Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Kyle Kirkwood stunned the field with his victory at Long Beach. People have low standards when it comes to issuing death threats. Porsche produces good opossums. Race cars are dangerous. IMSA took its time to call a few cautions. Francesco Bagnaia's greatest threat to his title defense is Francesco Bagnaia. Austin had a good crowd as well for MotoGP. NASCAR ran in the damp in Martinsville, and rain still ended a race. Frustration was notable out of Virginia. Super GT opened with a wet race. The Supercross championship tightened up at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and it is ovals that are on my mind, but not necessarily with a dirt track built on top of it...
Pumping the Oval Brakes
A few weeks have past since IndyCar's thrilling Texas round, and the buzz from the event carried through to Long Beach. For two weeks, IndyCar has been enamored with the race seen on the 1.5-mile oval. It is partially because it was unexpected after the five-year nosedive in quality we had seen with Texas races, but it was also an incredible race. It provided plenty of memorable moments that will stand out for years to come. For Josef Newgarden and Patricio O'Ward, it was two of their finest performances, and perhaps the first real toe-to-toe battle of many to come over the next decade.
With a race like that and the lack of oval events on the IndyCar schedule, many are asking why isn't IndyCar putting on more of those races?
Texas has been the only 1.5-mile oval on the IndyCar schedule since 2012. Of the handful of ovals that have joined the schedule in the DW12-era, none have been intermediate racetracks. Phoenix and Gateway returned, as did Fontana and Pocono, but the 1.5-mile ovals have been absent. At one point, 1.5-mile ovals were common. The 2010 schedule had six 1.5-mile ovals, including the final four races all taking place on circuits of that size. Yet for more than a decade IndyCar hasn't added another.
In the wake of Texas, there was a vocal cry for IndyCar to add more oval events. Just add them and hope for the best. There are a few gaps in the schedules that could be filled with an oval, and putting on another race the likes of Texas wouldn't be a bad thing for the series.
But let's pump the brakes when it comes to adding more ovals for a moment.
We have been on this road for almost 15 years. IndyCar hasn't been able to maintain a half-dozen stable oval events during that time. It is currently down to four oval weekends. Indianapolis is the only one safe. Gateway started off well when it returned in 2017, but crowds have dipped in the last few years, and with the 2023 race being the first scheduled for a Sunday afternoon, we are going to find out how healthy that race is this summer. Iowa had a great revival in 2022, but it is different in that it is relying on the concerts over the two days to bring out a crowd. Last year was great, this year seems promising, but it isn't firmly rooted in the ground.
Then there is Texas, an event that frankly probably should have been sent out to pasture a few years ago. There haven't been over 5,000 people there the last three years. The crowd has been shrinking for over a decade. If any other oval had 5,000 people show up it would give up on IndyCar the second after the checkered flag waved. For some reason, Texas keeps bringing IndyCar back when it could move on and not lose a thing.
People see the racing that takes place and think the answer is as simple as just doing it again. If those races keep taking place elsewhere around the country then more people are going to tune in and stay with IndyCar. However, we have no evidence to suggest that is true. That is the hope. We believe people love that kind of racing, but the attendance and television ratings do not fully support such a claim.
IndyCar isn't in a position to add three oval races in a snap. It would be unwise if it did such a thing. If IndyCar wants to add races, it must research where it is wanted and work with the tracks to draw the best possible crowd. The best possible crowd isn't drawing the people that are already watching, it is bringing people to the track who otherwise do not attend.
A race should be a community event, and frankly I think IndyCar, and even NASCAR to some extent, has lost sight of that over the 21st century. IndyCar visits most of these tracks only once. It comes to town for one weekend a year. Most of these tracks only hold two or three big weekends a year. A race weekend should be a big gathering of the local people to see the drivers and the cars.
The Dallas Metropolitan Area has about 7.7 million residents. If only 5,000 people showed up for the Texas race that means 0.0649% of the local population came out. That is 6/10 of a percent! That is poor. There are definitely high school football games in that area that draw more. There are probably high school baseball games that draw more.
IndyCar and the tracks should aim to get at least 1% of the local population, but at minimum 50,000 people. Failing to reach either of those thresholds shows the failure to connect with the local people and give them a reason to come out and support what is a local business. It is on the series and the track. The track should at least have a reading on the pulse of the community. In Texas' case, it looks like the track isn't even trying.
For over a decade, the common refrain from the IndyCar community when a race is not successful is it is on the fans. The fans didn't show up and that is why it failed.
That's bullshit.
IndyCar cannot keep relying on the same 30,000 people to show up to every race spread across the North American continent. Taylor Swift isn't relying on the same 60,000 people traveling all around the country to fill stadiums on her concert tour. She is drawing people from each local area and filling 20 different stadiums. It is on the series to bring people out. It shouldn't be on someone living in Columbus, Ohio to attend races in Madison, Illinois, Fort Worth, Texas and Newton, Iowa. That person has no responsibility to attend any races, but if he or she attends one race, it should be that person's home race, in this example, Mid-Ohio.
There should be a healthy foundation of fans in every market IndyCar visits, especially in a major metropolitan area such as Dallas. There are about 330 million people in the United States. If 1% of the population considers themselves an IndyCar fan that would be 3.3 million people. If those 3.3 million people were spread out over the 17 IndyCar races that would be about 194,117 people per race. Split that in half and make it 0.5% of the population and it would still be over 97,000 people per race, and Roger Penske would still drop dead with crowds of that size. That is a theoretical, but doesn't sound like a lot. It just goes to show how difficult success can be.
I want more oval races. I would be thrilled if Milwaukee returned or if we finally got the Richmond race after the pandemic scuttled all plans of its return. It would be fantastic to see Pocono, Loudon, Michigan, Kansas, Phoenix, Charlotte and/or Las Vegas back on the schedule. Hell, piggybacking off of NASCAR and going to North Wilkesboro isn't a bad idea either, but if IndyCar wants to find success at any oval event, it must get more involved and embrace the communities it visits to be embraced in return.
If it isn't going to do that, it shouldn't even bother adding anymore races. We know they have three years drawing 10,000 people tops.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Kyle Kirkwood, but did you know...
Álex Rins won the Grand Prix of the Americas. Francesco Bagnaia won the sprint race, a consolation prize for the weekend. Pedro Acosta won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. Iván Ortolá won the Moto3 race, his first career grand prix victory.
The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy won the IMSA race from Long Beach. The #14 VasserSullivan Lexus of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth won in GTD Pro. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won in GTD, their third consecutive Long Beach victory.
The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa won the 6 Hours of Portimão. The #23 United Autosport Oreca-Gibson of Giedo van der Garde, Oliver Jarvis and Josh Pierson won in LMP2. The #33 Corvette of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nicolás Varrone won in GTE Am, its second victory of the season.
Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Martinsville, his second victory of the season. John Hunter Nemechek won the Grand National Series race his second victory of the season. Corey Heim won a rain-shortened Truck race.
The #23 NISMO Nissan of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronni Quintarelli won the Super GT race from Okayama. The #18 Team UpGarage Honda of Takashi Kobayashi and Syun Koide won in GT300.
Chase Sexton won the Supercross race from Atlanta, his third victory of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR is in Talladega.
Formula E has its most historic round in Berlin.
The European Le Mans Series begins its season at Barcelona.
The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup begins its season at Monza.
World Superbike has its first European round at Assen.
Super Formula will be at Suzuka.
Rally Croatia will be contested.
Supercross is in the swamps of Jersey.
