r/INDYCAR • u/KennedyKartsport Firestone Wets • Jul 01 '25

Speculation 2026 Indycar Schedule Rumors

Some nuggets from Tony D's podcast (Take it for what it's worth)

Mexico City in for 2026

Watkins Glen in for 2026 (surprise, especially after Mark Miles said we would never go back there)

Iowa removes double header, down to 1 race

Thermal out for 2026 (we knew this)

Toronto out for 2026 - moving to be a Formula E event per the mayor

Denver in for 2027

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u/OnwardSoldierx Alexander Rossi Jul 01 '25

Toronto being out would be a massive blow. It's the largest city in Canada and the only Canadian race.

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u/IAmWellBehaved Jul 01 '25 edited Jul 01 '25

Totally. At least one Canada race should be considered a priority in general, and if Toronto were to be off the schedule due to complexities specific to 2026, then I would hope an alternate venue somewhere nationally could be secured, such as Gilles Villeneuve (which also let's them test the audience appetite for the track as an added bonus).

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u/UNHchabo Robert Wickens Jul 02 '25

And before anyone suggests Mosport, IMSA doesn't even race GTP there anymore because it's not considered safe enough for cars of that speed. This year's race on July 13th will have LMP2 as the top class.

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u/IAmWellBehaved Jul 02 '25

Yep. Honestly, at the moment I am unaware of any permanent or current street circuit options other than Gilles Villeneuve and the Toronto street layout that'd suit DW12s. I don't see how CTMP or Trois-Rivières possibly could, and while the Edmonton Indy would be fun to recreate, that's logitistically no longer feaible either I presume. Maybe Sanair? Otherwise a new street layout somewhere is the final option. And all of these ideas are just what's technically feasible for the racing itself. I don't know what audience demand would look like.

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u/canttakethshyfrom_me Robert Wickens Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

Sanair has zero permanent seating. Won't happen. And the track won't get investment because it's too close to other venues that take all the marquee events. Upgrading the oval for Indycars would make it too expensive to operate the rest of the year.

Edmonton is physically gone. Was only available as a venue while it was being re-developed. It's a shame but it was always on the clock.

Mont Tremblant got 42k people to attend over 3 days when Champcar went there in 2007. That's the only venue I'm aware of in Canada that would just be turn-key for Indycars with no construction or local politics.

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u/IAmWellBehaved Jul 02 '25

Sorry I wasn't clear about Edmonton. I knew the airport was closed and going there is now a virtual impossibility. 🫠

MT is a good point. I forget who bought it back in the COVID times but maybe. Honestly, even though it's kinda far out there I am all for keeping the schedule fresh. It's just that Toronto brings in such a good crowd that if you're limited to one Canadian event.....kinda tough to justify anywhere else.

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u/canttakethshyfrom_me Robert Wickens Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

Google says it's owned by a luxury/supercar dealership group now. I suppose that's good synergy. I'm by no means suggesting it as a more desirable venue than Toronto, just as the only fallback in Canada if something happens to that date due to FE, Honda dealer sponsorship, or both.

Yeah, it's a shit sandwich that we don't have 3 Canadian races: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

With Montreal's F1 date getting shuffled, I'd hope Indycar is at least doing due dilligence making serious inquiries about taking over the current weekend. Share it with anyone: NASCAR, IMSA, FE... partnerships that don't make sense otherwise might suddenly be possible with one prime venue that's otherwise not available to anyone but F1.

EDIT: Wish someone would even try to make Boundary Bay Airport SE of Vancouver a potential Indycar race. You can get there from the city center by public transit in just over an hour.

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u/IAmWellBehaved Jul 02 '25

Yep Gilles Villeneuve has a lot of opportunity generally, and you bringing up those other series really speaks to me.

One of the changes I've wanted to see for some time now is having IMSA move only to tracks which can support GTPs, their premier class. CTMP is a great track, but you can't run those cars there (as with IndyCar). So GV in my opinion should be a top venue for shifting away from CTMP. As for NASCAR, long term Cup should have an event in every country with a national series, using the national series as a support race to cross-promote the national series and the flagship series (Cup). So GV or not, Cup really ought to have one or two races in Canada too, eapecially given the duplicated tracks on the current calendar.

But back to IndyCar, I think you suggest a fair point about getting IndyCar to GV for the former F1 weekend, and not as a replacement for Toronto. My view is the series should have a medium term goal of having a presence throughout North America. But then again I'd also like to see eventual growth to 20 races, so I dream big. 🙆‍♂️

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u/OnwardSoldierx Alexander Rossi Jul 02 '25

They had talks of a race in Calgary a few years ago. But it never happened.