Here Are All The Ways You Would Fix IndyCar If You Had The Power

Indianapolis-style car racing is experiencing something of a slow growth phase right now under the tutelage and ownership of Roger Penske, but it hasn't been without some stumbling blocks. I've been following this series since before "the split" and I don't think I can recall a single IndyCar fan that didn't want to see the sport change in some way or another. Over the weekend I asked the Jalopnik commentariat to weigh in on how they would modify the IndyCar rulebook if they were given ultimate control over the sport for a day. Their answers did not disappoint. 

For an example of some of the weirdness of IndyCar, the series raced this weekend on a track that simply wasn't ready to host it. To make matters worse, the race was held way out in a suburb of Toronto instead of its traditional spot along Lakeshore Boulevard in downtown Toronto. The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy At Markham was a weird microcosm of how messed up the series is right now, and how far it has to go to get millions of fans back into the game. 

Most of the answers from Jalopnik readers had some good ideas for expanding the IndyCar narrative. There's definitely a good foundation from which to work, the house has good bones, but it needs a little kick in the pants. Some folks felt the series was beyond saving and needs to be disbanded, and in typical IndyCar fanbase tradition, some felt the series needed to be more American and open-wheel focused, while others say it should appeal internationally and get rid of the ovals altogether.

There are so many ways to improve the pinnacle of open-wheel racing that we haven't even touched on here. If you have input, or didn't get an opportunity to answer this question when it came around the first time, jump in the comments and let us know. Let's dig in.

Where does one start? Management is too old. A lot of young blood needs to be in control. One chassis that could be running in Historics for several years is not a good look There is no reason for other engine manufactures' to enter the series. The auto industry is way ahead of Indycar.

If one wants to know what the American business community thinks of F-1 vs Indycar. Look at the sponsors on the cars. Every F-1 team has U,S. sponsors and none of those sponsors are on an IndyCar And they spend a ton of money to do so. As an example, Oracle spend $80-100M on Red Bull. That would fund 5-6 IndyCars for the season. Rotating sponsors is not a good idea either. Another point. Where is the hospitality? Sponsors want to be wined and dined in comfort I went to 2 races' this year and saw 3 hospitality units. Attend an F-1 are and walk down hospitality row. There is millions of dollars being spent.

IndyCar has cried poverty for too many years. They need better marketing, better sponsors and fresh blood. Get rid of the charter system. That is designed to protect the current owners and keep new teams out.

IndyCar does not take pride in their product. I have been to 2 races this year. Walking thru the paddock, I have never seen so many dirty filthy transporters. Stopping at a truck wash before coming to the track might help. Keeping equipment new and fresh would help. Many of the transports are older than my grandkids and it shows.

Suggested by Clay Malooley

While I agree with much of what you've said, fixing the sponsors isn't something you can do without fixing the underlying sport. You have to make the racing good to attract more viewers in order to attract better sponsors. You're right, but the order in which you fix things is reversed. And yes, management (Roger Penske is 89) is too old, that's pretty true of motorsport across the board. 

get rid of the street circuits. they are boring and generally terrible watch.. not very exciting to see a 250mph cars between concrete walls and fencing. Formula e has the same problem... they get exciting about racing in the middle of some city but the racetracks themselves look the same.

I seem to remember the Wisconsin race on the airport runways produced some very exciting racing and finishes. The circuit in Montreal is used 1x per year by F1.. why not bring IndyCar there? EU circuits that are being abandoned by F1, can they expand there? Indycar used to race in Mexico

replicate what made CART/ChampCar so successful in the 90s: great racing, drivers from F1 came to CART, races outside USA. diversity of chassis (4-5) and engines (3-4) and stop changing liveries race-to-race, they make it difficult to follow

Suggested by Armand S

I don't think it's street circuits that are the problem, it's good street circuits. Long Beach is an all-time great and should always host IndyCar, but Detroit is a boring slog, and the new addition at Markham is rinky dink junk. I'm not overly optimistic that the Freedom 250 in Washington D.C. will be any better.

Everyone shares an HP cap, weight cap, safety standards and max budget and open wheels.

Nothing more

Spec racing is shrug worthy.

Suggested by Biff Magnitude

It really depends on if you like watching racing or you like watching engineering. Spec racing can be some of the best racing on the planet, and well-engineered cars can run away and win by a minute. There's a lot more to it than that, but I certainly would love to see a technological mixup in the IndyCar field. 

Step 1: Tell the truth. Playing to the naive belief in American Exceptionalism is what got Indycar into this mess. In the 1990's Indycar was on its way to challenge F1 after the split the sport stopped looking outside the American borders and atrophied into irrelevance. The combined ratings of five F1 races in North America rates more than then entire season of Indycar.

Step 2: Decide what sort of motorsport you are. Are you a development sport like F1 or are you a control category like GT3 and NASCAR? Either answer has pros and cons, but at the moment Indycar is a control category sport that pretends it is a constructor category. By trying to please everyone it pleases no-one

Step 3: Decide who your audience is. Are you a domestic category like NASCAR, or are you a sport trying to gain foreign viewers? At present you are a domestic sport that pretends to be world class and you are pleasing no-one.

Indycar needs to start being honest with the fans, decide what sort of category it is and decide who its audience is.

When you address these three issues the path forward will be clear to resolve things like control chassis, control aero, engines, ovals versus road circuits etc, pace cars, closeness of racing etc.

If Indycar does not resolve these three dysfunctions, all you will do is solve symptoms and ignore the underlying problems of a category that does not have a shared vision which not only lies to the fans about what it stands for but most damningly lies to itself!!

Suggested by Peter

That's the thing, Peter. I asked what you would do if you were in charge. Dream bigger! 

As a viewer there are simply too many liveries and they change too often. Teams should not get multiple liveries and for gods sake, clean up the look.

Oh, also, get away from a one chassis series...there's too much spec in this spec racing.

Suggested by Vanillasludge

I agree that the teams need to reduce the number of livery changes in a season, perhaps allowing a special livery for the Indy 500. Unfortunately the livery issue is a compounding of all of the series' other issues. Drivers and teams can't attract sponsorship dollars for a full season, so they piece together half a dozen different three or five-race contracts and re-wrap the car before every weekend. Make the racing better, get more viewers, the sponsors will come. 

Ice racing on the Great Lakes.

Suggested by Cone Bunny

Incredible. Yes. No notes. Brilliant. 

CART tried being more international it didn't work, but Mexico City should already be a race. I'm fine with hybrids and ovals I would even throw in a dirt track. Anyway to compete with f1...I would implement JR Hildebrand's Blackbird 66 Mk. 1, and then give Lewis and Max boat loads of cash and there own teams.

Suggested by Brian Jac

I really like the Blackbird 66 model, and JR is right that racing largely needs less grip from downforce and more power. Yeah, that might fix IndyCar. 

Considering Indy Car couldn't even complete their track in time for a scheduled race, I seriously doubt they can take on anything of the magnitude necessary to get out of their hole.

Suggested by Randomizer

Markham wasn't good for business, you're right. 

Yeah, fewer ovals.

Suggested by Music Teacher 17

IndyCar currently only races at five ovals, and if you kill the Indy 500 I'll show up to give you a well-deserved butt whoopin'. 

Well, Its a American sport. So you have to do American things. Fist Fights for starters. More Road courses and throw in the wild card of having a few Altimas on the track with the drivers using cell phones.

Then all teams most use only two pit areas. No more teams getting their own pit area. And each driver must get out and run to a counter then pick up some beefy jerky then run back to their car. Its like trying to pull it to a gas station in the States.

Hmm Nevermind I thought we were talking about Nascar. Just remember Indy is not dead yet.

Suggested by Jay

It's so American they should deport the foreign-born drivers for takin' jobs from the real Americans who can't compete. 

1. Get rid of the windscreen and canopy. This isn't Le Mans.

2. Add two wheels.

Six-wheel indy cars and danger! That'll bring the people back.

That and perfectly timed Blue Angels fly-overs when the checkered flag is out.

Suggested by dolsh

I usually try to avoid telling readers that their ideas are dumb. The windscreen has already prevented dozens of potentially-life-threatening brain injuries. Caring about the safety of their drivers is the best thing motor racing has ever done. 

You don't. Honestly I have not watched Indy since I was a kid. Almost as boring as NASCAR. Just stop trying and put your efforts into road racing like WTCC, WEC, or IMSA.

Suggested by ChaosphereVIII

You're aware, then, that WTCC has been dead for almost a decade?

No more ovals. BORING!

Suggested by Vince Gc

You can watch any of the 12 non-oval races that IndyCar ran this season. Many of them were far more boring than the oval races were. 

If you are in charge for one day you cant. It would be a long road. First thing I would do is not go to Markham

Suggested by Scott The Stagehand

I need you to have a little imagination here to make the whole thing work. None of this matters, you can just make it up. I agree, however, that Markham was a mess.

LOL!!! 1995 is calling and they want their talking points back.

The IRL was formed to be MORE merkun, not less.

The IRL put fenders on them thar wheels so they're no longer AOWR, they're YARS, and NASCAR ate their lunch after "the split" and they've only been getting far for three decades on sponsor cash — sponsors who rightly didn't want to spread their advertising budget on two competing series when they could spend it on one.

The IRL's foe here isn't F1. F1 was a good foil and frenemy in 1995, but now they are billions ahead of the game. The IRL's foe was NASCAR in the 2000's and now that's left the IRL in the dust.

In case it's confusing, IndyCar was a CART term and they had a product never yet equalled. Multiple engine mfgs you mention? They had 3, 5 if you count the Buick and Penske at Clabbergirl Motor Raceway. Chassis? 3, and 4 if you count the Penske he wouldn't sell mods to for Stephan Johansen. Drivers? Lil' Drunkie and Whinedretti cut their teeth in the real Indycar.

So did AJ Socipafoyt, Vasser. Tracy (what a thrill from West Hill!). International? You mean Emmo, Raul, Montoya, Zanardi, Luyendyk?

I agree with the article, and I've been a fan for a long long time. Obi Wan will remember, as will Alan Pagan. But (and I hate to start a sentence with a conjunction) it is not 1995 and ever since January 1st, 1996 there will never be another 1995.

AOWRS was destroyed by FTG. NASCAR won the short game. F1 won the long game. Hat's off to Viv and real fans!

Suggested by ehud gavron

I'm not sure about all that, or even if I understand much of it, but FTG is damn right. 

Televising races would be a good start. Add a second race besides Indy. Give media access to the drivers and hope they don't have the personality of a race car driver.

Suggested by Chris

Every race this season is televised on free-to-air Fox. IndyCar has Long Beach, Road America, and Laguna Seca as some of the greatest tracks on its schedule, so while there is plenty to complain about, there are certainly great races in the series. Media has a lot more access to the IndyCar paddock than they do to almost any other racing series. It seems you're not very familiar with the sport. 

Let teams loose when it comes to tech, costs up to a hard cap, and materials. Cap the horsepower/torque at a certain number and let the teams decide how they are going to get to make that kind of power. Give the teams the hard points of a chassis and a safety cage for the driver, but beyond that, it's up to the teams. Do they want to go with a V8 and modify the car to make it fit, but have the weight, size, and fuel consumption issues? Or do they turbocharge the snot out of a smaller engine, but incorporate hybrid technology? Do they work with a specific tire company for specific tires for their specific cars? AWD tech by using electric motors in the front for the extra grip and power in corners for the tight road courses?

I know what I wrote here is very simplistic and can be exploited to any advantage. But, and we have this argument with NASCAR all of the time, let's bring the cars back into the race and not just the driver. Reward the teams with the best engineers or creative geniuses that can work within the loosened constraints of designing and building an Indycar. I think this will prevent the races from turning into 400 mile parades and encourage teams to take chances with designs and race strategies each week. Bring it back to what it was back in the 1960s when it was a free-for-all with ideas and designs.

Suggested by Xavier96

I'm going to guess you haven't watched IndyCar in a while if you think they're running 400 mile parades. There are certainly some boring events, particularly with Palou being a master of tire conservation and speed, but more often than not an IndyCar race is miles more exciting than your average F1 event, with major passes, wildly different strategies, and at least one ridiculous mistake causing a caution. 

As for "bringing it back to what it was back in the 1960s" would you prefer to watch an Indy 500 like 1969 when Mario Andretti won by over two minutes, or 1967 when A.J. Foyt won by over two laps? The problem with making things a "free-for-all" is that one team gets it right and walks away from the field.