The 2009 IndyCar Series schedule:

[anthonyvop]

The homestead date change is good for the most part. the 1st race date always was competing against other major events in town, Doral, The Big tennis Tourney...ect. October is slower.
Only problem is that it is close to the NASCAR Finally in Novemeber.

[drewdawg727]

Why the hell are we STILL starting in April!?!??! >

[seppefan]

Dropping Surfers is an own goal as it is a proven winner with crowds only surpassed by the 500. It adds depth and markets for Honda and any other engine manufacturers looking at the series and sponsors.

Drop Richmond and add Mexico and a race in Brazil.

[philipbain]

Having six 1.5 mile ovals on the schedule is about five too many! The old champ car mix of the one mile ovals and super speedways works so much better for single seaters, 1.5 mile cookie cutter specials are just NASCAR fodder that create a hyper-dangerous environment for single seaters, particulary with the way the aero package is on these tracks. The 5 slots vacated by the under-attended NASCAR tracks could be taken by ex-Champ Car tracks. I was fully behind the merger, it had to be done, but looking at the 2009 schedule its still far too much IRL and not enough Champ Car.

[The instant classic]

Having six 1.5 mile ovals on the schedule is about five too many! The old champ car mix of the one mile ovals and super speedways works so much better for single seaters, 1.5 mile cookie cutter specials are just NASCAR fodder that create a hyper-dangerous environment for single seaters, particulary with the way the aero package is on these tracks. The 5 slots vacated by the under-attended NASCAR tracks could be taken by ex-Champ Car tracks. I was fully behind the merger, it had to be done, but looking at the 2009 schedule its still far too much IRL and not enough Champ Car.

i agree and disagree on stuff

i dont feel that its to much indycar and not enough champcar, i watch champcar way befor i started with indycar,but i dont feel that champcar is not getting much, i look at the first 2 races of the year its street tracks, and then you have 1.5-mile oval and 2.5-mile oval after that, i feel its a nice mix, i wolud have like to have seen some short tracks in there,

but again indycar was the one, that bought out champcar, they can go to any place they wish, even tho i wolud love to see some more champcar tracks, i think in time we may see some more tracks come out, to be honest i hated half the year cuz i felt it was to boring, but the more i watch my old tapes and think, the more i see this is going to take some time, the racing will get better, more tracks will come, and champcar will have its far share of tracks soon, right now TG is just feeling things out, and wants to get everyone on the same page again befor adding more tracks, and the new car is comming, everything will come it just takes time

[philipbain]

I say drop the cookies cutters and have 500 mile races around Michigan / California with Handford wings and 1000BHP engines - sound fanciful? I was exactly what they did in Champ Car just a fews years ago, I will never forget the Michigan race with Juan Montoya and Micheal Andretti constantly swapping the lead at speeds approaching 250mph lap after lap, the currently crop of Indycars are visibly slower by comparison and less spectacular for it yet conversely more dangerous because of the insistence that they must run on 1.5 mile tracks with too much downforce. So I say lets go back to the future!

[weeflyonthewall]

No Surfer's, Cleveland or Houston? I was hoping they'd drop one of the bull ring ovals (Richmond or Iowa) and Homestead. They should have stuck with 8 ovals max. Not good for open wheel road racing fans.

[jimispeed]

Well let's see......The most challenging "drivers road courses" are gone (Road America and Mont Tremblant), no Cleveland, no Surfers and.........

Six Oval Races in a Row!!!!!

I don't know.......not what I expected.

[bblocker68]

What is involved in the changeover? It would seem, on the surface, that routine maintenance between races would involve as much work. What are the diffferences?

It would if these cars were not sensitive to setup changes, but they are anything but that. Put the same setup on the car at two different times of the year and they will run differently. They may be in the same neighborhood, but not the same. If you run many of the same disciplines in a row, you're pretty much just adding to the setup. If you change from a speedway to a street course, you have to start from scratch with different body and suspension parts and throw on the old setup and see "if" it works. If it doesn't, you're working with a clean sheet and many long hours after practice is over. When you get no weekends off, that becomes a ton of extra work in a hurry.

[BenRoethig]

Having six 1.5 mile ovals on the schedule is about five too many! The old champ car mix of the one mile ovals and super speedways works so much better for single seaters,

Yeah, well Penske sold his tracks to ISC, so the 1.5 mile cookie cutters are all we can get.