[TheMightyM]

Gordon Kirby on the IndyCar schedule:

IndyCar has backed itself into this messy calendar without any plan or leadership, other than struggles for power which have resulted in the destruction of no fewer than 42 CART, Champ Car, IRL or IndyCar races over the past 15 years. This factoid captures Indy car racing's essential failure which is the complete absence of continuity or stability to the schedule and the consequent destruction of its fan and media base in numerous local markets.

The only IndyCar races currently enjoying established longterm dates are the Indy 500, Long Beach and Mid-Ohio. The rest of the meager schedule of sixteen races have been moved around, recently added to the calendar, or reinvented in some way with no sense of tradition, stability or date equity.

And of course, because the series has no bargaining power with either the tracks or television, IndyCar's schedule is crammed inside a five-month window between the end of March and Labor Day weekend. It's also a horror show for the teams, criss-crossing the country five or six times without any logical plan. A glance at each race paints a clear picture of IndyCar's intractable stable of problems.

And:

If IndyCar is to have any hope of reviving itself as a respected, well-attended, avidly-watched sport it must not only find a much better technical formula but also build much more stability and continuity into its schedule. And that's as tall an order as any of the many challenges facing the beleaguered folks on Sixteenth St. in Indianapolis.

You can read the rest of Kirby’s column here. And yes, I’d have to agree that schedule instability is a big part of IndyCar’s problems.