Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Supercross overcame a thunderstorm for Justin Barcia to get his first victory of the season in the Meadowlands. The Berlin ePrix will be remembered for more than New Zealander dominance. Talladega was a mess. Monza had a few big accidents. The European Le Mans Series opened the season with a surprise, and it didn't take long for some IMSA regulars to come out on top. The leaders came together in Suzuka and allowed for a first-time winner to have his day in the sun. There was some testing in Indianapolis, and Indianapolis, more the build up to the event, is on my mind.
Beyond May
This week will see the anticipated premiere of the docuseries "100 Days to Indy," which follows the NTT IndyCar Series in the build up to the Indianapolis 500.
After years of waiting for a behind-the-scenes show of its own, IndyCar will get it and it will be broadcasted on network television on the CW with Vice producing the series and re-airing episodes across its platforms.
It is great to have something showcasing IndyCar beyond the normal broadcast windows. IndyCar's growth is dependent on reaching people outside of the normal race window. The series doesn't have a presence on Thursday nights in any shape or form at the moment. A television program that will show IndyCar, its drivers and take people beyond a race in a one-hour window on a Thursday night is something the series has not had on this level in a long time if not ever. This will be good building into the Indianapolis 500, and should introduce the drivers to many, perhaps even telling current IndyCar fans something they don't know about the series they have followed for years or decades.
But this show shines a lot on the biggest problem the NTT IndyCar Series has and that is it will fail to show anything beyond Memorial Day weekend.
There are 11 races after the Indianapolis 500. A champion will be determined over those races. I understand wanting people to watch the Indianapolis 500, but IndyCar needs people watching every race, especially the 2/3rds of the schedule that happens after the month of May.
There must be something that will carry the audience through the entire season, and IndyCar shouldn't be hoping they will watch this show, watch the "500" and stick around for the rest of the races. This show is only going to tell part of the story. The auxiliary programming can prop up the races. You might not get people interested directly through races, but you can get people interested through this show and have them work their way into watching races. That is what "Drive to Survive" did while covering an entire Formula One season.
This show will basically be wiping its hands clean at the Indianapolis 500 and that will be the last some of these new people hear about the 2023 IndyCar season. Some people will not watch IndyCar again unless there is a second season of "100 Days to Indy."
That's an exaggeration, but it is a possibility, and if you are only going to tell them the first third of the story, you are shortchanging the audience. This show should go through the rest of the season, through the championship, and tell the entire story.
Most of the best parts of 2022 happened AFTER the Indianapolis 500.
Álex Palou stunned us when he refuted Chip Ganassi Racing's announcement that it would exercise its option to retain the Spaniard on July 12th.
Iowa's return occurred with two good races, a heartbreaking defeat that flipped the championship, and two strong crowds.
The Nashville race was bonkers with weather, accidents and a historic victory.
Gateway saw Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin go toe-to-toe with a rainstorm in-between and David Malukas becoming an unsuspected challenger in the closing laps.
The final portion of the season had the Colton Herta-to-Formula One backstory about whether or not he would receive dispensation to compete despite not having enough Super License points.
We also had a championship battle that went to the final race, which had five drivers alive for the title in the finale and that final race featured Newgarden driving for 25th to second in the drive of a lifetime while Will Power held on for this second title, and Palou had the last laugh winning the final race and seemingly making amends with Chip Ganassi about the contract situation.
If "100 Days to Indy" had been done last year, all of the above would have been missed, and that was some pretty intriguing stuff. Things that could grab an audience's attention and keep them watching.
This summer might not be as dramatic as last year for IndyCar, but stuff is going to happen and it could captivate people who currently are not watching IndyCar. There are plenty of interesting people competing in IndyCar at the moment. The series is set for the next 15 to 20 years in terms of driving talent.
Josef Newgarden is high up in the record book and is only 32 years old. Álex Palou needed two seasons to win a championship. Alexander Rossi wants to win a championship. Scott McLaughlin has taken to IndyCar like a fish to water. Marcus Ericsson has found a home in IndyCar, and perhaps Romain Grosjean has as well. Meanwhile, there are also Colton Herta, Patricio O'Ward, Rinus VeeKay, David Malukas and Callum Ilott who all have their entire careers ahead of them and are already competitive drivers, and perhaps Kyle Kirkwood is throwing his name into that mix as well.
While being set for the future, IndyCar also has Scott Dixon and Will Power, two of the best ever to race in IndyCar and each is breaking records on a regular basis. We might not see another driver crack 50 victories for decades. Dixon is going for a seventh championship, matching A.J. Foyt for the most all-time. This is a special time for IndyCar that it should want to promote.
I hate to say it but this feels like another situation where IndyCar put on the blinders for the Indianapolis 500 and thinks that is going to be enough for the series. The Indianapolis 500 is great, but if you want to sell the series to people, and the series must be sold. IndyCar must take the entire schedule seriously, not prop up one event and think it is good enough. We know the Indianapolis 500 is the crown jewel, but constantly undermining the rest of the schedule and the championship handcuffs the series.
Formula One didn't grow because it focused only on the Monaco Grand Prix. "Drive to Survive" looked at the entire season and all the drivers and teams participating in it. "100 Days to Indy" will cover the five races before the Indianapolis 500. We will see more of the drivers, but a larger portion of the story will be left unsaid.
The hope is this first season goes well enough to get a second one and perhaps leads to expansion in the future. Who knows? Maybe "100 Days to Indy" goes well enough that this production crew decides to a series on the end of the season, skim over June and July and then focus on the final four or five race weekends to capture the story of the championship. Stranger things have happened in this world.
This program is a good thing for IndyCar, and opening reviews have been promising, but people not currently watching IndyCar must like this show to turn them into more causal race viewers for it to succeed in its mission. The best way to make that happen is for "100 Days to Indy" to look beyond May, beyond Indianapolis, and make sure everything is covered from the opening test sessions in February to the presentation of the Astor Cup in September.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Justin Barcia, but did you know...
Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Cup race from Talladega, his second victory of the season. Jeb Burton won the Grand National Series race, his first victory in 66 starts, and his only other victory was the spring Talladega race.
Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy split the Berlin ePrix.
The #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Salih Yoluç and Charlie Eastwood won the 4 Hours of Barecelona. The #17 Cool Racing Ligier-Nissan of Adrien Chila, Alex García and Marcos Siebert won in LMP3 after the #31 Racing Spirit of Léman was handed a penalty for pitting under a Full Course Yellow. The #16 Proton Competition Porsche of Zacharie Robichon, Ryan Hardwick and Alessio Picariello won in GTE.
The #98 ROWE Racing BMW of Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly won the 3 Hours of Monza.
Álvaro Bautista swept the World Superbike races from Assen. Nicolò Bulega swept the World Supersport races.
Ritomo Miyata won the Super Formula race from Suzuka, his first career victory.
Elfyn Evans won Rally Croatia.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar ends April at Barber Motorsports Park.
Formula One returns after a month off in Azerbaijan.
MotoGP returns to Europe, specifically Jerez.
NASCAR will be in Dover.
GT World Challenge America visits NOLA Motorsports Park.
Supercars head west to Wanneroo.
