LDN - Sports

Track makeover only answer in Indy

[July 29, 2016] The Sports Xchange

By Jonathan Ingram, The Sports Xchange

In NASCAR, like other major league sports, the attendance and TV ratings don't lie.

They may be statistics, which at least one notable writer named Twain has likened to lies, but when it comes to the Brickyard 400, the numbers -- attendance and TV ratings -- indicate something needs to change.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway's NASCAR weekend attendance was abysmal, especially when compared to May's 100th running of the Indy 500, where 325,000 paying customers showed up after infield ticket sales were cut off four days before the race at 75,000. The attendance at Sunday's NASCAR event was estimated at 50,000, which left approximately 200,000 seats empty, let alone a barren infield.

On the other hand, this year's Brickyard 400 produced the highest rating ever for the relatively young NBC Sports Network. The rating of 3.1 share, which translated into 5.2 million viewers according to Nielsen, was a jump from last year's figures of 3.0 and 4.7 million. (According to track officials, last year's attendance was 75,000.)

The TV figures can be attributed to the fact that Jeff Gordon came out of retirement to run at his "second home" track and that any race run at Indy is a marquee event. When a teenager, Gordon and his family moved from California to Pittsboro, Ind. to help spark his racing career. Given that there was short notice about Gordon substituting for the ailing Dale Earnhardt, Jr., interested fans found it easier to watch on TV than to buy a ticket, make travel plans and attend the race.

One suspects that the folks at Indy spent much more effort on promoting the 100th running of the Indy 500 this year than on the 23rd running of the Brickyard 400. So the windfall of publicity about Gordon in the media, as well as soon-to-be-retired Tony Stewart's last ride at the Speedway, helped boost the TV ratings -- but evidently was too late to add to the gate.

It is a big effort and expense to attend a race at Indy due to the track's size, traffic in little ol' Speedway, Ind., and parking challenges. What's bothersome to this writer is the fact the Indy 500 and later the Brickyard 400 became huge events because they are classic one-day races. Indianapolis sits at a major crossroads of Interstates in the Midwest and historically fans have driven in the day of the race and then have driven home afterwards. This year, few took the trouble to make the effort in July.

The bottom line is that fans wanted to see the drivers, always accessible on TV, and not necessarily the racing presented by the Sprint Cup at Indy. In an era when the Indy cars have some fine young American talent, are generating record numbers of lead changes and put on an incredibly fast race, the Brickyard pales by comparison -- even if the NASCAR drivers are far more popular in America than their counterparts in the Indy Racing League.

It's time for another makeover at 16th St. and Georgetown Rd. to improve the stock car racing and to perhaps add a little more luster to the Indy 500, which won't be celebrating a centennial next year. As things stand, stock car drivers can race down the narrow straights of the 2.5-mile track, but have to line up to get through the four individual corners unless they want to lose several positions should a pass attempt fail. Hence, not enough overtaking and too much waiting for somebody else to make a failed attempt. On a day when a driver like Kyle Busch has it figured out, there's virtually no overtaking of the leader.

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The last great makeover of the Speedway occurred in 1993, the year before the first Brickyard 400. In addition to preparations for the "taxi cabs" by installing thicker walls, higher wheel fences and new grandstands that closed a gap in Turns 3 and 4, the track itself was re-configured. There were two goals: to eliminate the "Crawford line," so named for the great Scottish driver Jim Crawford who unexpectedly challenged the established racers in 1988 aboard his Riley-Buick V-6 when he started driving on the pit road apron; and to change drivers' trajectory in the corners to help prevent the terrible head-on crashes that were creating so many horrible injuries to feet and ankles.

The track needs to once again allow the "Crawford line" by re-paving all the way to the edge of the current pit road in Turn 1 -- and to allow a similar line to be taken in Turn 3. The repaving should be done to carry the nine degrees of banking down the track. This would help generate more overtaking in the corners by both NASCAR drivers and Indy car drivers. Given that there are essentially short chutes, or straights, at either end of the track, similarly widened corners at Turns 2 and Turns 4 make sense.

This is the only solution to a lack of overtaking in the Brickyard 400. NASCAR rules can only go so far with the cars. The new era of less downforce is an unlikely answer, according to this year's race. Given the mandate to keep car rules the same on non-restrictor plate tracks, slowing the cars with restrictor plates in hopes of better racing would only further alienate fans used to Indy cars racing at average speeds of 225 mph.

A wider track would require the construction of a new inside wall covered with SAFER barriers to separate the pit lane from the racing surface, which is now separated only by grass. But this new wall would still allow plenty of additional racing room.

What about the Indy cars? More passing never hurts a race. But will drivers get hurt by changing trajectory of the cars in the corners? Quite a lot has changed since the horrible year of 1992, when testing and the race were marred by so many bad accidents. First, there are SAFER barriers. Next, the cars have long since been changed to protect drivers' lower extremities in frontal crashes; and the HANS Device now provides protection against critical and fatal head injuries in all manner of collisions with the wall by Indy cars.

If concerns about the Indy cars persist, a line can be painted to define where they can race. That line can be changed for the stock cars.

When the Brickyard 400 first arrived in 1994, one year after the last great makeover, it proved a boon for the Speedway with annual sellouts. Times have changed since then, including the addition of NASCAR races in nearby Chicago and Kentucky; an end to the CART vs. IRL war that allowed NASCAR to get a jump on Indy car racing; and the Great Recession, which hit the segment of the American populace most interested in motor racing the hardest, and, according to current political campaigns, continues to hurt.

Given the changing circumstances, it's time for a new configuration at the Speedway.

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