Sparse crowd, bland racing threaten Ariz. race

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Will Indy cars return to ISM Raceway, or was Saturday night’s Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix the last gasp of a dying race? That’s the question on most everyone’s minds as the series leaves the historic track without a contract to return next year.

As of Sunday, the official answer to that question is: TBD.

“Both parties would like to continue,” IndyCar CEO Mark Miles told IndyStar.

“But there will be more discussion as we finalize next season’s calendar. We need to understand what (track president) Bryan’s (Sperber) expectations are and what more we can do to grow the event.”

There is no doubt that if IndyCar and ISM decide to renew their relationship, they must figure out how to improve the event’s poor optics. While Saturday night’s crowd appeared to be a tad larger than the one generated by last year’s event, attendance was still sparse. Who’s to blame? It’s tough to point fingers at anyone, truthfully.

You can’t blame Phoenix-area fans for not showing up to what has been a bland race the past two years.

You also can’t really fault ISM, which is undergoing extensive renovations to improve fan experience, while Sperber appears to be doing everything in his power to keep Indy cars coming to the track. He and ISM promoted the heck out of the celebration of Mario Andretti’s 25th anniversary of his final victory, and Sperber continues to work with the series to find ways to improve the ontrack product.

So, in the blame game, that leaves IndyCar, but it’s tough to find fault with the series. It knows the show it put on the past two years stunk and it went to great lengths to try and improve it. IndyCar president of competition and operations Jay Frye and company believed the 2018 Indy cars would eliminate the follow-the-leader racing — which it mostly did — but they also tried dragging tires around the high line of the track to create a second groove. Of course, that second lane never really materialized Saturday night, but credit to IndyCar and ISM for giving it a shot.

Also credit Frye and his team for building a car that was more interesting to watch on this track. While passing was still a challenge for everyone not behind the wheel of the Andretti Autosport No. 27 rocket ship (Alexander Rossi), there was still more on-track action than in the previous two years. The race also set new standards for lead changes (12) and number of leaders (nine), but, to be frank, the show was rather pedestrian until the finish.

“I hope it was a good race,” winner Josef Newgarden said. “I hope people enjoyed it. It was challenging from the driver’s seat, no doubt. If that translated to TV, to the audience, I don’t know. … But if it wasn’t a good race, I hope we saved it there at the end with a huge mix-up and a little bit of fun to the finish.”

There’s no question that the Newgarden-Robert Wickens shootout at the end somewhat salvaged the race, but was it enough to salvage the event entirely and prompt IndyCar’s return next year? We’ll soon find out.

The emergence of SPM

Something special is brewing at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. And it goes beyond what super rookie Robert Wickens is doing, though he’s obviously a big part of the team’s early-season magic.

After two wildly different races, one on the streets of St. Petersburg and the ISM short oval, one of the few common threads that connects both races is the consistent success of SPM.

Start with Wickens. It doesn’t take a whole lot of squinting to see that he was a twist of the wind away from the greatest to start to an IndyCar career the sport has ever seen. A month ago at the opener, he stunned the IndyCar world by winning the pole for his debut race, and if it hadn’t been for Rossi’s ill-fated pass attempt in the final laps at St. Pete, Wickens would have walked away a winner after leading a race-high 69 laps.

A month later, Wickens arrived in Phoenix having never raced on an oval before, and he again stunned the IndyCar community by looking as quick and confident as anyone. He qualified on Row 3, and on the race’s final restart, if the green flag had come out just a little later, Wickens might have been able to stave off Newgarden for what would have been a win no one could have predicted. Not even his boss.

“He’s been unbelievable,” SPM coowner Sam Schmidt said. “People don’t believe me, but I thought we would have these kinds of results midway through the season. After a few races, after a few test sessions, but for him to literally have one day of practice on an oval and for him to come out and do this is unbelievable.”

Because of Wickens’ incredible start, the team’s superstar has been a bit ignored, but James Hinchcliffe is off to a stellar start as well. He is fifth in the championship and is one of only four drivers to have finished in the top six in the first two races – Rossi, Scott Dixon and Ryan Hunter-Reay are the others.

Considering the sweeping changes and struggles the team endured in the offseason, Hinchcliffe is thrilled at the way the team has persevered so far.

“Man, we made a lot of changes, and we didn’t really know what to expect heading into Race 1,” Hinchcliffe said. “To be honest at testing in offseason wasn’t the smoothest . ... This team, we have a no-quit attitude right now. I think we were all a little surprised at some of the bad tests early, but I think it made us all dig deep and bring this whole operation up to speed.”