We took another half-inch forward. It was Mother's Day weekend. Texas is making plans for IndyCar's season opener. IMSA and the ACO have agreed upon LMDh regulations. Porsche is not sending IMSA team to Le Mans. Andy Priaulx and Darren Turner could not keep their hands off of each other. NASCAR went for a nostalgia trip... so it was just another week in the NASCAR world. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Tis the Year Without a Champion
Let's cut to the chase, you would be ok if we had only the Indianapolis 500 this year and then called it until 2021, correct?
I think you would be fine. We always hear in IndyCar circles that the Indianapolis 500 is greater than the championship. It is the only race we single out when discussing who is the greatest driver of all-time. One Indianapolis 500 victory elevates a career significantly. Two victories and that puts that career over the top. Some, including an active IndyCar driver, argue the stature of the Indianapolis 500 should make it a standalone race from the rest of the IndyCar championship. If you were offered the Indianapolis 500 or 14 IndyCar races that are not the Indianapolis 500, you know which one you are taking.
With much uncertainty over the 2020 IndyCar schedule, some states extending bans on large public gatherings, some tracks hesitant to host races behind closed doors and uncertainty a race can be safely held without race personnel contracting the covid-19 virus, I was wondering if all eyes should be on just having the Indianapolis 500 in August and calling it a year. It is not ideal but it would be better than nothing.
Good news is IndyCar and Texas have laid out groundwork for what would be the 2020 season opener on June 6 behind closed doors. With one race setting up precautions, we are likely going to see multiple races in 2020 but the exact number of races remains a mystery.
We have a 15-race schedule but Toronto appears to be on the fritz, Oregon extended its ban on large public gathering through the end of September and NASCAR dropped Sonoma from its schedule, which makes you wonder about Laguna Seca, even though it is on the final weekend of summer. Don't forget St. Petersburg still does not have a scheduled date.
Five races swing in the wind on a calendar that was already two events shorter than initially slated. Losing five more races doesn't kill the championship but a ten-race is far from the accustomed schedule length.
Without any certainty over how many races could be held, how many races is necessary for a valid championship?
Texas might occur at the start of June and we might get through the first four races but if the second wave of this virus causes lockdown measures to increase for a few months then any possibility of completing the full 15-race schedule vanishes. If we get through the first four races and then are shut down until the Indianapolis 500 in August, that is another four races lost and if Portland and Laguna Seca are dropped and St. Petersburg fails to materialize then the only remaining races after Indianapolis in August is Gateway the following week and the Harvest Grand Prix at Indianapolis in October. That would be a seven-race season.
With the possibility the season could end at the drop of a hat, parameters are necessary for the championship. IndyCar has already taken one step and dropped the double points finale. That is one step but a few more steps are necessary.
What if the schedule is disjointed and one race happens as schedule but three are lost before the next one takes place?
What if we get ten races in and then everything shuts down like we have been experiencing since March?
Does IndyCar set a number of necessary races for an "official" champion? We have to reach halfway for an official race, do we need to complete eight races for an official championship? Should we set up such a standard?
Precedence already exists for short championship seasons, lengths that would be unacceptable today. The inaugural Indy Racing League season in 1996 was only three races. The next five IRL seasons had 11 races or fewer. Before that you have to go back to 1982 to find the next season with fewer than a dozen races. Between the start of the Great Depression and the 1941 season, the final season before the United States entry into World War II, every season was under ten races with the most being eight races in 1930 and eight seasons had fewer than five races. The low was two races in 1938.
We could have an official champion with only two races completed but in 2020 that would feel inadequate and likely violate many contractual agreements with sponsors and other partners. Not that it would be the fault of any of the drivers or the series itself but if only five races are completed through the Indianapolis 500, and we are back to a national shutdown with no events taking place for months, crowning a champion in the middle of a lockdown in October, months after the last race was completed would feel underwhelming.
This could be a year without a champion, even if a handful of races are completed, and we should understand that. There were no official IndyCar champions from 1909 through 1915 and then from 1917 to 1919. There was schedule of races for the AAA Championship Car Series those years and it was greater than two or three events. Each season had 14 races or more. Five of those seasons contested more than 20 races. Despite this there was no champion. Championship points were retroactively applied in 1927 and then revised in 1951 but, in the moment, no champions were crowned at the end of those seasons.
IndyCar's iRacing series, which concluded last weekend, did not crown a champion. No official points were kept for the six-race series and each race stood on its own. That is a little different from actual IndyCar but there could have been a points champion for the iRacing events and added to the history book along with the race results but IndyCar choose not to and IndyCar could do the same if an insufficient number are races are run in reality. If only six IndyCar races are completed in 2020 the series could decide that the victories, pole positions, laps led, starts and so on count toward the record book but no championship will be awarded for this season.
We don't need a championship. It would add meaning to all the races that are held but even if there are no official points awarded these races would provide the necessary exhibitions to fill time and give something to the masses who are otherwise at a loss.
With every race potentially being the season finale being proactive and declaring no champion will be crowned for the 2020 season or setting a benchmark necessary for an official champion would be the smart thing to do. With all that said, come hell or high water, the series will likely handover the Astor Cup to a driver at some point this year no matter how many races are completed. Contracts and legalese will force a champion to be crowned. IndyCar needs whatever money it can get from sponsors and television partners and if that means crowning a champion IndyCar will meet that requirement.
We must confront today how the 2020 season will conclude and it could come unexpectedly. A champion could be determined on a Tuesday in September leaving a handful of drivers devastated and one driver begrudgingly etching his name in history with the masses shouting its tainted. We should have learned from the first third of 2020 things will likely not go as planned but we can only accept that this is an unideal time for everyone. Nothing is going to feel right but that doesn't mean it is a grave injustice.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Mother's Day but did you know...
Brendan Guarascia won the Thursday Night Blunder race from the Nürburgring Müllenbachschleife.
Jenson Button and Petter Solberg split the Legends Trophy races from Estoril. Tom Dillmann and Job van Uitert split the Pro races.
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR iRacing event from North Wilkesboro. Ty Majeski won the non-Cup drivers race from Martinsville.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR returns to the track with a 400-mile Cup race on Sunday, 200-mile Grand National Series race on Tuesday and a 500-kilometer Cup race on Wednesday.
In the iRacing world, Thursday Night Blunder has an IndyCar vs. GT3 battle at Bathurst at night.
IMSA has a race at Road America.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
