Hitting finish line with crowd-pleasers
Road America pulls off doubleheader with fans
ELKHART LAKE – With a few minutes to decompress after a frenetic IndyCar doubleheader weekend at Road America, here’s what we know … and what we think we know.
Scott Dixon isn’t unstoppable, but with Chip Ganassi Racing behind him he’s as close as anyone in the first two decades of this century.
There’s plenty of talent behind him. Six of the top seven finishers Sunday in the second round of the REV Group Grand Prix were drivers in their first or second full season in the series, including first-time winner Felix Rosenqvist and first-time pole-winner Pato O’Ward.
Although passing the leader is tough with these cars on this 4-mile layout, Road America is
as capable of putting on an entertaining race as it is of having a runaway like last year or an almost-start-to-finish parade of 2018.
And presumably – fingers crossed – the series and the track are capable of putting on a sporting event with the largest crowd since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in a relatively responsible and safe manner.
Unfortunately we’ll need to check back on that one in a couple of weeks.
“Where America is is probably different in different states and cities and regions,” said Mark Miles, president and chief executive officer of Penske Entertainment Corp., which owns IndyCar. “But certainly Wisconsin was ready to have an IndyCar race. We felt like the crowd was terrific and that Road America is really an ideal place to come back with crowds.
“I thought the combined efforts of IndyCar and the Road America group were well executed. We went time and time again through the procedures to see, just anonymously driving around in rental cars, and I thought they did just a terrific job. So we’re really pleased and we thought the racing was pretty good and hope NBC will be pleased as well.”
There’s no chance the relationship between IndyCar and the track through preparation execution was always as rosy as the picture painted throughout the weekend by Miles and track President Mike Kertscher.
IndyCar ran its first two events in a bubble, at Texas Motor Speedway and on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, extra cautious about how a single case of COVID-19 could affect an entire industry headquartered in the biggest city in Indiana hit worst by coronavirus.
Road America, meanwhile, had three events open to spectators in June. Nestled amid forests and farmlands between a small town and smaller village, the track sits in the 13th-most populous county in Wisconsin, where COVID deaths can be counted on one hand.
Say what you will about the value of social media feedback, but the event took some flak. How many people were on the grounds? Ten thousand? Thirty thousand? (It’s so hard to tell.) Why are so few wearing masks? Why aren’t people more spread out?
Perception is reality. One reality is that some people will never see any kind of race with fans as a safe, viable option as coronavirus numbers spike, and others will find that notion laughable. Another is it’ll be impossible to connect anything – a single case of coronavirus, a small outbreak or clean escape – directly to this event.
Generally speaking, people seemed respectful, friendly and thrilled to be out in the fresh air on a gorgeous weekend with something watch up close.
“It’s healthy; we’re very happy with it,” Kertscher said of the event overall and the crowd that showed up. “I’m very encouraged by what I’m seeing.
“This for everybody is getting back to whatever the new normal might look like. All signs are that this is a big success for Road America but also IndyCar.”
After a questionable start, the ontrack product was too.
Josef Newgarden looked unbeatable in the first round of the doubleheader Saturday, but a problem in the pits stopped his runaway and opened the door for Scott Dixon to win his third straight race to start the season.
Although he didn’t complete the sweep, Dixon did make it hard for anyone to keep him from a sixth title.
Then Sunday, the kids stole the show. O’Ward looked like he might be on his way to his first victory, but myriad strategies kept it interesting throughout then Rosenqvuist finished strong to keep the Ganassi team unbeaten.
Both races were a far cry from Alexander Rossi’s 28-second romp in a caution-free race a year earlier, or Newgarden leading 53 of 55 laps from the pole the year before.
So this was far from a perfect weekend. Hastily moved from June and turned into a doubleheader to fill a need, the entire event was packed into 271⁄2 hours in the interest of expedience. Perfect doesn’t exist.
But for what it was, it was turned out well.