Red Bull Global Rallycross announces 2017 schedule, overhauls it again

For the second year in a row, Red Bull Global Rallycross has overhauled its schedule. Here’s the 2017 calendar and what’s different again this time.

The 2017 Red Bull Global Rallycross schedule is out, and if you’re a fan of the series you’re probably scratching your head. More changes are in store for GRC just a year after the league upended its campaign the first time.

Only three locations are returning to the Global Rallycross calendar from 2016: Atlantic City, Seattle and Los Angeles.

Gone are Phoenix and Dallas — both of which were just added last year — as well as the league’s event at Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, its stop at Daytona International Speedway, and Washington D.C.

Five new cities will replace them: Memphis, Louisville, Indianapolis, and doubleheaders at an as yet unknown location in Canada and Thompson, CT.

Los Angeles has also been reduced from a doubleheader to a single-race event.

It’s a startling lack of continuity for GRC, which already endured fan complaints last year after it chose to drop some well-established events in Detroit and Las Vegas, the latter of which had always served as the league’s high-profile season finale.

Saying goodbye to the equally iconic Daytona and to the legal’s military connection at MCAS New River certainly won’t sit well either.

And given that flak from 2016, plus the time and effort that was spent trying to establish races in Phoenix and Dallas, it seems odd that the league would want to shuffle the deck so severely again this year.

Yes, they’re gaining another international race in GRC Canada, and Indianapolis has its own lore in motorsports, but will Memphis really be an improvement? Louisville? How many fans are having to look up Thompson, Connecticut?

And how is a rural town in Connecticut a better choice for a doubleheader than the major market of Los Angeles?

The good news if you’re a Global Rallycross fan is that the final three events are staying in the same order from 2016. Atlantic City is in August, though it’s expanding to two races and moving up roughly two weeks to Aug. 12-13.

Seattle becomes a doubleheader as well, going from Sept. 17 to Sept. 9-10, 2017. And the season finale remains at Los Angeles in October, this year set for Oct. 14.

It’s admirable that GRC wants to break into new markets but it needs the stability of taking care of the markets it already has. Continuity in the schedule is important for growing the audience of any motorsport, because that’s how fans keep coming back and keep supporting the league.

And the choice of races leaves a little something to be desired. It would have been more appealing to have a doubleheader in Indianapolis than Thompson, especially if GRC is able to get Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the league did not announce venues on Thursday, just host cities).

A league with both Indy and Daytona in the mix? That would’ve been something to watch.

But Global Rallycross is in a bit of a predicament. Its car counts were down last year, and it took a major hit talent-wise when Ken Block left the series to race full time in Europe. It has some great drivers still with the likes of champion Scott Speed, Tanner Foust and Steve Arpin, but it needs to be adding pieces, not taking them away or moving them around.

We’ll have to see how this second new schedule goes over with viewers when the season begins in April. Below is the complete calendar:

Apr. 29 – Memphis, TN
May 21 – Louisville, KY
June 3 – Thompson, CT
June 4 – Thompson, CT
June 17 – TBA Canada
June 18 – TBA Canada
July 9 – Indianapolis, IN
Aug. 12 – Atlantic City, NJ
Aug. 13 – Atlantic City, NJ
Sep. 9 – Seattle, WA
Sep. 10 – Seattle, WA
Oct. 14 – Los Angeles, CA

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What do you think of the 2017 Red Bull Global Rallycross calendar? Are there races you’re excited about or ones you miss? Leave your thoughts in the comments.