On the schedule

With the first unified IndyCar Series season over and having reviewed the season from the sportive point of view, it's time to take a look at the off-track business.

There has been a lot of discussion going on about the schedule, as especially the die-hard fans of either oval racing or Champ Car are hard to satisfy. But, as mentioned in last week's column, there are contracts to stick to. Some venues have long-term deals and the new car/engine package is not coming before 2011.

Given the state of the series and the state of world economics in general, the IRL cannot afford to make many mistakes at all. The calendar serves as a good example. Yes, most of us would love to see venues like Road America and Mexico City on the schedule for '09. I doubt even the biggest oval fans would find fault with that. There's however no need to rush into decisions and run financial risks. Patience is a key word.

The IRL needs to concentrate on the markets it is in and make the current events (those with long-term deals is particular) as popular and as profitable as they can be. Only when the current set of venues is attracting the right number of people and making the right amount of money, the series can think about making a step forward. This includes looking for more races abroad, which shouldn't be the main concern of the IndyCar Series at this point.

There is certainly something to be said about the amount of races in the Midwest and we don't need more of them (though Cleveland would be fine, no doubt), but most of them appear to be great events and are situated in the core market of the IRL, a market the series needs to build on. From this market standpoint, it could make more sense to bring races to places like Las Vegas and Portland than one to Road America.

An other problem is the financial situation of a lot of the teams. Many outfits are struggling to get the right support to run the amount of cars they would like to run. More often than not, they have to rely on drivers with a strong financial purse and sponsorship backing.

This comes into play when we consider an other demand from the fans: More races. Obviously, more races equals more costs for the teams, and it's likely many teams are reluctant to head towards a 21-race schedule for the time being.

However, the current off-season is way too long to have a sense of continuity going on to keep the public interest high. A more workable solution might be to stretch out the schedule and avoid too many back-to-back races, although a lot of promotors are reluctant to run against the start of the NFL season in the fall.

Again, patience is very important here. It's impossible to make a perfect schedule for everyone and there will always be complaints from either side. Let's not forget that neither the all-oval or all-road course formula worked in the past. An idea Tony George hinted at, is bringing back the old CART-mould of 7-7-7. (Seven ovals, seven street tracks and seven road courses, which ironically makes the split seem very superfluous). It is definitely a package that sounds nice on paper. But even as a road course man, I would argue that only one third of ovals might not be enough to keep the long time Indy fans happy.

For the series the most important aim is to produce a healthy and exciting package of 18 to 20 successful races with classic, challenging tracks that are proven to be profitable and good to watch. From there on, we can only hope the rest will come of itself. If the Versus TV-deal works out the way it should and the teams can get the sidepods filled, there is no reason why the IndyCar Series couldn't build on what was right about CART and become one of the world's leading motorsports series again.



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Written by Filip Cleeren on Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:15:19