“Anger, sadness, competition, optimism”- these are words that come to mind when we think back to the 2011 racing season.” Anger” displayed regularly by the sometimes out- of- control Busch brothers, “sadness” at the death of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon, “competition” during the Chase for the Sprint Cup and “optimism” that open wheel Indy Car racing was on a much- needed upswing.
But the calendar has just changed to 2012 and many of these issues are now history, while others will continue to be in the headlines for the next twelve months. Let’s take a brief look ahead to see what could be important during the soon-to-be racing season.
• IZOD INDY CAR SERIES- Popular Danica Patrick has defected to NASCAR, everyone wants oval track races but no one seems to want to attend (or promote) them and the long-promised new chassis has underwhelmed most who have seen the test numbers.
With only 15 races on the schedule, we’re now less than three months from the first green flag and the series is struggling to find venues that are willing to host events. IndyCar heads to China and Sao Paulo but can’t find promoters willing to do business at Phoenix, Milwaukee, Chicago or Michigan. Oval tracks were the heart of open wheel racing in the past, but the 2012 model world-wide is almost 100% road course/street events. If people are clamoring for oval races, they’d better start filling the seats. We’re down to four ovals on the circuit, with California (Fontana) back for one more attempt after a lengthy hiatus. And though it isn’t an oval, the inaugural race on the streets of Baltimore, initially thought to be a business and competitive success, recently lost its organizer after a closer look at the finances.
• On the up-side, three engine suppliers (Honda, Chevrolet and Lotus) will be involved this year, the Versus cable network is now branded as NBC Sports and may draw more viewers with greater promotion of the series on the NBC network, and despite teething problems (slower speeds and poor weight distribution) with Dallara’s new chassis, there has been a solid demand by teams for the DW12, indicating strong numbers on the 2012 grid.
When IndyCar relieved Brian Barnhart of his Race Director duties, many replacements were considered; among them a number of former IICS drivers. In a recent hiring, Beaux Barfield has assumed the Hot Seat on race weekends and his first job will be to rewrite the Series’ rule book to remove as many Gray Areas as possible. Clarity will hopefully be the operative word. Barfield has a resume that include directing various series in CART and recently as Race Director for the ALMS. He also has been in the cockpit in FF2000 and Indy Lights.
As to scheduling for 2013 and beyond, Watkins Glen has reportedly shown interest in returning to the calendar, while Phoenix, Milwaukee and Road America have apparently had discussions. What many feel the series needs is a consistent schedule with races on predictable dates every year so sponsors can promote and fans can plan for the long term. Self-promotion by the series may be an answer: actually it may soon become the only answer to help the series grow.
Next week we’ll look at the upcoming Indy 500 and the 2012 Sprint Cup Series.
Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.
Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.
The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.
Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.
He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.
Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”
Fourth TurnIndyCar SeriesPaul Gohde