2011 Indycar Schedule Confirmed; John Paul Jr. Battles Major Disease

The IZOD Indycar Series made the formal announcement of the 2011 schedule from the Milwaukee Mile September 10th and there are no real surprises, except for the fact that there are no oval track races prior to the opening of practice for the 2011 Indy 500. I guessed wrong on some of the dates in my last blog post so the following is the corrected schedule as announced by Indycar CEO Randy Bernard Friday. It was a shame that Indycar.com had technical glitches with the audio of the press conference, since Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Johnny Rutherford all participated in the press conference. Nonetheless I listened and watched to get calendar items for 2011.

March 27 - St Pete

April 10 - Barber

April 17 - Long Beach

May 1 - Brazil

May 29 - Indy 500

June 11 - Texas Twin 275's (night)

June 19 - Milwaukee

June 25 - Iowa (night)

July 10 - Toronto

July 24 - Edmonton

August 7 - Mid Ohio (with ALMS)

August 14 - New Hampshire

August 28 - Infineon

Sept 4 - Labor Day - Baltimore

Sept 18 - Motegi

Oct 2- Kentucky

Oct 16 - Vegas/Fontana.

Unrelated to the 2011 schedule is a story contained in an email I got from a photog friend on a tragic note: former Indycar driver and Michigan 500 winner John Paul Jr. is suffering from Huntington's Disease and was recently featured in a UCLA Health Center video which focused on their research into treatment for the disease. As others have noted, seeing John Paul Jr. struggle to walk and talk is heartbreaking as he was a superb talent who never quite got the breaks he needed in Indycars, and whose father had serious legal troubles that cast a shadow over JP's marketability as an Indycar driver. to see the video and learn more about John Paul's battle with the disease, follow this link to the YouTube video. God bless you JP, and godspeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vKXE6EnTtg