2012 BSA Racing preview: When will the BSA IndyCar be near you?

Scouters and Scouts, start your engines.

Then point your compass (or GPS device) toward the nearest speedway. Yes, after a long winter, it’s finally racing time once again.

Over the next seven months, the IZOD IndyCar Series will visit 12 American racetracks (plus stops in Brazil, China, and Canada). For BSA units, that’s 12 opportunities to see the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car, which is owned, operated, and funded by Dale Coyne Racing.

In all, more than 100 local councils are within 100 miles of an IndyCar race this year. In other words, nearly a third of all packs, troops, teams, and crews have a ready-made day of fun headed their way this year.

The BSA IndyCar, a generous gift of Dale Coyne (right), gives Scouts of all ages the chance to learn more about the science, technology, engineering, and math that go into racing.

The 2012 season starts Sunday in Florida with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The race, which airs at 12:30 p.m. ET on ABC, will be our first chance to see new driver James Jakes in the red, white, and blue BSA Racing uniform.

After that, the team has a packed April with stops in Birmingham, Ala., Long Beach, Calif., and Sao Paolo, Brazil. Those races will air on the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus).

Then there’s about a month off before the big kahuna of racing: the Indianapolis 500, held on May 27 and airing on ABC.  

A week later, the series heads five hours northeast to Detroit before visiting my neck of the woods for the Firestone 550 at the Texas Motor Speedway. (I covered that race last year; click here to read about the fun I had.)

Also in June is the Iowa Corn Indy 250 on the 23rd.

After two races in Canada, the series returns to the U.S. for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 5. On Aug. 18, IndyCar makes its debut in China, and then it’s back to the states for the final three races of the year: Sonoma, Calif.; Baltimore, Md.; and Fontana, Calif.

To see the full schedule with a list of which councils are within 100 miles, click here.

And get ready to cheer on the No. 19 car this weekend!

What do you think?

How can you use the BSA’s IndyCar alliance to get your Scouts pumped up about science, technology, engineering, and math? Leave your thought below.


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.