IndyCar will not return to the Pocono Raceway in 2020, the championship has confirmed after revealing its calendar for next season.
No mention of the decision to cease visiting the Pennsylvania superspeedway by the series when it revealed its schedule for the upcoming season. However a number of major crashes at the track in recent seasons have prompted questions over whether IndyCar should continue to visit the track.Justin Wilson was killed when he was struck by debris at the track in 2015. Three years later Robert Wickens suffered paralysis when his car was launched into the fence.
A multi-car crash forced this year’s race to be red-flagged on the first lap. All the drivers involved escaped serious injured, but Wickens was among those who called on IndyCar to reconsider its future at the circuit.
Pocono’s place as the fifth oval race on the multi-course schedule will be taken by Richmond Raceway in Virginia. IndyCar last raced at the circuit 10 years ago, and the Richmond complex has been upgraded since then. The 0.75-mile, 1.2 kilometre circuit is considerably slower than Pocono, and will surpass Iowa as the shortest track on IndyCar’s schedule.
There are no other significant changes to the schedule. The championship will open at the St Petersburg street circuit and conclude at Laguna Seca, which has returned to the championship this year. The Indianapolis 500 will be held on May 24th, the same weekend as the Monaco Grand Prix.
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2020 IndyCar calendar
| Round | Date | Venue | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15/3/2020 | St Petersburg | Street |
| 2 | 5/4/2020 | Barber Motorsport Park | Road |
| 3 | 19/4/2020 | Long Beach | Street |
| 4 | 26/4/2020 | Circuit of the Americas | Road |
| 5 | 9/5/2020 | Indianapolis GP | Road |
| 6 | 24/5/2020 | Indianapolis 500 | Oval |
| 7 | 30/5/2020 | Detroit race one | Street |
| 8 | 31/5/2020 | Detroit race two | Street |
| 9 | 6/6/2020 | Texas Motor Speedway | Oval |
| 10 | 21/6/2020 | Road America | Road |
| 11 | 27/6/2020 | Richmond Raceway | Oval |
| 12 | 12/7/2020 | Toronto | Street |
| 13 | 18/7/2020 | Iowa | Oval |
| 14 | 16/8/2020 | Mid-Ohio | Road |
| 15 | 22/8/2020 | Gateway | Oval |
| 16 | 6/9/2020 | Portland | Road |
| 17 | 20/9/2020 | Laguna Seca | Road |
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Jockey Ewing
1st September 2019, 21:00
i never really followed Indy, but this short oval format likely ll make me to watch atleast as a try
is there some footage of previous short oval races available for free? whole race would be the best
it can be so astonishingly high traffic vs F1 that i wanna see. but as i know there is no more short oval races
at top level at this season
Josh (@canadianjosh)
1st September 2019, 21:47
Ya YouTube Milwaukee or Phoenix and make sure you drink plenty of red bull before you press play because you’ll fall asleep otherwise
grat
2nd September 2019, 3:09
Search for “NTT Fast Forward” on youtube. They’re condensed to 30 minutes.
Jockey Ewing
2nd September 2019, 9:44
thank you both of you
JeffHeinick (@jeffheinick)
1st September 2019, 21:22
So because drivers cant control themselves on lap one, the track is used as a scapegoat.
If people are so against this, drop Spa already. How many devastating accidents have we seen there.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
1st September 2019, 21:46
+ 1 agree completely
Josh (@canadianjosh)
1st September 2019, 21:45
Short track IndyCar racing is a joke, it’ll be worse than watching paint dry trust me. Pocono was a good track for IndyCar but two bad mistakes by drivers made it look bad. Justin Wilson’s accident could have happened at any circuit and not at all with the new shield. Can’t believe Richmond or Milwaukee have IndyCar races.
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
1st September 2019, 21:55
I love Richmond in Iracing with the Star Mazda, but come on. Why not just have these guys race on a simulator and then DVT will be the only risk they take?
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
2nd September 2019, 0:54
Replacing Pocono with Richmond isn’t an especially good trade.
I enjoy Indycar racing on short ovals but Richmond was always a terrible track for Indycar’s because it’s a deceptively fast single groove circuit that’s virtually impossible to pass on. The fastest cars would struggle to even get by the backmarkers that were miles off the pace when Indycar ran there last.
If they wanted to add another short oval then Milwaukee or New Hampshire would be far better.
In terms of Pocono, None of the serious accidents since it was brought back to the Indycar schedule were caused by the track which is no more or less dangerous than any of the other ovals.
Justin Wilson’s was essentially down to bad luck, A single car spin ahead of him with debris happening to fall in-front of him. That could have happened on a road circuit. And both last year’s accident that led to Robert Wickens injuries & this year’s multi-car crash were caused by drivers been impatient & not giving each other enough room with Wickens been launched into the fence again something that could (And has) happened elsewhere including on road circuits in the past. None of them or the results were created or caused by anything specific to Pocono which isn’t even the fastest oval they race on.