We are back! The holidays are over. We are in a new year and a new decade and racing has begun. Off the track, Scott Dixon and his wife Emma welcomed a son into the world, Phoenix Raceway is back to being Phoenix Raceway, Martin Truex, Jr. is getting a new crew chief, Craig Hampson has left Dale Coyne Racing for the McLaren/Schmidt Peterson partnership, Conor Daly has a new ride with Ed Carpenter Racing, Robert Kubica will be an Alfa Romeo reserve driver and Daniel Suárez, James Hinchcliffe and Nico Hülkenberg are all still looking for jobs. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
NASCAR, Do Not Waste Your Time With Street Courses
It is a new decade and NASCAR has set its sight on 2021 to be a transformative year for the Cup schedule.
We are already getting to see some changes in 2020. The NASCAR season will end a week earlier than it has in recent memory. There is going to be a doubleheader for the Cup Series at Pocono with one race on Saturday and one race on Sunday. The Cup Series is going to have two weeks off in late July and early August to accommodate NBC's Summer Olympic coverage.
The 2020 season is a tease. What comes in 2021 is unknown but everyone is expecting something new.
The big fish has been Nashville and a return to the Fairgrounds, which hosted two Cup Series races until the 1984 season. There are still many hurdles in the way of Nashville's return. The track needs renovations. Somebody has to fund those renovations. The city doesn't seem to want to foot the bill for those renovations. There is a soccer stadium being built next door. NASCAR's great 2021 hope might not happen.
There has been one other item that has gotten people's interest for 2021: A possible street course race for the Cup Series.
The evidence used in support of a Cup race on a street course is the NASCAR Pinty's Series in Canada runs at Toronto during the IndyCar weekend. The NASCAR Southwest Series ran a street course in Los Angeles over two decades ago. Experts say the car scheduled to debut in 2021 will be compatible with a street course. Many want it to happen.
NASCAR should not waste its time with street courses.
After years of watching IndyCar, street courses are too volatile to get involved with. Since 2000, between CART/Champ Car and the Indy Racing League/IndyCar, ten new street courses were introduced to the schedule. Of those ten street courses the only one still around is St. Petersburg.
Of the other nine, Edmonton lasted nine years. Monterrey, Mexico's street course lasted six years. The Denver Pepsi Center circuit lasted five years. Houston's Reliant Park lasted four years. São Paulo lasted four years. Baltimore lasted three years. San Jose lasted three years. Miami's Bayfront Park lasted two years. Las Vegas lasted one year.
Those nine races lasted an average of four years. These weren't little towns hoping to hit the big time with an automobile race. These were big cities, some of which drew big crowds, and despite the attendance could not make it work.
St. Petersburg has figured it out but the likes of St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Toronto and Belle Isle are anomalies. Even Toronto has been struggling the last ten years and every year it feels like the event is getting squeezed out of the city. Toronto feels like it is on borrowed time.
There is not as much money out there as there once was. IndyCar hasn't gone to a new street course since Baltimore in 2011. There was a time when Champ Car and IndyCar combined to go to a new street course in five of seven years from 2005 to 2011 and eight of 11 years from 2001 to 2011.
Cities are not as willing to toss the money at a motorsports series and, while NASCAR is still the biggest fish in the American sea, it is not as big as it once was and I do not see many cities willing to take on the financial risk.
NASCAR's best chance of getting a street course race would be poaching one of the four street courses IndyCar already visits but I do not see NASCAR going to St. Petersburg when it has just moved Homestead to the middle of March and I do not see Belle Isle being an option as that event is tied to Roger Penske. Long Beach has a contract with IndyCar through 2023. Crazier things have happened but I do not see NASCAR trying to squeeze its way into Long Beach.
Toronto is the one vulnerable IndyCar street course. NASCAR could step in and give that event a boost. The only thing against a potential NASCAR takeover is Honda sponsors the event and NASCAR has been weary to take a Cup race outside the United States. It is beyond time for the Cup Series to have an international race but I am still not sure the series will make that move.
NASCAR doesn't have a city lined up and it is frankly hard to see which city would line up. NASCAR is already in most major markets. It is in Miami, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Detroit, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Atlanta, Kansas City and Las Vegas. Those cities are not trading a Cup race on an oval for a street race. NASCAR is not going to get a street race in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City or Milwaukee.
If NASCAR were to enter the St. Louis market it would go to Gateway; the same way it is the Fairgrounds or bust for NASCAR and Nashville and the same it should be the Milwaukee Mile or bust if NASCAR wanted to entered the Milwaukee market.
The only cities that I think would bite on NASCAR are those lacking a major sporting event already. It wasn't long ago Oklahoma City was angling for an American Le Mans Series race before the city decided otherwise. Tulsa is right down the road. Omaha would be another possible destination. Boise is an emerging city but does not have any professional sports. Maybe El Paso is far enough outside Eddie Gossage's exclusivity bubble for it to be an option.
Even if one of these cities were to bite, how long would they last and are they really the best options for NASCAR?
The clamoring is for more short track races and a few more road course races. I am not sure what a good number is for road courses on the Cup schedule. It was not long ago when everyone seemed fine with two then people wanted a road course added to the Chase and we got it in the form of the Charlotte roval. Would four be too many? Would six road courses, one-sixth of the Cup schedule, be too many? At what point will there be a backlash?
If two more road courses is the right amount for NASCAR, why waste one or both on a street course that may not last more than a few years when there are existing permanent options in Road America, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Circuit of the Americas, Mosport, Montreal and Portland out there?
NASCAR does not need a street course race to validate itself. NASCAR rose to prominence through the 1990s and 2000s without a street course. NASCAR simply put on great races with relatable drivers and that led to what we saw. A street course is not going to reverse NASCAR's decline. It might be the shiny new toy for NASCAR to show off but it is not the key. Something new is not going to fix the problems that already exist, such as aero packages, rising costs and decrease sponsorships for teams and saturation.
Adding a street course will only give something for NASCAR to boast about but knowing the shelf life of street courses that boasting will not last long. NASCAR is not used to having events fail on them. During this downward time for the sanctioning body it should not add the volatility of street course events to its plate. It will only give people more ammunition against an already diminished empire.
Champion While We Were Away
Norbert Michelisz won the World Touring Car Cup championship with a victory, eighth and fourth in the final three races of the season from Sepang on December 15th.
Winners While We Were Away
You know about Michelisz but did you know...
The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López won the 8 Hours of Bahrain on December 14th. The #22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque, Philip Hanson and Paul di Resta won in the LMP2 class. The #95 Aston Martin of Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim won in GTE-Pro. The #57 Team Project 1 Porsche of Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga won in GTE-Am.
Esteban Guerrieri and Johan Kristoffersson won the other two World Touring Car Cup races from Sepang on December 15th.
Justin Barcia won the Supercross season opener from Anaheim on Saturday night, his second consecutive year winning the season opener.
Vaidotas Žala won the first stage of the Dakar Rally in the Car category yesterday. Toby Price won the first stage for Bikes. Ignacio Casale won stage one for Quads. Aron Domźała won in the SSV class. Anton Shibalov won in the Truck class.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Dubai 24 Hour
The Dakar Rally continues.
Supercross will be in St. Louis.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
