China Race Cancelled

[cosworth151]

No surprise here. The IndyCar race scheduled for August 19 in China has been cancelled. Possible alternates would be Laguna Seca, Road America, Pocono or Fontana, California.

Texas may not return next season, either.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120613/SPORTS0107/120613023/IndyCar-China-race-cancelled-Bernard-looks-Plan-B

[lkjohnson1950]

Robin Miller thinks the Texas stuff is a non issue. Everybody was very happy with that race. The situation in China sounds very much like what happened to F1 in France. A race at Laguna or RA would be fun.

[cosworth151]

It looks like the drivers disagree with Robin. They are concerned about how much the track is like Las Vegas. Randy doesn't care any more about the drivers' opinions then he does the fans. It also sounds like Bernard is playing the Bernie game, pitting the Ft. Worth track against the street circuit in Houston and the yawn factory in Austin.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120610/indycar/120619998#ixzz1xlVR7tUI

[Jericoke]

If they do race at Mazda Laguna Seca, I'll make it a point to watch.

[lkjohnson1950]

Bernie will not allow Indycar at COTA, or even in Austin. This sounds like maybe Bernard is looking for a way out of TMS.

[Jericoke]

Bernie will not allow Indycar at COTA, or even in Austin. This sounds like maybe Bernard is looking for a way out of TMS.

Why wouldn't Bernie allow IndyCar at COTA?

It gives people a straight up comparisson of F1 and IndyCar.  The last time this happened was CART (I know that's not IndyCar, but close enough) and F1 raced in Montreal in the same season.  Minardi's lap times were seconds quicker than the CART pole.

If you like IndyCar, you'll love F1.  Bernie would probably love for everyone to compare IndyCar with F1 and see which product is 'better'.

ALSO, it's a common practise for major sporting venues to do a 'practise' event before the big one just to make sure everything works.  If Randy Bernard can demonstrate the total lack of hotel space and road access at COTA before the F1 circus shows up, that's one less black eye for Bernie... he can simply say the organisers were aware and didn't do anything about it.  (Isn't that his standard line for Silverstone?)

[cosworth151]

The IRL race at Tilke Texas wouldn't be until next season. This year's disaster will have already happened.