Toyota won Le Mans. United Autosports won Le Mans. Aston Martin won twice at Le Mans. And so far, nobody has been disqualified from Le Mans. Four points separate the top four riders in MotoGP through seven of 14 races. Andrea Locatelli's perfect season is over in World Supersport. Four drivers were eliminated from championship contention in the NASCAR Cup Series. Championship contenders clashed in Supercars action from Tailem Bend. Audi continues to beat the snot out of BMW in DTM. IndyCar announced a street race in Nashville for August 6-8, 2021 and that is where we will start this week. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Nashville!
Well, the news is above but to repeat it a second time, IndyCar will run a street race around Nashville in early August next year. After being a lingering rumor for a few years, the Nashville streets will shut down next summer for the Music City Grand Prix.
The 2.17-mile circuit will feature 11 corners and take place around Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans, with the parking lots being used for paddock space. The first six corners will be around the stadium before the track crosses Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge and makes a left-hand turn into a tight section of corners on 1st Avenue South and turn 11 will be a right-handed corner back across the bridge.
It is a semi-unique circuit. The start line will be on Korean Veterans Blvd before turn one, a left-hander onto Interstate Drive. Turn two is a left-hander from Interstate Drive on to Russell Street with turn three being another left-hander from Russell onto S 2nd Street, which runs parallel to the football stadium.
Between turns three and four is where the finish line will be located. Turn four and five are a left-right section located in the parking lot next to S 2nd Street. After exiting turn five, the cars will rejoin S 2nd Street before the right-handed turn six onto Korean Veterans Blvd and toward the bridge. Pit entrances will be on Russell Street and it will exit on the outside of turn five.
Though IndyCar has history with the Nashville-area, having run at Nashville Superspeedway about 30 miles southeast of the city, this is IndyCar first new road course since Baltimore in 2011. Technically, Houston was added to the schedule in 2013, but the Reliant/NRG Park had been used in 2006 and 2007 when a fixture on the Champ Car calendar, so technically, Houston was not a new course, though many are referring to Houston as the most recent new street course added to the IndyCar calendar.
But I digress... this will be truly be IndyCar's first new street course in nearly a decade when (or, because it is IndyCar, if) it occurs next year.
Earlier this year, long before this announcement, an Indianapolis 500 in August and a lockdown that lasted for the better part of two months, I was starting to think it has been awhile since IndyCar visited a new city to use the public roads as a racetrack, especially when looking back at its 21st century history.
Street races were quite common and not only common but constantly changing over the previous decades. Since 2000, American open-wheel racing has inaugurated street races in Monterrey, Denver, Miami, St. Petersburg, San Jose, Edmonton, Houston, Las Vegas, São Paulo and Baltimore. Of those ten street courses, only St. Petersburg remains.
Monterrey came during the peak of Mexican competition in CART. Denver was a second iteration of something that failed in the 1990s. Miami was a second and third iteration of something that failed in the 1980s. San Jose was the alternative when Laguna Seca fell away. Edmonton... well that was an airport circuit, so not a street circuit, but still a temporary use of municipality property before the city decided the land would be better for housing. Houston was the second iteration of something that failed in a different part of the city with the dot-com bubble bursting and then it came back again in 2013 and failed again, partially because it was scheduled at the end of June. Las Vegas was an Easter mistake. São Paulo was successful in drawing a crowd, but after four editions it was not worth it for the Brazilian officials. Baltimore was more successful than São Paulo, but an equally big financial loser.
Besides those nine street courses, we have had a few that failed to get off the ground. There were attempts for races in Calgary and Quebec City, Providence and Boston, Phoenix and Fort Lauderdale, Seoul, Dubai and Qingdao, China.
For the first 15 years of the 21st century, whether its name was CART, Champ Car, Indy Racing League or IndyCar, American open-wheel series were testing every city circuit option. Boston was the most recent stillbirth, originally set for Labor Day weekend 2016, it was called off on April 29. It is impressive IndyCar didn't make another attempt in the last four years.
I am generally against street course because... well, see above. They have a short-shelf life. However, I am willing to give Nashville a shot. It's been awhile since IndyCar tried a new city. For all the consternation over the number of street courses during the 2000s and into the 2010s, only four that were supposed to be on the 2020 calendar: St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Belle Isle and Toronto.
Those have been the only four street courses since 2015. St. Petersburg is the youngest, with 2020 set to be its 17th race. Belle Isle is on its third stint on an IndyCar calendar. It hosted CART for ten years from 1992 to 2001. The IRL visited in 2007 and 2008 before the recession nixed the event. Roger Penske revived it in 2012 when Chevrolet return to the series and it has been around ever since with the last seven years being run as a doubleheader. All told, Belle Isle has been on 20 IndyCar schedules. Toronto has been on 33 schedules with two doubleheaders. Long Beach leads the way having been run for 45 years with the last 36 being an IndyCar race.
With that street course lineup, Nashville has to live up to high expectations.
We have seen the dog-and-pony show before where city officials and IndyCar officials and a driver get together, take photos and talk about how this will be a long-term partnership, some quote inspiration of becoming the next Monaco, only for it to be gone after the first contract expires. Nashville has checked all those boxes. We all know the difference is Roger Penske. Nashville is the first street course under Roger Penske's leadership. Belle Isle is doing quite well under Penske's watch, albeit he is the promoter of that event. Penske is not promoting Nashville.
The Music City Grand Prix will be led by former Nashville Predators executive Chris Park, FullCircle Ventures president Matt Crews, who was president and CEO of NASCAR team Brewco/Barker Curb Racing, which was based in the Nashville-area, and Jason Rittenberry, who was formerly vice president of Memphis Motorsports Park and Chief Strategy Officer of Circuit of the Americas.
Some wide-eyed dreamer is not leading the Music City Grand Prix group. These are men with years of experience in the city and/or in American motorsports. If this race fails, it is not because of some schmuck in charge.
We have yet to hear any pushback on the Music City Grand Prix, though the event is being promoted as being privately financed. It is still going to use public roads and cause road closures and construction that will alter daily city life months before the race even happens. Citizens of Nashville might not have a clue what they are in for with this event but could get a bad taste in April and public perception could turn against it. Come August 2021, Nashvillians could be wanting the race gone after one edition and it is difficult for any street race to survive when the community largely rejects it.
Winning over the people will decide how long this race stays on the schedule. All the current street course races have succeeded in winning community approval, though they still face some pushback, see Belle Isle. Boston was dead on arrival in 2016 because of community rejection. Though Baltimore drew massive crowds, it usurped daily life and when the organizer struggled to pay debt back to the city, it was an easy call to move on from the race.
Street races are tough to turn a profit even when drawing tens of thousands of people all three days. They can divide a city and piss off plenty of locals, leading to their demise. There is also the chance the circuit is dismal, even if it looks good on paper, and that will turn off the spectators and participants.
History points to the Music City Grand Prix lasting three or five years tops, but let's give it a go. It might work out, most likely it will not. IndyCar hasn't had a calamitous failure in a while. If Nashville is welcoming the series with open arms, let's give it three years and if (or when) it falls apart, we at least get to say we tried it... and then we move on to the next one.
Champions From the Weekend
You know about the championships that were settled at Le Mans, but did you know...
Michael Cooper clinched the GT4 America sprint championship with a sweep of the three races from Austin.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about what happened at Le Mans and Michael Cooper's success but did you know...
Maverick Viñales won MotoGP's Emilia-Romagna and Rimini Coast Grand Prix, his first victory of 2020. Enea Bastianini won the Moto2 race, his third victory of the season. Romano Fenati won the Moto3 race, his first victory of the season. Dominique Aegerter and Matteo Ferrari split the MotoE races.
Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Cup race from Bristol, his ninth victory of the season. Chase Briscoe won the Grand National Series race, his seventh victory of the season. Sam Meyer won the Truck race, his first career Truck victory and he is the second-youngest winner in series history.
Robin Frijns and Nico Müller split Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from the Nürburgring sprint circuit.
Fabian Coulthard, Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin split the Supercars races from Tailem Bend.
Jonathan Rea, Michael van der Mark and Chaz Davies split the World Superbike races from Barcelona. Andy Verdoïa and Andrea Locatelli split the World Supersport races. It was Verdoïa's first career victory. Locatelli was fourth in the first race.
The #1 Squadra Corse Ferrari of Rodrigo Baptista and Martin Fuentes swept the GT World Challenge America races from Austin.
The #51 Panoz of Roman De Angelis and Parker Chase and the #2 GMG Racing Porsche of Jason Bell and Andrew Davis split the GT4 America SprintX races from Austin.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One treks to Sochi.
Another 24-hour race, the 24 Hours Nürburgring.
The World Touring Car Cup will have its doubleheader on the Nordschleife.
NASCAR begins its second round of the playoffs in Las Vegas.
IMSA starts autumn at Mid-Ohio.
MotoGP will be in Barcelona.
Super Formula has its second round of 2020 at Okayama.
The World Rally Championship will run Rally Turkey.
Zandvoort hosts the penultimate GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup round.
