2013 INDYCAR schedule: Good, bad and ugly
IndyCar, IndyCar commentary — By Steph Wallcraft on October 2, 2012 8:32 amPresented below are some random musings on the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, in no particular order and broken into the usual three categories: good, bad, and ugly.
THE GOOD:
– Pocono. Enough said. Fans asked, INDYCAR listened. Good work. Now, let’s get going on Road America, Cleveland, and something in the Pacific Northwest. You know, not that we’re ungrateful or anything.
– The return of the Triple Crown. This should be an obvious one. But there are people who are actually complaining that Pocono isn’t a 500-miler and that the tradition is therefore not being followed to the letter. There is just no pleasing some people. Randy Bernard’s explanation that 400 miles is all that would fit on ABC is a perfectly reasonable one and gives the impression that the event’s distance could be extended to 500 miles in the future if things go well, which ought to be more than good enough. Speaking of which…
– The handling of the TV schedule. This is a very good thing. Starting ABC with Indianapolis and carrying its contracted races right through in a straight line is a prudent and long-needed strategy that’s been proven effective for other series. This “here one week, there the next week” nonsense has been more damaging to ratings than many people would believe. (And major kudos to INDYCAR, by the way, for ditching an extremely poor television partner in Canada and partnering up with Rogers Sportsnet. INDYCAR’s new Canadian network is already promising that every race will be live and on their premier channel, and the mere fact of announcing that intention at all is better engagement than anything TSN ever did.)
– Splitting standing and rolling starts at double-headers. This is a good way to ease the “but rolling starts are tradition” crowd into the idea of standing starts. No one loses out on anything this way, so let’s give it a shot and see how it goes over.
THE BAD:
– Toronto hosting a double-header. I know — complaining about getting two races in one weekend in my hometown makes me a big, fat whiner. And a large part of the justification behind it was that the Edmonton race went away and INDYCAR wanted to give Canada two “races,” which is a nice idea in principle. But from where I sit, Toronto is the second-longest running street event on the schedule, and experiments like this tend be short-term despite the best of intentions, and they have a way of leaving a blight on the record books — like that time that double-file restarts were used at the Indianapolis 500, for example. My preference is for these sorts of things be reserved for events that haven’t otherwise proven themselves yet. I might be singing a different tune next July, though. We’ll see.
– Too many crossover markets grouped together. Belle Isle’s proximity to Indianapolis certainly doesn’t impact the latter, but it likely hurts the former. Milwaukee and Iowa will probably affect one another’s bottom lines as well. And it’s a shame that Pocono had to slot in so close to Toronto. There’s not a huge market crossover there, but it’s more than one might think.
– Fewer night races. That’s a shame. Few things are as exhilarating to watch as an INDYCAR under lights. I hope that’s a temporary situation. (Unless, of course, night races just aren’t drawing as many people as day races are, but I haven’t seen any hard numbers to that effect.)
– There are still some unserved markets. As I mentioned earlier, the Pacific Northwest continues to be the ugly duckling. Let’s hope there’s some background work going on there for 2014. The same can be said for New England, though the rumored Rhode Island event may stop that gap next year.
THE UGLY:
– Top billing in this category is too easy: That month-long break in September with only two races left in the schedule. Randy Bernard told the media yesterday that the 2013 schedule is final, saying, “I don’t think that it would be in our best interests to try to rush another race in 2013.” I can’t for the life of me imagine why. Randy, if anything — anything — comes up that could fill that gap, go ahead and slot it in there. No one is going to hold it against you.
– A double-header weekend at Detroit. Wait — we get to watch not one but two races at Belle Isle? There’s not enough caffeine in the world.
OVERALL:
– Not fantastic, but good. It’s clear this year’s schedule is the start of a longer-term work that’s now in progress. There are more repeat and consistent dates than there have been in recent years, which means many events are again being given the opportunities they need to get themselves established. There are gaps, and the oval-lovers still have long wish lists, but the schedule as a whole is moving in the right direction. The edict for the last few years has been “patience”; it doesn’t look like fans will need to be patient for much longer to get a stable schedule that pleases as many people as possible.
Tags: Verizon IndyCar Series - Scheduling
Not sure if a doubleheader will bring in more people in Toronto without a bunch more promotion. If the citizens don’t know there is a race happening, it doesn’t matter if there is 1 or 10 races…..
But I will be there to get my fill of racing, anyways, just wish that more people were in attendance.
Agree almost entirely, especially The Ugly … Hell Isle and the September Hole. Shudder. As for the cross over markets, that will be a tough one for IndyCar to address the longer these races stay in the same spot on the calendar. “Continuity of date” is how I think they put it. Iowa, for example, has been on the same weekend every since it started (7, 8 years?). I imagine huge resistance to moving it. Same with many others. Very challenging problem, that.
Great points all around, couldn’t agree with you more about belle isle, one race is too much, its a terrible track in a bad location. Might as well go to millville nj insted, not enough seats for fans and a boring track with hardly any passing zones or high speeds. Im very happy that theres at least 5-6 races i can attempt to drive to now and that make me very happy. Pocono is the beat part of this new schedule buy far. The standing starts however are to close to F1 for my liking but ill get over it quickly…… Wait i just did
Okay, the “september hole” is unfortunate, as is the lack of an oval prior to Indy. And when they announce no aero kits, I’ll be whining as much as anyone.
But there’s much to like about the schedule. We had some great races this year and nearly all of them are back. I’m hopeful Belle Isle will be improved by the work they’re doing to the track, the return of Pocono (not to mention Fontana) and the Triple Crown is awesome. A new race in Houston–a huge market and sponsorship by Shell/Pennzoil. The double-headers–and the cooperation of TV–is interesting at least, and may actually be cool, especially for fans attending the races. The ABC night race at Texas will be exciting too. Bernard is doing a great job trying to move the needle on a series that nobody apparently wants to watch on TV, oval or twisty.
And if they ever do race at Road America, it better be the biggest, greatest race in the history of mankind, as much as everyone pushes for it.
For the most part I agree on your assessment except for standing starts. I am not a big fan of them. I think they are a chaotic mess that does nothing to help a driver but can easily mess up one or more innocent drivers’ races before they start. I think they are fugly at best. A lot of fans already complain about the double-wide restarts looking bad….I do not think standing starts are going to make them look any better.
Standing starts also has the potential to put a lot more focus on the engine change penalty. Most of the chaos of the standing start happens mid-pack so a driver who qualifies near the front hoping to stay out of trouble could find themself right in the middle of it because of engine change penalty.
But I am willing to keep an open mind and see what happens with the standing starts….maybe they will turn out to be no big deal .
One thing I did not see mentioned was the double-header in Houston. I think it is a little risky to schedule a double-header for a race that is untested…it could be another Toronto (yea!) or Detroit (ack!). It might have been better to pick a race like Sonoma that is a big sponsor gathering for the first round of doubleheaders. Picking Sonoma would also give us two street course doubleheader and one road course doubleheader…and a much better idea of how they might work for future races.
I also have to say that I spent 4 years at college in Texas and visited Houston on several occassions. I found the city to be not so pleasant….maybe it has changed…it has been over 15 years since I have been there. The thing is that the city has left such an impression on me that I do not really care to ever go back…even for an Indycar race.
I would like to see a race in the Pacific Northwest….maybe Seattle….Hello rain tires! Or Vancouver, British Columbia!
RB’s comments suggest to me that he doesn’t foresee the return of Phoenix or MIS, and likely not RA or the Glen, in anything close to the near term. Hard to add those to the schedule if street course doubleheaders are deemed to be a success and the promoters demand that they continue. I also foresee owner pushback if the season were to be stretched out to 22 races in this economic climate, which is the only way to add back some venues that we old farts would like to see back in the mix.
I would love to see a race in the PNW again! I was at the last one at PIR (Portland, not Phoenix) back in ’07 and it was one of my favorite events during the Rose Festival time.
As of now, with Edmonton gone, not that it was exactly close to begin with, the closest race is Sonoma for those of us in the PNW. While I enjoy Sonoma myself, I’d like to have a race that’s within actual driving distance.