IndyCar: Drivers have ideas for Series Growth
The IndyCar drivers are excited to have the 2022 race season get started. The media met with half of the field today to ask questions about the coming season. It was interesting to listen to how some drivers would handle the issue of getting more fans in the seats at the races.
Pato O’Ward. the 22-year-old driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet., was spot on when talking about what the series needs to do to expand the fan base. “Man, it’s a tough one because with all these things that you can be doing marketing-wise, it all comes at a cost. It all comes at a price. The budgets are different. The budget that Formula 1 has will be stratospheric compared to what INDYCAR can do. Same with NASCAR. Every series has its own things.”
The Mexican continued, “But I think first off, we need to hop on the train of having a show because racing itself is not going to do enough. People need to see what’s behind that in order for them to get interested because it’s like any sport.”
“You’ve seen it in Formula 1. Formula 1 is growing insane, and it’s all because of the Netflix series. I think an important thing is that it has to be done in a platform that people have and people watch, not just spend it and have it somewhere where it’s not really reachable by many people.”
Roman Grosjean, the Frenchman driving the No 28 DHL entry for Andretti Autosport, gave the TV package a thumbs up. The Frenchman, who just moved his family to Miami, Florida to be closer to the race events, is pretty well spoken about his following after leaving F1 and coming to IndyCars.
“I can only tell you that I saw the starting time of the races this year, and I think for Europe they are in a much better place than they were last year. Having a race here around midday eastern time, even morning, makes it at least 5:00, 6:00 p.m. back in Europe, 7:00 p.m. So that’s definitely a good time for Europe to be watching, for South America, as well, so that’s a step in the right direction for the series.”
“But definitely — I know France last year did 100 percent on viewing, so they doubled what they were doing, so that’s great. Still not Formula 1, but it’s getting there.”
“Yes, there’s many platforms out there . Definitively Peacock broadcasting the 17 races live, it’s going to be a good thing this year, as well as the TV channel.”
“And if Amazon or Netflix or whoever wants to come and do a series behind the scenes, I’d be more than happy to get on board.”
Marcus Ericsson, driver of the No 8 Chip Ganassi Racing entry, also was happy with the broadcast schedule. “Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the calendar and the
start times. Like you said, it’s really good for the European audiences. Most of the races are starting in a good time slot, almost primetime in Europe on Sunday nights. It’s
really good.”
“I know in Sweden me and Felix have a big following, a lot of people watching our races. I know in other European countries as well with more and more European drivers. I think it’s great for the series because there is a big interest in motorsports in Europe. ”
“Everyone that I know that have started to watch INDYCAR the last couple years have loved it because the way the racing is, how entertaining it is. I think it’s clever by the series to put it more easy for people”
Ed Carpenter, owner of Ed Carpenter Racing, added his views for growing the series. “I think we need to do everything in our power, which I believe that everyone is, to make sure the product we’re putting out there with this opportunity that we have, with the growing number of network races, to be putting the right product out to market to continue the growth, not only cater to the great fans that we have but to draw in more fans and grow the base.”
“At the end of the day that’s going to be the thing that continues to drive us forward. We have a great product.”