The New England Patriots are Super Bowl champions again. The third endurance race in five weeks did not disappoint and a native dazzled the home crowd at Bathurst. If you thought the 24 Hours of Daytona was held in horrendous conditions the Supercross race from San Diego somehow found a way to top that. NASCAR did some testing in Las Vegas and Kyle Busch was not happy. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Is Reverting a Good Thing?
We have had ten seasons of a reunited IndyCar and a lot look different since that 2008 season but a lot looks familiar.
The split increased the number of venues hosting American open-wheel races for about a decade. While we did not necessarily like the fact there were two series, the split did take the series to venues we otherwise would have never considered. During the split, venues such as St. Petersburg, Gateway and Iowa, all of which are on the current IndyCar schedule, hosted their first American open-wheel series race. Other popular venues that hosted their first races during that period not on the schedule include Richmond, Kentucky and Fontana and the split allowed for American open-wheel racing to return to Watkins Glen.
When Champ Car and the Indy Racing League merged in 2008, two schedules had to become one and there were venues left behind. It was not reasonable to have a 28-race calendar and some notable venues were sent to the sidelines. Road America, Portland, Cleveland and Toronto all did not make the initial cut.
Toronto returned in 2009 but Road America had to wait until 2016. Portland returned last year. Cleveland is still in the doghouse. These four venues were the only ones on the outside. Even with two series some venues were on the curb during the split. Phoenix was on neither schedule after 2005. Laguna Seca last hosted Champ Car in 2004. Michigan dropped open-wheel racing after 2007.
The good news is IndyCar will be returning to Laguna Seca after 15 years away. The series went back to Phoenix for three seasons. A return to Michigan is not in the cards but there is one venue that is back the mix.
During the IndyCar offseason, Surfers Paradise has emerged as a potential venue for the IndyCar series to return in the near future. The series last visited the Gold Coast in 2008 when the race was held as a non-championship round after Scott Dixon had been crowned champion at Chicagoland.
There has been a positive mood associated with Surfers Paradise's possible return and it is not just on this side of the Pacific. The local officials in Australia seem to be actively pursuing the series. If that is the case you have to think the local citizens will come out and support the race like they did for nearly two decades.
These returns have looked the same. IndyCar returned to Road America and the crowd has flooded around the 4.048-mile ribbon of asphalt. Portland was a boom in year one with a line at the gate. We will find out about Laguna Seca in September and unfortunately Phoenix had three years and it never sparked under the lights.
But the one interesting thing about IndyCar in recent seasons is the venues that have done the best have been tracks that the series is returning to after long hiatuses. These venues that were borderline forgotten have embraced IndyCar like it never left. Newer venues have not had the same kind of success. The crowd didn't stick around at Homestead, Kansas, Sonoma or Chicagoland, it never showed up for Atlanta or Houston and New Orleans was a mess.
Some other venues have been great but only had other issues keep them from turning into smash hits. Baltimore drew great crowds all three years it was on the calendar but financially could not work for the city. The same is true for Edmonton. Milwaukee did well in 2008, the first year of reunification, but the State Fair operator could not make the race work and revitalization attempts fell short. Watkins Glen struggled to get a crowd in multiple iterations.
It seems like the answer for IndyCar is to go back where the series had the most success. We will have to wait on Laguna Seca but if that turns out to be a hit and Surfers Paradise returns with the crowd it had to the final days in its first stint in the series then why doesn't the series embrace the schedule from nearly 25 years ago at IndyCar's height? But is that good for the series?
A lot of people love that Road America, Portland and Laguna Seca are back and many would be ecstatic if Surfers Paradise returned but IndyCar needs other venues to stick. IndyCar needs Austin to be successful. That is a big venue in a growing market and it fills a vacancy in the early portion of the IndyCar calendar. There aren't many venues that can fill late-March.
IndyCar needs its footprint to be larger than the same venues as 1993. The series has done well getting into new areas. Barber Motorsports Park has become a vibrant event early in the season and at the start not many people expected a race held in the middle of Alabama to have any life. IndyCar went to Iowa in 2007 and while the race might not get the same crowd size as it did at the start it still gets a crowd and is popular within the IndyCar fan base. St. Petersburg has become a staple at the start of every season.
At the same time, just because it hosted CART in the heyday of the Andrettis, the Unsers, Fittipaldi, Mansell, Tracy and Rahal, doesn't mean a race will be a hit today. We saw Phoenix never get back to that level. Milwaukee struggled despite being the venue to host the most races in American open-wheel racing history. There is no guarantee Michigan will have 50,000 people to watch an IndyCar return despite it being one of the best races with thrilling speeds and finishes. Cleveland was great but there are too many hurdles in the way of getting that temporary venue back on the schedule.
We aren't sure what Laguna Seca is going to be like. It hosted the season finale for many years during the days of CART but if it couldn't work for Sonoma, which is 45 minutes out side San Francisco, why should we believe it will be better two and half hours down the coast?
There is no easy answer when it comes to what places will be successful. We kept waiting for Milwaukee to get back to where it once was and it never happened but an hour north of the 1-mile oval Road America has been a smash. While Long Beach remains at a top level the crowd an hour east at Fontana was too fluid and dependent on weather.
If the series can come up with a fiscally sensible plan to return to Surfers Paradise then the series should go for it but IndyCar's past will not necessarily be the answer for the future. The series must remain open to but also be smart when it comes to going to venues currently not on the schedule. Homework must be done to make sure new events will be a success. The series should make sure there is a reasonable-sized crowd waiting before packing everyone up and going to a track or closing down a city center.
Returning to IndyCar's old haunts is only a golden ticket if the series makes sure the event will be viable for many years and the same goes with newer venues. IndyCar's leadership has taken the series a long way in a short period of time and my hope is the series can improve race selection in the coming years and that way we know when a race is added it will not disappear after a few seasons.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about the Super Bowl but did you know...
The #912 Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche of Matt Campbell, Dennis Olsen and Dirk Werner won the Bathurst 12 Hour. It is Porsche's first victory in the event. The #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda won in Class A-Am. The # 4 Grove Motorsport Porsche of Stephen Grove, Brenton Grove and Ben Barker won in Class B. The #20 T2 Racing by Liajen Motorsport MARC Ford Mustang II of Adam Hargraves, Daniel Jilesen and Steve Owen won in Class I. The #48 M Motorsport KTM of Justin McMillan, Dean Lillie, Glen Wood and Elliott Barbour won in Class C.
Liam Lawson, Lucas Auer, Esteban Muth and Marcus Armstrong split the four Toyota Racing Series races from Taupo.
Eli Tomac won the Supercross race from San Diego, his first victory of the season and it gave him the championship lead.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Toyota Racing Series closes at Feilding for the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Supercross heads North to the Land of 10,000 Lakes and Minneapolis.
NASCAR has an exhibition race and Daytona 500 qualifying.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
