IndyCar’s Olympic Break–Good or Bad?
We are approaching our second of three consecutive weekend of no IndyCar racing after a busy stretch from early May to mid July with track activity practically every weekend, with the exception of one or two off weekends thrown in. The main reason for this break is the Olympics that started last week and will continue straight for sixteen days. NBC covers both the Olympics and IndyCar (for now). Not only is every available minute of airtime devoted to the Olympic coverage, but NBC needs all hands on-deck.
I’ve seen complaints on both sides. One side says that it’s good to have a break, after such a busy spring and summer. The crews, drivers and even fans need a sabbatical from eleven race weekends (counting Indianapolis 500 Qualifying weekend) over a fourteen week stretch; which is what we witnessed from the Long Beach weekend through the Toronto weekend.
Detractors of this break we are currently in, say that the series just got some momentum going. They think that having more that one weekend off is schedule malpractice, and will make the series forgotten by the time racing returns on Aug 17 at Gateway.
No side seems to have the majority over the other.
I’ll tell you which side I am on, and it will probably come across as blasphemy. I side with those that think this break is a good thing. Granted, I am being a little selfish. I still enjoy doing this site, but one thing I have never enjoyed are the late Sunday night writing sessions after a race. They take about three to four hours to write. Then I have to go straight to bed, in order to get up and go to work at the day job.
When I had a family member get married during the Mid-Ohio race and I announced ahead of time that I would not be writing a Random Thoughts post for the next day – it was enjoyable.
While I enjoy race weekends when we are at home watching them on television, they tend to knock a hole right in the middle of Saturdays and Sundays. Occasionally, we will watch qualifying on a Saturday night, but we tend to watch most things live.
I would be lying if I said I missed having an IndyCar race to watch this past weekend. It allowed us to do other things over our weekend. Some things we did together, while we both went separate ways over both weekend days. I am also looking forward to doing it again this coming weekend. The weekend of August 10, we are actually traveling for a non-racing weekend – a trip to my brother’s place in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia (when I will be taking a few days off from here). I’m not sure I can remember the last time we traveled when there wasn’t an IndyCar race attached to one part of a trip.
Does that mean I am not really an IndyCar fan? Of course not. It has been less than three weeks since we attended the double-header in Iowa and we had a blast. But it does mean that we also enjoy doing other things outside of racing. That’s not a new thing that has crept up with old age. It’s always been that way. We would be a pretty dull couple if racing was all we cared about in life.
So put me in the column of those that are happy we are getting a bit of a break right now. By the time the season resumes in mid-August with five races to go – I’ll be ready for it. I’m especially excited with four of the last five races being on ovals.
Except for the COVID year, this will be the first time we will not be going to Gateway since IndyCar returned in 2017. We have chosen to go to the double-header at Milwaukee instead. Except for sneaking through an open gate when we were returning from Road America in 2016, I’ve never been to The Milwaukee Mile. It’s been on my bucket list for a long time. As I get older, the bucket list gets more attention than it used to.
Then the season concludes in our hometown two weeks later. We will certainly be there for that. After that, the very long break begins. When that break is over roughly six months later – all of us, and I mean all of us are ready for the new season to dawn. But for now, I am enjoying a nice little break.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
July 31, 2024 at 7:50 am
This is a perfect time for an engaging marketing blitz on YouTube, and Social Media. A couple of weeks of sponsor sweepstakes for fans and new fans. Honda and Chevy cars to be won. Firestone tires are to be won. This is a great time to address team charities. Send some drivers to NYC and run them through the morning shows on the NBC brand.
July 31, 2024 at 8:17 am
So if Indycar kept racing through the Olympics … what would change? Absolutely nothing.
As usual, Indycar still wouldn’t be on NBC. All year the races have been fobbed off onto some obscure channel that non-residents can’t get.
i’ve missed most of the races this year and am tired of chasing it around on Youtube. I no longer know who won, is up in the points or whatever because I just don’t care anymore.
Outside of your country only the LAST race is on network TV.
So what did the Olympics change? Nothing for me, not even my attitude. Maybe next year … maybe.
July 31, 2024 at 8:52 am
From Indycar’s perspective, the Olympic break is surely not seen as a good thing. Even from the standpoint of it being a welcome break between two hectic long runs of consecutive races it isn’t really a good thing, since the Olympic break is a significant part of the reason that the races before and afterward are scheduled so close together to begin with.
It will be interesting to see if Fox’s coverage of the World Cup in 2026 necessitates a similar break in that year’s schedule.
July 31, 2024 at 2:12 pm
For the overall pacing of the season, this break is probably not great, but I expect the Foyt and Arrow McLaren teams are particularly appreciative to have this recovery time.
July 31, 2024 at 6:22 pm
Bad