Before we talk about how weird Aug. 23 is going to be here in Indianapolis, let’s first rewind back to May 2019. When Simon Pagenaud won the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 in a thrilling end of race battle with 2016 winner Alexander Rossi, just two days prior to that, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was announcing the new logo for the 2020 race. Just before that, the NTT INDYCAR Series was announcing the new Aeroscreen that would be implemented for the 2020 season.

Felt like another day on the hallowed grounds. Carb Day practice was next and on we go with Christmas weekend here in the Circle City.

Memorial Day 2019 was the usual post Indy 500 depression. The month long build up came and went. Now, 364 more days right?

Welp, we didn’t know it then, but more like 735 day wait. Or is it?

March happened. A pandemic came and ruined this world. Fear and panic ensued and cancel culture started. It was announced on March 26 that the Indianapolis 500 was being moved to August. At the time, it was smart. No way May 24 could come with the uncertainty of the virus and IMS host 350k fans in one setting.

Then, Roger Penske gave us all a breath of fresh air saying that if the Indy 500 runs this year, it will be with fans. I thought then that sounded ambitious for a full house but maybe with a limited capacity, it could work.

On June 26, IMS announced that they’d allow 50% capacity for the ‘500 this August. Then, a month later, that was cut in half again to 25% capacity. Two weeks later, it’s down to none.

That’s devastating. Aug. 23 won’t be the Indy 500 as we know it.

So, how did we get here?

From March 26 to a postponed race to June 26 to half full to August 4 to no fans.

Sounds like a city decision. Here’s why.

IMS spent over four months to develop a large scale plan on how they can race on Aug. 23 with fans. It was developed by Indy officials and national health experts, including Dr. Racht, chief medical officer of Global Medical Response. I would fail you if I didn’t mention that the Global Medical Response is the largest emergency medical services provider in the nation.

The end of July announcement was applauded.

“The IMS plan has been developed in consultation with the Marion County Public Health Department and the Indiana State Department of Health, and reflects the current best practices and mitigating steps outdoor venues should have in place to host public events,” Marion County Public Health Department Director Dr. Virginia Caine said. “It meets or exceeds all local guidelines and is approved subject to continued review. I appreciate the serious and collaborative approach IMS has displayed throughout this process.”

How about this one?

“The IMS plan is detailed and extensive and takes all the right steps to ensure the best measures and precautions are in place,” Indiana State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said. “Speedway officials have been transparent and communicative throughout this process, and we appreciate the opportunities we’ve had to provide input.”

Cases didn’t rise substantially between that announcement then and this one now. So, what happened?

IU Health made an insane statement and city officials sounded like they balked.

“It meets or exceeds all local guidelines and is approved subject to continued review,” Marion County said remember?

Key focus there on “continued review.”

Here’s where they are going to focus. Cases are up they’ll say. I have graphs from them to prove some of these narratives slanted. The following graphs are from Indiana’s testing website and as of today (August 4).

Yes, cases are up, sure. But not much more than they were when the plan was approved. But, testing is also much higher too. Would the numbers actually be lower now in comparison to months ago if this much testing was available this spring?

What about the next graphs?

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Deaths and positive tests results are down. Way down to be exact. More people are being tested and less are coming back positive for the virus.

So, why knowing all of this would IMS and INDYCAR say shut it down? Why would they turn down millions of revenue? Why would they take all that time to make that plan only to say no just under three weeks before the race?

Someone made the decision for them. Someone that originally said yes to the plan.

Why? Well, it’s locally mandated. Lucas Oil Raceway is a stones throw from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are in Hendricks County, not Marion County like IMS. They can host limited fans. They’ll do so this weekend. They’ll do so the night before the Indy 500 too. They have a much smaller facility than IMS.

IMS is a campus of 935 acres. 244 of that includes the infield alone. You can fit Vatican City, Churchill Downs, Wimbledon (the entire facility), the Roman Coliseum, Yankee Stadium and the Rose Bowl all snuggled up inside of those 244 acres inside.

So, putting 85-90k, which lets face it, only a portion of that would have been coming into the gates, you can safely distance everyone throughout the grounds rather easily. You’d come across less people at IMS than LOR.

The Bristol Motor Speedway has a capacity of around 162k and has a fraction of the availability in size comparison for acreage to IMS, but they held 30k a few weeks ago for the All-Star race. As we sit here today more than two weeks later, no outbreaks from that event took place.

I know people may trash that but let me hit you with some facts.

I was there. I took my family. I felt safe. I felt safer there than I would going to Kroger or Target, honestly. I was around far less people from where we parked, to when we walked in, through the gates, to the seats and a trip to the concession stand than I encounter on a normal shopping trip for essentials. Fact. You can’t dispute that. 30k may have been there, I suspect 20-25k from reports, but I personally didn’t encounter that amount of people. Here’s why.

Bristol had a good plan. Everyone had two designated times that they could enter the gates. They had specific gates they had to enter based off the grandstands that they were sitting in and even then, they had you enter by groupings of rows. An example, Rows 1-15 entered at a different time than rows 16-30.

That’s why you barely saw many people. You were in your own controlled bubble and had certain places you could or couldn’t go so you didn’t come in contact with anyone else.

IMS is a vastly larger facility and can do a similar plan. Heck, that 88 page plan that they had was applauded and deemed safe.

Now it’s not.

IMS is unfortunately a victim of their address it seems.

So, what makes you think 2021 will be different? Look how much was promised during this build up. Fans will be back soon everyone keeps saying. 2021 can’t get here soon enough, right?

Well I heard “Is it August yet?” I have a shirt too. Well August is here and it’s treated worse than the spring and we know more about the virus and are testing more. It’s hard to compare trends. But, we are still.

We’re told now we just need a vaccine. What makes you think a vaccine will be here by May 2021? What makes you think it will be effective?

Let’s not rush to judgment that the 105th Running will be back to normal…