Race Fan Suggestions for Tracks IRL should use

There has been many different discussions concerning the unification of CHAMP and IRL and what tracsk we will see moving forward...

Discuss the Pro's and/or Con's of the tracks we'd like to see IRL use.

Tracks to include Oval, Road & Street.

State WHY you feel the way you do.


To kick it off...

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval for The Indy 500. History and always a great race to be at live. The month of May is a treat. Nothing else like it in the world.

Indianapolis Road Course to run a full weekend of racing. Include ALMS on Saturday, then Indy Pro Sunday AM followed by IRL Sunday afternoon.

 

Anywhere...

Zimbabwe, Pakistan, .....

further away the better, they may even get some crowds with their free ticket offers they have to try over here.

 

Any 5 of the following: Phoenix, Milwaukee, Gateway, Richmond, New Hampshire, Nazareth, Iowa. Short ovals produce awesome open-wheel races, especially on tracks that can allow for side-to-side and/or outbraking opportunities. All in or close to big media markets (with the exception of Iowa, which manages to sell out anyway).

Any 4 of the following: Texas, Chicago, Homestead, Michigan, Kansas, Fontana, Kentucky, Las Vegas. Pick 2 and make them part of the triple crown with the 500 (my choice: Texas and Vegas...finish the season in Vegas, triple crown winner can make $5mm bonus, champion gets the same...make a show of it). Some of these tracks have trouble drawing crowds. Try some marketing-I find it hard to believe 15mm people in Southern Cali, and 200k of them won't go to Fontana for an IRL race.

Any 5 of the Following: Long Beach, Montreal, Mexico City, Toronto, Vancouver, Detroit, Houston, St. Pete. Long Beach is a given. others can be used interchangably with the ovals listed above (ie Detroit GP or Michigan Speedway, but not both). Street tracks are a unique test of eye-hand coordination and reflexes. And they have a fun demolition derby aspect, too.

Any 5 of the following: Watkins Glen, Road America, Road Atlanta, Portland, Mid-Ohio, Infineon, Laguna Seca, Barber Motorsports Park. An extra road course as they are the most diverse designs, giving teams a setup challenge.

Indy 500 is a given, obviously.

Maybe Something like this:

Phoenix
Long Beach
Barber
Indy 500
Milwaukee
Texas
Watkins Glen
Detroit
Road America
Richmond
Vancouver
Fontana
Toronto
Mid Ohio
New Hampshire
St Pete
Nazareth
Chicago
Road Atlanta
Las Vegas

 

Mosport.

 

+100

 

Road America
Laguna Seca
Road Atlanta
Watkins Glen

 

I highly reccomend both Road Atlanta and Barber Motorsports.

Road Atlanta is one of the best tracks in the USA, and to my knowledge has never hosted an open wheel race... I think Atlanta would be a good place to get a foot hold in the south...

 

Based on tradition and marketability. You got to make this pay.

Long Beach
Homestead
Indy 500
Watkins Glen
Mid-Ohio
Road America
Texas MS
MoSport
Toronto
Detroit
Mexico City
Road Atlanta
Barber
St. Pete
Vancouver
Laguna
Surfers Paradise
Indy Road Course

I liked the idea of Indy Road Course & ALMS together, or how about IRL and Moto GP together.

My schedule just doesn't have enough ovals, but I have enough to make you dizzy. OK, add Charlotte or Atlanta MS.

 

Michael...good call on Surfer's.

I've seen a lot of votes for Mosport, I agree its a great track, but how many millions would have to be spent to improve the runoffs, etc?

 

Indy 500
Long Beach grabs the S Cal market, plus nice course
Road Atlanta would help with SE market & would be a nice contract to Homestead & St Pete.
Toronto or Detroit...both are somewhat close pick one or the other, lean toward Toronto for Canadian market
Vancouver for the NW Market market and more Canadian market
Mid-Ohio is a must...just because
Texas MS is fast and furious side-by-side racing
Watkins Glen is a must, just like Mid-Ohio
Indy Road course with ALMS, Indy Pro for full weekend of racing
Las Vegas MS
Michigan MS
Road America
Homestead is a good early season race due with weather
St Pete another good early season race and easy for teams when back to back with Homestead

Honorable mention:
Iowa is good for the midwest, but like Richmond, the tracks are too short.
Kentucky MS, but that's selfish for me since its so close to home. Nice track to be at live.


4 races outside the immediate US market to bring in the international markets and sponsors
(Sorry Canadians: Toronto, Vancouver & Detriot races are all on the border...no offense intended)
Surfers Paradise
Mexico City
Motegi
I'd like to see something in Brazil, but not sure of options

Build the Americas market, keep the Japanese manufacturuers happy with a race in Japan and add Australia to the mix. Forget about the European market for now, along with other areas not mentioned.

 

Interesting spin for a race series within a race series. IRL Triple Crown.

What about the option of an all around best driver award based on wins in specific races that would test abilities on oval, road and street? say...Indy 500, Watkins Glen, Long Beach? Pick the best of the best courses each category. Forces the drivers to be well rounded.

No one wins all three in teh same year, the pot of money roles forward and continues to build for future years??? Man, that could be a HUGE payoff one year.

 

If I were trying to tie in ALMS, I think I would do it the same weekend as the Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta... huge crowds, they run the Petite on Saturday, run IRL on Sunday ... and then tie it in with Running IRL at Le Mans - Bugatti Circuit the Friday before the 24 hour race. or the week before if they have to uncover the Bugatti track from runnoff.

That would be exciting, and may potentially bring in some other constructors .... I know its a pipe dream... but you can hope!

Tom

 

Road: Road America definitely. One of the premier road courses in the country and always a driver favorite. Road Atlanta would be great to see as well. I'd love to see them run in Melbourne if F1 leaves there, but Surfers works also.

I want to see them stay in Milwaukee because the mile is almost in my backyard but also for historical reasons. Return it to a night race though. Richmond, Texas, Chicago are always fun to watch, could lose Homestead, no big issue there.

 

I like your Petit LeMans idea. I also think Friday night on the Daytona road course before the 24 hours should be an option.

Not sure I like going to LeMans. Too much direct competition with F1, (French GP is usually week or two before or after LeMans) and CART tried running in Europe with no long-term success. However, if a European manufacturer was involved in the series it might make sense if their marketing muscle was behind it, a la Honda/Motegi.

 

Good tie between ALMS and IRL at the Petit at Road Atlanta.

Still think Europe is a very long way off of accepting an American centric series showing up in their backyard. Maybe in 10 or so years, but no way now...IMHO.

 

My bad...I forgot to list Milwaukee.

You really like Richmond? Always thought it was too short a track. I hate when the only cars in teh top 10 are on the lead lap.

 

I like that they are in traffic constantly (especially this year), maybe not the closest race ever but hopefully someone can get lucky and score a win that no one saw coming. I like night racing in general as well.

 

Guess you're right there. One of the reasons I enjoy Kentucky speedway. You can see everthing happening from the stands and its only a couple of hours drive from home. Just stop scheduling it during the heat of August...ugh...