NEWS/SCHEDULES/COMMENTARY-IRL IndyCar Series 2009 Schedule

The 2009 IndyCar schedule was released today. There are not a lot of big changes from 2008. Two consecutive street courses to start the year doesn't get me excited.

April 5-Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Aprl 19-Streets of Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif.
April 26-Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
May 24-Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Ind.
May 31-The Milwaukee Mile, West Alis, Wis.
June 6-Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
June 21-Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa
June 27-Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va.
July 5-Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
July 12-Streets of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
July 26-Edmonton City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Aug. 1-Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky.
Aug. 9-Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
Aug. 23-Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.
Aug. 29-Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill.
Sept. 6-The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Mi.
Sept. 19-Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan
Oct. 11-Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.

Homestead goes from first to last on the schedule. I guess the series thought since NASCAR ends their year in Miami, so should the IndyCars.

They're also headed towards a 50/50 split between ovals and road/street courses.

Remember when the IRL (or is it ICS now?) was supposed to be about ovals...And giving American grassroots open wheel drivers a shot...And keeping costs low...With production based, naturally aspirated V8's...

Yeah, me neither.

If you're really passionate about seeing fewer road/street courses on the ICS schedule, sign the petition: More Ovals in the IndyCar Series Petition