Musings From the Weekend: Break or Battle?

The United States is world champions. A pair of brothers continue to be on a tear on two-wheels. In England, the Brits are back on top in Superbikes. The MotoE series made its long-awaited debut. NASCAR had an odd and dissatisfying finish from Daytona and Daytona has had enough rain between the 24 Hours of Daytona and this past weekend for the year. Supercars had some rain. IMSA went to Canada and it was more of the same from last week. There was a popular hometown and comeback winner in Portugal. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was back on the streets. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Break of Battle?
IndyCar is wrapping up a two-week break and it is entering the heart of its season. At the end of July, three quarters of the season will be complete and four races will remain.

It is an exciting time for IndyCar. Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi are in a massive title fight. If any other driver hopes to take the Astor Cup home at Laguna Seca they have to get the results over the next three races. When we end July at Mid-Ohio the championship picture will become much clearer though the final pieces will still need to fall into place.

While we love IndyCar and love when it is on track, we are facing another issue with the next three races: It is the second of three periods of three or more consecutive weeks at a racetrack.

The first grueling mountain, the one that gets everyone talking is from May into June, from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis through Texas. The final one comes at the end of August to the first day of September with Pocono, Gateway and Portland taking place over three consecutive weeks.

There is choppiness in the IndyCar schedule. While we have these three blocks of races there was also three weeks off between Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. There were two weeks between Road America and Toronto. There will be two weeks off between Mid-Ohio and Pocono and there will be two weeks off between the penultimate race at Portland and the season finale at Sonoma.

However, the time off does not counterbalance the workload during the grinds and it is hell for the teams.

Let's put it this way, if Marshall Pruett and Robin Miller are mentioning that someone engaged in self-harm during the five-week stretch of non-stop on track action from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis through Texas then we need to talk and IndyCar needs to take a look at the schedule (Go to 5:00 into the podcast and listen for two minutes).

Hopefully, the upcoming periods are not as bad. For starters, there will not be daily Indianapolis 500 practice. The teams will have to turn the cars over from road course to oval setup and back to road course setup from Toronto to Iowa to Mid-Ohio and the next section has two ovals in Pocono and Gateway before a road course at Portland. That is a lot of work but there is not a doubleheader in the middle of either of those stretches.

There is part of me that loves these stretches and part of me that believes IndyCar needs to race as much as possible during the summer. Three consecutive weeks of racing builds something. It allows people to tune in for three consecutive weeks and follow the storyline. Each following week is another reason to tune in. An on/off schedule allows people to drift away and the door opens to being forgotten. The IndyCar schedule is short enough that it can race three consecutive weeks and not make people feel like there is an over-saturation of races.

On the flip side, we have never seen any proof that racing week after week does anything to boost the number of viewers. The belief is there has to be a race the week after the Indianapolis 500 because of the bump in viewer that next race will get but we have done it long enough to see the numbers the following are not significantly better than any other race during the season. It is a quick rise and then everything returns to homeostasis. That week has never been another blip that can make people say wow. It is back to basics and that is fine but we should not sit here and act like the rating for Mid-Ohio will somehow be greater because IndyCar was at Toronto and Iowa the two previous weeks.

It is not as simple as running every other will be the answer to help the teams. Could Toronto have been a week earlier and Mid-Ohio been a week later, breaking up three consecutive weeks of races into three races over five races? Possibly but July 7th might not have worked for the city of Toronto or Iowa and August 4th is a week before Mid-Ohio hosts its NASCAR race.

Even if that period was broken up, what could be done for Pocono, Gateway and Portland? Moving Pocono up one week puts its two weeks after its NASCAR weekend, plus, Pocono is currently scheduled for the day after the Bristol night race for NASCAR, an open Sunday and IndyCar should not pass those up. Portland could be pushed back a week but IndyCar should not give up Labor Day weekend and nor should it race on the first Sunday of the NFL season. I know you can't always avoid football but if there are two days you should not race on it is Super Bowl Sunday and the first Sunday of the NFL season.

Something has to be done and I go back to Pruett and Miller bringing up a team member was driven to the point of harming themselves because of the schedule. IndyCar is not something worth killing yourself for. I love it. Many others love it but if it is making someone consider taking his or her own life then we need to step back and put into check how important IndyCar actually is in the greater scheme of the world.

Moving a race is easier said than done. The sad thing is a crew member could actually kill himself or herself and I doubt Roger Penske and Chevrolet would consider moving Belle Isle. That is the coldness of business. If anything, Penske and Chevrolet would find a way to argue that the Indianapolis 500 should move. Eddie Gossage feels entitled for that second weekend in June and he thinks Belle Isle should move and Texas should be the race after Indianapolis on the schedule. Gossage isn't moving either.

We could point fingers at who could move to make things better but we have seen IndyCar move races to fill gaps and it has not worked out. Look at Fontana. It was held on four different weekends across four consecutive years and that race fell off the schedule. Kentucky went from an early-August race to Labor Day weekend to the first weekend in October and it fell off the schedule after one year in October. Milwaukee could not find a place, whether it be Father's Day weekend, mid-August or mid-July and that dropped off the schedule.

There are some races that have found a date that works and it should not be taken from them. It is one thing to shift a race by a week, a week isn't a drastic change, but moving a race a month or more could be a significant blow to a race and IndyCar could find itself searching for a new venue when it doesn't have to.

So what can be done? I think IndyCar can have two or three consecutive weeks of racing but not lead people to harmful acts. I know in-season testing means some of these off weeks are not off weeks and there are many burdens to banning all in-season testing but there has to be a way to ensure time off for these teams.

For starters, the day after Texas through the Thursday before Road America could be a dark period, no testing. The teams have done enough on-track for five weeks that nobody has to go test at Road America or Iowa or Mid-Ohio on the Wednesday after Texas. If teams are going to test at Iowa then maybe an extra practice session could be added to that weekend.

How could races be moved? I am not sure. Even if you move Belle Isle, where do you put it that makes sense for IndyCar and IMSA? Even if you move Belle Isle or Texas, how do you ensure it will be successful at its new date? I know Texas is open to hosting an IndyCar-NASCAR Cup doubleheader but its second Cup date isn't until late-October, a month after the current IndyCar finale. I am not sure that is a viable option.

Could the Grand Prix of Indianapolis move up a week? I know the mini-marathon is typically the week before the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and that uses Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the course but is there any way those events could swap dates?

Is there anyway Belle Isle could not be a doubleheader? I think that would solve part of the problem and while I like the doubleheader format and I think it is good for Belle Isle to have the doubleheader if it eases the pressure on the teams I could live without it not being at Belle Isle. I would be open to another event being a doubleheader but once again as long as it can be done properly for that venue and the teams.

If there is one positive thing about IndyCar's current leadership is it listens and it isn't afraid to take action. An immediate solution may not exist but I think IndyCar will work toward something that benefits everyone.

IndyCar knows it is important to race and race during this time of the year when the weather is nicest in many parts of the country but IndyCar also has to know when to take a break and how long of a break is necessary. There is a way to have the best of both worlds and both would be beneficial to all involved.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about the United States but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's German Grand Prix, his ten German Grand Prix victory and his fifth victory in nine races this season. Álex Márquez won the Moto2 race, his fourth victory in five races. Lorenzo Dalla Porta won the Moto3 race, his first victory of the season and Dalla Porta takes the championship lead.

Niki Tuuli won the inaugural MotoE race from Sachsenring.

Justin Haley won a rain-shortened NASCAR Cup race from Daytona, his first career victory in his third career start. Ross Chastain won the Grand National Series race.

René Rast and Bruno Spengler split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from the Norisring.

Marta García won the W Series race from Norisring.

The #77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda of Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez won the IMSA race from Mosport. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson of Matt McMurry and Dalton Kellett won in the LMP2 class. The #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor won in GTLM, the third victory of the season for that entry. The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley won the GTD class.

Jonathan Rea swept the World Superbike races from Donington Park and he took the championship lead.

Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen split the Supercars races from Townsville. It was McLaughlin's 13th career victory and van Gisbergen's second victory of the season.

Norbert Michelisz, Mikel Azcona and Tiago Monteiro split the World Touring Car Cup races from Vila Real. It was Azcona's first career victory and Monteiro's first victory since a serious injury from a testing accident in September 2017.

Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar keeps Canada busy with its trip to Toronto.
Formula One has the annual "what could be the final" British Grand Prix from Silverstone.
The Formula E season concludes with a doubleheader in Brooklyn.
Patricio O'Ward makes his Super Formula debut at Fuji.
NASCAR has another Saturday night race at Kentucky.
World Superbike makes its one stop in the United States and it will be at Laguna Seca.
Blancpain World Challenge Europe heads to the home of the Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort.
GT4 America visits Portland.