Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Supercross had an unimaginable turn of event, as Eli Tomac ruptured his Achilles tendon while leading early at Denver, ending his season effectively immediately. Chase Sexton won the race and has effectively clinched the championship with Tomac out and Cooper Webb suffering a season-ending concussion the previous weekend in Nashville. Formula One was in Miami and people were angry. IMSA announced it is dropping LMP3 from the top series at the end of the season and people rejoiced. The NASCAR Cup race went to the final lap at Kansas. Things boiled over. Formula E had another stellar Monaco ePrix. New Zealand might be the best country in the world of motorsports. World Superbike remains rather predictable. The first week of May is over and the upcoming festivities are on my mind.
I Got It Wrong
In a few days, the first race from Indianapolis Motor Speedway will take place for IndyCar.
No, Memorial Day weekend is not upon us. We haven't sat through a weekend of qualifying, the exhilarating highs of pole position runs and the anguish of watching a team being bumped and having their broken hearts on display for the masses. Carb Day is not this Friday with a concert capping the afternoon.
This weekend will be the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and it will be the tenth time it has opened the month of May at the Speedway.
In 2014, I was not thrilled for this weekend. It didn't feel right. IndyCar didn't need a race at the IMS road course. There were plenty of other tracks that IndyCar could have gone to. At that time, Road America wasn't on the schedule. Neither were Watkins Glen, Road America nor Laguna Seca. There were only six oval races. IndyCar had many other places to go and expand its reach.
There was also history. Indianapolis used to be just the Indianapolis 500. Then NASCAR moved in and the Brickyard 400 captured an audience while IndyCar was attempting suicide. Soon, Formula One was filling the facility. When Formula One drained all the juice it could get, MotoGP came in. NASCAR's second division was added to Brickyard weekend, as was Grand-Am, which would shortly become IMSA. What once was a facility opened one month a year was welcoming visitors regularly throughout the spring and summer.
We could come to terms with the other series. They were big draws, and hosting the top series from around the world were a good thing for Indianapolis, but IndyCar didn't need two races. It had a race at the Speedway, and entering 2014 the IMS road course did not have a great track record with car racing. The last thing IndyCar needed was a dud of a race just for the sake of having another race at a reasonable cost to the teams.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was sold as the opener for the month of May. Instead of opening with practice sessions, leading off with rookie orientation and refreshers, spectators got two days of competition. The Road to Indy filled out Friday and Saturday ahead of a championship race for IndyCar.
I wasn't sure this was going to work. Was there really going to be an audience for an IndyCar race on the IMS road course? Was it really going to be a big deal? Would people just wait until the end of the month to come out to the Speedway.
The facts were laid out. Opening weekend when it was just 12 hours of practice sessions, a good portion of which were just instillation laps and then down time, was only drawing a few thousand people and weren't attracting any VIP guests. A road course race could allow tickets to be sold at a higher price point and draw more people to the track.
Guess what? That worked. The Speedway isn't filled with 80,000 or 100,000 people for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but considering the crowd went from about 5,000 people to 25,000 people and the price point for the average ticket doubled, IMS increased its profits with an easy switch.
The first race wasn't that bad either. Aside from the atrocious start where Sebastián Saavedra, an unlikely pole-sitter because of the dry-to-wet conditions on Friday, stalled as IndyCar experimented with standing starts. Debris scattered across the main straightaway as cars pilled into Saavedra. The mayor of Indianapolis suffered an abrasion as he was in the flag stand for the start.
Once the mess was cleaned, we had a good race. Jack Hawksworth led the opening stanza while Ryan Hunter-Reay challenged. Hélio Castroneves took the lead but strategy came into play and Oriol Servià was leading late attempting to stretch fuel and hope for a late caution. It didn't come. Servià made his final pit stop and it was Simon Pagenaud claiming the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis victory.
Track alterations, the new left-right section in turns five and six on the Hulman straightaway allowed cars to carry more speed in turn seven, which was re-profiled into harder braking zone. Though IndyCar race the infield "Snake Pit" section in turn one instead running the banking, the cars still carried good speed into the first corner and moves could be made. IndyCar put on a decent race.
Year two was good. Will Power dominated, but Graham Rahal put up a late charge. Pagenaud won again in 2016, but Conor Daly led a good portion on an alternate strategy. Power didn't face much of a challenge in 2017, but in 2018, Power and Robert Wickens had dueling strategies see Power come out on top while Scott Dixon drove up to second.
Then in 2019, a late rain storm provided life to Simon Pagenaud and the Frenchman chased down Scott Dixon and stole a victory with a little more than two laps remaining.
In recent years, we have seen the Grand Prix of Indianapolis allow for multiple strategies. In 2020, it was two-stoppers versus three-stoppers, and a caution allowed a two-stopper in Dixon to beat Graham Rahal on three. Tire degradation and traffic tripped up Romain Grosjean in 2021 and saw Rinus VeeKay become the surprise first-time winner. Last year saw another race in changing conditions and a brilliant showcase of car control from Colton Herta to take the victory as the track went wet-to-dry-to-wet.
It isn't on the oval. It in no way is a prologue for the Indianapolis 500, but the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a good opener for the month of May. It is better than practice. Last year, Saturday would have been a washout if it was opening day. How many people would have shown up? A few hundred diehards with nothing better to do? Instead, there was actually races, and multiple races, and it was worth sitting through the conditions as Herta was fantastic along with a handful of other drivers. The spectators got to see something meaningful toward the championship, and in a few days practice began for the Indianapolis 500. It was a good way to get the juices flowing.
Back in 2014, I thought IndyCar should have run a race to start May somewhere else and run a race a little more representative of what the Indianapolis 500 would be. That was especially true after the first two "500s" in the DW12-era. The 2012 and 2013 races each set the record for most lead changes. The 2013 race obliterated it. With that much passing, another race like Indianapolis as the precursors, the final hoorah before the real deal would get people's attention.
However, that is easier said than done. Not many other ovals could showcase what Indianapolis would look like. Kentucky is relatively close to Indianapolis and could draw out the Midwest crowd, but there was no guarantee Kentucky could match what Indianapolis had on track. Early May is too unpredictable in terms of weather to go to Michigan or Chicagoland. NASCAR had a spring race in Kansas. No other oval really made sense.
Also, all these tracks would require significant travel for the IndyCar base. IndyCar couldn't run at any of these tracks and then be ready to begin practice on Tuesday from Indianapolis. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis allows a race to take place and the teams to immediately dive into practice. The garages remain the same. A few of the cars might have to be flipped over, but most of the teams aren't traveling a great distance. Outside of Team Penske and Dale Coyne Racing, it is a home race for 85% of the grid. The crews get to be home. They aren't running all around the country and then spending long nights at the track. The hours might still be grueling, but they at least get to sleep in their own beds and see their families.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis is the best option for IndyCar if it wants some kind of opening act to the month of May. IndyCar has added an additional race on the IMS road course in the last few years. This August will be the third consecutive year IndyCar has raced on the Saturday of the NASCAR weekend as well as running the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May. With the additional weekend, many are wondering if two IMS road course races are necessary.
The answer is no, but the one in May should remain. It is IndyCar's weekend. As cool as the combination weekend is with NASCAR, that race should happen somewhere else. IndyCar should be smart enough to realize a combination weekend with NASCAR should be used to get IndyCar to a track it currently isn't at. It should be used to get back to Watkins Glen and race in front of a large crowd. It should be used to return to Richmond for a Saturday night race. It should be held at Michigan or Loudon or a new of places IndyCar currently isn't at and likely would have a hard time standing on its own. The August race can make way for something new. The May race should stay.
Reverting to this opening weekend being only Indianapolis 500 practice would be a colossal step backward for IndyCar. It would quickly return to 3,000 people milling around with two hours of downtime and the risk of nothing happening if there is a rain storm. That is foolish.
IndyCar has found a decent race. The grandstands might not be overflowing with people, but it is better than it could be and it is likely better than the crowd a handful of other ovals could draw if they were hosting a race this weekend. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis surely outdraws Texas Motor Speedway and that is a sentence I never imagined I would be writing.
I got it wrong back in 2014. Stubbornness had me more focused on what was wrong with breaking tradition than the positives that could come with change. With the better crowd and the increased revenue, it was clear this was the right thing to do. It helps that IndyCar now races at Road America and Laguna Seca and it did return to Watkins Glen with one point. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis no longer feels like a consolation prize for the tracks IndyCar cannot get. The schedule has filled out and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis itself has proven to be a worthy race.
With the tenth edition upon us, I have grown fond of this new tradition.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Chase Sexton, but did you know...
Max Verstappen won the Miami Grand Prix, his third victory of the season.
Nick Cassidy won the Monaco ePrix, his second consecutive victory.
Álvaro Bautista swept the World Superbike races from Barcelona. Nicolò Bulega and Bahattin Sofuoglu split the World Supersport races.
The #36 TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata won the Super GT race from Fuji. The #56 Kondō Racing Nissan of João Paulo de Oliveira and Teppei Natori won in GT300.
Coming Up This Weekend
The aforementioned Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
MotoGP's French Grand Prix from Le Mans.
NASCAR has a round at Darlington.
Speaking of Laguna Seca, IMSA will be there and it is its final race before Le Mans.
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup will be at Brands Hatch.
Supercross will have a rather anti-climatic conclusion to its season in Salt Lake City.
The World Rally Championship will be in Portugal.
