Here Are All The Ways You Would Fix IndyCar If You Had The Power

The Story

There are so many ways to improve the pinnacle of open-wheel racing.

For an example of some of the weirdness of IndyCar, the series raced this weekend on a track that simply wasn’t ready to host it. To make matters worse, the race was held way out in a suburb of Toronto instead of its traditional spot along Lakeshore Boulevard in downtown Toronto. The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy At Markham was a weird microcosm of how messed up the series is right now, and how far it has to go to get millions of fans back into the game.

Most of the answers from Jalopnik readers had some good ideas for expanding the IndyCar narrative. There’s definitely a good foundation from which to work, the house has good bones, but it needs a little kick in the pants. Some folks felt the series was beyond saving and needs to be disbanded, and in typical IndyCar fanbase tradition, some felt the series needed to be more American and open-wheel focused, while others say it should appeal internationally and get rid of the ovals altogether.

There are so many ways to improve the pinnacle of open-wheel racing that we haven’t even touched on here. If you have input, or didn’t get an opportunity to answer this question when it came around the first time, jump in the comments and let us know. Let’s dig in.

Red Bull Where does one start?. Management is too old. A lot of young blood needs to be in control. One chassis that could be running in Historics for several years is not a good look There is no reason for other engine manufactures’ to enter the series. The auto industry is way ahead of Indycar.

If one wants to know what the American business community thinks of F-1 vs Indycar. Look at the sponsors on the cars. Every F-1 team has U,S. Sponsors and none of those sponsors are on an IndyCar And they spend a ton of money to do so. As an example, Oracle spend $80-100M on Red Bull. That would fund 5-6 IndyCars for the season. Rotating sponsors is not a good idea either. Another point. Where is the hospitality?. Sponsors want to be wined and dined in comfort I went to 2 races’ this year and saw 3 hospitality units. Attend an F-1 are and walk down hospitality row. There is millions of dollars being spent.

IndyCar has cried poverty for too many years. They need better marketing, better sponsors and fresh blood. Get rid of the charter system. That is designed to protect the current owners and keep new teams out.

IndyCar does not take pride in their product. I have been to 2 races this year. Walking thru the paddock, I have never seen so many dirty filthy transporters. Stopping at a truck wash before coming to the track might help. Keeping equipment new and fresh would help. Many of the transports are older than my grandkids and it shows.

While I agree with much of what you’ve said, fixing the sponsors isn’t something you can do without fixing the underlying sport. You have to make the racing good to attract more viewers in order to attract better sponsors. You’re right, but the order in which you fix things is reversed. And yes, management (Roger Penske is 89) is too old, that’s pretty true of motorsport across the board.

Get rid of the street circuits. They are boring and generally terrible watch. Not very exciting to see a 250mph cars between concrete walls and fencing. Formula e has the same problem. They get exciting about racing in the middle of some city but the racetracks themselves look the same.

I seem to remember the Wisconsin race on the airport runways produced some very exciting racing and finishes. The circuit in Montreal is used 1x per year by F1. Why not bring IndyCar there?. EU circuits that are being abandoned by F1, can they expand there?. Indycar used to race in Mexico.

Why It Matters

Cap the horsepower/torque at a certain number and let the teams decide how they are going to get to make that kind of power.

CarMotion Daily’s Take

If Indycar does not resolve these three dysfunctions, all you will do is solve symptoms and ignore the underlying problems of a category that does not have a shared vision which not only lies to the fans about what it stands for but most damningly lies to itself!!. Watch this space over the coming weeks.