Drama on bump day: There was legitimate bump day drama for the Indy 500 as Mario Dominguez pushed his Pacific Coast Motorsports Dallara to the limit on his qualifying run, only to overstep the car’s boundaries and smack the wall.
Better TV ratings: Earlier this month, the Bombardier Learjet 500 at Texas Motor Speedway brought in the highest ratings for an Indy Car broadcast ESPN2 has ever seen. The race brought in a 1.0 on the Nielsen Rating Scale.
Sold out crowd: This past weekend at Iowa Speedway, the president of the track announced that it was a “standing-room-only, sold out crowd.” When was the last time the IRL (or Champ Car) sold out? What’s more is this race happened during some of the worst flooding the state has ever witnessed and still managed to pack the stands.
Manufacturer competition: Honda has been the sole supplier of engines for Indy Cars since the beginning of 2006 and has made no secret for their desire to get manufacturer competition back into the series. This week, the IRL is hosting a manufacturer’s summit for those interested in participating in the Indy Car Series in the future. Expected to attend are: Honda (obviously), GM, Mazda, Audi, BMW and Ford and possibly others. There are good indications that one of more of these companies are looking seriously at getting into Indy Car in the near future.
Contracts with venues: Speedway Motorsport, Incorporated (SMI) is pursuing a five-track race deal with the IRL for New Hampshire (Loudon), Infineon Raceway, Texas, Kentucky, and Las Vegas. Assuming both sides want a long-term contract, this is a big step forward compared to previous years.
Consistent car counts: Car counts have climbed from 17-20 cars to 26-28 cars following unification. Granted, the former Champ Car “transitional” teams tend to only contend for the lead on road and street courses, but they are getting better quickly and the racing has improved tenfold overall.
These trends speak for themselves. Sure, Indy Car racing still has some work to do (like adding a better ladder system so America’s young open-wheel stars a feel like with hard work they can someday race in the Indy 500), but obviously things are looking up. NASCAR still reigns supreme and no one is arguing that Indy Car is anywhere near to knocking the gorilla of its perch, but in reality those comparisons tend to cloud the truth. The fact is that Indy Car couldn’t be happier about their 6-month progress report.
