2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel

[catamount39]

Auto Club Speedway appears to be off the schedule for next year and Phoenix might be back

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/120272-indycar-fontana-out-for-16-phoenix-closer-to-return

Good trade.

 

[GTPorsche]

Indycar screwed ACS out of those fans. Can't blame the track for that poor attendance.

 

[ukfan758]

I hope Phoenix will at least have more than the 3,000 that attend the Fontana event, but knowing Indycar's terrible marketing and scheduling skills, you'll have poor attendance after the first race. But since Phoenix is shorter, expect some really good Iowa style racing!

 

[catamount39]

I hope Phoenix will at least have more than the 3,000 that attend the Fontana event, but knowing Indycar's terrible marketing and scheduling skills, you'll have poor attendance after the first race. But since Phoenix is shorter, expect some really good Iowa style racing!

Exactly why I'm happy it's replacing Fontana.

 

[ukfan758]

And for those who say that removing Fontana will hurt SoCal Indycar fans, there is still the Long Beach GP which gets a far greater attendance.

 

[Eva]

Sucks because Fontana had some fantastic racing, but hey, not complaining if we get Phoenix and Road America out of losing Fontana and NOLA. Milwaukee, I saw somewhere, could still be on the calendar if it gets picked up by a different promoter.

 

[GTPorsche]

Indycar is not doing a good job by burning bridges with everyone they can.

 

[IforceV8]

ACS didnt want to spend the money to turn on the lights and Indycar and NBCSN didnt want the race on TV at 4pm ET on a college football Saturday. 500,000 people are watching the races on NBCSN and ACS can only manage to draw 5,000 people in a market of 18 mil, bye bye Fontana. On top of that ACS has already taken down 26% of their seating because they cant fill the place in March for Nascar either. Maybe that is Indycar's fault too.💡

 

[GTPorsche]

It's Indycar's fault that they can't stick to a consistent schedule for races that aren't Long Beach and the Indy 500.

 

[catamount39]

ACS didnt want to spend the money to turn on the lights and Indycar and NBCSN didnt want the race on TV at 4pm ET on a college football Saturday. 500,000 people are watching the races on NBCSN and ACS can only manage to draw 5,000 people in a market of 18 mil, bye bye Fontana. On top of that ACS has already taken down 26% of their seating because they cant fill the place in March for Nascar either. Maybe that is Indycar's fault too.💡

Huh didn't know about that NASCAR having attendance issues there too bit. Interesting...

 

[TDZdave]

5 thousand out of 18 million??? That's a complete joke! The V8SC gets 250,000 through the gates out of 1.2 million for the Adelaide weekend, Bathurst averages 200,000 from their village of 40,000 U.S.A is broken,

 

[GTPorsche]

NASCAR is having attendance issues everywhere except at tracks that include right turns.

 

[Kingofweasles]

Sucks about Fontana, but to be honest I wouldn't want to have to deal with the moronic schedule decisions Mark Miles has made since becoming Indycar CEO anymore either...

 

[catamount39]

NASCAR is having attendance issues everywhere except at tracks that include right turns.

Dreaming of it turning into V8SC...not happening but still.

 

[IforceV8]

It's Indycar's fault that they can't stick to a consistent schedule for races that aren't Long Beach and the Indy 500.

Not even close to true.

 

[GTPorsche]

Not even close to true.

You bring a compelling argument in an attempt to prove me wrong.

 

[IforceV8]

You bring a compelling argument in an attempt to prove me wrong.

Say something logical then.

 

[GTPorsche]

Again. Compelling argument to prove me wrong.

Indycar is just a beacon of consistency.

 

[ukfan758]

Say something logical then.

How is what he said not logical? It's Indycar managements fault that they don't want to grow up and compete with NASCAR and the NFL. Because they won't compete, they shuffle around their schedule like they're doing now. We saw what happened when Indycar had their race on the same day for once in a lifetime, a huge TV audiance increase. When you grow your TV audiance, more people are aware of the series existence and might want to attend a race and might even return if the dates are the same and the product is good.

 

[IforceV8]

St.Pete in March 👍
Alabama Apr. 👍
Detroit June 👍
Texas June 👍
Toronto moved back to July after Pan-Am games disruption 👍
Iowa The only difference is the height of the corn between June and July.👍
Mid-Ohio Aug 👍
Sonoma Aug 👍

Yeah that looks like total chaos to me. Pocono requested the date change away from the July date, Houston and Brazil are gone. The only issue that matters is Milwaukee since
Fontana is a ghost town.

It is easy to troll on Indycar about the schedule every year but they arent in the position of Nascar or the NFL when it comes to control of the venues. They own one track, Indy.

 

[GTPorsche]

Formula 1 owns none of the tracks and that schedule hardly ever shifts around like Indycar does.

It's also easy to say Indycar schedule is consistent when you're just pointing out the month the race falls into.

 

[catamount39]

Can we all agree on the fact that the season needs to end in September or October and not August?

 

[IforceV8]

Can we all agree on the fact that the season needs to end in September or October and not August?

Yes. But it has to be on the exact same day every year,even if it is a Tuesday.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Sigh, another potentially great circuit gets kicked off the calendar. Too bad it was run by greedy owners.

It probably doesn't help that the venue is clearly unfinished. It's a shame because the series really needs to move into new circuits.

 

[TDZdave]

Can we all agree on the fact that the season needs to end in September or October and not August?

Start early March and end in November. With 4 fly away races, return to surfers paradise in October ,

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Start early March and end in November. With 4 fly away races, return to surfers paradise in October ,

The series outgrew Surfers' years before it left in the first place. And V8 Supercars won't want anything competing with the existing Gold Coast 600, since it seems to be permanently in limbo. One hiccup could derail the whole thing.

 

[TDZdave]

The series outgrew Surfers' years before it left in the first place. And V8 Supercars won't want anything competing with the existing Gold Coast 600, since it seems to be permanently in limbo. One hiccup could derail the whole thing.

That may be, but why not go to a place that continues to have strong crowds?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

That may be, but why not go to a place that continues to have strong crowds?

Because VESA won't support it. They'll pull out and do it strategically so that Indycar are in an awkward position where they have to reestablish themselves with no support in a tight time frame. VESA will do their best to kill it off.

If Indycar really wanted to come back, they'd be better-suited going to Eastern Creek or Philip Island. Or either Tailem Bend, the new Bathurst or Toowoomba circuits if/when they get built (or Avalon Airport, but that's extremely unlikely).

 

[Furinkazen]

Adelaide.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

They won't support it, either. When the Australian Grand Prix contract was up for renewal, Adelaide was touted as a potential alternate venue. The city said no - they're only interested in V8 Supercars.