Back home from the Speedway, and I've had a few hours to mull over the first unified Indianapolis 500 in 13 years. Some thoughts:
* In their heart of hearts, the open-wheel honchos' hearts must have sunk a little bit when Scott Dixon held off Vitor Meira to win. Dixon's a great guy with obvious skills and was clearly the best of the best yesterday, but he doesn't exactly move the excitement needle. He is, in fact, pretty bland.
The best stories in this race finished second (Meira) and third (Marco Andretti). Or even fourth (Helio Castroneves) or sixth (rookie of the year and uber-quote Ryan Hunter-Reay). Dixon richly deserved his win, but how does IndyCar market him?
* Couldn't help thinking, as I watched Sam Hornish Jr. struggle again at Charlotte on Sunday night, if maybe he isn't kicking himself for jumping to NASCAR. I understand why he did it, and it made sense at the time, but with IndyCar back together again and ascendant, I wouldn't blame him for having second thoughts.
No matter how huge it is, it's a demonstrative fact that NASCAR has flat-lined. IndyCar, on the other hand, has new life. Check out which one's TV and attendance numbers are on the rise.
* Speaking of which (and I'll say more about this in our Old School Journalism version tomorrow), the first unified 500 yesterday was a smashing success attendance wise. Those of us who've been around for awhile agreed unanimously that the crowd was the biggest we've seen since before the split. And as anecdotal evidence, we all sat in traffic in places and at times that we haven't in at least a decade.
* Going back to Hornish and NASCAR, one last thought. I think if Indy really wants to get back to the old days, it should move the 500 off Sunday and back to Memorial Day, or maybe to Saturday. That way it's not going head-to-head with Charlotte, which means some of the NASCAR guys who might want to run both would have a chance to do so again.
The 500 gained added juice back in the late '60s and early '70s when some of the NASCAR boys, like Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough and Donnie and Bobby Allison, came to Indy. Can you imagine the buzz if Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or Dale Earnhardt Jr. did the same? Or Ryan Newman, a Hoosier native? Or Kasey Kahne, who came up through the open-wheel ranks?
Love to see those guys at Indy.
-- Ben Smith
Comments