 15th after a supercharger failure.
Here are the other nine times in IndyCar history where multiple drivers were tied for the most laps led:
August 16, 1958: Springfield
Don Branson led the first 36 laps. Jud Larson led the next 36 laps. Johnny Thomson led the final 28 laps and won the race.
September 19, 1982: Road America
Bobby Rahal and Mario Andretti each led 20 laps in the inaugural Road America race, but it was Héctor Rebaque who won the race leading only the final lap after Al Unser ran out of fuel.
July 23, 1989: Toronto
Danny Sullivan and Al Unser, Jr. each led 35 laps. Michael Andretti won the race with 24 laps led.
September 8, 1996: Laguna Seca
Yes! That famous Laguna Seca race with Alex Zanardi's famed pass in the corkscrew on Bryan Herta saw both drivers each lead 41 laps. It was an 83 lap race. Jimmy Vasser led the other (lap 29).
June 16, 2002: Portland
Two drivers led the 2002 Grand Prix of Portland. Cristiano da Matta and Kenny Bräck. They each led 55 laps. Da Matta took the victory. Bräck lost a wheel on lap 60 after having led 55 of the first 59 laps, and that incident ended his race.
June 22, 2003: Portland
It happened in consecutive years at Portland! Paul Tracy and Michel Jourdain, Jr. each led 42 laps in this race. The winner? That would be Adrián Fernández, who led the final 15 laps.
August 8, 2004: Road America
It happened in three consecutive CART/Champ Car seasons! This race was slowed due to rain and ultimately raced to a time limit. Paul Tacy and Alex Tagliani each led 16 laps. Tagliani took his first and only IndyCar victory.
October 22, 2006: Surfers Paradise
Champ Car took a year off in 2005, but in 2006, Will Power led the first 13 laps at Surfers Paradise, before it went sideways as it always did for Power at Surfers Paradise. This race saw eight lead changes among seven drivers. Nelson Philippe won the race with 13 laps led. It was Philippe's one and only victory in IndyCar. Charles Zwolsman, Jr. led the third-most laps in this race with ten!
June 14, 2015: Toronto
Will Power led the first 30 laps, but was then caught out when a caution came out just as the first pit cycle was opening. This opened the door for Josef Newgarden to swoop into the lead. Newgarden ended up leading 30 laps as he won the race, his second career victory. This was the most recent occasion prior to Arlington.
A couple things you may have noticed...
Three of the last four times drivers finished tied for the most laps led, the laps led total was 16...
Will Power has be involved in the last three occasions where drivers have finished tied for the most laps led... they have occurred in three different decades... and Power won none of those three races...
It hasn't happened on an oval since that 1975 Trenton race where Johncock, Foyt and Rutherford all finished tied.
I guess it should not be surprising it is more likely to happen on a road or street course. Think about it. It is more likely two drivers finish with the same number of laps led in a 60-lap race or 75-lap race versus a 200-lap race. Two drivers could each lead 25 laps and that be enough for the most laps led.
On an oval, are we really going to see two drivers each lead 80 laps or 90 laps in a 200-lap race? It is more unlikely two drivers will have equally as high control of a race on an oval. If you are lead 40% or 45% of the laps, it is unlikely another driver is going to match that total.
The State Trifecta
Twitter is good for almost nothing these days (You once could have fun there and people were engaging and interesting. That is gone), but occasionally it has something good, and credit goes to Jess Peters for asking this question...
How many states have hosted #IndyCar on a street course, oval, and road course?
— Jess Peters (@_Jess_Peters_) March 13, 2026
California, Florida, Texas… any I’m not thinking of?
After seeing this, the first state that came to my mind was Colorado!
Yes, IndyCar's hot bed Colorado.
Of all the state to do it, Colorado is one of them. There were two variations of the Denver street course CART/Champ Car ran. The Indy Racing League raced at Pikes Peak. There was also the Pikes Peak Internaional Hill Climb, which I believe qualifies as a street course as well. Most don't know Continental Divide Raceways ever existed as a 2.66-mile road course let alone hosted three IndyCar races from 1968 to 1970. Boom! There is your answer.
But how many other states complete the "state trifecta" of having hosted an oval race, road course race and street course for IndyCar?
We know Colorado. The second that came to mind was Nevada because Las Vegas alone has hosted all three. Again, most people don't know Stardust International Raceway once existed, but the three-mile road course hosted one IndyCar race in 1968. Bobby Unser won it, but that wasn't even IndyCar's first trip to Nevada! The 1954 season ended with a 100-mile race on the one-mile Las Vegas Park. Jimmy Bryan won. Later would come the races around the Caesar's Palace parking lot after Formula One left, and then there was Champ Car's street race in 2007. Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted seven races between the IRL and Champ Car.
Then it hit me Washington has hosted all three. Though the state has not hosted an IndyCar race since 1969, Washington has hosted an oval race, a street course race and a road course race. First, there were races held on the streets of Tacoma in 1912 and 1913. Then a two-mile oval followed in Tacoma, first made of dirt and then a board oval and that lasted from 1915 to 1922. In 1969, USAC raced a doubleheader at the 2.2-mile Seattle International Raceway, now known as Pacific Raceways, and that was the last time IndyCar raced in Washington.
California used to host all three in a single season, most recently in 2015 with Long Beach, Sonoma and Fontana. Laguna Seca is the road course of choice currently on the schedule. Thermal Club was on the schedule last season. There was Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside. Hanford hosted a handful of races on its 1.5-mile oval. If we go way back there used to be street races in Santa Monica in the dawn of what is now IndyCar racing and are recognized in the record book. They raced around San Francisco during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. There was also the Los Angeles Motor Speedway board oval. We could do a deep dive on California races alone.
There was obviously Texas, and Texas checked off this box back in 2019 when Austin made its one and only appearance on an IndyCar schedule. That was the first road course race in Texas in IndyCar history. It had run at Texas World Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Arlington Downs hosted races in the late 1940s as a dirt oval. IndyCar had run on the streets of Houston and Reliant Park in Houston and on Denver Beach in Galveston. Arlington was just gravy.
Outside of California and Texas, most of these were not obvious.
Did you know Wisconsin has hosted all three? You know about Road America and Milwaukee because both are currently on the schedule, but in 1912 there were three street races held in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on a 7.88-mile course.
Did you know it Ohio has hosted all three as well? Mid-Ohio is there. It is hard to classify Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport as a street course, even though that is how IndyCar has classified such courses. It is not streets but it is not permanent. It is temporary. Even if you take Cleveland out, Cincinnati hosted a pair of street races in 1911 on a 7.9-mile course. Cincinnati even had a two-mile board oval, which hosted three races. There was even Bainbridge Fairgrounds, which hosted championship races in the late 1940s.
New York has hosted all three disciplines. You know about Watkins Glen. Syracuse's one-mile dirt oval at the state fairgrounds was a regular event from the 1920s through the early 1960s. There was also Good Time Park in Goshen, New York, and the one-mile oval held a trio of races. Sheepshead Bay had a two-mile board oval. As for street races, Riverhead, New York held an event in 1909 on a 22.75-mile course. That is not a typo. There was also the 12.64-mile Long Island Motor Parkway.
The ninth and final state to do it, and this may surprise you, is Indiana! You are wondering when has Indiana ever hosted a street race? Let's cover the obvious. There is Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosts an oval race and road course race on the current schedule. Even if you throw out the IMS road course, Indianapolis Raceway Park hosted a handful of races on its road course. When was the street race?Crown Point, Indiana hosted two races on a 23.27-mile course on June 18-19, 1909. These are the fourth and fifth races recognized in IndyCar's record book. The first three were in Portland, Oregon a week prior. That means Indiana host an IndyCar street course race prior to hosting an oval race. Just think about that next time you talk about tradition.
One last one, because it isn't a state, and it is kind of a technicality. Quebec has hosted races at Mont-Tremblant, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal and Sanair Super Speedway, a 0.826-mile oval. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve exists in this middle ground between a street course and a road course. It is not a permanent circuit, but they really aren't streets either. It is basically one large path around Île Notre-Dame that people use for running and cycling and cars can go on, but they aren't really streets. It kind of counts.
Let's call it nine states and one Canadian province.
You may be noticing a notable omission, and Jess Peters mentioned it as well.
Florida! Florida has never hosted an IndyCar road course race. It hosted oval races at Homestead, Walt Disney World and even Daytona, but it has never run at a permanent road course. For all the testing at Sebring, the track has never hosted a race. Miami has hosted three different street course configurations. It even hosted one board oval race. Then there is St. Petersburg and the only other Florida track to host a race was a five-mile course on Pablo Beach in Jacksonville, Florida.
Maybe some other day we will go over all the states that have hosted two of three and are waiting on one more.
April Preview
Three series are starting in April that are worthy of some attention. In chronological order, Super Formula is first, beginning this weekend with a doubleheader at Motegi. Last season, Ayumu Iwasa took the championship by 5.5 points over Sho Tsuboi, seven points ahead of Kakunoshin Ohta and 11 points clear of Tadasuke Makino.
There are a number of of fun rookies this season. Luke Browning is joining with Kondo Racing and Charlie Wurz will be coming on with Team Goh. Roman Stanek is running a third car with Kondo. The grid is growing to 24 cars with Delightworks Racing entering and it is bringing in Nobuharu Matsushita, who last raced in Super Formula in 2024. Yuto Nomura will make his debut with B-Max after dominating the Super Formula Lights championship.
Sadly, Kalle Rovanperä will not be competing this season after being diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Seita Nonaka will take over the vacant spot at KCMG.
On April 19, the FIA World Endurance Championship has a delayed start to its season after the Qatar round was postponed to October 24 due to the Middle East conflict. Imola becomes the opening round.
We will see the Genesis debut and the South Korean manufacturer will feature Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert and André Lotterer in its #17 GMR-001 with Paul-Loup Chatin, Mathieu Jaminet and Daniel Juncadella in its #19 GMR-001.
Alpine has drafted in António Felix da Costa and Victor Martins to fill out its driver lineup with the departure of Chatin to Genesis and Mick Schumacher to IndyCar.
Peugoet has Stoffel Vandoorne and Nick Cassidy entering the program with Mikkel Jensen leaving for the future McLaren program and Jean-Éric Vergne taking a year off from WEC. Théo Pourchaire will be full-time.
One change occurs at Cadillac. Jack Aitken steps up after Jenson Button's retirement.
In LMGT3, Garage 59 takes over the McLaren program with United Autosports focused on the McLaren Hypercar program. Manthey Racing will run two Porsches after the Iron Dames program shuttered. TF Sport will run a Corvette for Peter Dempsey, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç. Logan Sargeant will run in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang with Stafano Gattuso and Giammarco Levorato.
At the end of the month, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will begin its eight-round, 16-race season with 21 GT3 cars representing eight manufacturers at Hockenheim. The champion is not defending.
Ayhancan Güven turns his focus to his LMGT3 responsibilities in the WEC and will not compete in DTM this year. Ricardo Feller will join the Manthey Racing organization as one of the three Porsches on the grid alongside Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus in a Land-Motorsport Porsche.
Lucas Auer fell four points shy of the championship and Auer is back with Mercedes-AMG at Team Landgraf, teamed with Tom Kalendar. Jules Gounon and Maro Engel will run in the two Winward Racing Mercedes-AMGs.
Lamborghini will have four Temerario GT3s on the grid and Marco Mapelli will be joining the series in one of the Abt Sportline entries as teammate to Luca Engstler. Grasser Racing Team will field Maximilian Paul and Mirko Bortolotti.
Nicki Thiim returns to an Aston Martin after driving a Abt Lamborghini. Thiim will team with Nicolas Baert for Comtoyou Racing. BMW is running back Kelvin van der Linde and Marco Wittmann. Ferrari will have Matteo Cairoli join the series alongside Thierry Vermeulen. McLaren is fielding Timo Glock and Ben Dörr. There is one rookie on the grid, Finn Wiebelhuas, who will race for HRT Ford Racing alongside Arjun Maini.
Other events of note in April:
The European Le Mans Series also opens its 2026 season, April 12 at Barcelona.
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup opens the same weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Supercars has a New Zealand swing with races at Taupō and Ruapuna.
Super GT opens at Okayama.
IndyCar has one race at Long Beach. It is also IMSA's only round.
The Middle East conflict has also cleared MotoGP's schedule to one round in Jerez.
The World Rally Championship continues its global tour with races in Croatia and the Canary Islands.
