You can describe IndyCar Series as a combination between NASCAR and Formula One — the series is based in the United States (like NASCAR) but races open wheel cars (like F1).IndyCar races on a variety of different track types, including five ovals, six road courses and four street circuits across the U.S. and Canada. The crown jewel event, of course, is the famed Indy 500 — which runs each May on Memorial Day Weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.There are several schedule changes for the upcoming season. For the first time since 2008, IndyCar will run a non-points paying exhibition event — an All-Star race, of sorts. The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge will take place on March 24, with the winner earning $1 million.Elsewhere, the Nashville race will move from a street circuit to the Nashville Superspeedway oval to wrap up the season. It will be the first IndyCar race on the oval since 2008. Texas Motor Speedway was also removed from the schedule after hosting a race since 1997. The Milwaukee Mile will pick up two races for the first time since 2015.
That lack of excitement has forced all the attention on the off-track dramas of the cutthroat racing series, and F1 has been engrossed in scandal for weeks as Red Bull has dealt with an internal investigation into team principal Christian Horner over accusations of improper conduct toward an employee. Horner was cleared, the employee this week was suspended, but the swirling gossip is nonstop.
he racing is terrible. It’s terrible,” IndyCar team owner Chip Ganassi said. “They’ve got nothing else to talk about but Christian Horner, OK?”IndyCar has the opposite problem. The series had seven different winners over 17 races last season and the 27-car field on Friday was separated from first to last by 3.4172 seconds. The guy who was slowest? Sports car ace Colin Braun, who drove an Indy car for the first time in his life last week in a test at Sebring — a session that this week led him to be named Dale Coyne Racing’s driver for the first two races of the season.
