(Photo: Karl Zemlin/INDYCAR)
By Aaron Bearden
The NTT IndyCar Series field will line up on the grid for the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 in less than three weeks. “(Back Home Again in) Indiana” will likely play. “Taps” may also make its traditional appearance.
Stars from all around the world will collectively fill a field of (hopefully) 33 and scream past the iconic pagoda at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in rows of three to take the green flag.
A few hours later one will get the most important drink of milk they could ever hope to receive. They’ll follow it up with a kiss to some bricks that only racing fans could ever hope to understand.
The “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” will carry all the importance and pageantry of any other year.
But there’s a catch this time: No one will be there to see it.
And believe it or not, that’s a good thing.
One of the most iconic and historic races in the world, the Indianapolis 500 is an event embedded in the culture of Indiana and American motorsport. The Hoosier state’s quarter features an indy car, as do the most recent driver’s licenses issued to its citizens.
Indy 500 race day is something of a holiday for Hoosiers and midwestern race fans. More than 300,000 people flock to the Brickyard each May, eager to do everything from taking in a marquee race to partying with friends and seeing their favorite DJ in the Snake Pit. Drunk college students and elderly race fans intersect in the infield, finding common ground in checkered flag clothing and a love of that special day in May.
Fans knew that this year would be a bit different before the pandemic ever arrived following Penske Corporation’s acquisition of the track and series in February. But in February the thought process behind any shifts was optimistic.
That quickly changed back in March, as COVID-19 brought all sports to a halt. From the moment the pandemic began to take over the United States, social media lit up with hopeful race attendees asking what it meant for their annual May pilgrimage.
It didn’t take long to find out. The race was shifted back from May to August – a first for an event that began well over a century ago. The Snakepit and typical infield festivities were ruled out immediately, and attendance was capped at 50%.
At the time the news seemed jarring and disappointing, but as the pandemic set in the decision shifted from disheartening to cautiously optimistic and, ultimately, downright infeasible.
Track officials held their ground early on. Penske himself vowed not to hold the race without fans in June as track officials worked to sort out a fair system for allocating tickets to fans.
But deep down it was impossible to shake the feeling that an Indy 500 with spectators was too good to be true in the current COVID-19 era.
Fifty percent attendance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is well over 100,000 people. Even the July drop to 25-percent attendance indicated a crowd of over 80,000 people, well over even the 30,000 potential attendance offered by NASCAR’s All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in Indiana over recent weeks. While IMS was announcing its reduction to 25 percent capacity on July 22, Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force, told leaders of several states to be prepared for a rise in numbers.
Indiana was among them. And its cathedral of speed was preparing to host what would have been the largest single-day event held since the pandemic began – even shrugging off its corporate partner IU Health when the company elected to “strongly encourage IMS to consider an alternative to running the Indy 500 with fans in August.”
Penske, Mark Miles and Doug Boles couldn’t actually take that risk, could they?
As it turns out, the answer is no.
Even with an 88-page health and safety plan, miles of seating and over 900 acres to offer social distancing opportunities, the risk associated with bringing 80,000 fans to one central location in the current climate proved too much to justify – both due to the health dangers and the potential for criticized imagery of that many people clustered together as other sports largely compete without in-person crowds at all.
The Indy 500 still likely needs to take place at this point. Teams have days of effort and financial resources tied to it. Both the series and NBC serve to benefit from the financial and social swing that comes from the television broadcast, and the competitors themselves have expressed an interest in racing for the glory of a 500 win even if it means running without spectators.
It is critical to the life of our series, to the life of our organizations, to the jobs that this series and racing provides to thousands of individuals,” Graham Rahal said of the race in a pair of videos shared on social media. “To the cottage industries in Indianapolis that rely on IndyCar racing, and without IndyCar racing and all sorts of those things, those cottage industries might disappear.
“This race is important. This race is the biggest thing each and every year. Without this, I really don’t know if the series goes on in the same manner. I don’t know if a lot of the teams survive without the Indy 500 as we go into the winter. And I know there’s a lot of you, I’ve seen it on Twitter, who don’t care. Who’d rather see us out of business than see us have this race without fans. But it is critical that we go forward. I hope that you guys can understand that, support that.”
With the race just weeks away, Indiana’s COVID-19 situation has taken a turn for the worst. The state has seen its largest daily COVID-19 case totals yet over the past month, with the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) reporting between 550 and 997 cases on each day since July 13. The moving average current sits at 803 cases.
While deaths have lowered significantly since the peak on April 27, they remain a potential risk to many that could obtain the sickness – particularly those that have preexisting conditions or fall into the older demographics. ICU bed usage remains somewhat significant as well, with an estimated 37.2% of all beds in the state currently available per the ISDH.
Ventilator usage is down, with an estimated 82.8% availability at the time of writing. But with the pandemic continuing, cases on the rise and potential for continual swings at any time, the reward of an already non-traditional Indy 500 experience for a small subset of the fanbase doesn’t outweigh the potential risk.
“We said from the beginning of the pandemic we would put the health and safety of our community first,” IMS said in its Tuesday release.
Those in charge proved that with Tuesday’s announcement. While it may sting for the many that call IMS a second home, if it can save even a small amount of lives and the potential public relations disaster that could come from an outbreak tied to an attempted spectator-filled 500, then Penske’s difficult decision was one worth making.
For years we’ve found ourselves back home again Indiana for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Just this once, we’ll have to let the stars in Indiana entertain us at our traditional homes instead.
