IndyCar’s Blueprint For The Future
Whilst the track can be improved in Nashville, IndyCar has created a fantastic event blueprint that they can roll out in the future, setting a high standard for urban circuit design and fan engagement in motorsports.
Last weekend IndyCar visited a new street course in Nashville as part of its 2021 schedule. The music and party town had all the ingredients for a successful weekend which many agree is exactly what it pulled off. The Singapore Grand Prix in F1 has long been F1’s blueprint on how to structure its future events. The city-state hosts one of the best Grands Prix with the on-track action supported by a festival-like atmosphere which continues long after the racing with performances from world-renowned artists. For this race in Nashville, it seems that IndyCar has put its own spin on this style of event, which could now serve as their blueprint going forwards.
RACING ON ITS OWN IS NOT ENOUGH
We currently live in a time where entertainment has never been more accessible. With social media, YouTube and more, people are being given less and less reason to leave their house for entertainment. This is visible in crowd numbers at many sporting events, with many events struggling to charge what they used to for tickets. IndyCar is not exempt from this trend, albeit it seems to not be hit as hard as other sports. Through the series’ history the spectacle of racing alone was enough to pull people from all over to their local race track to watch the action. As new entertainment sources have been innovated our needs and desires have evolved and become more complex. Many sports have failed to recognise this as they supply largely the same experience as what they were 20-30 years ago.
New events like the Nashville Indy Grand Prix gives IndyCar a chance to tweak the format a bit to update their fan experience. In modern times sporting series need to think more about the big picture fan experience to ensure they’re able to pull fans from their houses to trackside. The Nashville Grand Prix looks to have done just that by creating a festival atmosphere where the racing event is one of many things happening over the weekend. Each city they go to gives them an opportunity to create a regional experience to ensure that locals are being given what they like, and tourists are getting a local experience. In Nashville IndyCar secured some top country music talent to give the event a truly Nashville sound and feel.
By creating a festival rather than a racing event it allows IndyCar to attract interest from many non-racing fans who may want to attend just to see their favourite country stars perform. Then there is an opportunity to turn these people into new fans by giving them an unforgettable experience and in turn make them fans of the IndyCar experience rather than purely the racing. In the age of social media it is just as important, if not more important to have people talking about the series online as it is to have bottoms on seats and eyes on TV screens.
TAKE THE RACES TO FANS
Street races are nothing new for motorsport, as the streets of the world have hosted many kinds of race events from some of the biggest to some of the smallest. These races are also a fantastic way to introduce racing to new areas which is exactly how the Zhuhai Street Circuit introduced motorsport to China. In the early 90’s there were no permanent tracks in the country as it had only just recently opened its borders and started to allow western culture to in uence the country. Building brand new facilities to an international standard can cost 100s of millions of dollars and whilst in the long run permanent facilities work out way cheaper than street circuits, the street circuit is a fantastic way to test the waters in a new area or country.
Being a mostly domestic series would make it seem like IndyCar has limited opportunities to host many big events. That’s not the case here in the land of opportunity as the USA is home to no less than 55 metropolitan areas with a population over 1 million. This list includes some very famous destination cities that IndyCar does not currently visit such as New Orleans, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and New York City. These are huge markets and going forwards IndyCar is going to want to take a slice of the sporting market in these cities if it really wants to regain its place as Americas premier racing series.
Most of these cities also have nearby oval and/or road course facilities that are ready to go, or would need minor upgrades to host IndyCar events. Also spreading the racing a little more evenly across the country will ensure as many fans a possible have access to a live event. The value of an event to the areas will be raised too as rather than making multiple visits to nearby areas they may only be making one, which will ensure fans get out to their local event so as to not miss out.
