2026 Car FYI Race Calendar

Welcome to 2026. At the time I am writing this, the race year is just starting with the Dakar Rally still ongoing and ARCA testing taking place at the Daytona International Speedway. Thankfully, we need not have to wait long for auto racing to restart after its winter hibernation.

To best serve fellow motorsport fans and provide a means for tracking the latest 12 months, I have prepared this auto racing calendar for the 2026 season. This is the second time I've taken the time to produce such a calendar and I replicated the formula I established with the 2024 calendar. Every month features a themed race car or scene from over 15 years of my personal archives with a detailed description attached to each.

As for the calendar, I included many popular racing series such as Formula 1, IndyCar and the NASCAR championships as well as the NASCAR Canada Series. Unfortunately, I wanted to include Formula E and Formula 1 Academy as well but I ran out of space for blocks on the calendar for certain days. I'm sorry for I wanted to include them but I would have either had to make the words to small to be legible or completely redesign the calendar. I have a format idea for next year that should resolve the need for the omissions.

I hope you will would this calendar/schedule either useful for deciding your auto racing watching plans for 2026 or, at least, that my write-ups will prove entertaining.

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A Canadian Star Car: Red Green's Possum Van

Clip of Possum Van during a Red Green Show season 1 scene transition. It could be argued that the car someone regularly drives can be reflective of their personality. The level of character traits found in our automobiles can range from subtle to flamboyant as practicality, style, power, brand loyalty and other details are factors influencing our vehicle affection. On the big screen and silver screen, an automobile (frequently popularized as a Star Car) can be used to affirmatively to expand on a human character. Batman’s Batmobile, the Dodge Charger called the ‘General Lee’ in Dukes of Hazzard, the Volvo P1800 featured in the 1960s television version of The Saint, the Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond in some of the most famous spy movies are some popular examples where vehicles play a major role in reinforcing the appearance of fictional individuals. Due to the budgetary constraints of Canadian media productions, the presence of native Star Cars is rare. However, one success...

What Is A Column Shifter and Why It Is Regaining Relevance?

Pictured here, the opulent multi-colour interior of the 1955 Packard Caribbean Convertible included a dazzling chrome column shift lever. (Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada) The important role of a transmission paired with an internal combustion engine has been established for more than 100 years in facilitating the efficient flow of power through the drive wheels. Eventually through the evolution of automobile design, the familiar placement for a gearshift lever was mounted on the floor. However, for a time, it was also popular to find a gear shifter behind the steering wheel attached to the steering column. The Birth of Three on the Tree Although column shifters would become synonymous with automatic transmissions, the first appearance of the gear shift behind the steering wheel came with a manual gearbox. Referred to in brochures as remote control shifting, the 1939 Plymouth introduced the shifter positioning behind the steering wheel. The novel remote control shifting ...

The 1967 Indy 500: When An STP-Sponsored Turbine Almost Changed Racing

Photo Credit: Uncredited Photographer/IMS LLC Racing has always been the ultimate proving ground for automobiles. Not only has competition promoted innovations big and small, race cars have also influenced overall vehicle appearance. At the 1967 Indianapolis 500, the STP-Paxton TurboCar fielded by the late Andy Granatelli provided a shocking example of how much racing at the speedway evolved over 56 years. Ever since the first 500-mile event was held at the 2.5-mile rectangular oval Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1911, the winning Marmon Wasp with a rearview mirror paved the way for what would be a grand showcase of automotive development. Accompanying “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” advancements in automobile technology showed greater sophistication with every passing decade in the quest for more speed. During the 1920s and 1930s, American race car designer Henry Miller offered groundbreaking engines to the Indianapolis 500. Miller also gave front-wheel drive technology it...

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