Will Power won the 102nd Indianapolis 500 and that wasn't the only great result for Australia on Sunday. Team Penske is nine victories away from 500 victories as an organization across all forms of motorsport. Charles Leclerc's homecoming did not go as planned. The Brits could not defend their soil in World Superbike and Jonathan Rea will have to wait another two weeks for another shot to become the most successful rider in World Superbike history. Pirelli World Challenge has two GT Sprint-X races and two GTS Sprint-X races today! Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
The Subtle Changes
Remember when we were dying for someone to do "The Double" and bounce from Indianapolis to Charlotte in the attempt to complete 1100 miles in two separate races? I didn't hear anyone calling for it, which is kind of odd considering last year Kyle Busch made it known he had a deal pieced together and was then told no. And then there is Kyle Larson, who to some is race car Jesus and born to compete "The Double." However, neither name spun around the rumor mill during the winter. Before we had reached spring the mill was shut down.
Maybe we have been spoiled over the last few years and we know it. We had Kurt Busch attempt "The Double" in 2014 and last year we had Fernando Alonso and though not an attempt at "The Double" it was the even rarer Monaco skip. We have gotten what we have wanted and can be satisfied for a while. Or maybe there are no superstars any more and though we are tickled over the idea of multi-discipline drivers jumping from one car to the next, nobody has our interest any more.
Ten years ago, Randy Bernard and Bruton Smith were talking about a $20 million prize to any driver that could win both races of "The Double." I am not sure the powers that be could muster together $2 million for a similar prize today. I am not sure the powers that be want to work together for such a prize because both have interests going in separate directions. They probably could but seven-figures isn't enough. It isn't about the size of the cheque. At the top level of motorsports nobody races for a bonus. They will only take guaranteed money.
Besides "The Double," remember when we were dying for the return of the apron at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and weren't we supposed to get it in 2013 or was it 2014? Wasn't it supposed to return with the NASCAR race in mind? It hasn't and IndyCar and the fan base do not seem to mind. It only took a handful of Indianapolis 500s with the DW12 chassis to show the issue for the better of two decades was not the width of the racing surface but the aerodynamics of the race cars.
Now we can live without the apron and maybe it shows how we are changing. Maybe the only reason we wanted the apron was to get back to a time period we once heralded as the golden era for IndyCar. We wanted to shake the memories of the late-90s and start of the 21st century and the only way we could cope was try to set everything to how it was before it all went wrong. Of course, we didn't do that and even if we did the scar would still be under the bandage and every time it would need to be re-dressed we would be reminded of the nightmare.
The good news is we haven't tried to recreate the times of cigarettes, methanol and bad haircuts. We let IndyCar evolve and despite anger over how the series got to its current state we have reached a state of comfort with IndyCar. It took a while and it took a lot of missteps and mistakes. Despite the positivity around IndyCar the series is nowhere near where it once was. For every Indianapolis, Long Beach and Road America with full crowds there are Phoenix, Pocono and Sonoma with quite a bit of elbowroom. Television ratings are rough and while making microscopic gains overall the Indianapolis 500 is flying at a much lower altitude than it once did.
But there are reasons to feel positive. IndyCar turned Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham, Alabama into a great spring event. Gateway went from ghost town during the days of the IRL to a healthy atmosphere. Pocono is my home race and the crowd seemed better last year and the racing there has been great, something we have seen at all the big ovals IndyCar has gone to during the DW12-era. We are hopeful NBC will take IndyCar up to another level. It is hard to see because motorsports around the globe have been struggling for he last decade but you got to feel good about something every now and then.
Growth, success, improvement, whatever you want to call it isn't a straight diagonal. It is full of peaks and valleys. There are going to be challenges and some will be easy to overcome, some will require more attention or require an uncomfortable change. It isn't easy. It isn't magic. It is unlikely IndyCar will make a few moves and all of a sudden have two million people watching every race on television and 100,000 people at each track.
The golden era ended long ago. IndyCar is not as rich as it once was and while everyone is wearier of the financial perils that lurk around the corner there is a happiness and level of constructive engagement I have never seen in this series. We are no longer fixated on the little things such as "The Double." We know those things aren't going to revive the series and true improvement isn't one successful day but long-term and incremental gains. There is a level of acceptance of what IndyCar is and acceptance of what IndyCar isn't and ultimately that is the healthy place where IndyCar needs to be.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Will Power but did you know...
Daniel Ricciardo won the Monaco Grand Prix.
Artem Markelov and Antonio Fuoco split the Formula Two races from Monaco.
Colton Herta won the Freedom 100, his third consecutive Indy Lights victory. Parker Thompson won the Pro Mazda Freedom 90 from Indianapolis Raceway Park. Kyle Kirkwood won the U.S. F2000 Freedom 75.
Kyle Busch won the Coca-Cola 600. Brad Keselowski won the Grand National Series race.
Michael van der Mark swept the World Superbike races at Donington Park, the first two World Superbike victories of his career. Sandro Cortese won the World Supersport race, his second victory of the season.
Naoki Yamamoto won the Super Formula race from Sportsland SUGO.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar has its only doubleheader of the season at Belle Isle.
IMSA joins IndyCar in Detroit.
MotoGP makes its pre-summer trip to Mugello.
NASCAR carries on to Pocono.
The DTM heads east to the Hungaroring.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
