Last week, IndyCar unveiled its 2021 schedule, and after the piecemeal pandemic schedule of 2020, next year was always going to look different. However, compared to even the pre-pandemic 2020 plan, next year will be a shakeup. A few favorite events are gone. Other races are moving. One track is getting an additional race weekend.
There was a lot to process after it was released, and it generated a reaction on Thursday morning prior to Harvest Grand Prix practice. A week has allowed thoughts to collect, flesh those out and refine a reaction into a response and I am left with 15 thoughts on next year's calendar.
1. I was disappointed when the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series schedule was released, but there is a key distinction between disappointment and anger over what was released.
The disappointment wasn't so much at IndyCar or anyone organization, but the current conditions and how the pandemic has shaped the 2021 calendar. There is only so much IndyCar can do when tracks are struggling economically and have to make difficult choices.
People have been laid off across the country in many different professions. Every company is tightening its belts and trying to lower operating costs. Tracks are not going to be any different.
IndyCar lost Austin and Iowa, and Richmond's second flight never got off the ground. Austin had no major events this year. It added a NASCAR weekend for 2021 because it is probably hoping to have one big money-making weekend in early 2021, along with hopefully MotoGP, before Formula One hopefully returns in October or November. Austin has always been operating on the margins. It likely did come down to deciding between NASCAR and IndyCar and the better bet was NASCAR.
Iowa might be gone for good, which is devastating, because it came at the end of the track boom of the 1990s and early 2000s and it was the one short track constructed during that time while the cookie-cutter 1.5-mile tracks popped up in Chicago, Kentucky, Texas, Kansas and Las Vegas, and Fontana got a two-mile speedway.
When everyone is clamoring for more short tracks, the one short track that emerged from motorsports' last great boom is on its deathbed and its only knock is being in Iowa. We have spread motorsports to nearly every part of this country (the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest are a little parched) and yet, Iowa was too remote for NASCAR, but Kentucky got a race.
I think Richmond could be a 2022 option. Richmond likely could not afford to add a new event when we still aren't sure what public gathering restrictions will be in place next year. It couldn't afford to add an IndyCar race without knowing whether or not it would have attendees in the grandstands. It is a difficult setback because there was an excitement over Richmond returning, but I don't think this means Richmond never happens. It is going to be a little longer of a delay.
2. Let's go through the schedule...
St. Petersburg on March 7... sounds about right.
Then a month off, and IndyCar cannot escape this early season gap. Austin filled it in 2019. Maybe this is an opening in case Austin gets its feet underneath it in 2021 and can bring IndyCar back in 2022. The only problem for IndyCar is it does not have many other places that can fill that early springtime date.
3. One of the reasons for the gap between St. Petersburg and Barber on April 11 is Easter Sunday on April 4. That is only one week, and it would still be a month between races, but should be noted.
Long Beach will be April 18, typical Long Beach date.
4. Can we stop the date equity bullshit from now and for the rest of eternity?
Texas moves from early June to early May and becomes a doubleheader.
Belle Isle shifts back a week from the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 to two weekends after the Indianapolis 500.
Mid-Ohio moves from early August or late-July to Independence Day weekend.
Portland shifts from Labor Day weekend to the weekend after Labor Day weekend, which is also the first weekend of the NFL season, which is foolish. Why you would give up the last NFL-less Sunday to race on the weekend when the NFL season starts and all we have heard from IndyCar for the last decade is how much it wants to avoid football season?
5. Taking this one-by-one, similar to how no one in the NASCAR world was calling for a second Atlanta race, no one in the IndyCar world was calling for a Texas doubleheader.
This year's race didn't help Texas's perception with some IndyCar followers. The Firestone suggested 30-lap stint limit didn't help, but the residue and track staining from the traction compound Texas uses for the NASCAR race made IndyCar's season opener on network NBC a processional 300-mile race with every car on the bottom and if any car dared to go up half a lane the car was bound to spin or hit the wall.
Imagine getting that twice in as many days. I am sure Texas, IndyCar and Firestone can work on something to make sure 2021 is better, but I am not sure this is going to stick around. This move to May is in part because Texas will host the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race and moving it to June. IndyCar made way for NASCAR.
4. Remember when everyone joked IndyCar would be down to three ovals, Indianapolis, Texas and Iowa? Well, we didn't see Iowa's demise coming and the ascension of Gateway, but it is still three oval tracks with Gateway filling that final spot.
It would have been nice if Iowa stuck around. Yes, we would only have four oval tracks, but if we had four oval tracks, had the Texas doubleheader and then kept Iowa as a doubleheader, then we would have six oval races. I know we would like six different oval tracks, but I think we could live with six oval races if we had to.
5. Belle Isle moves back a week, which gives the teams a week off after the Indianapolis 500 and crew members will appreciated that. The race now falls on Le Mans weekend, which is fine, because IMSA will run its own event at Belle Isle on that first weekend in June, but that takes out any IndyCar contingent going. Sorry Sébastien Bourdais.
Also, I guess that myth about the importance about running the week after the Indianapolis 500 is now busted, correct?
6. The summer is a mess.
Road America is June 20, about where it has been since it returned to the IndyCar calendar. The only problem is NASCAR is bringing the Cup Series to Road America on Independence Day weekend and IndyCar will be at Mid-Ohio that weekend.
I think IndyCar, NASCAR and NBC botched this because Road America on Independence Day weekend would have been a great place and time for an IndyCar/NASCAR shared weekend. Instead, IndyCar will go to Road America two weeks earlier and then be at another track on the same weekend and the two series will be battling for television real estate instead of working together while being together.
7. Let's tie in the elephant in the room and that is the IndyCar/NASCAR shared weekend at the IMS road course on August 14-15. The Brickyard 400 is moving to the road course and IndyCar will run on the Saturday.
Just like a Texas doubleheader, no one was asking for another IndyCar race on the IMS road course. One was good enough.
I support an IndyCar/NASCAR shared weekend, but it can be somewhere else other than Indianapolis. It shouldn't have to be IndyCar tagging along when NASCAR is in town. I get that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most notable racetrack in the country and Roger Penske owns it, but this IndyCar/NASCAR shared weekend would be better for IndyCar if it was at a track IndyCar wasn't already visiting on its own earlier in the year.
The IndyCar/NASCAR shared weekend could be a chance for IndyCar to get to one of the handful of tracks it has had difficulty establishing a race at... say Watkins Glen or Michigan or even Richmond.
IndyCar didn't need to run another race weekend in Indianapolis. I am sad that IndyCar, NASCAR, NBC and the folks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Roger Penske could not have had a better vision for this shared weekend.
8. Moving Mid-Ohio does two things... it gets IndyCar an Independence Day weekend race and it allows Nashville and the additional IMS road course race on the schedule.
The 2021 schedule does account for a two-week Olympic break. That does take away two possible race weekends and condenses the end of summer. I am not sure how the schedule will change in 2022 and 2023, two non-Summer Olympic years, but there will be more flexibility and I expect IndyCar to take advantage of that.
9. I am not a fan of an Independence Day weekend race for IndyCar.
I think IndyCar is better off giving everyone a holiday weekend off from the series. I think people are too set in their Independence Day rituals and many are not going to shift their holiday behavior to add either attending a race in person or watching it on television.
I am sure there are plenty of people in the Mid-Ohio area who have Independence Day weekend plans and then have IndyCar race weekend plans for the end of July or start of August. Now, they will have to choose. Some will choose IndyCar, but I have a feeling majority of people will choose what was already planned for the holiday.
Also, the IndyCar Mid-Ohio race will be the same day as the first NASCAR Cup race at Road America in 65 years and the two races will either be simultaneous, or one will be run before the other. I feel like IndyCar at Mid-Ohio is in a losing position after it had a good thing going in its current date.
IndyCar stressed how important date equity was and then it took a successful Mid-Ohio race and moved it to a more cluttered part of the summer. I apologize for my description but that is moronic.
10. The other thing the additional IMS road course race does, beside dropkick Mid-Ohio out of its prime date on the calendar, is prevent Gateway from being a doubleheader, and I feel when IndyCar is down to three oval tracks, having a doubleheader Gateway would be better than another IMS road course race, even if it was with NASCAR.
I understand why Gateway will not be a doubleheader on the 2021 calendar because it is three consecutive weeks of racing and that is asking a lot on the teams. Belle Isle shifting back a week gives the teams the week before and the week after off. Texas has the week before off and the teams will get a week off between Texas and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
However, in a way to keep the number of oval races in line with what we have had since 2012, having Texas and Gateway both be doubleheaders makes sense, and I have more faith in Gateway pulling off a doubleheader than Texas.
It would have been smarter for IndyCar to run Nashville, have a week off and then run a Friday night/Saturday night Gateway doubleheader on August 20-21.
11. By the way, I don't understand the segment of the IndyCar fanbase who after the schedule came out said they were done with IndyCar because of the lack of ovals.
Let me get this straight, you were only watching Mid-Ohio, Road America, Toronto and Belle Isle because Iowa existed? There is a threshold of oval races needed to justify whether or not you follow the series and watch any of the road course races?
I don't get that. For starters, since reunification, the schedule has tilted in favor of road/street courses. Since 2012, it has been about a third ovals. I am frustrated about the lack of oval races as well, but to say you are done with the entire series because the percentage of oval races went from 29.4% to 23.5% kind of seems foolish. That 6% was all that was keeping you around?
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the people that were somewhat tolerating what over 70% of the IndyCar races are because of the other 30% that existed. If you like IndyCar, then you should probably like road course racing, not just tolerate it, but actually like it. Once again, it is over 70% of the series.
I wish Iowa didn't go away and Richmond actually got a race as well. I wish IndyCar was closer to a 60/40 split. However, IndyCar has been predominantly a road course series for the last 30-plus years. Maybe Tony George is to blame for corrupting the minds of many, but to completely walk away because one oval race was lost is short-sighted.
12. I already touched upon moving Portland off of Labor Day weekend, but remember when IndyCar officials wanted to turn Labor Day weekend into a big IndyCar finale weekend? Now, they are moving races off that holiday weekend! And that weekend made sense to race on. At least the Southern 500 was at night and IndyCar got the entire afternoon to itself without NASCAR.
13. Laguna Seca is back in the spot as the season finale. It will not have an IMSA weekend preceding it. Maybe it could see some gains in 2021, but Laguna Seca has its own batch of issues it has to figure out. Let's not hold our breath that Laguna Seca is going to survive this pandemic. It probably will, but let's not be surprised if it doesn't.
14. The pandemic makes us confront IndyCar's reality, and for years IndyCar has been struggling with oval events and general awareness of the series. We could gloss over it when it was normal. IndyCar could find an oval or two to buy in and give IndyCar a shot. If they took a loss, not the end of the world, because it was a three-year commitment and then IndyCar could find another oval or two to step to the table and lay down a wager.
That isn't the case during a pandemic. Pockets are too tight to make a low-seven figure gamble for these tracks, and IndyCar is left with its few willing partners.
This has to be an eye-opening experience for IndyCar, and it has to reconsider how it does business, especially when it comes to oval races.
For the record, I have never been in the, "Well, if as many people went to the oval races as called for the oval races, there would be more oval races" crowd on Twitter because that is a horrible business strategy because you cannot expect 20,000 to 30,000 people to travel to six oval races spread across the country. I think if the average fan can make it out to one race a year that is wonderful.
I don't think the strategy of expecting the average fan to attend a third to half the races each season is going to work. If IndyCar cannot get at least 30,000 different people at the 16 races that are not the Indianapolis 500 then that is on the series. After all, 30,000 different people attending 16 races is 480,000 people and one of those is in Canada, so it would be 450,000 Americans and 30,000 Canadians. If IndyCar has fewer than a half-million willing to attend fans out of a nation of nearly 330 million, the series is in enormous trouble. A half-million is just over a tenth of a percentage of Americans. If you can't draw slightly over a tenth of a percentage of Americans, then IndyCar is fucked.
I am in the "IndyCar needs an actually strategy and do market research when making up its schedule" crowd.
I want more oval races and there has to be more than "Twitter wants it" going into these decisions.
When the NHL expanded into Las Vegas and Seattle, it did season ticket drives to see if there was an interested fanbase in those locations worth pursuing establishing a franchise. IndyCar has to see what tracks will draw a suitable crowd.
It is not a perfect science, because we see Road America draw great crowds, but for some reason an hour down the road, Milwaukee could only draw a fraction of that. Despite imperfectness, from 2022 onward IndyCar has to do more research into where it will draw fans and what tracks are possible venues.
IndyCar doesn't need 12 ovals. It needs three or four more. From there, you need a business model to make a crowd of 25,000 or 30,000 work financially for an event. That crowd size is greater than the typical basketball and hockey game. That is better than majority of Major League Soccer teams.
There has to be a model that works for IndyCar. It might feel odd, or be different, but IndyCar has to do something.
15. This is negative. I am not going to pretend the 14 points above are somehow leaning positive, but this is part of the current times.
This is a difficult period and IndyCar is just trying to get through it. IndyCar is still going to have 13 of the 16 tracks that were scheduled for the 2020 season prior to the pandemic. Losing three tracks at any time is not good and you should be a little disappointed and a little negative when losing racetracks. It's not a good thing. However, during a pandemic, losing only three tracks and not five or six is a minor victory.
There is a balance between being disappointed and a little upset about things and being apoplectic over what is the 2021 IndyCar schedule.
On the bright side, Barber is returning, Long Beach should be back, Portland and Laguna Seca are set to return, Road America, Mid-Ohio and Gateway are set to return, and IndyCar is going to visit Nashville. And let's not forget the Indianapolis 500 is back on Memorial Day weekend.
Maybe a few of these ills can be cured for 2022. Maybe Richmond is in a better position and Iowa and Austin are reinvigorated and all three are on the 2022 schedule and 2021 is just an off year battling the side effects of the pandemic.
This is a step back in what has been a tumultuous start of the Roger Penske-era in charge of IndyCar. Many are thankful to be going through this difficult time with Penske in charge, but the Captain's job keeps getting a little harder and many difficult decisions lay ahead.
