IRL Leaves Fontana Out of the Running

In compressing its schedule for 2006, the Indy Racing League squeezed California Speedway right out of the picture.

The IRL, which will run this season’s finale at the two-mile oval track in Fontana on Oct. 16, cut its schedule from 17 races to 14 -- events at Phoenix Raceway and Pikes Peak Raceway in Fountain, Colo., also were dropped -- and shortened its racing season by eight weeks to 25, thus avoiding conflicts with college and pro football.

The season will begin March 26, 20 days later than the 2005 opener, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., and will end Sept. 10 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., more than a month earlier than this year’s finale and just about the time the NFL is opening its season.

Of the 14 races, 11 will be on ovals, two -- at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Infineon Raceway at Sonoma -- on road courses, and one, at St. Petersburg, Fla., on a street course.

“The primary reasons for the compacted schedule are momentum and consistency,” Brian Barnhart, IRL president and chief operating officer, said Tuesday in announcing the changes.

“Scheduling our races on a consistent basis in a compacted time frame will give us momentum from the drop of the green flag in Miami into the month of May [at Indianapolis], right through the heart of our season and into the championship point battle.”

Added Ken Ungar, senior vice president of business affairs for the IRL: “Finishing before the NFL and college football seasons get into full swing will definitely increase overall exposure for our sport. Our broadcast partners, ABC and ESPN, were the catalysts in moving in this direction, and the prime mover in helping us get there.”

The compacted season, however, left California Speedway without a date.

“We exhaustively discussed race date options with the Indy Racing League,” said Gillian Zucker, recently appointed president of California Speedway. “In the end, California Speedway was not included on the schedule for 2006.

” ... Options considered included the same date as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach [sanctioned by the IRL’s competitor, the Champ Car World Series] or midsummer dates where the heat index would not allow for a good working environment for the teams or an enjoyable time for the fans.

“As with many other venues, the June 4 date was desirable to California Speedway, but Watkins Glen secured that date.”

Said Ungar: “ ... we worked very hard to find a suitable date for Fontana and suggested a number of different dates. However, with the [track’s] two Nextel Cup dates, the need to maintain separation between other dates at the California Speedway, and competing events not only in Los Angeles but throughout the Southwest in the spring of the year, we couldn’t find a date that worked for everyone.

“We think Los Angeles is a very important market for IndyCar racing and we look forward to sitting down with track officials in the future and working with them toward a possible return.”

The shift of dates for the road race at Watkins Glen, from September to the first event after the Indianapolis 500, apparently was part of the IRL’s grand plan.

“Having the Indianapolis 500 and the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix run on consecutive weekends will make for an amazing two weeks of racing,” said Craig Rust, president of Watkins Glen International.

IRL racing came late to California Speedway and never has been well received, compared to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup stock car racing, which produces 92,000-plus sellouts twice a year. The race Oct. 16 will be only the fourth appearance for the IRL, which draws about 35,000.

Zucker said, however, that in discussions with the IRL, crowd size never came up.

“Open-wheel crowds don’t compare to Nextel Cup crowds but we’re still talking about a large number of people, crowds that any other sport would be happy to have,” Zucker said.

“This is a disappointment. We have this incredible facility and we want to use it for world-class events.”

Next season will be California Speedway’s first without open-wheel racing of any kind. Champ Car, then known as CART, raced there from the track’s opening in 1997 through 2002 and, for a time, drew crowds of 80,000 or more.

That association ended badly, however, when CART’s 2003 season finale was canceled because of wildfires in the area. CART was in its death throes and wanted to run the race to keep up appearances but Bill Miller, then-president of the speedway, said no.

By that time, several of CART’s leading teams had defected to the IRL and CART shortly declared bankruptcy.

Kevin Kalkhoven, Gerald Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi bought CART’s assets and reorganized as the Champ Car World Series, which has been successfully running open-wheel races the last two seasons in the U.S. and abroad.

Last May, Kalkhoven and Forsythe bought the Long Beach Grand Prix, the most successful street race in the country, from Dover Motorsports.

Asked if there had been talks between California Speedway and Champ Car, Zucker said there had not been.

“At this point, no, but we’re open to talking to anyone interested in using our facility,” she said. “I’m convinced there is an audience for open-wheel racing in Southern California.”

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The 2006 Indy Racing League schedule, with TV coverage:

March 26: Homestead-Miami Speedway (ABC)

April 2: St. Petersburg, Fla. (ESPN)

April 22: Twin Ring Motegi, Japan (ESPN)

May 28: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (ABC)

June 4: Watkins Glen (ABC)

June 10: Texas Motor Speedway (ESPN)

June 24: Richmond Int. Raceway (ESPN2)

July 2: Kansas Speedway (ABC)

July 15: Nashville Superspeedway (ESPN)

July 23: Milwaukee Mile (ESPN)

July 30: Michigan International Speedway (ABC)

Aug. 13: Kentucky Speedway (ABC)

Aug. 27: Infineon Raceway, Sears Point (ESPN)

Sept. 10: Chicagoland Speedway (ABC)