Junior Open Wheel Talent

**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.