Will Houston race move to February?
There is an IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway that is a fixture. This year, the race is June 10. It's highly unlikely that the new Champ-IRL (or IRL-Champ, if you will) would mess with TMS. The race draws the second-most fans in the IRL, behind the Indy 500.
It's even more unlikely that the TMS management would want a race in Houston in May when its race is in June. Bruton Smith, the man who owns the Fort Worth track, is a heavy hitter. He'll have some say about whether an open-wheel race is held so close to his track a mere month earlier.
The problem? If not in May, when can the Houston race be held? It can't be earlier because it takes six weeks, minimum, to construct the track around Reliant Park, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo isn't over until March 18.
Having the race later in the summer would be torture for drivers and fans. Some drivers were grousing about the heat last week, and it was about as pleasant as you could get for mid-May.
Forget about the fall. The Texans rule in Reliant once early August rolls around. So, what might happen?
"As a Champ Car guy, I hadn't really thought about it," said Grand Prix of Houston promoter Mike Lanigan. "My only answer is that Houston is a bigger market than Dallas."
Splitting hairs, Dallas-Fort Worth has a bigger metropolitan area and is a bigger TV market than Houston. Certainly, if there is unification, the new open-wheel series would love to have Houston involved. The devil is in the details.
From AutoRacing1.com perspective, in a merger scenario, the IndyCar season must start in early February in order to be done in September when ABC/ESPN become preoccupied with NASCAR. The Houston and the St. Petersburg, FL. races should open the season in February, St. Pete before baseball Spring Training moves in and Houston before the rodeo moves in. In part from the Houston Chronicle