According to comments made by Thermal Club founder and owner Tim Rogers, the NTT IndyCar Series may not be returning to the privately-owned California track next season.
IndyCar has taken a trip to the exclusive motor club for each of the past three years, including a $1 million exhibition event in 2024 and a full points paying race in March of this season.
The event was a bit of an outlier due to the private nature of the track, which only allowed a few thousand fans to attend in person.
Rogers spoke with Blake Arthur of CBS affiliate KESQ on Wednesday, stating that he believed a race at the track next season was not going to happen.
“Not next year,” Rogers told KESQ. “Hopefully the following year. Their schedule is pretty well set. Also, I need to make sure we get a title sponsor and be prepared ahead of time.
“The main thing is we need to get a title sponsor and I need to get the infrastructure. It was great working with Indy. It is a great job that FOX Sports is doing on the Indy events. Our members loved it. The Coachella Valley loved it. We just need to make sure it works for all parties.
“It’s been our third year of losing money, but it was a points race and it was exciting. The Indy teams loved being here and all the members like them being here a lot.”
According to KESQ, IndyCar reached out to Rogers after the comments were made and said that next year’s schedule is not finalized yet.
That statement would seem to indicate that Thermal could still be a fallback option for an early season race should the still unconfirmed race in Mexico City not come through.
Rogers also mentioned that he would be willing to invest in more grandstands and hospitality suites if he could have a multi-year deal with IndyCar, but such a deal has not been made at this point.
IndyCar typically releases its schedule for the following year late the season, meaning it could be a couple more months before a full picture of the 2026 season is known.
… no one would ever make the drive to Thermal for F1, much less would they, a silly IRL spec series. The whole point, of Chris Pook’s LGBT concept of the 1970s, that Riverside was a dump, difficult to get to, that eastbound Los Angeles Metropolitan freeway traffic was so increasingly intolerable, why not put F1 easy reach, Long Beach harbor, central to everyone? Defective concept, private road racing facility, homeowners who paid top dollar for a track-side residence aren’t going to appreciate putting bleachers, public parking, public restrooms, hot dog stands, rest rooms, concession kiosks. They are not going to appreciate their neighborhood overrun, hopelessly trashed out, vandalized, by what few over-entitled event goers do attend. Multi-year IRL deal, those association fees current residents are paying are going to have to go through the roof. Were the IRL people to evolve the series to an F5000 like format? Different story. People would flock to anywhere, to see Formula 5000 –
I appreciate you sharing this blog post. Thanks Again. Cool.