Street racing is poor for all the reasons given in the article – slow and processional. Only Monaco gets away with it because of the history, the setting, and that the is course is never really dismantled.

I would like to see US street courses dumped and a mix of good permanent road (70%) and good oval (30%) races. As for the lack of American talent – well, the feeder series are the root of that problem.

If Indy cars get the correct power/downforce balance, they will have to brake in flat ovals. And braking means that drivers will be tested for their driving skills, unlike most current medium-banked ovals. Milwaukee, New Hampshire and one of the two flat superpeedways (Fontana or Michigan) should return soon.

BTW, your “true vision” for IndyCar has already been tried, starting in 1996. How did that turn out?

Indy Car Racing shouldn’t be about being perfectly “mixed” and “diverse”. It should be about SPEED and ACTION and OVALS, with road racing only sprinkled in, as a change-up. Street racing and most road racing, while a nice spectator sport for those that show up and party, are generally TERRIBLE on television and don’t have squat to do with the Indy 500. So when a Indy 500 fan, tunes in for a race in August and sees some parade in the middle of nowhere on some deserted airport in Edmonton, with cars going 100 MPH slower then they do in May, it turns off many folks.

The sooner this abomination of “racing” is cut out of this sport (which will happen once new leadership from NASCAR takes over) the better. We need clarity and a true “vision” for Indy Car Racing. And that vision needs to be more closely aligned with the sport’s crown jewel event.

An openwheel course that would be something to watch would be Abu-Dabi or something other than a makeshift municipal airport with families who are totally inconvienced for the Spring Break Partay; forced to participate in the new culture of the American Dream gone to hell in a hand-basket.

God Bless Ashley Judd for her fine work with this Haitian disaster-she makes you proud to be an American…Her husband the 2009 Indy Champ should be so glad that she is also a Champion!

Getting rid of Long Beach is silly because it is a huge venue and is the second biggest event. There’s not much passing, no, but there is tradition and it was the street race that started the boom. It should be there.

Toronto and Cleveland I think deserve their place also due to tradition and because those are the two most exciting street courses in general. Edmonton, take or leave, but I don’t hate it. Detroit is not good and the less said the better.

St. Pete I don’t really get at all. I guess they want to have a Southeastern venue but I would easily take Road Atlanta or Sebring over St. Pete and Homestead, both of which suck in my opinion. For an oval, I think Walt Disney World had better racing than Homestead…it was at least distinctive.

So I would say ideally Long Beach, Toronto, and Cleveland, and that’s it. Okay, add Brazil in because they’re shelling millions to the series. Cut St. Pete and Edmonton. Edmonton’s a good circuit, but for an airport circuit, I’d rather see Cleveland and two seems to be overkill, and Edmonton is losing money more than Long Beach, Toronto, and Cleveland do/did.

I however agree with others that the ovals are freaking boring and are just as much as the street courses. In fact, since the merger, the street courses are more interesting for the most part than the ovals, because the ovals are pretty much decided by 100% car while driving talent plays more of a role on road/street courses. At tracks like Homestead or Kansas, a Penske or Ganassi car will always win, and there won’t be any competition from drivers like Justin Wilson who are just as good or drivers like Dan Wheldon who are just as good on ovals. At least on the road/street courses, the result has something to do with talent.

That does not justify opting for street courses instead of road courses (the same thing CART did). Street courses supposedly bring money but they really don’t. It was appalling that NASCAR landed Road America for the freaking Nationwide series (I do actually like NASCAR still more or less, but Nationwide is worthless), while IndyCar couldn’t replace the Milwaukee date with Road America, instead choosing to give into that blowhard Eddie Gossage who has only his best interests at heart, not the series’s. IndyCar belongs there. I see no point on Nationwide there.

I certainly like ovals and they should be half the schedule. The problem is that all the good ovals except Indy, Iowa, Kentucky, Texas, and Chicagoland are gone. The other cookie cutters have to go and to be replaced with REAL TRACKS like Phoenix, Milwaukee, Michigan (distinct from cookie cutters because it largely inspired them), Loudon, Rockingham, NC (don’t let it rust…it was great for NASCAR and I think could work for IndyCar, at least better than the ill-fated Dover experiment). The reason I recommend Rockingham is because an ISC reject type track is the sort of track IndyCar SHOULD be going for since there is no competition from NASCAR and it is getting a foothold into their country. Much better than Charlotte I say, which is too similar to the other 1.5 mile ovals. Nazareth and Pikes Peak should have races too, but those tracks are dead. My problem with the people who SCREAM about 50% ovals is that most of the modern ovals today are generic, just like the street courses.

My dream schedule (more or less)

Oval: Indianapolis, Chicagoland, Iowa, Kentucky, Loudon, Michigan, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Rockingham, NC, Texas
Road: Laguna Seca (replacing Sears Point), Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring (replacing St. Pete and Homestead), Watkins Glen
Street: Cleveland, Long Beach, Toronto

That would be more or less an ideal schedule in my book. It does have that 50/50 balance, but there should definitely be more permanent than temporary road courses.

Obviously financial issues ruin that and allow for things like Brazil and Motegi which nobody would likely say are the most worthy tracks (and too bad F1 desperately wants to keep IndyCar out of Interlagos and Suzuka…those are the REAL tracks there.) St. Pete although I don’t think it’s all that deserving has an in for eternity because of Michael Andretti’s influence. But GET OFF THE ISC OVALS (except Phoenix and Michigan, which belong for historical reasons). ISC will not possibly have IndyCar’s best interests at heart (and I don’t think SMI would either), and I’d race on any superspeedway without a NASCAR date, ESPECIALLY those not owned by ISC/SMI.

All good points. Kentucky is a great time, and an enjoyable track to be at though.

maybe that should be the criteria for all tracks–no matter which direction you turn the steering wheel.