Sergio Pérez picked up his second Formula One grand prix victory after his teammate Max Verstappen had a catastrophic tire failure while leading late. Pérez's victory in Baku came 50 years and 364 days after Pedro Rodríguez's second and final Formula One victory at Spa-Francorchamps. Lewis Hamilton overcooked his brakes and did not score points. Sebastian Vettel is rejuvenated. Ross Brawn is open. Fog made this year's 24 Hours Nürburgring the shortest in the event's history. Fabio Quartararo had a problem with his leathers. Moto3 race had a stellar race. NASCAR ran a pair of road course races in a pair of time zones. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Who is SRX For?
Noise is a powerful thing. In an increasingly crowded world, noise is necessary to get noticed. If you are not loud enough, you will be overlooked.
Less than a week from the inaugural round of the Superstar Racing Experience, the upstart motorsports series has made its fair share of noise. It has done its share of media and had people talking. SRX has benefitted from having two of its competitors on major broadcasts, Michael Waltrip with NASCAR, and Paul Tracy with IndyCar, mentioning what they will be doing.
It has also helped that the series has the newly crowned four-time Indianapolis 500 Hélio Castroneves headlining the series. SRX could not have had the stars align any better than having Castroneves win the Indianapolis 500 less than a fortnight before SRX's first race.
The series has an incredible television deal, six Saturday nights on network CBS, starting this weekend on June 12 at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut. For six consecutive weekends, some of the most notable short tracks in the United States will get a national stage. After Stafford, will be dirt races at Knoxville and Eldora. July begins at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The shortest track will be Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin, and the quarter-mile oval will host the penultimate round. The Nashville Fairgrounds close out the inaugural season on July 17.
Many of the pieces are exciting, from the locations to the format to the television deal, but the overarching question is who is SRX for?
As much noise SRX has been making, the segment of the NASCAR fanbase calling for more short track races has been louder and been screaming for much longer. SRX is nothing but short tracks, six to be specific, none of which have featured at the NASCAR Cup Series level in the last 35 years or at all. Eldora recently hosted Truck races. Knoxville will host a Truck race this August. IRP hasn't hosted a NASCAR national series in a decade. Stafford and Slinger are not up to standard.
Ray Evernham designed the car with the intention of it having high horsepower and low downforce to highlight the driver's skills, another thing fans have been clamoring for and bemoaning NASCAR about as NASCAR sends the Cup Series in the opposite direction.
SRX has set itself to be an antithesis to NASCAR's current Cup regulations, but is that enough alone to draw people out? As much as people complain about the racing in NASAR, I am not sure the fan base really wants a different series or if it wants NASCAR to be different. This could be the better mousetrap, but will it be the mousetrap of choice? NASCAR has decades of recognition, notable drivers who are still at the top of their ability, and it is not too far removed from its peak. SRX is unknown, and frankly, a little dated.
Most of these drivers are past their prime. Forget IROC and FastMasters. Forget even comparing this to the Senior PGA Tour. This is the 3x3 basketball league or the Alliance of American Football.
The grid might have been exciting 15 years ago, but in 2021, is anyone clamoring to see Michael Waltrip, four years removed from his last competitive race, back in action? Anyone dying to see Paul Tracy on track? We saw Bill Elliott make his return to racing a few years ago at Road America in a race for NASCAR's second division. It looked like 60-plus year old driver who hadn't raced in six years. I can't imagine after another three years on the sidelines Elliott has gotten any better.
I like Bobby Labonte, but it has been five years since Labonte ran in NASCAR. It has been nine years since he has been full-time. It has been 14 years since he won a NASCAR national series race and almost 18 years since his last Cup victory. Willy T. Ribbs is a character who is a trailblazer that is only now getting enough credit for what he accomplished, but Ribbs is also 66 years ago and last ran a serious race in Indy Lights ten years ago.
Castroneves is the saving grace for this series. Tony Kanaan has at least been full-time recently and is still a regular IndyCar competitor. Kanaan will compete in four of six races, as two races conflict with his new Stock Car Brasil commitment. Marco Andretti was at least full-time last year, but Andretti's results have not been enough in recent years to attract an audience. Tony Stewart will be competing, and he is one of SRX's founders. Stewart is still active in dirt racing, but he didn't end his NASCAR career on a high in 2016.
The most exciting driver is Ernie Francis, Jr., who is 23 years old and has spent his career in Trans-Am and won multiple championships, but Francis, Jr. has yet to attract serious attention from a top-level NASCAR or sports car program. For Francis, Jr., this could be his coming out party. The problem is he is the only one really with something to prove.
SRX will give a few unsung short track racers a chance in the spotlight. Kody Swanson has dominated the USAC Silver Crown championship, but unlike Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Stewart, Swanson never got a serious look at NASCAR. Doug Coby is a six-time NASCAR Modified Tour champion, but he hasn't gotten a shot in one of NASCAR's national series.
It is good to see the series give some of these drivers a shot, but Swanson and Coby are only one-offs. Coby will be at Stafford this weekend and Swanson will run Eldora. They will have one shot to make an impression. Even if they win, they will likely not be around for the following races. There will no chance to build on that story. If Swanson and Coby were full-time, along with Francis, Jr. and there was a group of young drivers looking for a breakthrough, such as Oliver Askew, Kyle Kaiser, and Kaz Grala, competing against the likes of Castroneves, Kanaan, Andretti, Stewart and maybe even Joey Hand, a veteran stuck on the sidelines, that would be an interesting series with guys who are tested and in race shape competing against guys looking to prove themselves.
I understand why the series is relying on notable names to build an audience, but it could be sacrificing on-track quality.
This wasn't going to be IROC 2.0. It wasn't going to draw Scott Dixon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Josef Newgarden, Patricio O'Ward, Ricky Taylor and Lewis Hamilton. SRX had to choose from the clearance rack, but is this lineup enough to draw and maintain interest over six weeks? Will these Baby Boomers with plenty of victories, championships and large enough bank accounts have enough fire to provide a competition worthy of our attention? It is a tough sell that SRX will matter that much to these drivers who have won in front of hundreds of thousands of people with millions watching on television and earned seven-figure paychecks.
SRX will likely have a great opening weekend. Everyone shows up for a grand opening. Will the audience still be there for weeks two through six? With half the grid coming out of retirement, I sense there will be a few competitive drivers and a bunch of drivers who are not close to contention. If SRX has a clear break between those with a chance and the have-nots, people will find other ways to spend their Saturday nights.
What could prove to be most interesting is CBS' commitment to SRX. This is CBS first serious motorsports endeavor since it gave up on NASCAR in 2000. With rumblings CBS could be in play for the future IndyCar television deal, it will be interesting to see how the productions looks. The broadcast team will feature Allen Bestwick as lead commentator. Dario Franchitti, James Hinchcliffe and Danica Patrick will rotate in the broadcast booth. Lindsay Czarniak will host, and Brad Daugherty and Matt Yocum will work the pit lane. They have all the right people in place, and it should feel like a top-notch broadcast.
I don't expect SRX to be the talk of the weekend, but could a million people tune in on a Saturday night and rival IndyCar's network numbers for six weeks? Could the series draw a cult following of disgruntled NASCAR fans, short track worshippers and general motorsports fans for six weeks? Crazier things have happened.
SRX could have its big opening weekend and quickly be forgotten. But, if it makes enough noise, it could grab our attention for its duration and leave us wanting more.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Sergio Pérez, but did you know...
Miguel Oliveira won MotoGP's Catalan Grand Prix, his first victory of the season. Remy Gardner won the Moto2 race, his second consecutive victory. Sergio García won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season.
Robert Shwartzman and Jüri Vips split the Formula Two sprint races from Baku. Vips went on to win the feature race on Sunday.
Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Sonoma, his third victory of the season. A.J. Allmendinger won the Grand National Series race from Mid-Ohio, his second victory of the season.
The #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus-Gibson of Nyck de Vries, Romain Rusinov and Franco Colapinto won the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The #4 DKR Engineering Duqueine-Nissan of Laurents Hörr and Jean-Phillipe Dayrault won the LMP3 class. The #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Miguel Molina won the GTE class.
The #911 Manthey Racing Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre won the 24 Hours Nürburgring. The record-low 59 laps were completed, as the race had a 13-hour red flag due to fog and weather conditions overnight.
Tiago Monteiro and Jean-Karl Vernay split the World Touring Car Cup races from the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
The #3 KPAX Racing Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper and the #33 Windward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Russell Ward and Mikaël Grenier split the GT World Challenge America races from Virginia International Raceway.
The #72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szmczak and the #15 BSPort Racing Aston Martin of Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch split the GT4 America races from VIR. Charlie Luck and Brendan Iribe split the GT America races.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar has a doubleheader at Belle Isle.
IMSA joins IndyCar at Belle Isle, and IMSA will cap off the Saturday action.
The inaugural Superstar Racing Experience race from Stafford.
The FIA World Endurance Championship makes its debut at Portimão.
World Superbike returns to Misano for the first time in nearly two years.
NASCAR has its All-Star Race, which Texas hosts for the first time.
