Fernando Alonso at Indy 500 Just Plain Cool

Will Fernando Alonso make a difference in the Indy 500’s popularity? Maybe not, but in a sport often marred by negativity, that itself makes no difference in racing’s coolest current story.

No one saw it coming: Fernando Alonso, two-time World Champion, skipping a Formula One Grand Prix to run the Indy 500.

No one saw this coming, either: someone highly respected asking, “So what?”

In her latest column, AP motorsports writer Jenna Fryer explores whether Alonso will move the needle and add something to the Memorial Day weekend race.

Her conclusion? No.

Fryer cites Alonso’s lack of U.S. name recognition, absence from engaging in much social media, and failure to achieve recent results in F1 among the reasons why the Spanish star won’t change anything.

But so what if he doesn’t?

Auto racing exists in a bubble. Even a big niche sport is still a niche sport. Ask the public in any nation other than his own to identify Fernando Alonso; with F1’s worldwide popularity in decline, the proportion who can—let alone the number who care enough to follow him to the Indy 500—might not be impressive.

Still, if Alonso’s appeal is only to the hardcore, that’s actually alright.

Consider what Fryer writes of drivers she would have preferred at what is billed as The World’s Greatest Race Course:

"There was Tony Stewart, who never won the 500 — his dream race. Retired from NASCAR now, Indy cars may have passed him, but people would have tuned into to see one last gasp from Smoke. There was Danica Patrick, whose entire brand was built around the Indy 500."

In reality, Stewart and Patrick would do no more than Alonso. Kurt Busch made no discernible impact on television ratings in 2014, and when “NASCAR” has become the “Band-Aid” term for all of American auto racing, non-motorsports audiences would find themselves more confused that the Indy 500 isn’t NASCAR than they would enthused about watching.

Alonso’s presence isn’t about bringing in interest. It’s about reigniting it, the way Stewart or Patrick would have for Fryer, and the way Alonso will for many IndyCar fans.

Not everything needs to come back to Nielsen ratings or ticket sales. Some things are allowed to be fun—even badass.

A disgruntled F1 driver that is talented far beyond the equipment he’s given in a surprise entry with a top IndyCar team in Andretti Autosport is fun. A World Champion willing to put himself in a situation where he’s a rookie, totally out of his depth, risking his real job just for the love of winning: that’s badass.

Alonso will draw some media buzz; most of it will be consumed by people already interested in the Indy 500. Alonso might bring in viewers outside the United States. And just like Stewart or Patrick, whatever he does, he’ll do it directly for one race in one year, not for the series as a whole in the long-run.

That’s fine. In fact, it’s not even important.

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If Alonso generates positive energy from the people who love racing already, racing becomes more appealing to the outsider. When race fans are having fun, when they are fired up, when their passion is obvious, it’s contagious. It makes motorsports seem social.

Sure, outsiders aren’t going to latch onto Fernando Alonso, a name they don’t know from a series not visibly different from IndyCar.

Insiders, however, are going to be streaming those first practice days at work. Grinning. Cheering. Speculating. Bantering, just that extra bit jazzed up about the big race. The vibe at Indy will be different, no longer about trying to prove that it still is the race that once drew active F1 drivers from Graham Hill to Mario Andretti, but instead confidently letting the racing universe take a look.

Any other universe will be more apt to join in when it looks fun. Try finding any when the conversation is about which hero to those who care and unknown to those who don’t will most augment the P2+ rating.

Fryer might be right that Alonso wouldn’t be the one.

But so what?

He’s the least expected of any big-by-racing-standards name to be here, and that means he’s the most exciting for those of us already immersed in Indy.

Maybe, just maybe, a rare bit of enthusiasm in a sport often clouded by pessimistic analysis will finally present IndyCar racing in a positive light to those yet to try it.

After all, what if the usually rather bleak talk around the Indy 500, IndyCar, and auto racing at large is upbeat this May?

Well, no one will have seen that one coming, either.

Fernando Alonso at Indy 500 Is Just Plain Cool—That’s What

By Ric | Apr 17, 2017

Will Fernando Alonso make a difference in the Indy 500’s popularity? Maybe not, but in a sport often marred by negativity, that itself makes no difference in racing’s coolest current story.

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