Benito Guerra is the best driver in the world after winning the Champion of Champions competition at Race of Champions. Think about that: The best driver in the world is someone who has scored 14 points over a 13-year career in the World Rally Championship. How about that? Tom Kristensen and Johan Kristoffersson defeated the dominant Germans of Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher to win the Nations' Cup for Team Nordic. A driver who should be in the NASCAR Cup Series this year won the Chili Bowl. New Zealanders keep defending their home turf even if they needed an assist from Mother Nature. The Dakar Rally concluded. There was a first time winner in Supercross. IndyCar announced a new title sponsors and that is where we start. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
When Could IndyCar Return to Japan?
Relief fell upon the IndyCar community when a title sponsor was announced last week. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, otherwise known as NTT, took over from Verizon after the American held the reins for five years.
With relief comes excitement. IndyCar is not wading into the future without a co-pilot. The Japanese company will be there and can help IndyCar when it comes to developing an app, at track experiences and I am sure the teams will benefit from the companies abilities when it comes to data as well.
This isn't a consumer company. Do not expect commercials during the Super Bowl, Saturday Night Live or on a random Tuesday afternoon on TBS. People aren't going to follow NTT to IndyCar. Most people likely never heard of NTT. It isn't Coca-Cola, Apple, Amazon or Snickers. We need to keep that in mind during the season. We should remember this company is not going to expose IndyCar to millions of people who did not come in contact with IndyCar prior to 2019.
But the excitement was not just because IndyCar has a new title sponsor or the possibilities that NTT bring to the series or this announcement added on top of the new broadcast partnership with NBC but the excitement stems from an international company tossing its weight behind IndyCar and a company from a location IndyCar is familiar with.
It should come to no surprise that a wave of optimism of IndyCar returning to Japan followed in the aftershock of NTT's announcement. IndyCar went to Twin Ring Motegi from 1998 to 2011 with the first 13 trips being on the oval and the final trip flipped to the road course after the oval suffered damage from the Tōhoku earthquake.
It is kind of fascinating that Japan and Twin Ring Motegi in particular have become such beloved places for IndyCar fans. I am trying to figure out why that is the case and what I can come up with is a trip Japan is a big step for IndyCar. It is a flyaway race to another world power. It shows that IndyCar is more than just a North American series. IndyCar goes from a regional series to an international series with that trip.
On top of that, IndyCar is in need of ovals and at a time when oval races in the United States struggle to stick, Twin Ring Motegi might be the one venue that could work. While oval racing is not native to Japan, the one saving grace for a race at Twin Ring Motegi is it would be IndyCar's only trip to the country, the one chance for fans to see these teams and drivers. If there are IndyCar fans in Japan, this is their race to attend regardless of the type of course it is on. It is better to get 30,000 people at Motegi and make that work than get 10,000 at any one of six ovals in the United States.
Japan becomes a bit of a solution for one of IndyCar's lingering issues but it also must be noted that Japan has left an imprint on the modern IndyCar landscape.
As much as we associate Canadians, Brazilians, Australians and British drivers with IndyCar, Japan has been just as represented in the series in the last three decades. Consider that a Japanese driver has made at least one IndyCar start in every year since 1990. The last time there was not a Japanese driver in a IRL/IndyCar Series race (excluding the 2008 Long Beach race) was Kentucky 2002. That is a span of 269 consecutive races with at least one Japanese driver on the grid.
The increase in Japanese participation coincided with the arrival of Honda and Toyota to CART and then the IRL but Honda has become a beloved partner. For a while I felt Honda was viewed as a bad guy because of the spec-era when it was the only engine in town in a Dallara, the only chassis in town. However, we have come to adore Honda for all that it has done for IndyCar. The narrative has shifted. Honda was not the bad guy but stuck with IndyCar through one of the lowest points. Better yet, Honda hasn't cut back since Chevrolet re-joined the series in 2012. It doesn't have to field the entire grid but Honda continues to include IndyCar in television commercials, has kept up the two-seater promotion and has sponsored multiple races on the calendar.
It only feels right to have a race in Japan. The country, its companies and its drivers, have become a part of the IndyCar fabric. A trip across the Pacific seems necessary.
There is no intention for IndyCar to return to Japan and a return was not a part of the deal. While it would be nice there is a good chance IndyCar goes through the entirety of this deal with NTT and never turns a lap at a track in the Land of the Rising Sun. The race has to make economic sense and the teams have to get something out of it. Honda footed the bill all those years IndyCar went to Motegi. Honda isn't going to do that this time around and I doubt NTT's investment in the series should be used to send everyone to Japan. The money would be better used if spread around the series than focused on one race. If teams and their sponsors are not interested or do not see the value, and if the sanctioning fee isn't there to cover the expenses then it will not happen.
But let's say it is on the radar for NTT. When could IndyCar return? And I am not talking about 2020 or 2021 or 2022 but when in terms of month?
The IndyCar schedule is clustered and it was always difficult to squeeze Motegi into the schedule during the CART and IRL years. CART's first trips were in late-March and early-April and cooler temperatures were in play. It was much warmer when IndyCar visited in the middle of September in the final few seasons but a September race would not fit now with the end of the season and the series is not going to end the year at Motegi now that Laguna Seca is back on the schedule.
A trip to Japan poses a logistical challenge. The best case would be to have the week before and the week after off. It would allow the teams a week to get everything across the Pacific and used to the time change and then have enough time to pack and get back on American time. But with the number of races and how tightly packed the schedule is that is not easy to grant.
During the final years when Motegi was held in April it was run on consecutive weeks with Kansas. April has two IndyCar races now but with the movement of Easter it is always a different schedule. This year, Barber and Long Beach will be on consecutive weeks before three weeks off. That seems like an opening but Easter is April 21st. You would think the race could take place on April 28th but Easter is April 12th in 2020 meaning Long Beach will likely be the week prior and Barber will have to move after the holiday. Then there is the month of May and the last thing the teams want before three consecutive weeks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway followed by a doubleheader at Belle Isle and a race at Texas the week after that is a trip to Japan.
The room isn't there in March or April. The month of May is off limits. June is not happening as it already has three races. July has three races. The one opening is at the beginning of August but it is two open weekends between Mid-Ohio and Pocono. That means the teams would either have to go from Mid-Ohio to Japan in back-to-back weeks or have a week off and then run four consecutive weeks from Japan to Pocono to Gateway to Portland. Neither is happening in that case.
That brings us back to September and we already said it doesn't fit and it doesn't make sense for it to be a non-championship event after the season in either October or November. The last thing the teams need is a trip across the Pacific for a race that doesn't matter. The cost needs to be justified and an exhibition does not do that.
The IndyCar calendar is just starting to settle down. The last thing it needs is a massive upheaval to try and make one race in Japan fit. The constant shifting of races to accommodate other venues is what got IndyCar in trouble in the early days of reunification and it should not be repeated in this new and brighter era of IndyCar.
I would love IndyCar to return to Motegi and run that oval but the race has to make sense for both the series and the country. There is no point in doing a race that only suits one of the parties involved. A race will only be successful if prosperity for both is kept in mind.
Right now, it doesn't make sense nor is the money there for a return to Japan but things change. IndyCar has returned to Road America and Portland, will be returning to Laguna Seca and Surfers Paradise is the latest tease. If these venues can all return after a decade away, let's not rule out the same being the case for Motegi down the road.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Benito Guerra, Tom Kristensen and Johan Kristoffersson but did you know...
Christopher Bell won the Chili Bowl for the third consecutive year.
Marcus Armstrong won the only Toyota Racing Series race from Teretonga Park. The second and third races of the weekend were cancelled due to high wind conditions.
Cooper Webb won the Supercross Triple Crown event from Anaheim, his first career victory. Webb won two of the three races and finished in third in the final race behind Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin.
Nasser Al-Attiyah won the Dakar Rally for the third time in the car class. It was Toyota's first Dakar victory.
Toby Price won the Dakar Rally for the second time in the bike class and it was KTM's 18th consecutive Dakar victory.
Eduard Nikolaev won in the truck class for the third consecutive Dakar Rally and it was his fourth class victory.
Nicolas Cavigliasso won the quad class in the Dakar Rally, his first career victory.
Francesco "Chaleco" López won in the UTV class, his first Dakar Rally victory.
Jean-Baptiste Dubourg and Franck Lagorce split the Andros Trophy races from Serre Chevalier.
Coming Up This Weekend
24 Hours of Daytona
The World Rally Championship opens the 2019 season with Rallye Monte-Carlo.
Formula E heads to a new course in Santiago.
Supercross goes to Northern California and Oakland specifically.
Toyota Racing Series hopes to race more than once at Hampton Downs.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
