Rinus VeeKay won a bet. Conor Daly lost. Will Power broke some ribs. Jamie Chadwick confirmed her Indy Lights program with Andretti Autosport. I am not calling it Indy NXT. If Roger Penske wants me to call it Indy NXT, he can send me a check for $2,000,000. That's my final offer. Marcus Armstrong flew in out of nowhere and will drive Chip Ganassi Racing's fourth entry on the road and street courses. The oval driver remains unannounced. The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has new ownership. Formula One is looking to fill a date in April. IMSA dropped the qualifying race for the 24 Hours of Daytona. Holden made its final appearance in Supercars. Supercars keeps doing what IndyCar should be doing. Tickets went on sale and people are not happy. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Iowa Isn't For You... And That is OK
Many tracks were promoting ticket deals over the past week as the Christmas shopping season has begun now that American Thanksgiving has passed. Plenty of discounts filled inboxes and timelines hoping to entice some earlier buyers even if a race is nine months away.
One event wasn't promoting such deals, and it caused a stir among the IndyCar community. Iowa Speedway started its renewal process for the 2023 doubleheader weekend, but buyers were not met with deals over half a year ahead of time. They were met with ticket price increases, and hefty ones at that.
The cheapest ticket doubled to $100 per day. The most expensive ticket will be $440 for both days. The cheapest two-day ticket is now $190. Children will also require a ticket regardless of age after many were allowed in for free in 2022.
Like any price increase, this was met with anger and disappointment. No one likes to see the cost of something double and likely drive an event out of their price range, but it comes with capitalism and IndyCar is a business. This isn't a charity putting on races for the common good. The organization needs to make money.
The main cause for the price increase can be pointed to the musical acts being brought in for the two-day event. Saturday will feature Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney while Sunday will have Zac Brown Band and Ed Sheeran take the stage.
Most of those angry don't care about the music and just want to pay for the race, but that isn't what Iowa is and nor what Iowa is trying to be. The Iowa revival has always been billed as an event greater than a race, one that marries music to motorsports in hopes of having a two-day festival fill the cornfields of Newton, Iowa.
Iowa was an IndyCar race weekend, and it did well for a while, but fell on harder times before the pandemic and was knocked off the schedule for the 2021 season. When it came time to bring it back, it had to be more than a race, hence the sideshow.
An IndyCar contingent might not like that, but Iowa isn't for you, and that is ok.
The hope is to bring out people who otherwise would not visit Iowa Speedway, but people who will pay a couple hundred dollars to see music and maybe also take in some racing.
Musicians aren't cheap either. Underwood and Chesney are two of the biggest country music acts of the 21st century. Sheeran is one of the most notable musicians in the world. This isn't a group of rum-dums from the country fair.
If you are concerned about race fans paying the price of admission, perhaps music fans will calm your nerves. Underwood and Chesney combine for eight Entertainer of the Year victories in the Academy of Country Music Awards. Sheeran has won four Grammy Awards, oh and his "÷ Tour" is the highest grossing concert tour of all-time, making over $776,200,000.
IndyCar and HyVee are taking a gamble on Iowa and banking on music-goers to purchase tickets to create a profitable event, and it just might work. If you have the man responsible for the highest grossing concert tour in human history performing at your event, you are damn right it should cost at least $100 to get in, even if you are nine years old.
You may not like to hear this, but if the people stick around at Iowa to watch a race between concerts then that is a plus, and if they don't, it doesn't really matter as long as the tickets are sold. The goal of this event is to make money. If IndyCar can do that without drawing the passionate IndyCar fan base, then wonderful.
The pushback is because Iowa has long been seen as a true IndyCar event, meant for the diehard fans. The people that wanted to go to Iowa usually were coming for a great distance to see that race. They cared about IndyCar and knew Iowa was a race they had to attend. It is jarring when the target demographic changes for an event. Iowa is now for people who want to see music and might just watch a few laps of the IndyCar races while spending most of the time in the shade under the grandstands or maybe even leaving until the second act comes after the race.
And that is ok.
Plenty of other races are made for IndyCar fans. In fact, pretty much every other IndyCar race is meant for IndyCar fans.
The most expensive three-day grandstand ticket to St. Petersburg goes for $155 and three-day general admission is $65. Long Beach is $175 for the most expensive three-day ticket and three-day general admission is $112 while a three-day paddock pass will be $70. Let's not forget to mention you also get an IMSA race for those Long Beach prices. Four days at Road America goes for $160 and if you only want Sunday that is $75. A two-day Gateway ticket ranges from $67 to $134. For these four notable IndyCar events, you could arguably be spending on average less than $60 a day on a ticket and get more than just an IndyCar race but support series action as well.
Let's not forget the most expensive ticket for the Indianapolis 500 is $265 and general admission is $40. There aren’t many deals better than that.
If Iowa, and arguably Nashville, are the two race weekends that are above IndyCar's normal price range, I think the series will be ok. Will IndyCar grow because Iowa and Nashville are making more money due the auxiliary events drawing out people who otherwise would not attend? That is not guaranteed. It could work. It could make a one-time attendee turn into a regular viewer and not miss a race all season. Or that one-time attendee will remain a one-time attendee or at least that person will continue to come out for the music and occasionally watch the race cars.
IndyCar does need to grow the congregation and have a more regular and larger following, but baby steps are still steps in the right direction, especially if it means the series can make millions of dollars on one race weekend.
We talk about wishing IndyCar had big events and Iowa is getting that treatment. Big events come with big prices. Any growth IndyCar experiences will come with pricing increases. That is how business works. IndyCar isn't going to remain the same price point if every race starts drawing 100,000 attendees. It is going to try and maximize its profits. You could argue the series should start doing that now with its big race, considering those $265 face value Indianapolis 500 tickets are being sold on the secondary market for north of $1,000. If Donnie Dimwit can get those tickets with the only intention of selling those for a profit, why can't Roger Penske double the face value to make a little more money for the series and track he owns?
For too long has IndyCar been in this shell where everyone slowly gets to know everyone else and what now exists is a group of passionate followers that believe they are entitled to a loyalty discount. They aren't, nor should they get one.
Iowa is different than Iowa weekends of yore. IndyCar is taking a gamble in hopes of a big pay day, and it just might pay off. If it does, it is beneficial to the series that must keep the lights on. No one will be forced to spend $500 to attend the Iowa race. If you think that is too much money to attend an IndyCar race weekend, don't worry, IndyCar is banking on other people to purchase those tickets for you, even if it is only for the music.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Rinus VeeKay, but did you know...
Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney split the Supercars from Adelaide. It was Feeney's first career victory in the series.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Gulf 12 Hours from Abu Dhabi concludes the Intercontinental GT World Challenge season.
