Following a well-deserved break, the IndyCar series resumes action this weekend in Fontana, Calif.
This week’s race is the first of three consecutive oval events. The two-mile southern California speedway features high speeds, tricky conditions and should bring the same kind of excitement we saw during the Indianapolis 500.
Expectations are high for a lot of teams this weekend. Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya won the Indy 500, the last Superspeedway event and looks to pad his point’s lead in the championship; Ganassi runner Tony Kanaan won at Fontana last year and has finished on the podium in five of the last six races at the track; Teammate Scott Dixon finished first at the last oval race in Texas; and Ed Carpenter has claimed podium finishes in the last three races at the track including a victory in 2012.
This year’s event will take place during the heat of the day instead of the evening hours like previous events. For the third straight year the Fontana race will take place at a different point in the season schedule and brings up questions about the stability and future of this event and the IndyCar schedule as a whole.
Having a consistent date on the calendar is an important part of long-term success for IndyCar events. Moving the Fontana race once again makes ticket sales tough enough. And when the date chosen is late June and the race scheduled for the afternoon when the sun is almost unbearably hot certainly doesn’t help either.
IndyCar is trying to transition its schedule to begin earlier in the year and end on the Labour Day weekend. Already announced is the new event to wrap up the season in Boston beginning next year. Fans also long to see the series return to tracks that have been part of the series in the past like Road America, Phoenix, Cleveland and Laguna Seca. Plus, there’s also the desire to keep a significant number of oval tracks on the schedule.
It’s a difficult and long-term operation to make this kind of change blending all the suggestions and desires together and pleasing everyone isn’t going to be possible. Finding a date that works within the new calendar that is suitable for everyone involved is just the beginning. The other reason most of these tracks are no longer part of the series is simple, money.
Yes it’s a warm, nostalgic thought to return to tracks from the past, but if you can’t come up with a sanctioning agreement and enough sponsorship dollars then it’s a non-starter.
IndyCar has been thrown plenty of shade by many for moving in this direction. The argument cited is “this isn’t the way it used to be done” in the good old days. Impatient detractors want an immediate return to a more robust time in history. Well those days are long gone and the harsh reality is the business needs to move in another direction to have a chance of continuing and perhaps growing.
In the meantime, Fontana and other races are trying to attract enough fans and sponsors to make their event viable moving forward while fitting into the new world order. Not all of the current tracks will make it long-term.