Pocono exec hopes IndyCar will stick around beyond 2018
THE GOOD NEWS for racing fans is, the Verizon IndyCar series will be running 200 mph laps at Pocono Raceway next year and in 2018.
THE GOOD NEWS for racing fans is, the Verizon IndyCar series will be running 200 mph laps at Pocono Raceway next year and in 2018.
I was surprised when the two-year extension was announced last week. The vibe I was getting was Sunday's ABC Supply 500 might be the last IndyCar event at Pocono. In the three years since IndyCar returned to Pocono, the crowds have diminished from the first year's crowd of an estimated 20,000 to 25,000.
Conceding that attendance for IndyCar at Pocono is not what track officials hoped for, Brandon Igdalsky, the track's president and CEO, said Monday: "We've lowered our expectations. The demand is there, it's just not at levels we'd like to see. The product is great entertainment and the racing is phenomenal."
Speculation has IndyCar lowering its sanctioning fee of an estimated $1 million per race to continue at Pocono. Igdalsky declined to discuss the financial arrangement with IndyCar.
Igdalsky hopes a two-year deal, with races each August, provides continuity for IndyCar at Pocono. The first two IndyCar races at Pocono were held over July 4 weekend.
"Two years will give us really good data to see if we can make it a truly viable event for everybody," Igdalsky said. "If we'd had this date from the beginning, we'd be having a different (more positive) conversation."
Racing legend Mario Andretti, the 1986 Pocono race winner, said he is delighted IndyCar will remain at Pocono.
"The fan base is getting used to it. Continuity is very important," Andretti said from his Nazareth, Pa., home. "The drivers like the track, because it's relatively relaxing, (but) you have to work it. Pocono was always my favorite super speedway. The speed is clearly there: (Indy cars) make NASCAR look slow (at Pocono)."
Despite the disappointing attendance at some tracks and low TV ratings compared with NASCAR, Andretti believes IndyCar is gaining traction.
"(Fans) are learning to appreciate the depth in talent, the kick-ass characters," he said. "They have a good group of American talent that will be around for a long time."
This year's seven IndyCar races on NBCSN have averaged 505,000 viewers, up 28 percent over the same period last year. Since NBC launched its coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup races July 2 from Daytona, the races are averaging 4.2 million viewers, up 7 percent over the same period last year.
After the Baltimore street race went away three years ago, Pocono was IndyCar's only Eastern venue until this year, when a street race in Boston was scheduled during Labor Day weekend. When that race was canceled in April, Watkins Glen International (N.Y.) stepped in and will host the race Sept. 4.
"I'm not happy with a race that close to my backyard," Igdalsky said, "but we're working well together. Watkins Glen is a totally different race (on a road course)."
Pocono plans to acknowledge the deaths of racers Justin Wilson and Bryan Clauson. Wilson died after he was struck in the head from crash debris late in last year's race. Clauson, a prominent dirt-track racer, died Aug. 7 following a crash in the Belleville Midget Nationals race in Kansas.
Marco's miserable year
Marco Andretti's IndyCar season has been beyond disappointing. He is 18th in points (only 20 race regularly in the series). Driving a Honda-powered race car for his father Michael's team, Marco has not led a lap and has no top-five finishes.
"It's a combination of a lot of things," Marco, 29, said recently. "The races more and more are track position. I need to step up my qualifying and end (the season) on a good note."
Chevrolet drivers, led by Penske's Simon Pagenaud, occupy the top six points positions.
In 2013, in the first race since IndyCar returned to Pocono, Marco led the most laps (88), but finished 10th. In the last two Pocono races, he's finished ninth.
Now in his 11th IndyCar season, Marco has only two career wins, the last in 2011.
"I wish we'd done a lot more, results-wise," he said.
His grandfather, Mario Andretti, offered this candid assessment of Marco's season: "It has not been good. Reality is reality. He has to start producing. Nobody is saying, 'Poor Marco.' "
Lady Gaga 'awesome'
Mario Andretti's passenger in a fast two-seater ride around the track before the Indianapolis 500 in May was none other than Lady Gaga. She was a late replacement for country singer Keith Urban, who withdrew.
"She was totally awesome," Andretti said. "A real sport, very approachable. During the driver introductions, she was kissing some Pearl Harbor veterans, who had no idea who she is. One veteran asked, 'Lady, are you married?'
"She said she asked her mother about taking the ride. Her mother told her, 'You must go with Mario. If you don't go, I will.' "
Mother and daughter Gaga are smart people.
This week's IndyCar race
ABC Supply 500
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pa.
When: Sunday, 3 p.m.
TV: NBCSN
Course: 2.5-mile tri-oval
Distance: 200 laps
Forecast: scattered thunderstorms, mid-70s
Last year's winner: Ryan Hunter-Reay
Last year's pole: Helio Castroneves, 220.530 mph
Track qualifying record: Juan Pablo Montoya, 223.920 mph (2014)
Track facts: Ryan Hunter-Reay led 29 laps, including the last five, to win a year ago race. Joseph Newgarden finished second, Juan Pablo Montoya was third. The lead changed 33 times . . . Montoya won the 2014 Verizon IndyCar race at Pocono . . . Alexander Rossi, this year's Indianapolis 500 winner, is 11th in points . . . USAC midget races are scheduled Saturday, starting at 8:30 a.m. on a temporary track behind the grandstand.
POINTS LEADERS
Simon Pagenaud. . . 484
Will Power. . . 426
Helio Castroneves. . . 373
Josef Newgarden. . . 364
Scott Dixon. . . 357
Tony Kanaan. . . 357
Wins: Simon Pagenaud, 4; Will Power, 3; Josef Newgarden, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, Sebastian Bourdais, Alexander Rossi, 1 each.