After weeks of waiting, IndyCar has confirmed fifteen of sixteen races for its 2012 season—and only four of those races are on ovals.
The issue of ovals is a big one. Many diehard IndyCar fans like oval racing and IndyCar has never fared well with an all-road-and-street—or all-oval—schedule. There are only four oval races on the 2012 schedule including the Indianapolis 500.
In an interview on Indianapolis radio station WFNI 1070 AM Wednesday, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard discussed why the schedule doesn’t feature more oval races.
As Bernard explained, the ovals simply didn’t make money, and fan polling didn’t show high demand for more ovals.
“Let me tell you, I love the ovals. It’s sickening when you hear people say, ‘Oh, Randy wants to take it back to CART/Champ Car with all street and road courses,’” Bernard told listeners.
“I know how important having ovals is—we want to define our sport as the fastest most versatile race cars and race car drivers in the world. The ideal scenario is where we positioned ourselves last year, with a balanced series.
“But it’s not that easy. All these oval fans which keep telling us they’re out there, don’t show up or watch on TV. We’re up 9.8 percent on our attendance, but down on ovals.
“We just did an extensive demographics and research study. We asked a question to fans, what would they like to see more of on the schedule, and only 15.7 percent responded more ovals. That correlated very well with the live attendance and TV crowd. ”
Bernard said that for 2012, IndyCar was taking a step back to look at what could be done to make oval racing more popular. Though he didn’t give details it seems likely IndyCar will be evaluating plans like it used at Las Vegas, where IndyCar rented the track and did its own promotion, or other business models which might be more profitable for IndyCar and the tracks.
Whatever methods were chosen, Bernard made it clear he wanted to please oval-racing fans, if it made business sense.
“We can’t forget about our heritage and traditions, and we need to focus on how we are going to get more ovals, but at the same time we need to make sure we are positioning ourselves for that.
“I think in 2013 you'll see more ovals on the schedule but I think it has to be well thought out and planned.”
One issue, which might be addressed by the new 2012 car, is the type of oval racing which IndyCar had been presenting. A lot of hard-core oval-racing fans didn’t like the large packs of identical cars with throttles stuck to the floor, which the old formula created. IndyCar is trying to make the new car harder to drive on ovals, so that drivers have to really drive the car, not just mash the throttle and count on aero grip to keep them on the track.
Bernard urged fans to check out the oval action in 2012—fan response would “definitely” help determine how many oval races were scheduled in 2013, he said.
The oval-racing fan base is very vocal, but hasn’t shown up or tuned in. Bernard said “It blows my mind” how loudly oval fans call for more races and how poorly attended those races are. Bernard said it was the fans, not the promoters, who made or broke oval races.
“Last year we added Milwaukee, Loudon, and there are races like Kentucky—it’s just disheartening when Kentucky and Milwaukee, right here in the heart of IndyCar, don’t get the numbers. Some people blame the promoters; I don’t believe that.
“Look at Vegas. I put together one of the best marketing campaigns I’ve done in 15 years I know that market as well as anybody—I drew 96,000 people to PBR [Professional Bull Riding, which Bernard built up from nothing, prior to signing on with IndyCar.] and we had marginal success at best.
“What we need to do is go back to the drawing board and create some successful events.”
The final race on the 2012 IndyCar schedule will be announced in early February, and the 2013 schedule will be announced in September Bernard assured listeners. Whether or not in contains more oval races depends on oval fans—if you want more later, watch more now.
