The GRAND-AM and Nationwide Series will race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting in 2012. The official announcement was made on the frontstretch of IMS on Wednesday, July 5. The announcement was attended by Indianapolis Mayor, Greg Ballard, NASCAR president, Mike Helton, and several IMS dignitaries. The meeting was also kicked off with race car drivers Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, and Scott Pruett driving down the frontstretch in their cars behind a Camaro pacecar.
Here’s the schedule for next year’s weekend:
Thursday, July 26: NASCAR Nationwide Series practice.
Friday, July 27: GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge practice, qualifying and races.
Saturday, July 28: NASCAR Nationwide Series practice, qualifying and race; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice and qualifying.
Sunday, July 29: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 race.
So much glitz and glamour for a decision that disgusts me. In fact, I have never been so offended by anything IMS has ever done. Maybe this whole “super weekend” will grow on me, but I doubt it. Here’s why I hate this whole gimmick.
1. Brickyard 400 weekend is special to me because it’s my weekend to see my favorite drivers, teams, owners and cars. I can stand outside the garage area and have every driver walk within spitting distance of me. Now, the Nationwide guys will be taking up space the whole weekend, and the GRAND-AM teams won’t be gone until Friday night. So instead of spending two days chasing down my favorite drivers for autographs, I’ll have one day. (It’s impossible to get autographs on race day).
2. The price for each day will surely go up. I’m gonna spend $80 to get into the track on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this year. Three days for that price is an absolute steal. I have no idea what it will cost to go on Friday and Saturday next year, but I could guarantee it’s gonna cost more than $30 for each of those days.
3. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the greatest race course in the world, reserved for only the greatest race car drivers in the world. The Nationwide and GRAND-AM drivers are nowhere near the title “greatest in the world”. The Nationwide Series is a developmental series for the Sprint Cup series. The GRAND-AM series has great drivers, but nobody that’s gonna be competing in IndyCar or Sprint Cup anytime soon.
4. By bringing Nationwide to IMS, they are taking a race away from Lucas Oil Raceway (formerly O’Reilly Raceway Park). The races at LOR were always exciting and always allowed fans a real home-town feel. The track is a 3/8th mile and only has room for 30,000 fans. It sits in the middle of farmland and there are no scoring towers or video screens. If you wanted to see the action on the track (and there always was that) then you had to watch the race. The race was ALWAYS a sell-out, now there will be those 30,000 people watching the race at IMS in a place that seats 250,000. That’ll look great on TV!
This move seems like IMS and NASCAR's last ditch effort to try and make more money off the Brickyard. I don't know why they can't just be happy with 100,000-140,000 people at the race. Do those two entities really need MORE money and attention? After this year, I'll be spending my money on the month of May watching IndyCar.
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