Throughout the years there have been some really bad ideas at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Starting the cars single file in the pits and trying form up in 1958 led to a first-lap disaster.
The Pacer Lights were supposed to keep the drivers in position until USAC finally found out Bobby Unser was using them to gain positions.
Removing the apron at IMS took away a second groove and some of the most memorable places to pass.
Doing away with the Snake Pit helped do away with young fans and qualifying crowds.
Reserving 25 of the 33 starting spots for IRL competitors in the 1996 Indianapolis 500 effectively drove a stake in open-wheel racing.
Expanding the field in 1997 to make sure Nissan-powered cars were included in the field drained what little integrity remained.
And three qualifying attempts per car per day all but killed the spirit of Bump Day.
But the brainstorm currently being discussed at 16th & Georgetown for the 2014 schedule might just shoot to the top of list.
Long before the Boston Consulting Group passed out its wisdom on how to save IndyCar some of the car owners and a few board members were salivating over the idea of an IndyCar road course race at IMS.
Their initial thought was to open the month of May with it and lately there’s been more talk to make it the season finale.
Allow me to interject the first of many editorial comments:
A road course race at IMS with Indy cars isn’t a bad idea, it’s a terrible idea.
Whether it’s May 1st or Labor Day weekend doesn’t matter because it’s not about the date – it’s the whole mindless concept.
The Indianapolis 500, although no longer a sellout and the must see phenomena it was from 1911-95, still remains the largest, single-day sporting event anywhere.
It does partly because of tradition and habit and partly because it’s still the fastest, most exhilarating race on four wheels.
People still plan their vacations or long weekends around the Indy 500 and even the declining television ratings for Indy cars still get a spike that one day in May.
It continues to command a respectful place on the world’s entertainment map.
And it’s all a direct result of being held on the most famous OVAL track in the world.
So why in the name of Wilbur Shaw would anybody want to dilute this unique piece of history with a race 100 mph slower on a Mickey Mouse road course?
We know the majority of owners are lobbying hard because it’s a cheap date in terms of travel expenses and the powers at IMS/IndyCar evidently think it will enhance the schedule right along with the Speedway’s profile.
One owner said to me it would be better to end the season in front of 100,000 at IMS instead of 20,000 at Fontana. My response: get serious.
First off, you could charge $20 for any seat in the house and be lucky to get 40,000 to watch 225-mph Indy cars chug around the IMS road course looking like Formula Fords.
(A little history lesson: back in the ‘60s they staged road races for Indy cars at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July with Foyt, Andretti, Gurney, etc. and only drew a few thousand before the promoters pulled the plug. The message? We've tried this experiment before with MUCH bigger names and no one in the Midwest cared or bothered to show up).
You know how empty the Speedway looks for NASCAR nowadays with 100,000? An IndyCar road race would rival the MotoGP crowd (or lack thereof).
As mentioned, IMS no longer sells out the Indy 500 and recently removed 13,000 seats that sit empty every year so now they’re considering TWO races in May?
I’ve heard IMS is planning to re-configure the road course and make it more challenging or watchable, or both, but save your money boys and put in the Indy 500 purse instead.
Indy still draws a big crowd because it’s fast, it’s edgy, it’s action in every corner and it’s like nothing else in motorsports. People come to the Speedway to see speed and daring moves like Takuma Sato on the last lap. They’re not going to show up to watch mules at the Kentucky Derby (thank you Jim Murray).
Three-time winner Dario Franchitti has a perfect analogy. “It’s like deciding to play another tourney at Wimbledon in the fall and paving over the grass with concrete.”
Indy is special because it’s once a year, on the oval, in May. Tony Hulman use to say the Indy 500 was like the circus: “We only come to town once a year so don’t miss us.”
I’m afraid a lot of the people employed at IMS and IndyCar nowadays truly don’t grasp why Indy became such a special place. It was the second-toughest ticket in all of sports and it operated on a fragile formula that nobody ever messed with until The Split.
And it’s taken a long, long time to begin to restore its reputation and get people to put it back on their calendar.
So the last thing it needs is competition from within. It doesn’t need to share billing with another faceless road race on hallowed ground that nobody wants to see.
It will be a loser, financially and figuratively, but the good news is that this year’s promotional slogan of “Indy 500 or Bust” can easily be carried over to 2014. I’m leaning towards bust.
IndyCar should've gone out of their way to find a date and make it work.