Will Indy now take Baltimore’s Labor Day weekend date? (Update)

UPDATE A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, Regarding Indy have an IndyCar race in early May before the 500 – Why would you run two races at the same facility two weeks apart? Why would you ask your fan base to make the same trip twice in two weeks. I come back for pole weekend and stay the week before the 500. I would make the trip back in the fall for a second race at the speedway especially if it were a Saturday night under the lights. Two races at the same facility two weeks apart is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Jerry Marney

Dear Jerry, we could not agree more. AR1.com has recommended that the IndyCar season end on Labor Day weekend Saturday night under the lights with a 400-miler on the Indy oval. That is absolutely the best scenario from our perspective. It would be huge. But instead IndyCar thinks a road course race in early May is the way to go. While we endorse a 2nd race at Indy, we worry that a race just 2 weeks before the 500 will be a box office flop. Mark C.

08/08/13 With the announcement (see Hot News page) that Baltimore will give up its Labor Day IndyCar weekend date the pump is now primed for the Indy Speedway to take that date and add a 2nd IndyCar race on that weekend as long proposed by AR1.com and later endorsed by the Boston Consulting Group.

That means the Speedway will book-end the summer with the traditional 500-miler on Memorial Day weekend and a 400-miler on Labor Day weekend under the planned newly installed lights. Under the lights the race will draw an estimated 200,000 fans and be a huge success.

While the Boston Consulting Group recommended the Labor Day weekend race be run on the road course, AR1.com knows it would be better to run it on the oval under the lights. It would be huge.

As for the NHRA running in Indy on that same weekend – not an issue. The IndyCar race would run on Saturday night (Sunday night rain date) while the NHRA finals are Monday Labor Day. And besides, the NHRA crowd is miniscule compared to what the IndyCars will draw at the Speedway.