For IndyCar, Indy 500 and Grand Prix now on the clock: ‘We’re absolutely focused on May’
Every year since 1946, Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been a sacred corner of the calendar for the world’s most talented race car drivers and hundreds of thousands of American open-wheel racing’s most passionate fans.
For 74 showings of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, no economic crisis, health scare nor war has taken the race to its knees.
After Friday’s news that IndyCar had canceled the first four races on the 2020 calendar because of coronavirus, essentially putting the sport on pause until May 1, that prospect is firmly on the table. Penske Entertainment Corp. CEO Mark Miles and IMS president Doug Boles are prepared to pull out all the stops to hold the race May 24, but Miles admitted on a conference call that there’s no way to predict what may be possible less than two months from now on the IMS road and oval tracks.
“Everything is fluid, and it’s changing by the hour. I think that underscores the gravity of the situation,” Miles said. “But we’re absolutely focused on May. We’re going to go home and keep doing what we do. We’re going to be absolutely ready (for the Indianapolis 500), and that’s with a normal schedule.
“Obviously, we’re going to evaluate everything every day, by the hour, and make changes we have to make. But the mindset and effort is dedicated completely to put on a great show throughout May.”
IndyCar sources confirmed to the Indianapolis Star that the halting of series events until May 1 will extend to testing activities on the books for Richmond (scheduled ahead of the series’ return in June), Barber (where NASCAR vet Jimmie Johnson was scheduled to test in an IndyCar with Arrow McLaren SP) and others.
The series said in its original statement that the first four races of the year – the street course at St. Petersburg, Florida, Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, the streets of Long Beach, California and Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas– were “canceled”, but Miles noted on his call that the only race of the four 100% off the books for 2020 was the street course race in southern California, originally scheduled for April 19. According to a source, IndyCar has not “foreclosed the possibility” of rescheduling the races at St. Petersburg, Barber and Austin at a later date in 2020.
Thursday night, Long Beach city officials announced they would bow to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request to halt mass gatherings of 250 or more people . They halted “all large-scale events” scheduled for the city through the end of April, including the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“We recognize that this decision affects tens of thousands of residents and visitors, and for some will create immense financial hardships,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia on Twitter. “But our top priority must be the health and well-being of our community, and this is absolutely the right thing to do.”
Until late Friday morning, IndyCar and St. Petersburg officials were, at least publicly, standing firm in their belief that holding the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday afternoon with no fans and only essential personnel on site was medically safe.
The IndyCar schedule for the weekend had been condensed, canceling Friday on-track activities while planning to hold a pair of practices Saturday before late-afternoon qualifications. Sunday’s race was still scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the time, though additional protocol modifications had been made.
Only select media would be permitted to cover the event. No personal cars would be allowed on-site, and all people admitted onto the grounds – from drivers, to team, series, sponsor, safety and media personnel – would have to undergo a medical evaluation. Also, media members would not be allowed any in-person interactions with the drivers.
