This year, because of Formula One and V8n Supercar coverage, a few friends and colleagues have gotten Foxtel and I suggested that, if they like good, hard open wheel racing, with actual on-track passes for the lead, they should check out the IndyCar Series, which also has a home on FOX Sports.
After two events, I kinda wish I’d never opened my mouth. Two weeks ago, the Grand Prix of St Petersburg was marred by long caution periods because the aero kit add-ons that the IndyCar Series has mandated for this season and into the future were apparently attached only with sticky tape, because they were flying left, right and centre around the track. Yes, there was some racing, but separated between endless yellows.
Late last week, I read with relief that the new aero kits have been given structural upgrades, to avoid an embarrassing repeat at the Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park outside of New Orleans. Smooth sailing for the rest of the weekend, I thought. With the IndyCar series back on a fast, permanent road course, I figured the memories of St Pete would fade far into the distance, and my friends would finally see the great racing that I’ve been going on about for so long.
Well, in a way the sour taste of St Pete did fade away, but only because of the disastrous weekend the series endured during their inaugural visit to NOLA, where there was more rain than green flag running in either the race, practices or qualifying. Who knew that the wettest weeks of the year in New Orleans are between mid-April and early May? Well, the locals know, but apparently IndyCar either didn’t care or didn’t bother to do their research, because they should have been able to avoid such a mess.
Another thing they could’ve avoided? Clashing with the French Quarter Festival in downtown New Orleans. Between that event and the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, there were, by conservative estimates, upwards of 100,000 people in and around New Orleans across the weekend. The Grand Prix of Louisiana was lucky to draw 10,000 on Sunday.
No, you can’t pre-arrange the weather, but IndyCar should have done it’s homework, realised there was a possibility – a distinct possibility – that the weekend would be affected by Mother Nature and scheduled a better date. Getting it right first time out of the box for a new event is crucial. After this weekend’s disaster, how many do you think will come back for a second go-around in 2016? Probably not many.
The end result of a weekend dominated by torrential rain was a 47-lap time-certain event, down from a 100+ lap event. It ended up running for 105 minutes, but the real kicker is that there were only 31 green flag racing minutes. Of those 47 laps, 26 of them were run behind the safety car. For the record, Canadian James Hinchcliffe won the race and Australia’s Will Power finished seventh.
It’s awkward when friends, spurred on by my rave reviews, tune in for the race only to see a waterlogged procession, two weeks after another race where the pace car just about led the most laps on the day. It’s not exactly doing wonders as far as selling the IndyCar product where, for the last few years with the DW12 chassis, the racing has actually been brilliant. We haven’t seen that so far this season.
It was an absolute joke, and one that could have been avoided. A date change would have aided on the weather front, and going up against other, more prominent New Orleans dates wasn't smart. You can’t hope to build a fan base when going up against traditional events in the same area. In some respects, between the weather and the other things going on in and around New Orleans on the weekend, the race was lucky to draw as many people as it did.
As for NOLA Motorsports Park itself, well, the jury is out. It sits in the middle of a swamp half an hour from downtown New Orleans, and was a club course, built by rich people to run their ridiculously expensive cars. For some reason, IndyCar thought it would be a good idea to run a race there.
NOLA is a tabletop flat 2.7-mile course, and although I’m a fan of natural elevation road courses – Bathurst, Spa, Road America, Le Mans, etc. – in all fairness, it did seem like a fairly competitive joint, with a few good passing opportunities each lap and, certainly, a hell of a lot of speed down those two long straights. The track has potential. Capitalising on potential of any kind seems to be a problem for IndyCar’s powers-that-be.
So what does IndyCar need to do to make this bayou venture a success in the future? Find a new date for starters, one that doesn’t clash with the iconic Mardi Gras or anything else that New Orleans has going, because a new event doesn’t have a hope of going up against a traditional one on the same weekend. February would be good. Open the season there, and that extends a campaign (mid-March to late August) that is far too short as it stands. Also, the race needs to be better promoted, the racetrack needs to be better sign posted, because, according to eye witnesses, it was hard to find.
Or, the series could do something crazy: forget trying to force events in markets who have little to no interest in IndyCar racing and return to traditional venues, the ones where fans are clamouring to see the cars blast around: Watkins Glen, Road America and places like that. IndyCar should be taking the races to the rusted-on fans, not making rusted-on fans go to the races. It’s as simple as that.
The Grand Prix of Long Beach this weekend couldn’t come at a more opportune time. The series needs a positive event possibly more this weekend than they have in many years.
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