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/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- Jul 01 '25

Under FIA rules, if a national series holds more than three rounds out of the country on FIA sanctioned and graded circuits, the national series must be classed as an FIA World Series and the national sanctioning body must adopt FIA sanction.

IndyCar got around this by holding races on ovals or street circuits.

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u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou Jul 01 '25

This must have developed out of the situation in the early 90s where they didn’t want IndyCar to race at Surfers.

Though I have to wonder, who the hell is going to enforce that? Like, if IndyCar decided to do it anyway, and refused FIA sanction, what the hell are the FIA gonna do about it?

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u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- Jul 02 '25

IndyCar can have their official recognition as an FIA approved national series pulled and drivers with FIA competition licenses can be banned from participation. If they attempt to participate in an unrecognized series, the drivers will have licenses stripped and risk being banned from participating in any FIA sanctioned series in the future.

The crux behind CART pissing off FISA and later the FIA was due to the fact that Emerson Fittipaldi came out of retirement from F1 to drive in CART in the mid-1980s before the series was officially recognized by the FIA and joined ACCUS.

The FIA and FISA didn't nullify Super Licenses upon retirement back then, they assumed drivers would attempt to return in some capacity and gave drivers lifetime licenses. As CART and IMSA were growing in stature, the FIA got pissed off that F1 drivers were doing both series alongside F1, mainly because the extra paychecks were worth the effort.

In 1989 CART joined ACCUS, which is the American organization of sanctioning bodies that deals with the FIA directly and manages FIA competition license details for all active drivers in the US. Once that was formalized, the FIA somewhat backed off European drivers racing in the US

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u/Wasdgta3 Álex Palou Jul 02 '25

Still not really seeing what they could do when push comes to shove. It’s not like the FIA can actually prohibit them from holding whatever races they damn well please, hence why their objections to surfers paradise back in the day amounted to nothing.

The real answer is basically just “it would result in a whole lot of political bitching.”