Since Mark Miles has taken charge of Hulman & Co. and IndyCar, the talk of increasing the use of the facility at 16th and Georgetown has been up and an IndyCar race on the road course to kick off the month of May has been right at the top of the list. Fans are split. Some want it, some don't. Some want to preserve history, others think tradition has been got for quite sometime.
I, for one, have been against an IndyCar race on the road course. I have tweeted out on multiple occasions that in four Indy Lights races on the IMS road course, there was one total lead change. One lead change in four races. How great could a race on the IMS road course be knowing that stat? Not to mention the sickening site of Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a crowd worse than Carb Day for a road course race. In all honesty, the race might be good. The DW12 chassis has produced good racing at Barber, São Paulo and even Belle Isle. So the DW12 might be able to produce a respectable race on the IMS road course but it's so wrong and it's not so wrong to the point it feels right. It's wrong.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway wants to generate more revenue and to be honest, I'd rather see the Speedway install solar panels over all the grandstands and then use the energy they would generate over all 365 days of the years to power the Speedway and sell it to the houses, schools and businesses in the local area. That's seems like a progressive thing for the Speedway to do by giving back to the local community, especially after receiving $100 million of the tax payer's money.
I rather see the Speedway put a hockey rink on the yard of bricks and try to bring the NHL Winter Classic to the Speedway on New Year's Day (tougher part is what teams would play because Indiana doesn't have an NHL team. Neutral site for Blackhawks-Red Wings? Or Blackhawks-Blue Jackets?) and use it for Notre Dame hockey games as well and then have the rink up for another month or two and allow it to be used for public ice skating on weekends and nights.
I rather see the Speedway put a stage and amphitheater in turn one for musical concerts (seeing how many think MotoGP won't return, sadly), with temporary seats in what was once the snake pit and the E stand and E penthouse also being incorporated as seating for the amphitheater.
Or, I rather the Speedway use the grass in turn one and put a soccer pitch down and bring in international soccer clubs to play friendlies in the summer and maybe use it for a match or two for the new North American Soccer League team based in Indianapolis, Indy Eleven.
I rather see the Speedway bring the Brickyard Crossing golf course up to snuff to host an annual PGA or LPGA tournament, it once held a Champions Tour event, and be up to snuff to host the U.S. Open, PGA Championships and/or Ryder Cup every now and then.
I rather see Indianapolis Motor Speedway increase their ability to hosting everything but more racing. The Speedway doesn't need more racing to generate revenue. Their problem is they need more revenue from everything but racing.
But, instead of adding an IndyCar race to the IMS road course at the beginning of May, why not move the Brickyard 400 to the first weekend in May. And bring the sports cars as well. Before I get my head bitten off, hear me out.
It gets the NASCAR race out of the heat of the summer. It adds something to the month of May.
It would increase the possibility of more drivers attempting the double. And hear me out on this. The Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the Brickyard weekend, have IndyCar testing and allow NASCAR drivers to come and take their rookie orientation and vice versa. Having NASCAR testing and allow IndyCar drivers to get behind the wheel of a stock car. Why limit the double to only NASCAR drivers? Split those three days for IndyCar testing in the morning and NASCAR in the afternoon. Then after the NASCAR weekend, more IndyCar testing with rookie orientation on Monday and Tuesday before the track opens for the Indianapolis 500 practice the following Sunday.
Have a ticket package so fans can buy a ticket good enough for both the Brickyard weekend and the Indianapolis 500. Make the bronze badges good for Brickyard weekend as well. If they Speedway wants to add racing to the Month of May, the NASCAR race, as boring as it may be and as much against tradition as it may be, might be the best option for both parties. Racing is struggling to draw television viewers and get people in the grandstands.
It's time that the racing series in the United States worked together. Trying to out spend, out built, out draw and out talk one another into extinction has got to stop. If the month of May could turn into a feature of all forms of motorsport, NASCAR, Le Mans Prototypes, Daytona Prototype, the DeltaWing, GT, Indy Lights and IndyCar, that would be a great step in the right direction.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
