Formula One released a busy calendar. Formula Two is saving money by expanding its schedule to 14-race weekends and 28 races. The Bathurst 12 Hours is now taking into consideration its scheduling conflict with the 12 Hours of Sebring weekend. The Alpine LMP1 car has been grandfathered for another season. Indianapolis had a healthy endurance race. Tony Stewart expanded his portfolio into drag racing. Formula E came up with a new qualifying format and it is still too much. Josef Newgarden and Álex Palou tested some tires. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
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IndyCar's unexpected season finale at Long Beach turned into a jolt for the series. With the championship on the line, one of IndyCar's most famed and best attended races took on a different role. Instead of being an early Spring, early season highlight, Long Beach turned in a title decider where moments became even more memorable with each pass, spin and pit stop receiving greater attention.
With a healthy crowd and a good race, many left Long Beach asking why it couldn't be the IndyCar season finale moving forward. For now, Long Beach plans to return to its mid-April date in 2022. Some suggested two trips to Long Beach, one in April and another as the finale. Though it worked as an early Autumn close to the season, the reaction after Long Beach in 2021 resembled how people felt after the 12 Hours of Sebring closed the 2020 IMSA season.
Many people were asking why Sebring couldn't move from March to late October or November and become the permanent end of the IMSA season. I felt many were getting caught in the moment last November. It was a great championship battle paired with a historic event, but those people also ignored the IMSA season normally ends with a great championship battle at another endurance race, Petit Le Mans.
Last year, Sebring ended the season out of necessity due to the pandemic. There is also nothing wrong with Sebring's mid-March date, a time when many folks take off for spring break anyway. In the rush of a November night, sports car's contingent lost sight of the bigger picture and how some things only work as a one-off.
Long Beach became the IndyCar season finale out of necessity due to the pandemic. After being unable to find a place on any of the amended 2020 schedules, and with a slight delay to the 2021 season due to crowd restrictions and waiting for greater vaccine distribution, Long Beach could not afford being not held for two consecutive years. IndyCar was willing to place it at the end of the season in September and the city complied.
IndyCar had a different season finale than its normal schedules, and the biggest difference with Long Beach was the IndyCar finale felt like an event for the first time in a longtime. Long Beach always has a great crowd, and while 2021 might have been lower than a normal April Long Beach race due to it being held at a different time of the year and some crowd restrictions, it was still one of IndyCar's best attended races of the season and one of its better attended season finales in the last 15 years.
There has never been one great season finale for IndyCar, at least not since The Split. Laguna Seca had great crowds in the 1990s when CART crowned its champions there, but when Laguna Seca returned to the schedule as the season finale in 2019, that crowd was a fraction of those previous finales. The Sonoma finales from 2015-2018 were not that spectacular. Fontana had good crowds compared to other finales, with 2013 likely the best when the race was held in October, but the lack of a consistent weekend kept Fontana from flourishing and developing into an event like it was the CART finale in the late 1990s.
Las Vegas did not draw nearly as many people as IndyCar had hoped when it went all-in on the 2011 season finale. Homestead had two lousy years before that and Chicagoland hosted the finale for three consecutive years from 2006-2008, each on the first Sunday of the NFL season. Those were good crowds, but two occurred during the final years of The Split. The crowds weren't bad, but it was a different time for IndyCar. The series didn't have the same momentum it has now.
I think the last good finale IndyCar held was the 2004 IRL season at Texas. But again, that was a different time. That Texas race had at least 60,000 if not 70,000 people in attendance... for an IndyCar race... on an NFL Sunday... in the middle of October... and the championship was already decided! Tony Kanaan clinched the championship two weeks earlier at Fontana!
In 2021, IndyCar could have a finale with the top nine drivers tied on points, hold it at Texas and it could be the only sporting event going on at 3:00 p.m. Eastern next Sunday afternoon and I don't think 7,000 people would show up let alone possibly 70,000 people! Times have changed and we took for granted what we had even during The Split.
IndyCar has been trying to have its destination finale ever since reunification and nothing has worked. Next season will end on the first NFL Sunday at Laguna Seca. Looking at all the ingredients, it is not a recipe for success, and we will probably see Laguna Seca's high school football-sized grandstands a quarter-full when IndyCar awards its championship.
What can be done? How can IndyCar have a finale that feels like an event? The answer might be for IndyCar not to be the headliner but a supporting act.
After how the last two years have shaken up the calendars and IndyCar has lost tracks since the pandemic started. One of those is Austin, and I have brought it up before and I will bring it up again, IndyCar should race during Formula One's United States Grand Prix weekend. Saturday of the United States Grand Prix weekend draws around 80,000 people in attendance. The only current IndyCar race drawing 80,000 people is the Indianapolis 500.
In terms of exposure, it is the best thing IndyCar could ask for. It would be a large crowd with a large media contingent already at the racetrack. Formula One and IndyCar continue to be closer than ever before with McLaren having a presence in both series, Andretti Autosport perhaps on the verge of having a presence in both series. Alpine might be funding an IndyCar seat next year for one of its academy drivers. Romain Grosjean is in IndyCar. Patricio O'Ward will be testing a Formula One car. Formula One and Liberty Media doesn't need IndyCar, but IndyCar needs Formula One and piggy-backing on the series when it comes to the United States would be a smart thing to do. It would also bring IndyCar back to Austin, a great racetrack.
Add to it, IndyCar should follow Formula One to Mexico as well and run Saturday of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. Mexico City has just as big a crowd if not bigger on its Saturday than Austin. It would also be a great chance for the series to show off O'Ward to the home crowd.
IndyCar must take a chance on something, and I mean something greater than one race on Peacock or a doubleheader at Iowa. It cannot constantly hope small wagers will reap big rewards. It must aim high and put itself out there. Hoping for its own Drive to Survive knockoff is not going to do the trick. IndyCar is confident about what it puts on the racetrack, then put it on a grand stage.
Don't worry about the speed difference compared to a Formula One car. Don't worry about the technologic differences either. Go put on a strong race in front of a large crowd. Go to two major, international sporting events and showcase yourself to people who either don't know IndyCar exists or otherwise overlook it.
Ending the season with Formula One is the best trick. It increases IndyCar's exposure and IndyCar will be racing at full racetracks. It extends the IndyCar season deep into October, which is better than ending on the second Sunday of September. It would be a great one-two combination to end the championship with. Not only would IndyCar get to show off its product on track, but it would get to include the championship drama. It would give those new to IndyCar the key names to follow.
Imagine if O'Ward was fighting for the championship heading to the finale on the Saturday afternoon of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. Now imagine if he won the whole damn thing. That would be a scene IndyCar cannot even fathom, and it would be the greatest promotional tool the series could ask for. Think about the celebration Hélio Castroneves had on the front straightaway after his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. IndyCar would have a second chance at those scenes if the finale was at a place with a respectable crowd.
IndyCar has a great slate of races, but when it comes to closing a season, for nearly 20 years it has fallen flat providing a finale to match the quality of the series. Instead of trying to put on its own show, IndyCar would be better off tagging along to the bigger circus coming to town. It would finally get to show its act off to the masses and could leave the tent with many more followers than it had when it was on its own.
Champions From the Weekend
Tomoki Nojiri clinched the Super Formula championship with a fifth-place finish at Motegi, one race early.
Dominique Aegerter clinched the World Supersport championship with finishes of third and fifth in Argentina
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Tomoki Nojiri and Dominique Aegerter, but did you know...
The #25 Audi Sport Tream Saintéloc Audi of Christopher Haase, Patric Niederhauser and Markus Winkelhock won the Indianapolis 8 Hours. The #36 BimmerWorld BMW of Bill Auberlen, Chandler Hull and James Clay won in the GT4 class.
The #35 Conquest Racing West Mercedes-AMG of Collin Mullan and Michai Stephens swept the GT4 America races from Indianapolis and the team has won four consecutive races. Brendan Iribe swept the GT America races.
Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Texas, his eighth victory of the season. John Hunter Nemechek won the Grand National Series race, his first victory in the series since October 2018.
Hiroki Otsu won the Super Formula race from Motegi, his first career victory.
Toprak Razgatlioglu won the first two World Superbike races from Argentina with Scott Redding winning the third. Jules Cluzel swept the World Supersport races.
Frédéric Vervisch and Jean-Karl Vernay split the World Touring Car Cup races from Circuit Pau-Arnos.
Thierry Neuville won Rally Catalunya, his second victory of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
The United States Grand Prix returns to the Formula One calendar.
MotoGP makes its second trip to Misano.
Portimão plays host to the European Le Mans Series finale.
NASCAR has its antepenultimate weekend at Kansas.
Super GT is at Autopolis.
