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If you count the opening day of practice at St. Petersburg back in March, the NTT IndyCar Series just wrapped up a season that spanned 160 days, from March 8 though this past Sunday September 15. We now have 166 days until practice begins again at St. Petersburg. It lacks just a few days of being totally symmetrical for the calendar when you look at season compared to offseason.

While I would much prefer to have new races to watch twelve months per year, I don’t absolutely hate the IndyCar offseason. Sometimes, the offseason can be more intriguing than the actual season. That was the case in 2009, when the “red cars” won all but one race. Either the two Target cars of Chip Ganassi Racing or the two Marlboro cars of Team Penske (along with a yellow Penske Truck Rental car for new part-time team-member Will Power) won sixteen of seventeen races that season. Only the late Justin Wilson broke the “red car” dominance when he won at Watkins Glen for Dale Coyne. It was a dull season that held little intrigue. The biggest story of the season actually happened off-track, when Tony George was ousted as Chairman and CEO of IndyCar by his sisters.

The 1994 season held even less intrigue. Marlboro Team Penske won twelve of the sixteen races, with Al Unser, Jr. winning eight of those twelve races. It was a beatdown similar to another runaway season – 1964, when AJ Foyt won ten of thirteen races on his way to his fourth USAC championship in five years. While it was something to behold, there was not a lot of suspense on who would be crowned champion as Foyt continued to pile up victories.

Both of those subsequent offseasons following the 1964 and 1994 seasons had major storylines that were far more compelling than the seasons themselves. Prior to the 1965 season, rule changes were made for the Indianapolis 500 following the tragic 1964 race. The rear-engine revolution was in full swing as the one-time novelty car was set to take over the USAC grid. The British Invasion was also becoming a topic of conversation, as many fans welcomed those from foreign lands, while others were feeling violated.

The big story following the 1994 season was the fulfilling of Tony George’s promise to start a new oval-only series. The more details that came out during the 1994-95 offseason, the more unsettled things seemed. By the time the 1995 season kicked off in Bicentennial Park in Miami, it was relief to finally focus on IndyCar at the track instead of in the boardroom.

The season that just ended on Sunday had a lot more intrigue than those mentioned above. The 2024 season was actually a pretty good one statistically. Sven different drivers won races this season, but there were no single race winners. Scott McLaughlin, Will Power and Pato O’Ward each won three races. Champion Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden won two races. It’s odd that no one won more than three or less than two; but that’s what happened. Four teams won races – Penske, Ganassi, Andretti and McLaren. That’s why they are referred to as the Big Four.

So it was a pretty competitive season, and there is nothing on the offseason horizon to match any forthcoming known leadership change, a new start-up series, major rule changes for the Indianapolis 500 or a cultural shift in car designs or drivers. But that doesn’t mean we are in for a boring offseason. Far from it.

There are so many things to be decided before next March, there is no way I could list them all here. But some of the biggest things to be decided are: silly season vacancies, the new IndyCar charter system, the IndyCar Marketing task force that Zak Brown was asked to join and who will be involved with the FOX telecast when the new season begins next March.

I suppose this would fit under the Silly Season umbrella, but there is also a new two-car team coming next year – Prema. I’m not sure if it is pronounced like it looks with a soft “e”, or if it sounds more like Prima. Regardless, they will be on the grid next March and they are rumored to be hiring one IndyCar veteran driver, along with a young protégé.

I mentioned just a few of the things that will be decided in the coming months, and that’s just what we know now. There are a ton of things I didn’t mention and more will pop up as time moves forward. Just because actual racing has been put to bed for the winter does not mean that there will be nothing to talk about in the offseason. There will be plenty of topics to keep everyone entertained for the next 166 days, until the first practice at St. Petersburg. The offseason won’t be near as bad (or as long) as you think. St. Petersburg will be here before you know it.

George Phillips

Update:  For those interested, Susan was finally released from the hospital on Tuesday. She had no setbacks, but they just wanted to make sure she was going to have no problems with solid food. I’m thinking they were just being a little too conservative to my liking, but they know more. Anyway, after nine nights, she finally came home yesterday afternoon and is doing fine. She is definitely on the mend and should recover completely.

This entry was posted on September 18, 2024 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.