IndyCar unveils tentative full schedule for 2012

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The Izod IndyCar Series finally released its full schedule for 2012 — sort of.

The series listed 15 races starting with a street race in St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 25 and ending with a new night race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on Sept. 15.

But IndyCar Chief Executive Randy Bernard said Thursday that ‘we are exploring adding additional events to the 2012 schedule.’

‘We’re in the process of confirming a 16th event while also considering adding a 17th race to the calendar,’ he said in a statement without identifying the possible venues.

In the current 15-race schedule, there are races on only four oval tracks — at Fontana, Texas Motor Speedway (June 9), Iowa Speedway (June 23) and the famed Indianapolis 500 (May 27). And all of those races except the Indy 500 will take place at night.

Three of IndyCar’s races also are in California: At Fontana, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (April 15) and at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma (Aug. 26).

IndyCar’ schedule also includes a new street race in China on Aug. 19.

— Jim Peltz