Things have taken a turn in the wrong direction.
It started Friday with IndyCar and NASCAR postponing their races this past Sunday at St. Petersburg and Atlanta respectively after both series hoped to race behind closed doors. IndyCar increased its delay through the end of April. NASCAR postponed Homestead.
Since then we have had a two-week quarantine suggestion pushed up to a suggested eight-week quarantine that we should probably follow. Month of May festivities are under threat in Indianapolis and NASCAR has suspended its season through May 3rd. It seems like the covid-19 will be around into the summer and there are concerns a second outbreak could come around in October. It feels inescapable and with this never closing window it is really hard to see how anything, hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, the Olympics, motorsports, can happen.
It seems like Friday we started with a first and ten from our own 15 and now we face a third and 24 from the one-yard line. It is not impossible to overcome in a short period of time and get into scoring position but boy is this an uphill battle.
But I am still going to be optimistic. I know we have to be smart. We have to isolate for a little bit. We have to make large sacrifices in the short-term for long-term health and safety of countless of other people. This is going to take some time but it does not mean all is lost for 2020. We can figure out where to place key events and make the most of this year.
On Friday, when processing four IndyCar races were not going to take place on schedule and two NASCAR races were facing the same fate and Formula One had a cancelled race and another three races were in limbo, it seemed daunting but the one comfort I tried to get was a few years ago when the NHL had a lockout and missed all of October, November and December the league got a collective bargain agreement in place with the players' association and the NHL was able to salvage a 48-game season starting in the middle of January, the latest possible point for a season to start.
That season required a few adjustments. There was no interconference play. The Eastern Conference only played the other teams in the Eastern Conference and the same for the Western Conference. There were more back-to-backs. It was not ideal but it had to be done.
No series is in an ideal situation at this point in time and it is not getting any easier to figure out how we can get everything in. A few things are already lost. There will be no St. Petersburg race this year for IndyCar. It appears there will be no races in Barber or Austin. Long Beach is still trying for a replacement date but that seems to be a stretch. Formula One will not have an Australian Grand Prix. We know MotoGP has canned the Qatar Grand Prix this year. The FIA World Endurance Championship will not be running at Sebring this year.
There is time. There are a few open weekends for races to fall into. A few seasons could be lengthened. There are alternatives, such as doubleheaders, midweek races and so on that could squeeze in some races. None of these alternatives are going to be easy. There is still a lot of questions about television time slots and broadcast partners and ticketing but we can figure those out.
MotoGP already started tacking on events at the end of the year. The Valencia season finale was pushed back two weeks and the Austin race and Argentina race were slotted in the weeks prior in November. Formula One is investigating canning its summer break to squeeze in a few races, most likely the lost races at Zandvoort and Barcelona. Long Beach is exploring a September date that would bring both IndyCar and IMSA to Shoreline Driver in 2020.
NASCAR is going to be the tougher fix. It has fewer available off weekends during the season and has more wires to untangle because of its two television partners and its playoff format to determine a champion but there options on the table. NASCAR is the series ripe for doubleheaders if necessary although how the series would manage that with all three national touring divisions makes it more complicated to find a solution. The series might have to get creative if it wants 36 Cup races in 2020.
With sorting out the schedule also means some dates could be lost altogether. While IndyCar has time to find spots for Barber and Austin the truth of the matter might be those two events are lost for 2020 and we will have to wait until 2021 to go back to those venues. The same could be true for Bahrain, Vietnam, Netherlands, Spain and possibly even Monaco for Formula One. NASCAR might have to make sacrifices and cut its schedule down to 30 races or fewer. One track with two races might lose a race to squeeze Atlanta and/or Homestead into the season, two tracks that only host one Cup race. This is a case of not only everyday people making sacrifices but companies as well.
We also need to be willing to accept a change in what we perceived was going to happen. If Laguna Seca is no longer the IndyCar finale then we need to be ok with it and Laguna Seca needs to understand that. I know we like selling a finale and Laguna Seca likes having that honor but for 2020 it may have to concede it to another track that lost its previously scheduled date. NASCAR has been selling Phoenix as its season finale but if the NASCAR season has to go beyond November 8th and the season has to end at either Homestead or Atlanta then everyone has to just accept it. It is a rough deal for Phoenix but there are going to be no winners in 2020. We are all going to be just trying to survive and hope normalcy can return in 2021.
Over the next few days I am going to try and put out a few more reasons to be optimistic. I know the next few days could get much tougher and I know this is trivial. I know motorsports are deep down the depth chart right now but this is a source of happiness for many. It has been taken away and when you lose that outlet for happiness, that one thing in life that truly does not matter and can be a place to escape, it is hard to be happy. When you lose that it feels like freedom is lost.
Just remember to be smart. Stay inside. Wash your hands. Help out those who need it the most. We will get through this.
