Thermal Club IndyCar race won't return in 2026, track owner says

The Thermal Club will not return as an IndyCar Series race in 2026.

The anticipated development was confirmed by Thermal founder Tim Rogers, whose private facility held its first professional motor race earlier in March where approximately 3000 fans saw Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou overtake Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward to secure victory.

“Not next year,” Rogers told local CBS affiliate KESQ. “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’s a great job 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.”

IndyCar took its first trip to Thermal for pre-season testing in 2023, returned for a non-points exhibition race in 2024, and pivoted to making the motorsports country club a full championship round in 2025.

“It’s been our third year of losing money but it was a points race,” Rogers added. “It was exciting.”

Still, Rogers indicated he's still interested in having Thermal could make a return to IndyCar’s schedule as early as 2027.

“That would be our plan and we’ll work with Indy to see if we can fit in their schedule,” Rogers said. “We’ll have discussions about if we can do a term deal for three years and I’ll invest in the stands and the suites.”

With The Thermal Club on the calendar, IndyCar has four West Coast races to balance the heavy rotation of Midwestern events. Three trips to California for Thermal, Long Beach and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, along with a lone visit to Oregon for the Portland Grand Prix, are part of the series’ 17-race schedule, and with the inaugural Arlington Grand Prix set to debut in 2026 and the possibility of a Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez landing next year, the deletion of at least one current race to make room has been expected.