Well, Indycar…

Well, Indycar, the idea was good. Indycar had the best of intentions when they scheduled an “All Star” race in the middle of a six week break in the schedule. For that, race fans should say “thank you”. It’s quite a gap between St. Pete and Long Beach and it beckons the first few years of the Indy Racing League schedule.

The Thermal Million Dollar Challenge harkens us race fans back to the late 80’s and early 90’s when CART had The Marlboro Challenge. From 1987 to 1992 CART had a non-points paying race that was originally held at Miami’s Tamiami Park. The event then flip flopped between Laguna Seca and the one mile Nazareth Speedway. Those races were 100-mile distances and consisted of at least one pit stop. Sadly, this race was nothing like that. I do applaud Indycar though, they tried. Since Thermal is in the middle of the desert, let’s break this down like an old western, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good 

The best part was that race fans got three days of on track action. Either in person, or on Peacock. The race did provide some entertaining value as there was a scrap between the McLaren drivers as they scrapped for the final transfer position in the second heat race. Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden put on a wide and entertaining race for position in the finale. Colton Herta put on a show coming from the back of the pack to end up in the money finishing fourth.

The other highlights included a decent run by Pietro Fittipaldi. He qualified for the final after a fifth place finish in the second heat race. The run of the day really goes to Nolan Siegal. Siegal finished a respectable seventh losing out the transition spot by less than one second. Lest we forget this race was the Indy NXT standouts very first start in an Indycar. Things look promising for this rookie. Did I already mention that we got to see Indycars racing?

The Bad

I applaud NBC’s coverage of the event. Leigh Diffey is among the best there in all of sports. Hinch’s insight is also spectacular and the best since Bobby Unser was on ABC. Watching the race as a fan, it was tiring to be reminded about the Thermal Club. Race fans on social media seem to agree. Yes, how wonderful it is to be super rich and get a free race right in your backyard. It’s something that 98% of Indycar fans will never get to enjoy. I understand that Thermal hosted the event, but the constant reminder of multi-million dollar homes and a garage full of supercars just rubbed racing fans the wrong way.

According to those on social media it harkened back to the COVID days as there wasn’t much of a crowd. Also, when did Townsend Bell become Rutledge Wood? From checking out food trucks to hanging on the balconies with millionaires to putting on a practice green Townsend was all over Thermal showing us commoners something we will never be part of. That being a rich man’s club. It was essentially a rich man’s party, and you can watch, and for only $500 a person you can participate in some of it. I really think that left a bad taste in the mouth of most Indycar fans.

The Ugly

It just wasn’t a good event. It just felt like a forced racing event or more like a glorified test session with a race at the end. Even qualifying, which is usually thrilling, just lacked any type of excitement. What was supposed to be two exciting heat races and an action packed 20 lap shoot-out for half a million dollars turned into a snoozefest. Race one had a multi-car accident in the first turn of the first lap and it left drivers and owners a little upset. The pole sitter for both heat races ended up winning the race. The main event, split up into two 10-lap segments, lacked any type of excitement from the drop of the green flag.

The first segment resembled a parade and 10 lap install lap, but that was due to strategy and the rules of the shootout. Teams were not allowed to change tires after the first segment. The battle at the front? There wasn’t one as Alex Palou led the event flag to flag and was never really challenged winning by almost six seconds over Scott McLaughlin. Pietro Fittipaldi was disqualified when his team failed to properly fuel his car. Teammate Graham Rahal dropped out due to a throttle issue. The result was a 10 car, 10 lap shoot out that never was.

Romain Gosjean and Juncos Hollinger Racing ended up on the hook. On the truck and for money after his first lap crash that put him out of the race and damaged the car of Rinus Veekay. An angered Grosjean asked who was going to pay for his damaged car. His anger was justified after being punted by an out of character Scott Dixon. That resulted in a penalty for Dixon ending his day. JHR, RLL and Ed Carpenter Racing all experienced racing damage. That’s a hard pill to swallow for those teams that race on a tighter budget than those from Ganassi, Penske and Andretti.

The Fix

The Thermal Million Dollar Challenge is a great idea. You have to credit Indycar for rejuvenating an old format from the days of CART. The execution? Is there a word worse than poor? While Thermal is a nice venue it lacks the excitement that is included with a crowd. The circuit itself does not promote great racing, but that’s not it’s purpose. The venue? That needs to be changed at once.

Indycar fans like the idea that when they go to a race, they can see the cars up close, and be allowed in the paddock and sometimes the pits. They feel like part of the action. Thermal made me have flashbacks from when my brother would go to the Michigan 500, and I got left at home because I couldn’t afford my own ticket. I get why prices were so high, but this had club racing mentality. This is Indycar, not Formula One. Put it on an oval. It should be a 100 mile race on an oval, with a pit stop.

The old Marlboro Challenge consisted of race winners and pole sitters. They’d then sprinkle in cars based off of the season points. The format that worked in NASCAR for the original Busch Clash. The difference now is car availability. Every car that raced at Thermal was their full season cars. They don’t have the luxury to race the back up car. There is no backup car. Most teams have a road course car and an oval car. One car backs up the other if necessary. To this writer it kind’ve hinders aggressive driving. Most had nothing to lose when they were racing a back up car. Now teams like JHR are on the hook as they must fix their car for Long Beach. All for a non-points paying race.
If my opinion on this mattered, I would change the venue, change the horrible format, make the race longer, add a pitstop and put in an incentive to those wanting to charge from the back. Pay out a bonus for most places made up. Oh, and have double file restarts. The heat races were a clever idea, but why not invert the field why you are at it. As a race fan these are things that would be neat to see. The event wasn’t a total washout. The intent and idea were there.

So, what next do you ask? We must wait almost a month until the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 21st. Meanwhile Peacock announced that they will be covering the Indycar open test from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 10th and 11th. So that will wet our racing appetites. Race fans can either watch live on their TV’s, tablets or phones or head out to the track, take a picnic and sit on the spectator mounds on the inside of turn two. So, we leave Thermal with, “Hey Indycar, at least you tried.”