The IndyCar Thermal Club Million Dollar Challenge is the latest in a string of public relations blunders for the premier American open-wheel racing series. From a lack of adequate marketing to the difficult introduction of a new hybrid engine. The Thermal Club All-Star race was a self-inflicted injury that may have been prevented. It made the entire series appear awful.
The track demonstrated its worth over the four test sessions. A circuit with long straights and smooth flowing bends is ideal for testing. The teams gathered a wealth of valuable data for the remainder of the road course season. Unfortunately, that is the only positive thing IndyCar can take from this weekend. Hosting an event in a gated enclave with few to no fans in attendance will not propel the series into the spotlight as they believe. Instead, make it feel like a “All-Star” weekend. The Million Dollar Challenge appeared to be more of an exclusive theme party for the local community. Some backyard enjoyment while the drivers were made to appear stupid on international television.
I don’t see why anyone thought this format was a good idea. If you want to hold an IndyCar All-Star race with many heats, that’s fine, but provide the drivers the resources to compete. The grand final, in particular, proved problematic. Limiting the drivers to a single set of tires for 20 laps, when many already battled with 10 laps, was a prescription for catastrophe. Rather than watching the top IndyCar drivers compete for huge money, we saw 12 drivers take it slow to conserve tires. The NBC crew theorized all weekend that teams would adopt this technique, and it actually occurred. Not to mention the terrible halftime break after ten laps. Which was also called too late.
Did nobody at IndyCar see this coming? The drivers are not to fault; they followed the rules established by this format. When a team discovers an exploit, they will take it. Colton Herta was an excellent example. The Andretti driver was 9 seconds per lap slower than race leader Alex Palou, who likewise didn’t push the tires to their limits. Why weren’t there spare tires for the last ten laps? Give the drivers a fresh set of boots so they can push throughout the race. It’s not that complicated.
While the broadcast is usually one of the highlights of an IndyCar weekend, this time it conveyed the incorrect message. Almost every ten minutes, they wanted to emphasize how wonderful and welcome Thermal Club is. I am fully aware that it is a very exclusive club to which nearly no one will have access. It’s normal to express gratitude once or twice, but overdoing it became comical. Certainly when the group was given a tour of a garage filled with multimillion-dollar supercars. Everything about the event shouted riches and success, which is hilarious given how IndyCar has recently screamed anything but wealth and success. Even at the “Million Dollar Challenge” event, the winner “only” received $50,000.
Finally, Marshall Pruett’s tweet summarizes current IndyCar concerns.
2024 has not been a fantastic year for IndyCar fans. Perhaps the series will rekindle a great feeling in a few weeks when IndyCar returns the renowned streets of Long Beach.
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