Q: I think as IndyCar fans, we all acknowledge the rise in popularity of F1 in the U.S. over the last several years, which is routinely attributed to Drive To Survive. While I don’t disagree that Drive To Survive introduced many people to the sport, I think it is the F1 digital offerings keeping people there.
For one example, just look at the F1 TV streaming product. I can watch a race and actively switch between the international broadcast, the F1 broadcast, or individual onboard cameras and team radios-live or on replay. More importantly, I get access to F2 and F3 with similar quality broadcasts to the F1 race; not to mention all of the other content like historical races and documentaries. It is just a first-rate product, and weekends featuring all three (F1, F2, F3) really are something for a race fan to look forward to during the work week.
I have no idea how to watch Indy NXT, and I while I catch U.S. F2000 on YouTube, it is such a poor production with sound only at the announcers booth; so you hear car engines on the TV that don’t coincide with the pictures you are watching. (If you don’t think that would bother you, try it). I realize IndyCar doesn’t have the resource to produce its own F1 TV product, but how about putting their feeder series on YouTube with a decent broadcast? See Formula Regional European Championship for an example.
And yes, I have tried Peacock several times. I sign up for the Toronto race weekend every year, only to cancel it afterwards because the rest has nothing of interest and IndyCar is an afterthought on it. Does IndyCar even need a full-blown product of its own? Couldn’t it just stream and archive races behind a pay wall on YouTube or something similar?
Mike, Bermuda
MP: The mention of the disparity in resources is the answer to everything here, Mike. IndyCar owns NXT, but not USF2000 or the other USF Championships run by Andersen Promotions. I had a number of fascinating conversations at the recent Brickyard IMSA weekend with the series’ new head of Brand and Digital content, and he’s busy reshaping the sports car organization to be as digital-first as it can be. For everything you’ve mentioned here, it serves as a reminder of how IndyCar faces an identical need but lacks the staff to facilitate such a far-reaching plan.
As I wrote on Monday, IndyCar and its teams need strong TV ratings under its existing business model, which makes a YouTube plan a move that would kill the series.
Q: There’s more to the Texas story, isn’t there? “Scheduling conflict” is a lot like “leaving to spend more time with family” or “mutually parting ways.” PR talk for fired/cancelled. How much could Texas Motor Speedway have going on? Flea Market? Swap Shop? Indy looks to have a few gaps in the schedule also. Just as it was starting to turn around too. Not quite yet, but it was getting back to the thrill ride it once was.
Shawn, MD
MP: The dates being offered just didn’t work or didn’t match the rest of IndyCar’s Olympics-affected schedule. The first offer was to join the NASCAR weekend, but IndyCar would have been paddocked outside of the facility since Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup are there together next year. The next pitch was to run the week after NASCAR, but the track didn’t want to do its two biggest events on back-to-back weekends. As a final Hail Mary, IndyCar asked about running in September, but like the first two attempts, I’m told the third wasn’t successful, so here we are. I called the track to get their take but didn’t hear back.
Q: Nice to see Iowa on the schedule for next year (and one being a night race!). How much of a setup change on the cars are necessary for the differing conditions of day/night events? Massive changes, or just some aero adjustments?
Ryan
MP: Cooler, denser air makes more downforce, as we know, so that’s a cause to alter ride heights and possibly springing and damping, depending on the predicted changes in ambient conditions from day to night. If it’s not a giant change in weather, there won’t be massive setup differences.
Q: Judging by the comment sections immediately following the IndyCar schedule announcement, there’s no shortage of hot takes from the sport’s fan base. And while I certainly don’t want to overshadow Milwaukee’s return, which should absolutely be celebrated, I do admit to having some mixed feelings over the loss of Texas. It’s hard to not feel bummed by not only losing an oval (an extra Milwaukee race doesn’t really make up for this), but also losing what was once the poster child of American open-wheel oval racing aside from Indy.
The event has been in decline for a while now both in terms of attendance and spectacle. It’s embarrassing watching IndyCar look like an afterthought at one of the sport’s most harrowing circuits. And the circumstances surrounding the surface has made it clear that IndyCar is only an accessory event to TMS’s suite of premier stock car races and that has always left a bitter taste in my mouth. In some ways I hope this is our chance to just move on from there, but at the same time I’d hate for 2023 to be the last time we see Indy cars at Texas.
In regards to Thermal, I know there’s been a lot of negative feedback, but I give a hopeful applause to IndyCar’s willingness to try something a bit creative here (something that seems to be in maddeningly short supply for Penske Entertainment). Just like every race doesn’t need to be a pass fest, a to-the-line-showdown, a strategy exercise, or crash mayhem, not every race needs to be a fans-in-attendance event.
For a non-points race that kinda/sorta/not really fills a gap in the schedule that may present an opportunity for owners to create some future partnerships and connections, I’m fine with it. For a lot of the fan base, we weren’t going to make the trip to SoCal anyway so I think it’s fine. Long Beach fills that market anyway. Cheers to hoping it finds success by some measure.
Michael Hart
MP: I just wish we had something as a backstop for Texas — another 1.5-miler that bridged the gap between Indy and all the short ovals on the calendar. My statistician friend Scott Richards told me this is the first schedule since 1964 with only one oval over 1.5 miles in length, which drives home my point. Breaking traditions, and that’s what’s happened with Texas after IndyCar went to TMS since 1997, is the part that’s unsettling.
Will the tiny (but appreciated) crowds that turned up for Texas in recent years return at the same volume if it’s back on the schedule in 2025? Will Texas feel like there’s money to be made in 2025? It might only be a one-year absence, but what will that do to the event’s future?
The main takeaway here is IndyCar wanted to be back at Texas and tried to orchestrate it in multiple ways, but wasn’t met with the same enthusiasm. Texas had as many as two IndyCar races and two or more Cup races per year, and now it looks like it has a single Cup weekend in 2024. That’s worrying.
It’s not like there’s an OvalAirbnb.com IndyCar can use to book itself for an April date at another oval, so this is an adventure we’ll need to follow until a proper resolution is found.