Wolf’s Word: Can Indy Be Saved From Becoming Just Another Race?

This year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at the fabled Indianapolis Raceway Park (as it will forever be known) had all the makings of a race for the history books. The Top Fuel and Funny Car fields were as strong as they’ve been at any time in the last decade at Indy. We saw some exciting early-round upsets, and the battles for the final spots in the Countdown created some compelling story lines. And when all was said and done, a pair of fan favorite drivers and a rookie motorcycle rider scored the biggest (or first) wins of their driving careers.

Despite the near-record heat that turned frigid cold on Monday, the crowds could arguably be considered a home-run during these economic times in a location just a stone’s throw from one of the nation’s hardest-hit areas, with only a few empty seats littered about the grandstands during the professional rounds. And the 9/11 remembrance prior to the opening round of eliminations was one of the most moving and elaborate pre-race events the NHRA has ever conducted.

But yet, for reasons myself and a host of others in attendance are still trying to pinpoint, the “Big” and the “Go” of the Big Go just weren’t there. The inexplicable magic that surrounds this once-heralded race seemed to be missing. You could feel it in the air and you could see it and hear it in the reaction of the drivers and race teams. This wasn’t Indy: it was a six-day national event with ESPN’s hype machine running on overdrive.

Sure, the on-track differences between Indy and other national events have been largely insignificant for many years – a fact that racers and fans openly acknowledge and tend to debate around Labor Day weekend each year – but there’s still something extra special about Indy. But that magic created by decades and decades of historic and timeless moments is waning, and sadly, the NHRA doesn’t appear concerned with stopping it.

If you were at Indy five years ago and returned this year, you would’ve noticed several glaring holes in the racing program and the overall picture of the sport’s biggest event that undeniably castrate what Indy was and should be.

The U.S. Smokeless Showdown, famously known as the Big Bud Shootout and one of Indy’s most popular and anticipated traditions, is no more. Ditto for the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle for the Pro Stock Motorcycles, which also served to provide Indy a weekend lineup and an atmosphere unlike any other race on the schedule. These days, only the Mopar HEMI Shootout and the always-exciting Stock and Super Stock class eliminations remain, and while certainly marquee attractions in their own right, they alone can’t make up for the loss of the professional battles that were a staple of the Big Go.

The National Dragster staff also pulled the plug on their famous Daily Dragster publication, which was annually produced at one race and one race only. In years prior, special online sections and photo galleries and at one time even an entire website dedicated to the U.S. Nationals was published before the NHRA seemingly gave up hope on their own race. And while the online coverage was forgotten soon after the Daily Dragster’s became job security for track cleanup crew, they were but another of the minute elements that made Indy something different from the rest.

The upscale corporate hospitality area near the finish line on the West side of the track and the 1,000-foot grandstands on the other are also gone; replaced with an RV lot that gives drag racing’s grandest stage the same trackside appearance as a Saturday night bracket race at the local eighth mile.

And the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series classes, where the prestige of an Indy victory remains as special as it ever has in 57 editions, was short some 300 entries this year; a truly concerning fact when you consider that just a handful of years ago it took multiple grade points and some quick timing just to get in to the U.S. Nationals before the exclusive field of racers from all corners of the nation was completely filled. One could say the high price of fuel was to blame, but when racers have historically planned and budgeted for this one race all year long, it’s safe to assume that other factors are at work here.

If you were a drag racing fan and you weren’t at Indy, you wanted to be. In online forums, the Nationals were all the talk. Racers and fans would beg, borrow, or steal to make the trek to the Big Go. All eyes in the drag racing world were on Indy over Labor Day weekend. But this year, the U.S. Nationals came and the U.S. Nationals went. With each passing year, the aura of Indy has diminished and become more and more like the other 21 races on the schedule.

In the early 1990’s and culminating in the 1996 divorce of open wheel racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the legendary Indianapolis 500 were dealt a crushing blow. Amidst two decades of political turmoil between the teams and sanctions, southern bred NASCAR had risen to unparalleled prominence, and suddenly the most famous auto racing event in the world appeared doomed.

In the 15 years since the CART and IRL went their separate ways, the Hulman family and those at the helm of the IndyCar Series have worked to restore and maintain the image of the Indianapolis 500. Drivers have been aggressively marketed, the purses have expanded, and the traditional month-long schedule was shortened to reduce the growing costs to race teams and facility operations. Special attractions, celebrity appearances, and unrivaled pomp and circumstance have all played a role, as well.

And while sure, the prestige of the 500 isn’t what it once was, neither is any other sporting event in this day and age. But it remains the greatest spectacle in racing, and each and every Memorial Day weekend, a crowd that far surpasses any other sporting event on earth turns out at 16th and Georgetown to witness a race unlike any other.

In the drag racing world, the U.S. Nationals has always been a race to witness unlike any other, and we can only hope the NHRA wakes up and aggressively takes the reigns, intent on keeping it that way.