10 Race Circuits that IndyCar Should Get Back on the Schedule

IndyCar has a long history of racing at some of the premier race tracks in North America. At the top of the list is obviously Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the legendary Indianapolis 500. There’s also the streets of Long Beach, Toronto and St. Petersburg (Fla.).

For 2024, we’re glad to see the series return to The Milwaukee Mile for a doubleheader … but having the season finale in Nashville, meh, not so much. That’s nothing against the new and improved street race promised in Music City, but Laguna Seca or even a return to Sonoma Raceway would be more intriguing and popular, in our opinion.

IndyCar has also seen nearly two dozen cities/tracks come and go on and ultimately off the schedule since 2008. That’s not really the series’ fault, as it’s race promoters that typically pull the plug for a variety of reasons, including poor ticket sales/attendance, lack of fan interest, high costs that make return on investment too cost-prohibitive, or facilities that just have run their course (the most recent example of that is Texas Motor Speedway, which will not be on the 2024 IndyCar calendar for the first time since 1997).

Here's 10 tracks—a collection of some of our favorites from the IndyCar Series, as well as from the preceding CART/ChampCar World Series and Indy Racing League series that we would love to see back on the IndyCar schedule … although there’s a caveat: few, if any, are likely to return because IndyCar likely will never expand its schedule to what would be needed, like 22 or even 20 race dates per season (instead of the current 17-race schedule).

Still, it’s great to dream of what could be once again (the following tracks are listed in some semblance of order of tracks we’d most like to see return to the schedule):

Chicagoland Speedway

Ask any veteran driver like Scott Dixon or retired greats like Dario Franchitti, and the 1.5-mile oval in Joliet, Ill., would likely be among the top picks they’d like to see the series return to.

IndyCar raced 10 years (2001 to 2010) at the suburban Chicago facility, with some of the most competitive racing the series has ever seen. The Chicagoland race was typically the season finale and saw the last six titles all decided in the final lap or two of each race. Chicagoland Speedway was supposed to be relegated to the scrap heap and be torn down last year, but situations have changed and it and sister drag strip Route 66 Raceway, are back open and in business.

If IndyCar were to add another race in the next couple of years, this would be the first place they should look (and make it the season-ending race for even greater excitement).

Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland

This was one of our favorite tracks on the CART circuit. Situated on the banks of Lake Erie and held on the runways of a downtown commuter airport, the racing was challenging and competitive for 26 years (1982 through 2007). Unfortunately, when ChampCar and the IRL merged in 2008, Burke was one of its scheduling victims.

The airport is still there and if you go by at the right time and with the right weather conditions, you can still faintly hear cars roaring down the straightaway or tires squealing in the turns.

Texas Motor Speedway

This may be the only track on the list that has a chance of seeing IndyCar return. The 1.5-mile oval had been rumored to be cut from the schedule for the last few years, but like clockwork, it always returned … until now. It will not be on the 2024 schedule, although track officials have expressed hope that it will return in 2025 or 2026.

Sadly, the longer TMS stays off the IndyCar schedule, the easier it is for series officials to say no to a possible return.

Circuit of the Americas

IndyCar raced on this challenging road course just once, in 2019. While Formula 1 draws upwards of 440,000 on a race weekend at COTA, IndyCar drew just an estimated 30,000 for its one-time stand there.

It’s hard to rationalize why IndyCar would not want to return to one of the premier road courses in the country, but there just doesn’t seem to be many folks in the sport clamoring to return to Austin any time soon.

Surfer's Paradise, Australia

This has long been one of our favorite tracks when it was run under CART/ChampCar auspices from 1991 through 2007 before, like the race at Burke Airport, it also was a victim of the merger with the IRL.

Arguably the most picturesque track CART/CCWS ever raced upon, it was a costly proposition to transport more than 20 cars and teams across the Pacific Ocean, but it also paid dividends with outstanding racing action and strong Aussie crowds.

IndyCar has talked several times about running a race or two outside North America in the future. If that ever comes to pass, Surfer’s Paradise should be given strong consideration because it not only was a great racing venue, it also was a great vacation time for fans from the U.S. who would fly there.

Michigan International Speedway

Remember the U.S. 500, the anti-Indy 500 in 1996 (Jimmy Vasser won) that went against the IRL’s first version of the Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend. CART and its USAC predecessor raced 33 times at the two-mile superspeedway. Perhaps the most exciting Indy car race at Michigan was in 2000, when Juan Pablo Montoya edged Michael Andretti by 0.42 second in a race that featured 52 lead changes and nine different race leaders in 250 laps.

Sadly, CART pulled out of MIS after the 2001 season, and has never returned—even though fans periodically pop up to suggest it should come back.

Phoenix Raceway

This is a track that, well, simply didn’t want IndyCar back. Ticket sales were terrible, promotional efforts were mediocre at best, the racing was so-so and temperatures during night races could get downright cold, even being in the desert.

The one-mile oval has been a NASCAR mainstay for nearly 40 years, and IndyCar at times was just as popular—if not more so—during much of its 35-year run in the Valley of the Sun (1979 through 2018). This is a track that folks periodically wonder if IndyCar will ever return to.

Unless there’s a way to guarantee 50,000 tickets sold (maybe run a race there in conjunction with NASCAR’s Championship weekend, which is very doubtful), we’re likely not to see IndyCar back there any time soon.

Pocono Raceway

If ever there was a track built for IndyCar specs, it’s the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle” in Pennsylvania. It has three long straightaways, conjoined by three unique and totally different turns.

Pocono hosted CART from 1980 to 1989, and then returned under IndyCar sanction from 2013 to 2019. Like other tracks, Pocono suffered from poor ticket sales for IndyCar races in each of those two stints. And sadly, as much as the state and surrounding area have a lot of IndyCar fans, trying to attract them to the track was difficult to do.

Sonoma Raceway

This was one of our personal favorites. It hosted Champ Car and then IndyCar for 13 years (2005-2018), but it was knocked off the IndyCar schedule when the series decided to move its season finale a couple hours down the road to Laguna Seca.

IndyCar attendance at Sonoma was decent more times than not, and if the series ever expands, this road course should be given strong consideration. Unfortunately for the folks in Sonoma, however, Laguna Seca would likely balk at having two road course races in such close proximity to each other.

Twin Ring Motegi, Japan

CART/ChampCar and IndyCar all raced there at various times during the 14-year period between 1998 and 2011. The racing wasn’t necessarily spectacular, but it drew strong crowds who were curious about Indy car-style racing (as compared to the much more popular Formula One fandom in the country).

If the history of Twin Ring Motegi is ever written, arguably one of the highlights will be it was the site of Danica Patrick’s only career win (a fuel-mileage outcome in 2008)—and to this date, still the only IndyCar race won by a female driver.Honorable mention: For IndyCar to grow, it’s going to have to expand past the traditional North American borders.

We’d love to see the series return to race not only in Australia, but also at tracks it also has previously raced upon such as Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Raceway in Mexico City, the Streets of Sao Paulo in Brazil and even venture into uncharted territory in Europe.

Honorable Mention

For IndyCar to grow, it’s going to have to expand past the traditional North American borders. We’d love to see the series return to race not only in Australia, but also at tracks it also has previously raced upon such as Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Raceway in Mexico City, the Streets of Sao Paulo in Brazil and even venture into uncharted territory in Europe.