How to Prove Oval Fan Wrong
I suppose a more appropriate title would be "How to End the Stereotype of Oval Fan". Every now and then, I will focus on some ridiculous comment that someone made in one of the many IndyCar-related Facebook groups. Those are easy targets and fun to laugh at. There are also some very good comments that ring true, but they don’t provide much humor because you can’t poke fun at them. Consequently, they don’t get talked abut as much.
I saw one such comment from our friend John Oreovicz, former IndyCar beat writer for ESPN.com, the other day. He was responding to a Facebook post from a mutual friend, Kim Pearson, as she was promoting the upcoming double-header at Milwaukee in her hometown. Part of Oreovicz’s comment was so spot-on, I felt the need to share it.
He ended his comment with “…Oval fan complains the loudest, yet has a history of not representing at the track when they are most needed.” Bam!
If you are on social media, you have seen comments from so many fans that decry the demise of ovals on the IndyCar schedule. It’s easy to sit behind a keyboard and decry that IndyCar needs to go to Phoenix, Michigan, Homestead, Richmond, Pocono, Chicagoland, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas etc. The problem is, a couple of those tracks have been shuttered, or at least gone dormant – and the others do not appear to want IndyCar to race at their properties.
IndyCar has not raced at Michigan since the 2007 season – that’s seventeen years! Yet it is the first track that people mention that IndyCar should be targeting. I’ve got news for you – it’s not going to happen, at least not anytime soon. CART used to race before a packed house in Michigan, as recently as the late 90s. But the last few races there were run before friends and family (as Kevin Lee likes to say). Other than crowds for the Indianapolis 500 and the first few races after the return of Gateway – tracks like Michigan, Phoenix and Homestead have few reasons to think that IndyCar on ovals would be a successful business model.
Why? Because regardless of how much screaming and complaining there is about the lack of ovals on the IndyCar schedule – very people are actually attending the ovals. It’s something that has baffled me for years.
There are a lot of things I can preach about, that I am guilty of not following myself – but this is not one of them. There is one oval on this year’s IndyCar schedule that Susan and I have not been to – Milwaukee. After Labor day, we will be able to check that one off of our list. We checked Iowa off of the list last month. I’ve also been to several tracks that have since fallen off of the schedule (Pocono, Texas and even the old IRL race at Charlotte). I don’t mention this to brag, but to validate my preaching. I’ve not been to every oval, but enough to feel comfortable urging others to go.
Why are people not going to ovals? They are my favorite form of racing, while street circuits are my least favorite. Yet, it is the street circuits that fans are showing up for.
I get it that St. Petersburg in the winter, Long Beach in spring and Toronto in the heat of summer, are big attractions for the weather. They are also in huge metropolitan areas with plenty of other things to do. The downtown areas of Nashville and Detroit also appeal to a lot of people. But it’s not like all of the ovals are in the absolute middle of nowhere.
Kansas and Iowa aren’t too far from large cities and are both right off of major interstate exits. Texas is located in Ft. Worth at a major interstate junction, with a Buc-ee’s right across the street. I’ve not been to Phoenix, but I gather it’s not too far from the heart of the city. Gateway is right across the river from downtown St. Louis. Even Nashville Superspeedway is only about thirty minutes from downtown Nashville. So the argument that oval tracks are too far from anything doesn’t hold up – unless you’re talking about Pocono. That is a track that is not so easy to get to.
Do you always have to have multiple concerts like Iowa has for the past three years? I think concerts are on tap for Milwaukee, but don’t hold me to that. With the move to the oval, the Music City Grand Prix is still holding several concerts over the two-day weekend. Concerts at race tracks don’t appeal to me personally, but I guess it does to a lot of people. I would be more interested in several support races through the weekend. To be honest, the Indy NXT races at Iowa provided better racing than the NTT IndyCar Series races did.
If you listened to Trackside the other night, you heard Kevin Lee discuss the Midwest Swing. Four of the final five races of the season are on ovals, with Portland being the lone exception. All four races will be contested within a circle that is less than five hours from Indianapolis – one in St. Louis, two in Milwaukee and one in Nashville. I don’t really consider Nashville to be part of the Midwest, but you get the idea.
If you are within that circle, maybe try to make two of those three venues. Not only will you be a paying customer and another seat filled, but you will probably have the experience of a lifetime. If IMS is the only oval (or race of any kind) that you’ve been to – you owe it to yourself to experience something different. As much as I love the Indianapolis 500, going to a non-IMS oval has all of the good and none of the not-so-good parts of attending the Indianapolis 500. Crowds and parking are generally not a problem. Plus you can see the entire track from the stands. You can follow the drivers and battles that you want to follow, not who the TV Director thinks they should follow.
Going to a non-IMS oval is a fascinating experience. I hesitate to use this word, but it is very intimate. Small tracks tend to have small stands. Everything is right in front of you – the pits, the turns and the backstretch – they are all right there in plain sight.
Don’t be Oval Fan that John Oreovicz referenced. Oval Fan is out there spewing venom and demanding more oval races, yet Oval Fan won’t get off of his couch and actually attend one. Whether it’s St. Louis, Milwaukee or Nashville – try to get out of your comfort zone and attend an IndyCar oval weekend. You’ll be glad you did. Who knows, if enough people do it – other tracks may take note of the larger crowd.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
August 2, 2024 at 7:57 am
If the Oval Race is promoted correctly you will have first-time non-fans attending the events within a hundred-mile drive and hardcore fans are the last group that needs any attention at the event. The old snobs of this series are becoming tiresome along with the dead horse called Dull they keep beating year after year. The burden is not on the little people who keep your blogs and groups alive with the complaints. Save me the stuffed shirt Blah, Blah, Blah. Look at me I went to six races this year, what did you do for the series? Well first it’s NOYFB if I go to an oval race or not, but I will tell you, I took naps through half the races I watched. There was no line to the bathroom, or did I piss away $700 to get a bad sunburn and was dragging ass at the office on Monday and everyone thought I went to a NASCAR race.
August 2, 2024 at 10:56 am
😳
August 2, 2024 at 2:04 pm
😳
August 2, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Completely agree with this response. Bottom line, knocking ANY fans of this series is counterproductive. A couple points:
Perhaps it is time to accept that IndyCar is IMS-centric rather than oval-centric. Unless the series can make additional ovals viable from tv audience only, they aren’t coming back.
August 4, 2024 at 7:33 am
Actually, by the time the season is over – this “stuffed shirt” will have been to nine races this season. But who’s counting?😡
August 9, 2024 at 9:24 pm
Damn, who shit in your Cheerios? You should probably stick to gaming.
August 2, 2024 at 8:01 am
I have attended Chicagoland, Milwaukee, Indy, Iowa and Gateway. Nashville will be added to that list next month. Ovals are definitely the easiest to follow the action and fantastic to watch at night. Hoping fans show up.
August 2, 2024 at 9:13 am
This has been a huge issue with me also hearing the endless complaints about IndyCar needing to get back on more ovals. Like you said, when they do go to a venue, no one shows up. Big thanks to the folks that DO go to Iowa and Gateway that keep them going. Also, thank you Hy-Vee and Bomarito Auto Group for their support. If you’re not willing to support the venues, especially when they are “reborn” (Milwaukee-at least twice now) or moved (Nashville) then you can’t complain because by not attending, your complaints ring hollow. I try not to be too insensitive here as I know that I’ve been blessed to have the disposable income to go to these races through the years. I realize that is a factor for many folks.
I always tried to make the effort to go to ovals just to support the series. Pocono was easier for me when I lived in Pittsburgh. Made the trip to Kentucky when attendance was lagging and in the “old” days we made the trek north to New Hampshire. Also went multiple times to my favorite non-IMS oval at Michigan and watched it go from packed stands and a 3 hour wait to get out of the parking lot to having an entire grandstand section to ourselves and Zero wait to leave the Speedway. I’ll be at Nashville in September for my first trip to that speedway mainly to support the move to the oval. (Knowing that the race will go back to the city once the new Titans stadium is built) Seeing the continuous multiple ticket discount ad offers in my Inbox, even going to the Buy One / Get One level, tells me that it will be under attended as well. I really hope I’m wrong. Wish I had the answer to this problem because the ovals have made IndyCar the best series in the World with its diversity of racing disciplines. As they go away, more eyes go to IMSA for superior road racing and NASCAR as they incorporate more road course racing. The only thing I can do is get to the track, support the sponsors, and hope that more people feel the way I do.
August 2, 2024 at 11:21 am
Unfortunately, the Titans home-opener against the NY Jets is also going on that day. The Titans game will just be beginning the fourth quarter about the same time as the green flag. That will not help attendance or ratings.
August 2, 2024 at 10:09 am
While I understand that the frustration with loud and unpleasant and unrealistic complaints in the face of obvious attendance issues at ovals, I very much do not find the argument that those complaining the loudest don’t show up to be at all fair. To be even more frank, unless dealing with someone you know for a fact is being hypocritical on the subject, it is a BAD response. It is not that it isn’t the truth for at least some of these complainers, the issue is that such an attitude can easily and does (in my experience) lead to blanket dismissals of founded complaints, oval track fans in general, and oval tracks themselves (see Kevin Kalkhoven’s posturing comments on ovals after the 2006, tough words masking a waving white flag).
Additionally, one could make the same argument about Watkins Glen fan, or Cleveland fan, or COTA fan… and it wouldn’t be any more fair, would it? Watkins Glen’s absence from the schedule in particular gets griped about as much as any missing oval, in my experience, and is often accompanied by excuses that would make “Oval Fan” blush. “If it wasn’t on July 4th Weekend…” “If only it was paired with IMSA…” “It’s a CRIME Indycar isn’t at the Glen…”
Ovals do see a more pronounced attendance/success issue in these days, but Indycar has struggled to draw fans at every type of circuit over the past 25 years. The number of tracks once on the schedule and no longer is staggering, even since reunification. 11 ovals run since 2008 are not on this year’s schedule… so are 11 road and street circuits. “Go where you’re wanted” can no longer be the mantra, Indycar needs to make itself wanted at all types of tracks.
August 2, 2024 at 11:04 am
Milwaukee really shoud be run during the Wisconsin State Fair, they would have a built in crowd
August 2, 2024 at 2:02 pm
I’m going to Milwaukee this year. Mainly because it’s a double header. Two races one weekend one flight schedule etc. bit concerned it will be a snooze fest but am hoping Firestone puts some deg in the tyres.
August 2, 2024 at 3:50 pm
well, it could be worse….the complainers not complaining would mean (to me) that they no longer care about ovals or Indycar. apathy might be the highest entropy.
August 2, 2024 at 10:18 pm
I say this as someone who used to LOVE ovals, but I think one of the major issues is they’re not as exciting as they used to be.
I know those Dallara IR-05’s were butt ugly, and the pack racing they produced on ovals was insanely dangerous, but it was also exhilarating to see. I could hardly sit down watching that side by side action, and that was from my living room. Couldn’t even imagine being in person at Homestead or Chicagoland in say, 2006-2007. Yet now, sitting down isn’t the issue. It’s trying to stay awake.
August 3, 2024 at 12:05 pm
I absolutely love ovals, but losing the closest one to my residence(4 hours to TMS) does not help. I can’t just throw down excessive amounts of money to travel 6+ hours, airbnb/hotel, and potentially a day or two off of work to attend an event I know I will no doubt enjoy. It’s just not good financial sense for me to do it, when I can watch at home on TV.