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As you read this, Susan and I are most likely headed north to Indianapolis, for the Brickyard Weekend (I think it’s still called that). Technically, we are heading up to attend the Gallagher Grand Prix on the IMS road course.

Returning to this race holds a personal significance for both of us. This race was run in late July last year. We knew at the beginning of the week last year that Susan was not going to go – she had been hospitalized with a chronic liver infection (brought on by chemo two years earlier) and had also missed the 500. Being the wonderful husband I am, I still planned to go to the Brickyard Weekend. But the night before I was to leave, she took a sudden turn for the worse. Her vital signs all went haywire and she was put in the trauma unit at Vanderbilt. Things were getting very scary, so I chose to stay home. I watched Alexander Rossi’s win on my iPad in the trauma unit, and did a write up the next morning at her bedside.

Susan was finally released just before Labor Day and she has been doing quite well. She was still a little rocky at Barber, but she gained strength as she attended all three weekends in May. By the time we went to Road America, I had to remind myself she had ever been sick. But as she said in her post last week, she took on a last minute wedding cake for a friend (against my wishes) in late July. She worked day and night to get a huge three tiered wedding cake done over a 72-hour period. It just about killed her.

She was not recovered from the cake when she went to the Friday session of last week’s Music City Grand Prix. When she endured the heat and humidity of that Friday practice session – that pretty well did her in. I actually took her to the doctor on Monday, and he did a full blood workup on her, but said it was likely nothing more than massive fatigue. He fussed at her for taking on that wedding cake, and then he fussed at me for taking her to the track on Friday. She asked if she could go to Indianapolis this weekend. He rolled his eyes, but said only if you feel like it. She has made a nice recovery and seems back to her pre-wedding cake status from a couple of weeks ago. But both of us returning to the race we both missed last summer, marks some sort of personal significance in her overall recovery from pancreatic cancer over three years ago.

If I’m being totally honest – that’s the main reason we are going. This is not my favorite race to attend. The GMR Grand Prix run in May serves as a nice kickoff for the Month of May. The Gallagher Grand Prix in August serves as nothing more than a schedule-filler. If you ever forget that this is really a NASCAR weekend, you’ll never forget if you are on the grounds this weekend.

IndyCar is treated as the unwanted stepchild at this event. When I complained about this two years ago, people thought I was overreacting, and that it was not much of a big deal. Two years later, it’s still a big deal to me.

Throughout the weekend, the Cup cars are housed in the Formula One garages adjacent to the main straightaway. The Xfinity cars use the Gasoline Alley garages, the same garages IndyCar utilizes throughout the Month of May. IndyCar is banished to working under tents and awnings in a parking lot close to the museum. Call me old and cranky, but I have a hard time swallowing IndyCar being third string at any race track – much less the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I’m also not wild about IndyCar being the under-card. I get it that this is a NASCAR weekend, and IndyCar must play second-fiddle to Cup, but must they also give way for the Xfinity Series? The Gallagher Grand Prix runs at 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon. The Xfinity race starts at 5:30 Saturday afternoon, before giving way to Cup on Sunday. It got under my skin two years ago, and it still upsets me today.

There is a pretty strong rumor floating around that this year will be the last year for IndyCar’s participation in this event. Word has it that this date will be used by IndyCar at another track location. Many signs point to it being another attempt at the Milwaukee Mile. While I would love that, I’m not sure that will be the case – not in 2024 anyway. It’s my understanding that talks have been progressing in the last month or so, but I don’t know that they can put it all together in this short amount of time. Then again, what do I know? I’ve never put together a race contract.

Whatever the case, it will not upset me in the least if this event goes away after this year. If a NASCAR/IndyCar double-header was taking place at any other venue, I doubt that we would go. But it’s hard for me to pass up an IndyCar race at IMS, no matter which direction they’re driving or what time of year it is.

When we left the track for the last time in May, it softened the blow to think that we’ll be back in less than three months. I do enjoy that aspect, but I do not enjoy not only sharing the track to NASCAR, but playing second (or third) banana to them. So if it goes away, so be it.

As for the race itself, it is now pretty much a foregone conclusion that everyone not named Alex Palou is running for second-place in the championship. Even Kevin Lee, whose job it is to hype the intrigue of each event, said earlier this week that Nashville was the last chance for something to happen to tighten up the championship. With four races to go, Alex Palou could stay at home for two races and not collect a single point and he would still stand a good chance to win this championship. Let’s face it – it is his year.

One good thing about that is that now other drivers are not so much focused on collecting points, than they are on race wins. Drivers will now push the issue to win a race, rather than have a good points day and settle for second or third. The winners in this mindset change are the fans. We will see a lot more bold racing moves for wins in the final four races of the season.

Don’t forget, this race is on USA Network and on Saturday, not Sunday. The first practice will be Friday morning at 9:00 am EDT on Peacock. Qualifying will be at 12:30 pm Friday on Peacock. The final practice will take place at 4:00 pm EDT of Friday, also on Peacock. All pre-race track activity takes place on Friday. There is nothing on Saturday except for the race itself at 2:00 pm on USA Network (and Peacock).

Who do I think will win? A driver who really needs a win to secure his place on his team for next season – Romain Grosjean. He had a solid sixth-place finish last week in Nashville. He won his first IndyCar pole on the IMS road course in his first IndyCar season. I think he will end a lot of frustration and collect his first IndyCar win this weekend. We’ll see.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on August 11, 2023 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.