Junior Open Wheel Talent

The 2010 (13-race) Indy Lights schedule was released today, featuring 12 returning tracks and the addition of Barber Motorsports Park.

The new schedule features:
23.0%- street courses
38.5%- road courses (counting Edmonton)
38.5%- ovals

It seems the series is continuing to put more emphasis on road racing than they have in the past. That said, they have done a nice job of balancing everything out to give the drivers an adequate amount of experience in each vocation. In 2008, 8 out of the 12 events were run on an oval. This season, 2009, the schedule had a nice mix with roughly 50% of the races on road courses and the other 50% on ovals.

Without further ado, here is your 2010 Indy Lights schedule.

March 27th or 28th- Streets of St. Petersburg
April 10th or 11th- Barber Motorsports Park
April 17th or 18th- Streets of Long Beach
May 28th- Indianapolis Motor Speedway
June 19th or 20th- Iowa Speedway
July 3rd or 4th- Watkins Glen International
July 17th or 18th- Streets of Toronto
July 24th or 25th- Edmonton City Centre Airport
August 7th or 8th- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
August 21st or 22nd- Infineon Raceway
August 27th or 28th- Chicagoland Speedway
September 4th or 5th- Kentucky Speedway
October 1st or 2nd- Homestead-Miami Speedway

CKI (Championship Karting International) released their 2010 schedule earlier today. It's funny that they release their 2010 schedule this early, as most series are still finalizing plans with their 2009 hosts.

The announcement is likely a new record for the earliest release of a schedule. That said, their motivation for doing so is quite obvious. Entry numbers have been dismal all year (regardless of the sanction or series), so CKI is stepping up and "setting a date" for competitors. It only makes sense that the earlier the schedule is released, the more likely people are to mark their calendars for the following season. Let's hope their methodology works.

The CKI crew has done a nice job running their program thus far into the season. Without further ado, here is their 2010 schedule:

East
March 26-28 Grand Prix of Florida--Palm Beach International Raceway
July 23-25 Grand Prix of New Jersey--NJMP

West
May 14-16 Grand Prix of Reno--Grand Sierra Resort
Sept. 10-12 Grand Prix of Colorado--Grand Junction Motor Speedway

East/West
June 18-20 Grand Prix of New Castle--NCMP
Oct. 22-24 CKI Grand Championship--Location (TBA)

The only issue with this schedule right now, as far as I can tell, is that a few of the hosting states (mentioned above) might feel bad about having their name left out of the event title... (Sorry Indiana and Nevada).

Championship Karting International released their 2009 schedule yesterday.

May 29-31 New Castle Motorsports Park
June 26-28 New Jersey Motorsports Park
August 7-9 Auto Club Speedway
October 9-11 Oklahoma Motorsports Complex

Here is the updated F2000 Championship schedule for 2009...

2009 F2000 Championship Series Schedule:
Virginia International Raceway --April 9-11
Lime Rock Park --May 22-25
Mosport --June 12-14
Watkins Glen --July 2-5
Summit Point --July 16-19
Mid-Ohio --August 13-16

The F3 Euro Series released their 2009 schedule earlier this week. I've heard a few complaints about the dropping of Pau from the series schedule (due to the re-arranging of the DTM calendar), but the series does offer a few nice stops. The current calendar consists of 20 races.

May 16-17           Hockenheimring
May 30-31           Lausitz
June 27-28          Norisring
July 18-19          Zandvoort
August 1-2          Oschersleben
August 15-16        Nürburgring
September 5-6       Brands Hatch
September 19-20     Barcelona
October 10-11       Dijon
October 24-25       Hockenheimring 

Skip Barber released their 2009 National schedule earlier this week and I must say they have a really solid line of venues. Actually, I would say they have put together the best schedule of the North American junior formula series for 2009. The champion after 14-races will receive a $350,000 scholarship from the MAZDASPEED Development Ladder to be used in the 2010 Star Mazda series.

Here is your 2009 Skip Barber National schedule:

Spring Training, February 28- March 1---Sebring International Raceway

March 17-20--- Sebring International Raceway
April 24 - 26---Virginia International Raceway
June 12-14---Jersey Motorsports Park
July 17-19---Barber Motorsports Park
August 13-16---Road America
September 22-25---Road Atlanta
October 8 – 10---Lime Rock Park

**Obsolete** Please see the updated schedule--Click Here**

The F2000 Championship released their 2009 schedule yesterday with one obvious change from year's previous: the addition of the historic Hutchinson Island Course in Savannah, Georgia....which has been home to Indy Lights races in the past. Without further ado, here is your 2009 schedule:

April 2-5, Hutchinson Island Course, Savannah, GA
April 24-26, Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
May 22-25, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT
June 12-14, Mosport International raceway, Bowmanville, Ont.
July 3-5 Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY
July 17-19, Summit Point Raceway, Charles Town, W.VA.
August 14-16, Mid Ohio Sportscar Course, Lexington, OH

The Stars of Karting organization has released their 2009 schedule.

March 6 - 8 - Ocala Gran Prix - Ocala, Florida
April 24 - 26- Infineon Raceway Karting Center - Sonoma, California
May 29 - 31 - New Castle Motorsports Park - New Castle, Indiana
June 26 - 28 - F1 New Jersey - Millville, New Jersey
August 7 - 9 - Pacific Grand Prix Raceways - Seattle, Washington
October 9 - 11 - Oklahoma Motorsports Complex - Norman, Oklahoma
December 10, 2009 - PRI All-Stars Karting Classic - Orlando, Florida

The Atlantic Championship unveiled their 2009 schedule this morning. The series has added some new venues, which will cause some happiness, and taken away a few familiar venues (Road America); which may add some discontent among the fan base. Without further ado, here is your 2009 schedule.

2009 Atlantic Championship Schedule
March 15 Hutchinson Island - Savannah, Ga.* Green Prix USA
March 20 Sebring International Raceway - Sebring, Fla. (ALMS)
May 17 Miller Motorsports Park - Tooele, Utah (ALMS)
June 14 New Jersey Motorsports Park - Millville, N.J.
July 18 Lime Rock Park - Lakeville, Conn. (ALMS)
July 25 Autobahn Country Club - Joliet, Ill.
August 8 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - Lexington, Ohio (ALMS)
August 16 Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres - Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada
August 30 Mosport International Raceway - Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada (ALMS)
September 27 Road Atlanta - Braselton, Ga. (ALMS)
October 11 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca - Monterey, Calif. (ALMS)

The Star Mazda series released their 2009 schedule today with a few changes. Most notably the addition of two oval events to the series schedule; Milwaukee Mile & Iowa Speedway. Both events will be 100-lap events. The addition of the oval tracks might seem strange to some, but it's not the first time Star Mazda has included them in their schedule. Drivers faced the Milwaukee Mile in 2006 where they ran as a support class to the Champ Car World Series. Current Indy Lights driver Michael Potekhen won the race. The unification of Champ Car and the Indy Car series has created a demand for drivers capable of running at speed on both an oval and a road course. Star Mazda is taking a step in the right direction. Open wheel racing in the United States is known for it's diversity of circuits and this addition to a junior formula will only better prepare today's young stars for the road ahead. The series will be run as a headline class on five occasions but they have also aligned their schedule with several large series: ALMS, Grand Am, NASCAR, as well as the ARCA series.

The promoters did a nice job of mixing up the schedule for 2009 and eliminating some of the gaps in race weekends that we saw in 2008. However, I will say I'm disappointed to see that Road America was removed from the schedule for 2009.

The Indy Lights Series released their 2009 schedule today. They have added two more stops to the 2009 calendar, 14 stops total, which will feature 3 temporary street circuits (not counting Edmonton). This season the Indy Lights drivers only ran one street circuit with the stop in St. Petersburg. I like the mixture of ovals and street courses for 2009 as well. The drivers will run 50% of their schedule on a road course with the other 50% on ovals, diversifying their individual talents. It's nice to see the series splitting the two disciplines for 2009. In 2008, 8 out of 12 venues featured an oval track.