Oilpressure

It dawned on me this week that I have been somewhat neglectful in covering a very significant topic. When IndyCar released the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series schedule a couple of weeks ago, they focused primarily on Richmond International Raceway being added to the slate for the first time since 2009. Taking the “glass half-empty approach”, I focused more on the omission of Pocono and hardly gave a mention about the return of Richmond.

Contrary to popular belief, I am pleased that Richmond is back on the schedule. My only complaint was that it was instead of Pocono, rather than in addition to Pocono Six ovals would have been better than five – but I’m glad they are at least holding at five.

Pocono was tied with Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the longest oval that the series visited at 2.5 miles in length. Richmond now supplants Iowa as the shortest track on the schedule. Iowa is 7/8 of a mile, while Richmond is three-quarters of a mile. It is not exactly a flat track. There are 14° of banking in the turns, with 8° of banking on the curved front-stretch and even 2° on the backstretch.

When I think back to the old SunTrust Indy Challenge that ran from 2001 through 2009, my most recent memories were not great. They were somewhat processional because the aero-package in the later years made it too difficult to get past the car in front, no matter how much faster the car behind was. But obviously some passing was done because in the last IndyCar race there in 2009, only five cars finished on the lead lap. Of the twenty cars entered that year, only four were out of the race due to contact. So even though it was considered close-quarters, most drivers kept things clean. Those four were Helio Castroneves, Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe and Jacques Lazier in separate accidents.

Of today’s current crop of drivers, only six drove in that 2009 race – Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Only Dixon and Marco are with their same teams as then.

But unlike the last couple of races at Richmond, the first few races were actually very entertaining. When I first heard that the IRL would be racing at Richmond in 2001, I never thought it would work. I thought the cars were just too fast to be confined into such a tiny oval. I was wrong. Those first few races were wild, with action all over the track all the time.

The big question is…which will see next year when the NTT IndyCar Series returns? Will it be wild and crazy like the early part of the last decade, or will it be the parade we saw in 2009. One of the complaints we’ve heard of the current version of this car is similar to what we heard at Richmond in 2009 – that the turbulence coming off the cars makes it very difficult to pass. Difficult is one thing, impossible is another.

After the 2018 Indianapolis 500, we heard the same complaints of what was then the brand-new common aero-kit for these cars. Many drivers said it was easy to catch up to a car, but impossible to pass. But not all drivers seemed to have trouble during that race. Alexander Rossi made some of the gutsiest passes I’ve seen in that race. And he was making his car stick on the outside, no less – so maybe this car just exposes who the best drivers are.

One question I’m not so worried about at Richmond is the attendance. Yes eleven years will have passed since the last IndyCar race there, but that was one of the better attended ovals on the schedule each year. Some will point out that local business and IndyCar sponsor Philip Morris gave away tons of tickets each year. Yes that’s true, but the track says their promotional efforts will be unmatched.

If they are comparing themselves to other ISC tracks, that wouldn’t be hard. Promotional efforts at other recent ISC tracks like Phoenix, Fontana, Homestead, Michigan and Watkins Glen have been reportedly nonexistent. So if they are comparing themselves to their internal partners – that’s not much of a measuring stick, so we’ll see.

But I think this is another opportunity to go into NASCAR’s backyard and appeal to fans that like all kinds of racing – not just stock cars. I attended the last IRL race in Charlotte when three spectators were fatally injured. The IRL never returned but it was strictly due to that tragic accident. I can tell you the place was packed. Aside from the Indianapolis 500, it was the largest attendance at an IndyCar oval that I’ve ever witnessed first-hand.

Don’t forget, Barber is just a stone’s throw from Talladega and they’ve managed to draw a big crowd there every year. And attendance was not the issue here in Nashville, when IndyCar pulled out after the 2008 season. That was due to a clueless General Manager of Nashville Superspeedway who couldn’t figure out how to work with the series.

My biggest complaint about Richmond for next year is where it falls on the schedule, but for purely selfish reasons. Richmond falls on the Saturday night right after Road America. We have established a nice family tradition of going to Road America every year since the series returned in 2016. We love Road America so much that if I were told I could only attend one other race besides the Indianapolis 500 – it would be Road America. We love the race, the track, the area, where it falls on the schedule – everything about it. So we are not going to give up going to Road America if we can possibly help it.

With Richmond coming just six days after Road America, that presents a problem on many fronts. First, that will be a hard turnaround whether we fly or drive to either location. Our old bodies don’t recover as quickly as they used to. Second is my vacation time, which is very scarce for me right now with my mandated job change in July. I already had to take off time without pay to go to Gateway, and I don’t have the financial means to keep doing that. Yes I’ll accrue time between now and then, but we have other races we want to go to next year. Last, but certainly not least, is our budget. It usually costs us a lot to go to Road America. Six days gives us no time to recover financially.

I do have a brother that lives nearby. My middle brother, Jack, owns and operates a Bed & Breakfast Inn with an aviation theme in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia; which is about two and a half hours from Richmond. It’s not close enough to stay for the race weekend, but could give us a mini-vacation before or after the race if we go. I’ll give him a shameless plug by posting the link to his place here.

So even though I’m excited about the return of Richmond, I’m not sure we will be there – at least not next year. We have several months between now and then, so we’ll have to play it by ear. But another short-oval to compliment Iowa is a good thing, even if they are only three weeks apart. Now let’s see how we can get Pocono back on the schedule without losing anything else. That’ll get the glass back to half-full.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on September 13, 2019 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.