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IndyCar
SPEED Q&A: Robin Miller On The 2013 IndyCar Schedule
SPEED.com's IndyCar insider Robin Miller recently spoke to Series' President Randy Bernard about his aggressive stance on setting the 2013 schedule.
Robin Miller delivers his latest open-wheel sermon in SPEED's Q&A series. (Photo: LAT)
SPEED.com IndyCar Series Insider & frequent Wind Tunnel guest and co-host, Robin Miller, recently spoke to IndyCar Series President Randy Bernard about his newly aggressive stance on setting the 2013 schedule. This past week’s announcement about the series returning to Houston could be just the beginning.
Miller talked about how he envisions the next few months playing out:
SPEED: What’s behind IndyCar’s aggressive push towards 2013 scheduling?
Miller: It wasn’t (Randy Bernard’s) fault, but this year’s scheduling was kind of a disaster. They didn’t get the schedule out. It was so late and long after budgets were made. You’re trying to find enough solvent ovals to run on, and go to some places that promoters can actually make some money, or where they want the series back. Baltimore was a hang-up because you didn’t know if you were going to go back there. He didn’t want to put a schedule out with 12 races, so he really kind of had his hands tied. He’s bound and determined that for 2013, he’s going to have the schedule out a month before the last race. The way it’s looking, he may have some pretty tough decisions to make when he thinks about who makes it, and who doesn’t make it. I’m kind of dazzled by all the tracks that are interested right now.
SPEED: Any tracks in danger at this point?
Miller: I wouldn’t say danger so much. They told Mid-Ohio (Lexington, Ohio) and Sonoma (Infineon Raceway), ‘you need to make some changes to the race track, so we can keep coming back.’ Those tracks were built 60 years ago and are narrow with limited braking zones, and no real straightaways. They both assured IndyCar they would make the changes but if they don’t, then it could be Laguna Seca (Monterey, Calif.) and Portland. Laguna Seca is certainly interested in maybe having a doubleheader someday with ALMS (American Le Mans Series). Milwaukee is a one-year deal. Michael Andretti is trying to save Milwaukee and I think they are going about it the right way as ticket prices are really reasonable – and the people I talk to are responding. Michael’s going to have a good crowd at Milwaukee, and they want to try and keep that going. Fontana (Calif.) is a big question mark. They haven’t been to Fontana in over a decade, but the last time they were there, they had one or two grandstand sections open. It’s a challenge because you have to kind of weigh everything. Do they want us there? Do we want to go back there? Is it profitable for everybody? There are a lot of questions that have to be asked towards a track.
SPEED: What is Randy’s philosophy in building the schedule?
Miller: I think he started out in the job wanting to keep it balanced between ovals and road courses. Then I think he saw the reality was ovals are really a tough sell. Iowa (Speedway in Newton) by far, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, are pretty much capacity every year. People get there (Iowa) early and stay late. It’s probably the best oval besides Indy. Texas still drew pretty well through the years, as they still had 75,000 on many occasions. Last year it was down a little bit, but it was still a nice crowd. They had 60,000 people or so. You just have to ask if they are going to stay on 1.5-mile ovals built for NASCAR. I think the trend there is, if they can go back to Phoenix, and they can go back to Richmond (Va.), and you’ve got Iowa, Indy and Milwaukee. Maybe you can try Michigan again someday. I think Randy’s whole deal now is that they have to go where it’s viable for IndyCar. It has to work for both people, and you have to go where people want you. As hard as it is for old school people, like me, to only see five ovals out of 16 races, it’s the reality of what’s happening. NASCAR has pretty much taken over all the ovals, so Indy car is battling to keep a half-dozen of the good ones on the schedule.
SPEED: What about Austin (Texas) and the new Circuit of the Americas track? Seems like an interesting opportunity?
Miller: Considering that they haven’t even held the first Formula One race there, it’s really interesting. They approached Randy and said, ‘Hey, let’s talk about you guys coming down here and racing.’ I think he’s been down there a couple of times and he’s going to keep talking to them. You keep hearing about the stories, about all the in-fighting down there, and what’s going to happen. But for me, the litmus test will be… what kind of crowd will the Formula One race draw? Then maybe you go from there in deciding whether or not you want to give it a shot. That’s the way I would look at it.
SPEED: What do you think about Austin as a marketplace, and do you they would receive IndyCar well?
Miller: I don’t think anyone can answer that. You have Houston which is A.J. Foyt’s home. They had pretty good crowds at the old Houston street races, and now they are going back to Houston next year with Shell sponsorship around the Reliant Center. As we’ve talked about with the Texas Motor Speedway, it gets the second biggest crowd to Indianapolis every year for the IndyCar race there. There’s obviously some interest in Texas. Will there be enough interest for three races? I don’t know. I think that’s the real question. Can you have three races in Texas? Austin is pretty far removed from Houston and Dallas. I think it’s going to be a real tough sell for Formula One because ticket prices, from what I’ve been told, are insane. Seat licenses for a Formula One race? I get emails all the time from people telling me how incredible the ticket prices are and how they’ll not even be able to go to practice.
SPEED: What tracks or market places that haven’t been discussed would you like to see on the schedule?
Miller: They have to go back to Elkhart Lake (Wis.) (Road America). It’s the best road course in North America. They tried to do something with ALMS this year, but August is the only month, and it’s the month Indy Car is going to China. They just don’t really have any openings. The most important thing is that ALMS and IndyCar have the same audience. When they have a doubleheader, it works. It works at Long Beach, it works at Mid-Ohio. It’s a great crossover crowd. All the cities I mentioned in the story I just wrote for SPEED.com, those are the ones that are in play. If they can somehow pull off a Chicago street race, that would be huge. Let’s face it, the majority of IndyCar fans, are Midwestern fans. They always have been. I would love to see us go back to Cleveland. I think you could run Cleveland and Mid-Ohio together. They used to do it all the time and pack them both. But (race Chairman and CEO) Mike Lanigan, who’s promoting Houston and was the last promoter in Cleveland, said that he would love to go back to Cleveland, but not without a title sponsor. The first title sponsor he got was Shell, and they are going to Houston because that’s their headquarters.
Miller talked about how he envisions the next few months playing out:
SPEED: What’s behind IndyCar’s aggressive push towards 2013 scheduling?
Miller: It wasn’t (Randy Bernard’s) fault, but this year’s scheduling was kind of a disaster. They didn’t get the schedule out. It was so late and long after budgets were made. You’re trying to find enough solvent ovals to run on, and go to some places that promoters can actually make some money, or where they want the series back. Baltimore was a hang-up because you didn’t know if you were going to go back there. He didn’t want to put a schedule out with 12 races, so he really kind of had his hands tied. He’s bound and determined that for 2013, he’s going to have the schedule out a month before the last race. The way it’s looking, he may have some pretty tough decisions to make when he thinks about who makes it, and who doesn’t make it. I’m kind of dazzled by all the tracks that are interested right now.
SPEED: Any tracks in danger at this point?
Miller: I wouldn’t say danger so much. They told Mid-Ohio (Lexington, Ohio) and Sonoma (Infineon Raceway), ‘you need to make some changes to the race track, so we can keep coming back.’ Those tracks were built 60 years ago and are narrow with limited braking zones, and no real straightaways. They both assured IndyCar they would make the changes but if they don’t, then it could be Laguna Seca (Monterey, Calif.) and Portland. Laguna Seca is certainly interested in maybe having a doubleheader someday with ALMS (American Le Mans Series). Milwaukee is a one-year deal. Michael Andretti is trying to save Milwaukee and I think they are going about it the right way as ticket prices are really reasonable – and the people I talk to are responding. Michael’s going to have a good crowd at Milwaukee, and they want to try and keep that going. Fontana (Calif.) is a big question mark. They haven’t been to Fontana in over a decade, but the last time they were there, they had one or two grandstand sections open. It’s a challenge because you have to kind of weigh everything. Do they want us there? Do we want to go back there? Is it profitable for everybody? There are a lot of questions that have to be asked towards a track.
SPEED: What is Randy’s philosophy in building the schedule?
Miller: I think he started out in the job wanting to keep it balanced between ovals and road courses. Then I think he saw the reality was ovals are really a tough sell. Iowa (Speedway in Newton) by far, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, are pretty much capacity every year. People get there (Iowa) early and stay late. It’s probably the best oval besides Indy. Texas still drew pretty well through the years, as they still had 75,000 on many occasions. Last year it was down a little bit, but it was still a nice crowd. They had 60,000 people or so. You just have to ask if they are going to stay on 1.5-mile ovals built for NASCAR. I think the trend there is, if they can go back to Phoenix, and they can go back to Richmond (Va.), and you’ve got Iowa, Indy and Milwaukee. Maybe you can try Michigan again someday. I think Randy’s whole deal now is that they have to go where it’s viable for IndyCar. It has to work for both people, and you have to go where people want you. As hard as it is for old school people, like me, to only see five ovals out of 16 races, it’s the reality of what’s happening. NASCAR has pretty much taken over all the ovals, so Indy car is battling to keep a half-dozen of the good ones on the schedule.
SPEED: What about Austin (Texas) and the new Circuit of the Americas track? Seems like an interesting opportunity?
Miller: Considering that they haven’t even held the first Formula One race there, it’s really interesting. They approached Randy and said, ‘Hey, let’s talk about you guys coming down here and racing.’ I think he’s been down there a couple of times and he’s going to keep talking to them. You keep hearing about the stories, about all the in-fighting down there, and what’s going to happen. But for me, the litmus test will be… what kind of crowd will the Formula One race draw? Then maybe you go from there in deciding whether or not you want to give it a shot. That’s the way I would look at it.
SPEED: What do you think about Austin as a marketplace, and do you they would receive IndyCar well?
Miller: I don’t think anyone can answer that. You have Houston which is A.J. Foyt’s home. They had pretty good crowds at the old Houston street races, and now they are going back to Houston next year with Shell sponsorship around the Reliant Center. As we’ve talked about with the Texas Motor Speedway, it gets the second biggest crowd to Indianapolis every year for the IndyCar race there. There’s obviously some interest in Texas. Will there be enough interest for three races? I don’t know. I think that’s the real question. Can you have three races in Texas? Austin is pretty far removed from Houston and Dallas. I think it’s going to be a real tough sell for Formula One because ticket prices, from what I’ve been told, are insane. Seat licenses for a Formula One race? I get emails all the time from people telling me how incredible the ticket prices are and how they’ll not even be able to go to practice.
SPEED: What tracks or market places that haven’t been discussed would you like to see on the schedule?
Miller: They have to go back to Elkhart Lake (Wis.) (Road America). It’s the best road course in North America. They tried to do something with ALMS this year, but August is the only month, and it’s the month Indy Car is going to China. They just don’t really have any openings. The most important thing is that ALMS and IndyCar have the same audience. When they have a doubleheader, it works. It works at Long Beach, it works at Mid-Ohio. It’s a great crossover crowd. All the cities I mentioned in the story I just wrote for SPEED.com, those are the ones that are in play. If they can somehow pull off a Chicago street race, that would be huge. Let’s face it, the majority of IndyCar fans, are Midwestern fans. They always have been. I would love to see us go back to Cleveland. I think you could run Cleveland and Mid-Ohio together. They used to do it all the time and pack them both. But (race Chairman and CEO) Mike Lanigan, who’s promoting Houston and was the last promoter in Cleveland, said that he would love to go back to Cleveland, but not without a title sponsor. The first title sponsor he got was Shell, and they are going to Houston because that’s their headquarters.
2013 INDY 500 Practice
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