INDIANAPOLIS — On Monday, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES unveiled the 2024 schedule. It’s been a highly anticipated one with several rumors of some movement in regards to races and where they’d be placed as well as the addition of the $1-million challenge at Thermal.
“The upward trajectory of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is reflected through the 2024 schedule,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said. “With stops at premier and global entertainment districts, classic American road courses and thrilling, high-speed ovals, the 2024 season will be exhilarating and highly competitive from beginning to end.
“The growth of INDYCAR is palpable. Combined with the efforts of our teams and partners, the 2024 championship will be the perfect showcase for our drivers as we continue to build on our reach and popularity.”
For the sixth consecutive season, NBC Sports will be the exclusive home for INDYCAR coverage in the United States. NBC will provide network coverage 12 times during the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. It is the first time in 20 years the INDYCAR SERIES schedule has featured three consecutive years of double-digit events on network television.
Peacock remains the streaming home of INDYCAR. In a first for the streaming destination, Peacock will be the exclusive home of two races in a season – Toronto for the third year in a row and Milwaukee (Race 1) for the first time. In addition to the exclusive races, Peacock will once again simulstream all races airing on TV and will be the home to all practices, qualifying and INDY NXT by Firestone races.
The 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season proved to be NBC Sports’ most-watched INDYCAR SERIES season on record, averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.32 million viewers. It also marked the third consecutive year of viewership growth across NBC Sports platforms, including a record audience streaming the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on Peacock.
Here’s my thoughts from the 17-race slate.
Can INDYCAR Make Milwaukee Work?
The fans have been craving a return to Milwaukee. Now, it will happen. Next Labor Day weekend, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will make their first visit to the Wisconsin oval since 2015 in the form of a doubleheader. 1 race Saturday, Aug. 31 and the other Sunday, Sept. 1. The question now is, can they make it work? this last?
You get the hint that this is the final straw here. One last ditch effort to make this worthwhile. Which is why this is a top takeaway from the schedule unveiling.
“There is such a great tradition and history of INDYCAR racing at the Milwaukee Mile, and we are excited to build on that legacy with a Labor Day weekend NTT INDYCAR SERIES doubleheader beginning in 2024,” said Roger Penske, chairman of Penske Corporation. “We appreciate all the loyal and passionate INDYCAR fans in Milwaukee and across the state of Wisconsin, and thanks to our partnership with the Wisconsin State Fair Park, we can’t wait to return to the Mile next season.”
INDYCAR has done all the right things. Milwaukee has too. It’s now up to the fans if they put their money where their mouths are.
You can’t cry and scream for tracks to come and then not show. You did it to Phoenix. You did it to Watkins Glen. How many more are you going to do this to?
You’ve done it to Milwaukee in the past. After not having a race in 2010, INDYCAR came back in 2011. Michael Andretti promoted the race and tried to make it work. Fans lauded Andretti for doing this generous venture.
Then they didn’t show up to thank him in person.
Now, INDYCAR is staging this race. Track Enterprises brought Milwaukee back from dead. Late Models ran on the 1-mile track in 2019. ARCA then in 2021. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series made a return this past August. Now, INDYCAR, after a nine-year hiatus, is back.
INDYCAR, not Andretti, not Track Enterprises, not anyone else will do the promoting. Just like they do in Detroit and Iowa. Which leads me to believe that if you don’t show up next September, you are saying you don’t care and INDYCAR will eventually not care back and leave this track in the dust for the final time.
INDYCAR has one race on Peacock only. The second on USA. They’re telling you that you need to go.
Let’s hope this doesn’t come to this extreme to where you don’t. Let’s hope people actually show. I mean Milwaukee is an easy half days drive from many major cities and in the hotbed of INDYCAR country. You can’t blame a sporting game or birthday party or anything else. YOU HAVE TO GO. No excuses. This has to be appointment viewing.
Scarce stands = a bad look.
So, can this marriage that is now being rekindled last?
This race is essentially the replacement to the INDYCAR-NASCAR shared weekend. You’d get 50k+ in attendance that weekend. While Milwaukee won’t be close to that amount, can they top 15-20k?
The Truck Series did and INDYCAR should. They can’t afford that massive of a drop off.
Texas Left Off
Unfortunately, due to several sets of circumstances, the annual visit to Texas Motor Speedway is no longer. For the first time since 1996, INDYCAR won’t visit the LoneStar State next year. That’s because NASCAR was wanting to move their lone race up to the spring from the playoffs. March or April is where they’d land.
Texas as a result can’t host NASCAR and INDYCAR in a few weeks time. With COTA in March and Texas using a lot of their staff down here, it really makes life difficult for INDYCAR to now find a slot. March 10 being St. Pete, March 24 Thermal and March 31 Easter, where does INDYCAR find a slot?
April 21 in Long Beach and April 28 Barber. There’s not really any other spring avenue. Then, with September being crowded, it left INDYCAR and Texas without any other options but to part ways for 2024.
It’s a shame too.
That leaves Indy as the only superspeedway left with the other ovals being 1.25 miles (World Wide Technology Raceway) and .894 (Iowa Speedway) and just three oval tracks in general on the schedule now.
Hopefully, the two sides can work something out for 2025 and beyond. Texas hosting the season finale again would be nice, but what about Nashville? Do you rotate them?
A few years ago, if this scenario came afloat, I think most would have wanted Texas to just go by the wayside. However, the last two years has seen the racing at Texas actually improve.
An insanely close finish, 15 lead changes with 12 of the 27 starters leading at least one lap, I’d say Texas delivered in 2022.
How would this year look?
With some more downforce added and similar race conditions, this year’s PPG 375 delivered an even better show than the one of last year. The 26 lead changes back in April were the most there in over two decades. The 2001 race was the last time that we had as many lead changes on the 1.44-mile-high-banked track.
The 482 passes for position was nearly 200 more passes last year.
This year’s race started chaotic with four lead changes in the first five laps then five more in the final eight. Between pit strategy, a somewhat pack race in the end and some edge of your seat moments, Texas delivered.
It started off dicey but then became a fuel strategy race in order for those up front to hit their fuel number. Takuma Sato bringing out the first caution on Lap 48 helped aid in that strategy. The next few stints spread things out with there being just two cars on the lead lap on Lap 160. The top car led the second car by 7-seconds.
Texas was starting to not deliver. Then Felix Rosenqvist brought out the Lap 179 caution and the rest was history. Thrilling racing and pit strategy in the end helped make this race a memorable one that will be discussed all season.
“We’re going wheel-to-wheel like 226 miles an hour or something. It’s a little wiggle from somebody can be really big,” said Pato O’Ward.
“So hats off to everybody. It’s pretty insane, I have to say. I don’t know how it looks. It must look cool, I’m assuming. It looks insane. But inside of the car, you’re going in, you see two guys there, then you’re just like keep it in. It’s commitment.”
Part of the improvement was that the second lane came in. Last year, you couldn’t fully run there. This year, it was there.
“I think a mix of both, track and pieces,” O’Ward said. “There was a legit second lane, for sure.”
Third place finisher Alex Palou agreed.
“Both. This year you could run the second lane,” said the 2021 series champion. “Last year it was like a 1.5.”
Race winner, Josef Newgarden said both were significant factors.
“There’s a lot more load on the cars,” he said. “The entire last stint, I was flat the whole time, flat for the first half of the stint. It’s a big jump from last year. That’s definitely factor number one.
“I think factor two is just the track seemed better this year. Like, it was not quite as dark on the PJ1 patches. I know the last time they coated was September last year. That’s what I was told at least in our briefing. Maybe that’s incorrect.
“But the track was better. It was less dark in the area where the PJ1 has been applied. It didn’t seem as low-grip initially as times when we’ve been here in the past.
“Even when everyone tried the high line running, it wasn’t like you ventured up there just to start out and it’s really low grip. Pretty much immediately when we went up there, it was okay grip. I think that was much more inviting for people to have more downforce. We were able to more successfully apply rubber to it from our cars.
“I think all of that contributed and led to the type of racing that we had today.”
O’Ward notes that with the aero creating a strong two and the second lane being open to race on now, you couldn’t afford to back off or you’re going to get freight-trained by somebody.
“It’s like keep your foot in it, keep your position, maybe get a position, or lose one. You kind of have to go,” he says.
Palou said you have no other option not to.
“You just put your right foot there and close a little bit one eye (smiling),” said the Spaniard. “You hold everything tight, that’s it.”
O’Ward did note that it could have been sketchy if everyone had tires midway through a stint.
“I think that would have been, yeah, maybe not very safe. I just think everybody feels like a hero when everybody has fairly fresh tires.”
As far as what led to this being a role, Newgarden credits Jimmie Johnson for how this race looked.
“Man, I think it’s the Jimmie Johnson effect. We were here last year. People were like, This Jimmie guy, look at him, he can do it. I think Jimmie Johnson basically gave everybody confidence this weekend,” he said.
“It’s obviously more than that. We’ve got a lot more downforce on the cars. The lanes were working pretty well. How great was that to see, there was a second lane. This was a real race today, which was fantastic.
“But I think in this sport you definitely can’t think about the potential. It’s just you got to go pretty flat out if you want to drive the cars at a high level.
“It’s impossible to drive these things at the level you need to without blocking everything else out. I think that’s what you get from a lot of drivers here.”
This race that was once left for dead had been revived. In fact, this track was almost left for dead as it wasn’t putting on good racing for any series.
It was so bad in NASCAR that Texas went from two dates, to one of which being the All-Star race to just one race weekend. Fans stopped showing up for those races too which is why NASCAR needed changes made.
However, the last two years have shown that maybe Texas and INDYCAR could have had a happy marriage after all. Now this.
“I just want to see Texas race the way it should race,” said Newgarden. “I think most people would look at today and say that’s how Texas should race.
“You look at the past, it’s even been taken up a notch from that. Three-wide the entire time. I wouldn’t want to see that. I think you can go too far nowadays.
“I really like high tire deg. I like when people come and go and you’ve got to work your advantage. You’ve really got to work to try to keep the car underneath you.
“We’re kind of a step above where I like to see the cars at. I know from an entertainment standpoint this had to be significantly better than last year. It just had to be. It felt packed up for most of the race and definitely at the end.
“Where we go from here, it’s hard to say. Old Texas is hard to beat. The configuration was great. The track surface was better for us, we could run all three lanes. I’d like to see that back, then we can start peeling off downforce off the cars. If you go and try and find that again, we might not get it right.
“So I don’t think I have a great answer for you. We’ve had the product we’ve had, at least as far as the track. We’ve just chipped away at it. By this year we’ve gotten it really good. I don’t have a good answer for you.
“It’s a tricky balance. They’ve been doing this. They’ve been putting downforce on every year. You don’t want to go too far.
“I know I don’t want just a straight-up pack race. I really don’t. I think it takes out too much of the skill. I mean, you want the skill of tire degradation where you’ve got to make a good car and you’ve got to learn how to drive it, but you need some element of a packed-up race, certainly in the beginning of stints, to make the show good, to make that also part of the challenge in the race. I just don’t want that the whole way.
“INDYCAR is always walking a fine line. They’ve been adding downforce every single year. So I think it’s been a combination of finding enough downforce on the cars. Unfortunately just sometimes takes this long to get that right combo.
“I think more than the downforce, it’s really been the track. I think two, three years ago, it wouldn’t have mattered how much downforce you put on the car, you still weren’t going to use the second lane. It was unusable.
“It’s not just been the downforce. It’s been a combination of getting the track better and stopping the PJ1 being laid down has greatly improved that.
“I wouldn’t put it just on the downforce or configuration thing. It’s also been the track kind of coming back to where we needed it.”
Olympics, All-Star Race Help Tighten Up Schedule
Just as it did in 2021 (COVID pushed the 2020 Olympic games back a year), the upcoming Olympic games will affect the INDYCAR schedule. With INDYCAR being on NBC Sports and the contractual agreements to have races on network NBC, it means no races between July 26-Aug. 11.
As a result, you get some reshuffling of the deck and a condensed schedule ahead.
“Well, generally I don’t think it’s any more complicated or difficult than it has been in my career for a very long time,” Mark Miles told me on Monday afternoon. “The special complication everybody would understand for next year is the Olympics and NBC’s complete commitment to bringing America everything about the Games.
“It is harder. It has been harder every four years. But even that phenomenon isn’t new to us.
“I will say, NBC has been a really good partner in trying to help us navigate those sorts of complexities around finding the best windows.
“But the basic structure is there to start in March and to conclude the championship in early September at this point. Going forward, as I’ve said, we are a little bit on hold. We have various templates as we call them for how the schedule for next year might work, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to go through the process to pick our next media partner and understand what’s important to them and how that creates the best opportunities for INDYCAR fans.
“That’ll be different this time, but that happened when we first went all NBC in what seems like just a few years ago.”
The spring slate has the customary light schedule on tap. The 2022 season has a 62-day span with only three races run. The season opener that season on the streets of St. Pete was moved up to February. The next race wasn’t until March 20 at Texas. Then another gap before returning to the streets of Long Beach on April 10.
Those were the only races between the final weekend of February and the final one of April. Barber was May 1.
This past year, the gap had been shortened, but only by a little bit. We got 4 races in a 56 day span this time around.
Now, with the addition of Thermal and INDYCAR starting the year off on March 10 in St. Pete, the early slate if Texas was still in play would be more filled in. You would have gotten 2 races out the gates in a 3-week span. Then, while you have Easter off, April would have been more busy month ahead with Texas, Long Beach and Barber over 3 of the final 4 weeks. Instead, you have just St. Pete (Match 10) and Thermal (March 24) before the next race at Long Beach (April 21).
That’s 2 race, only 1 being points paying, in a 35 day span.
But, once we get to Long Beach, it gets crazier. Long Beach and Barber close out the month of April before a jammed packed May and June.
May 11 is the Gallagher Grand Prix. A weekend later is Indy 500 Time Trials. A weekend after that the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500. A weekend after thais Detroit. The next week Road America.
That’s 5 straight weeks of action and if you go back to April, that’s 7 weekend’s out of 8 with INDYCAR on track.
Then, with knowing that July 26-Aug. 11 being off and the season finale at Nashville being Sept. 15, it left not much room for the rest of the dates. Between Long Beach and Toronto, that’s 11 weekends of action in a 14 week span which includes 11 of the 17 races.
Gateway Back To Night
INDYCAR listened. With fans and drivers wanting to race under the lights, many questioned on why the last few Bommarito Automotive Group 500’s were run during the day.
“Yes, like 3,000 percent I want a night race,” David Malukas said heading into the World Wide Technology Raceway race weekend this past year. “That was like the coolest experience ever. I mean, it just feels so much faster, and we also get to activate “party mode” on our pit stand, where my number ends up lighting up. For me it’s just like a win-win-win-win-win-win on every standpoint ever, so yeah, please, a night race, I would love that.”
Conor Daly agreed.
“I love this track. It’s a great track. Man, I wish we were racing here at night, but that’… It is what it is,” he said this past year.
Part of why this year’s wasn’t was due to NASCAR actually. With Daytona’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 being on the same weekend as Gateway and on a Saturday night, it left INDYCAR no room to do anything else but to race on Sunday.
Friday night wasn’t going to be a good fit and running a race head-to-head with Daytona on USA wouldn’t be a wise thing to do. So, Sunday was the fit.
The ratings and attendance were really good too. However, the noise was loud to move this race back to a night race and if doing so, you had to move off the current race weekend.
So, they did. Gateway moves up a week to Saturday, Aug. 17.
“That’s a really good question, and it is balance,” Miles told me on scheduling a night race these days with TV numbers being higher on Sunday afternoons. “So there are lower HUT levels generally speaking for sports on Saturday nights, and that’s a factor, but we think it’s incredibly appealing sport when INDYCAR can race under the lights. That’s on the other side of the coin.
“Then you look at the other things going on on those days. Do you want to compete against Big Ten football head-to-head on a Saturday during the day?
“So there’s just lots of considerations.
“But I think maybe the most compelling thing is that we just love our racing on short ovals under the lights.”
New Portland Date
After a three-year stretch to where Mid-Ohio and Portland were starting to find their footing, there’s a new date coming both each in 2024. What’s interesting is the fact that it seemed like INDYCAR had found solid ground on these holiday weekend’s with these tracks. That was a stark change in philosophies since the series didn’t use to race much on holiday weekend’s outside of Memorial Day. It never truly worked out well for them. There was just too much going on and for a fan base that if we’re completely honest, wasn’t very large until recently, the attendance and ratings were always taking a dip in the summer holidays.
Between family gatherings, vacations, cookouts, other sporting events, etc, hosting an INDYCAR race during the Fourth of July or even Labor Day weekend was one that would usually would flop.
In order to make a holiday weekend race work, you first need a prime location and a marquee event. It’s why the Firecracker 400 in Daytona had always worked. It’s why the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend always works. It’s why the Southern 500 is the only thing that works for NASCAR on Labor Day weekend. They found that out the hard way by trying Fontana and Atlanta in that place.
INDYCAR needed to find that right fit for the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekend’s to make it work.
Indianapolis is a beast of it’s own on Memorial Day weekend but Mid-Ohio and Portland for the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekend’s were actually working. Portland had big ratings the last two years on Labor Day Weekend. But, with Laguna Seca moving up and Milwaukee coming in, plus the addition of the season finale going to Nashville, it made little to no sense to go west just to come back east.
So, in comes Milwaukee on this holiday weekend.
The 2023 Grand Prix of Portland averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of over 1 million viewers. For 2022, it was at 1.011 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. That was up 49% vs. the 2021 race on NBC.
For the Fourth of July, you still Mid-Ohio but it will run the weekend after the 4th. This is actually the 3rd time in the last 6 years for a new date at Mid-Ohio with the race date in 2019 falling on July 28. In the COVID year of 2020, the race was a doubleheader format in Sept. However, for the last three years, this race was moved to the Fourth of July weekend. Now, it’s changing.
What’s interesting is the fact that this past year’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio had 776k viewers and the race was aired on USA at that.
As a result, it was the most watched cable race in nearly two years for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with the 2021 inaugural race in Nashville being the last time it was that high. It was also the fifth most watched cable race ever for NBC Sports and INDYCAR.
Entering that race weekend however, I wondered if INDYCAR and Mid-Ohio could make this weekend work anyhow. We knew the attendance was likely going to be great, and it was. Race day was one of the strongest that its been at the rural Ohio track in years. However, TV ratings pay the bills and if they took another dip, then INDYCAR may need to revisit racing on the Fourth of July weekend.
They only got 643k on network NBC in 2022. With being on USA and the numbers not typically strong for INDYCAR on this network, there was concern. That’s because the NASCAR Cup Series a year ago drew a 1.15 rating with 1.930 million viewers for their race at Road America on this very USA station on this very same holiday weekend. INDYCAR also had less than 400k watching Belle Isle on USA in 2022 as the race after Indy.
So, for Mid-Ohio to draw that number that they did last year, it showed that maybe this weekend could work. 2 of the 3 years of this race being on this weekend was a hit. Massive crowds came in droves. The TV number was great.
Now, it’s also back on NBC.
9th Straight Year Of A New/Past Venue
For the 9th straight year, we’ll see a new venue on the schedule. While it’s not technically new, Milwaukee is back. Last year, it was a return to the downtown streets of Detroit which replaced Belle Isle. A year before that it was Iowa making a return. Nashville, Gateway, Portland, Laguna Seca, COTA and Road America are all recent tracks that rejoined the schedule.
Road America rejoined in 2016, Gateway came in 2017, Portland in 2018, COTA/Laguna Seca in 2019, Richmond in 2020 (COVID later canceled the race), Nashville in 2021, Iowa in 2022, Detroit in 2023, Milwaukee in 2024.
However, when looking at what they’ve brought back, they’re bringing back classic tracks. Road America, Portland, Laguna Seca, Detroit and now Milwaukee. This seems like an early 90s schedule.
This could push 10 straight next year if INDYCAR and Texas can find a better date to work for both parties.
“I think there’s an opening, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we’re not going back, the fact that we’re not there in 2024,” he said. “I think that market is really important to us, so it’s not something that will be neglected.
“We value our relationship with SMI. There’s been fabulous racing there. That sort of north Texas market is very important to INDYCAR. We’ll go back to work as we have some of the other building blocks like our own media partner in place for 2025.”
INDYCAR Creating Revolving Championship Race Door – In A Good Way
For the 6th time in the last 7 years, the season finale is different than it was the year before. While Laguna Seca had become the norm for the final race lately, there were also exceptions too. 2018 ended in Sonoma. 2019 was at Laguna, but 2020 and 2021 were on a pair of street circuits in St. Pete and Long Beach before moving back to Laguna for the last two seasons. Now, the series will head to Nashville next season.
Should INDYCAR start allowing tracks to bid on the final race? Could that be an extra stream of revenue coming in?
I mean NASCAR has discussed this the last few years but haven’t ever actually done it. They ended the year in the playoff format from 2004 through 2019 in Homestead. In 2020 they moved it to Phoenix as they’ll end the year out west for this year and next too. Which brought the question up as why aren’t they moving it around like they initially discussed?
INDYCAR due to some unforeseen circumstances has. I mean, look at the Super Bowl. It’s moved around each year. So is the NCAA Tournament. Big championship deciding events are shuffled around each year. INDYCAR has indirectly done that the last five years and makes you wonder if that should stay.
Some current drivers are open to it.
Part of the argument though would be that it makes it an even bigger event. It’s not just another race on the schedule that so happens to crown a champion. The track and the series would build it up. Plus, it doesn’t give a distinct advantage to any one driver each year if a certain track remains as the last race and that driver may or may not be good there.
There’s no doubt that Honda had the street and road package figured out for 2023. Chevy had ovals. That will undoubtedly swap in the coming years due to the teams finding areas of improvement and fixing them. It ebb and flows.
If you’re good on one discipline, why test or focus there? Focus on your weaknesses instead. So, moving the finale around keeps it fresh and doesn’t allow one team or manufacturer to get a huge advantage.
INDYCAR-NASCAR Doubleheader Weekend No More
This has been debated in recent years on if it was a benefit for INDYCAR to not only run three race weekends at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the final one a shared weekend with NASCAR. Does coming to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course twice in the same season make sense? Wouldn’t it be wise to get a sanctioning fee from somewhere else?
In saying that, does it make sense not to come here twice too?
Now, the answer has been given. When the checkered flag drops on the Month of May next year, it will be the last INDYCAR race here until May 2025.
The May road course weekend was added to do just that, add to the Month of May. As field sizes dropped off with the attendance, it didn’t make dollars and sense to have four weekend’s of action on the oval here. From opening day to race day with the middle being two weekend’s of qualifying, it wasn’t needed anymore.
So, to grow the series and the month, why not show race fans that there’s more to INDYCAR can just the Indy 500. You see 300k people show up on race day for the ‘500 but no where close to that elsewhere. Well, by racing on a road course here in their home race, it shows those here in Indianapolis that an Indy Car can make left and right hand turns. It also adds value to a weekend that would normally have hosted 5-10k. Now, you get 40-50k which is a bonus.
What about the second date? It made sense that the mecca of motorsports venues would host the super weekend. However, it just never felt right.
INDYCAR just kind of seems pushed aside for the NASCAR weekend. Gasoline Alley is used by the Xfinity Series teams. The Cup teams use the old F1 garages. INDYCAR is off to the side to where the hospitality trucks usually are.
Are they even wanted? It didn’t feel like it.
Then you have the fact that the last time these cars were here, 300k+ were here witnessing a thrilling Indy 500. With the same cars, with the same drivers, on the same track, albeit going the opposite way on the road course, the crowd being much over 50-60k would be generous. Which is why I also sided is this race even needed to further educate this fan base.
Now, it’s off and Milwaukee comes in hit’s steed. That’s a home run in my book.
A Lot Of Travel
INDYCAR will still host three west coast races and in fact, even added an exhibition race in Thermal too. Unfortunately, none of the 4 races were able to be paired up. So, 4 different midwest to west coast back to the midwest trips are planned in 2024.
Luckily, there’s a week between St. Pete and Thermal but there’s three weekends off between Thermal and Long Beach. After Long Beach, they race in Alabama 7 days later. Then, after a week off for Fathers Day, it’s to the west coast to Laguna Seca. Luckily, another off weeks ensues before going to Mid-Ohio.
Portland is sandwiched between Gateway in St. Louis and Milwaukee making a difficult trek back and forth in a three week span.
It’s something that INDYCAR knew would be a potential problem by Jay Frye says he talked to the teams beforehand to see if it’s even feasible.
“Well, coming right out of the Olympics, we’ll go to Gateway, Portland and Milwaukee back-to-back-to-back, that’ll be the hardest part of the schedule,” Frye said.
“Again, it’s because of the Olympics; teams are aware — we talked to them obviously before this. It’s doable. It’s short oval cars versus road course cars that are more similar obviously than superspeedway cars, so it should be fine.
“Like you mentioned, going from Milwaukee to have the week off to Nashville, so obviously that’s going to give them a break, give them the ability to catch up, and then we’ll head to Nashville for the championship weekend.”
INDYCAR Promoting 7 Of 17 Races
INDYCAR has become a role of promoters now too. With IMS and INDYCAR being tied together, that’s both races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tied together already. Then, with Penske’s relationship with Detroit, there’s another. In 2022, they took on the promoter role for the Iowa doubleheader. Now, they’ll do the same with Milwaukee with having 7 of the 17 races being promoted from the series itself.
“We’re going to deploy whatever resources we need, but I think the underlying point your question makes is that of late, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s ticket office is involved to make sure Iowa was exactly the facility we wanted it to be,” Miles said. “I think probably eight people from IMS’s ground crew, our facilities people, our tradespeople were all there getting it ready in advance, our security people were there. We’re very hands on now when we can play a role in helping an event be successful.
“That same approach will happen for Milwaukee.
“I’d be surprised if we don’t have one or more dedicated people and resources, but exactly that decision has not exactly been made and exactly who it would be. We’ve got a little list brewing.
“We have put together, walked into this position where we can help, and we’ll do that, and we’re going to watch it be successful.”
Penske agreed.
“I think as Penske Entertainment took over the Series and operates the Speedway, I think we’ve come in with a team of experienced people that we can partner with Shari and her team here at the fairgrounds,” he said.
“Before you had promoters coming in and coming out. But we’re committed. We’ve invested heavily in the track at Indianapolis and also certainly in the Series, and it’s important that we take the Series to places that are long-staying capabilities, which you have here. They’ve got a great track. You drive in here this morning, the place is clean.
“One of the areas we like so much is we have this wonderful convention center that the state has provided here at the park, and we’ll have all of our chalets, all of our entertainment for our sponsors and people like that can really set up there, so we see that’s going to be great entertainment, especially as we come down to the end of the series, being able to use that for what it’s built for, to bring fans into the state and certainly for tourism, and we’ll use that as a key.
“Also, we’re looking at opportunities to have entertainment. We have the opportunity here with an entertainment here at the fairgrounds, and maybe Saturday night we can have some music. We haven’t committed that yet.
“A number of sponsors we’ve touched base with are very interested to be part of this. We haven’t announced anything at this point, but I think it’s our experience — as you know we were in the speedway business for a long time with Michigan and California and all over the country here, and then to come here and put this under our control in conjunction as a partnership with the Wisconsin Fair Board, I think it works out.
“We’ve got the capital to do it, but even more important when we step back and you look at the track and the money that’s been allocated by the state funding in order to take it to the next level from a safety perspective and also for a fan, I think we’re doing that also.
“Those are all things that had to happen before we could come here and say it’s going to be sustainable.”
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