Possible 17-race 2007 IRL schedule

UPDATE #9 The Times-Dispatch has learned that the seventh consecutive visit from the open-wheel series to Richmond International Raceway will take place Saturday night, June 30, 2007, one week later than this year's visit. An official league announcement is expected today. Richmond Times Dispatch

09/20/06 As for the 2007 schedule, Barnhart indicated there will be a race Aug. 5, the date expected to be available in Montreal. If a deal is reached, it would be the IRL's first Canadian event. Nine of what Barnhart expects to be 16 or 17 events have been confirmed. The full schedule is expected next week. The Indianapolis 500 is May 27. Indy Star

Based on announcements and scuttlebutt, the 2007 IRL schedule is shaping up as follows:
March
Mar. 25 Homestead (Tentative)
April
April 1 St. Petersburg (Confirmed)
April 14 (Sat) Motegi (Tentative)
April 29 Kansas (Confirmed)
May
May 27 Indy 500 (Confirmed)
June
Jun 3 Milwaukee (Confirmed)
Jun 9 Texas – Night (Confirmed)
Jun 24 Iowa (Confirmed)
Jun 30 Nashville – Night (Confirmed)
July
July 8 Watkins Glen (Confirmed)
July 22 Michigan (Confirmed)
August
Aug. 5 Montreal (Tentative)
Aug. 12 Kentucky (Assume on traditional date)
Aug. 26 Infineon (Assume on traditional date)
September
Sep. 2 Detroit (Tentative – but doubtful)
Sep. 9 Chicagoland (Assume on traditional date)

09/15/06 According to Curt Cavin's latest article on Indystar.com, the IRL probably will not race around Dodger Stadium (we told you that would not happen), but they are still waiting on Belle Isle and Montreal. We heard Grand-Am would be with the Busch Series in Montreal, but apparently the IRL is still trying.

08/16/06 Bruce Martin reports in National Speed Sport News that "with just two races remaining on the 2006 IndyCar schedule, the IRL has yet to announce the schedule for next season. Expect a gain of three races to the schedule, including Montreal, Belle Isle in Detroit and possibly a street event around Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, according to sources.

"The mayor of Los Angeles has pitched the IRL on a street-course race that would wind around Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, which would serve as the season-opening race next March. The race at Homestead, Fla., is expected to be moved to a Saturday night race in March, followed by the highly successful Grand Prix of St. Petersburg."

08/12/06 Hearing that talk of a Dodger Stadium race or at El Toro is 100% BS we are told. Even though the IRL has never drawn more than a few thousand people in Southern California, there's no way ingress and egress would work around the Dodger Stadium neighborhood (not to mention a lack of facilities such as bathrooms). And the tarmac (what still exists) at El Toro is way too abrasive for race tires not to mention zero support facilities.

08/12/06 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, A race at El Toro is ludicrous. The field is the property of the Orange County Great Parks District, and they are about to start tearing up the runways and planting trees there. So any race would at best be a one off, but I'm pretty sure that runways will be on their way out by Spring.

Here is the best map I know of that shows an overlay of the park on the existing runways. http://www.eltoroairport.org/images/CityOfIrvine.pdf

There are plenty of maps at the park website detailing the plans and progress of park completion.

http://www.ocgp.org

If the tree huggers won't let you race at Bennett Field, do you expect Californians to let you race through what will be their new wetland preserve?

It's actually less ludicrous to think there might be a race around Dodger Stadium, but to get the Dodgers to put on a race, the IRL would have to waive ALL of their sanctioning fee. Look for the IRL season to start in Florida. Albert MacKrell

08/11/06 Unconfirmed sources say the IRL "LA street" race at Dodger Stadium is indeed a smokescreen and that if it happens will be at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin / Irvine Ca, (pictured right). Date is said to be 1 or 2 weeks before Long Beach. There have been a few Vintage Races at El Toro in the past. If this is true, that the IRL would try to schedule a competing race a few weeks and within a 20 minute drive of Champ Car's Long Beach race (be it El Toro or Dodger Stadium) would indicate to us that these two groups are never going to merge and the gloves will soon come off in a possible renewal of all-out war.

08/11/06 From what we are hearing, the rumored street race around Dodger Stadium is very doubtful and would be a money loser due to the costs involved, so many think this race is just a smokescreen. We shall see…..

08/11/06 Based on latest scuttlebutt, here is our revised 2007 IRL schedule, not looking quite possible to include as many as 17 races.

“We have chosen to announce our date's kind of spread out over the next few weeks," said IRL vice president for league development, John Lewis. “You should see another announcement this weekend. Just stay tuned. We've got more good news coming."

“We're currently talking with some people in the Southern California market," said Lewis. “We should have hopefully some more good news regarding a potential venue out there shortly."

The Dodger Stadium event rumored months ago, if held, would open the season in mid-March.

AutoRacing1com sources tell us that the IRL will definitely race in Montreal with the NASCAR Busch series in 2007.

March
March 11th or 18th, Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium) (SC)
March 24th, Homestead-Miami Speedway
April
April 1st, St. Petersburg Grand Prix (SC)
April 15th Twin Ring Motegi – Japan
April 29th, Kansas Speedway
May
May 27th, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
June
June 3rd, Milwaukee Mile
June 9th, Texas Motor Speedway (Sat. Night)
June 24th, Iowa Speedway
June 30th, Richmond International Raceway (Sat Night)
July
July 8th, Watkins Glen International (RC)
July 14th, Nashville SuperSpeedway
July 22nd, Michigan International Speedway
August
August 5th, Montreal, Canada (RC) (With Busch Series)
August 12th, Kentucky Speedway
August 26th, Infineon Raceway (RC) or Mid Ohio (RC)
September
September 2nd, Detroit – Belle Isle (SC) or Mid Ohio (RC)
September 9th – Chicagoland Speedway

08/02/06 Based on announcements and scuttlebutt, the 2007 IRL schedule is shaping up as follows:

March
Mar. 18 LA Street Race (Tentative but looking more likely to happen)
Mar. 25 Homestead (Tentative)
April
April 1 St. Petersburg (Confirmed)
April 14 (Sat) Motegi (Tentative)
April 29 Kansas (Confirmed)
May
May 27 Indy 500 (Confirmed)
June
Jun 3 Milwaukee (Confirmed)
Jun 9 Texas – Night (Confirmed)
Jun 24 Iowa (Confirmed)
July
July 1 Watkins Glen (Confirmed)
July 14 Nashville – Night (Assume on traditional date)
July 22 Michigan (Confirmed)
August
Aug. 12 Kentucky (Assume on traditional date)
Aug. 26 Infineon (Assume on traditional date)
September
Sep. 2 Detroit (Tentative)
Sep. 9 Chicagoland (Assume on traditional date)

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