Since we last spoke, Argentina became world champions, Christmas and Hanukkah occurred, and the year has changed. Also, IndyCar has made people mad on iRacing. Andretti Autosport partnered with Wayne Taylor Racing. Super GT shuffled some races around. Max Verstappen said some nonsense. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has a new organizer. World Superbike released its 2023 entry list. NASCAR is expanding the Clash field for the main event. Travis Pastrana and Tanner Foust will represent the United States in the Race of Champions from Sweden later this month. There was plenty of testing, and the Dakar Rally has begun. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
IndyCar Entering 2023
Ever since Will Power hoisted the Astor Cup at Laguna Seca on the second Sunday of September, it has felt IndyCar keeps sliding backward this offseason. There just seems to be another bit of bad news coming out, or at least the reaction has been negative.
From the reversal of the new engine regulations to the iRacing debacle to somehow announcing a docuseries that will air on free-to-air television in the United States to the preseason test being held at a private facility in Palm Springs, California, positives have become nearly impossible to find all of a sudden, or at least the positives have been minimized to a microscopic level.
With these recent developments, the backlash has become fierce and relentless. A common sentiment is IndyCar finds itself in big trouble.
I am getting older. I have been here before. No, IndyCar isn't.
It was only a little over decade ago when IndyCar was on the verge of introducing a new car that was having difficulties in the late stages of development only months after the main test driver had been killed in an accident in the season finale, which was broadcasted on network television in the United States, but the series was still primarily broadcasted on a cable channel that no one could find and even fewer had heard of and some were saying IndyCar should just run until the 100th Indianapolis 500 and then close its doors in May 2016.
That was only a little over a decade ago. That doesn't mean there aren't concerns about the present, but contentment has become a bore for those following IndyCar. They want forward momentum because they see other series experiencing it. It is understandable, but let's hit the brakes on the doom and gloom. Let's look at what IndyCar is, a racing series, and take into consideration where IndyCar sits as a racing series.
IndyCar is coming off a season where five drivers had a shot at the championship in the 2022 season finale. With two races to go, seven drivers had a chance at the title. The battle was between two of the best drivers the series has seen in the 21st century and they are also two of the best all-time, the best American driver of the 21st century that already has two championships and is quickly rising up the record books, and two emerging drivers who came from other notable international series, one of whom might be the best driver in the world. That is also failing to mention there are a handful of young drivers regularly winning races, one is a champion, and that entire group could be around IndyCar for the next two decades.
The racing is still some of the best around. The universal aero kit might not produce the same slingshot affairs on larger ovals, but we still see lively road and street course events, arguably the best we have ever seen for road and street course races, and oval events are still competitive from start to finish.
In fact, IndyCar posted that 5,881 total passes occurred in 2022, a 40% increase from the 2021 season. Even if you remove the two Iowa races and Toronto, which weren't on the 2021 schedule, the other 15 races in the 2022 season had 4,152 passes, 626 more passes than the 16 races on the 2021 schedule, which included a second Texas race.
Its not the racing, but people point to the DW12 chassis entering its 12th season and the engine formula entering its 12th season and there only being the same two manufactures for the last 11 seasons, as reasons for IndyCar's impending downfall.
I have been here before. Nope, these aren't the signs of the end of time.
Again, it might not be the best circumstances, but the sky isn't falling. The DW12 chassis was introduced in 2012, a new car after the current engine/chassis combo had been in service for a decade and six seasons of only one engine manufacture. It didn't cause a great groundswell for IndyCar viewership.
In fact, the 2012 season saw ratings GO DOWN from the 2011 season despite a new car and engine manufacture being introduced. The newly-rebranded NBC Sports Network had only 292,000 average viewers per race, down 27% from the season before. ABC's rating was down 17% that year.
In year 11 of the DW12, average total audience delivery was 1.3 million viewers over the 17 races, up five percent from the year before. The 2022 St. Petersburg season opener was the most watched non-Indianapolis 500 IndyCar race in 11 years. Let's not forget, IndyCar has gone from six races on network television and nine on cable in 2012 to 14 of 17 races on network television in 2022.
I understand people getting tired and looking for some excitement. We all want excitement. We want something new. We want another wrinkle. But this isn't the end of the world. This isn't the end of IndyCar, but that doesn't mean IndyCar doesn't have some adjustments to make.
The series has been attempting to court a third engine manufacture for over ten years. None has entered the series. Even the new engine regulations, which were delayed nearly a half-dozen times before being scrapped, didn't attract any new competitors, hence why IndyCar is keeping the 2.2 liter V6 engines and just adding the hybrid the system, decreasing the costs for the teams and manufactures. Not ideal, but the best of an unideal situation.
Things can be two things. IndyCar must reevaluate how it will attract additional manufactures to the series while keeping the two that exist and maintaining the support for the more than two-dozen full-time entries and also looking to introduce a new chassis that has all the fixings for safety and competition, AND IndyCar is the healthiest it has been since the merger with viewership numbers that are attracted a number of sponsors and seeing the full-time grid be the healthiest it has been since the heydays of CART.
Both statements can be true. Things can be better, but things are also far from the worst it has ever been.
We are about two months from the 2023 IndyCar season opener. IndyCar is far from the mountaintop, and it is only being a more crowded landscape, especially with American motorsports viewership as Formula One has been on a boom for the last three years while IndyCar makes incremental gains and NASCAR still has daylight to the rest of the pack. IndyCar has some crucial decisions to make for the health of the series, but the series is not on life support, it isn't shrinking and it is actually doing fine.
In the next 60 days or so, it might be important for the masses to take a step back and breathe while reconsidering the true state of IndyCar. It will be better for their health and for everyone's sanity.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Argentina, but did you know...
Dakar Rally Stage 1 winners:
Bikes: Ricky Brabec
Quad: Manuel Andújar
Cars: Carlos Sainz
Light Prototypes: Francisco López
SSV: Eryk Goczal
Trucks: Martin Macík
Coming Up This Weekend
The Dakar Rally continues.
Supercross opens its historic season in Anaheim.
