Hinchcliffe’s dancing may be IndyCar’s gain
James Hinchcliffe can tell when he walks through airports how strange the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season will be in terms of his branding.
More people recognize him now — and not because of his skills on the racetrack. The average fan stopping him in the airport these days is more likely to talk to him about his footloose performances on ABC’s Dancing
with the Stars. The 30-year-old driver finished second last season in front of millions of weekly viewers.
Surely, Hinchcliffe would rather people know him as a driver, but he thinks his newfound national recognition can help expand his sport’s audience.
Just as some IndyCar fans tuned in for his weekly dance routines in the fall, Hinchcliffe expects some fans of the show will check out his day job in the upcoming season, which kicks off with a two-day test session Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.
“I mean, a lot of people know nothing about racing and IndyCar and all the rest of it until they meet someone in it and they have a reason to watch it,” Hinchcliffe said. “And then they tune in once to watch their person and they realize, ‘Hey, this is actually pretty cool and the product is very good,’ and they continue to watch. They end up becoming fans for life.”
According to Nielsen Media Research, an average audience of 1.28 million viewers tuned in for the 16 races in the 2016 season. That was up from 1.14 million in 2015 and 989,000 in 2014.
The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 also drew a sellout crowd of more than 300,000 fans, lifting the local TV blackout for the first time since 1965. Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said in September that he was seeing strong numbers for ticket renewals for the 101st running.
“The challenge is, from the series, to keep it motivating,” three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves said. “We have the right product. We have the right drivers. It’s more exciting than actually any other race you see out there. So it’s just ... we’ve got to get the word out there.”
The hope among drivers, Castroneves included, is that Hinchcliffe’s appearance on Dancing
with the Stars will go a long way toward drawing younger crowds, but IndyCar President Jay Frye is not betting on publicity alone.
Frye, who helped sign Verizon as the series sponsor before becoming president of competition and operations in November 2015, unveiled initial concept sketches for the 2018 cars that offer a sleeker look and have gotten a largely positive response from drivers.
Frye says he expects to release a rendering before the seasonopening race in St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 12; an actual car could be unveiled close to this year’s Indianapolis 500 on May 28.
“I believe in the series,” 2013 Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan said. “I believe that actually every series is struggling. If you think about NASCAR doing everything they can to bring race fans back to the track and the TV numbers up, we’ve just got to keep working. I believe that we have a great series with great competition, so we will definitely need to keep working to keep going on the rise.”