IndyCar dropping Watkins Glen is all too familiar for ‘rain races’
By Asher Fair
IndyCar will not be returning to Watkins Glen International in the 2018 season. Just ask New Hampshire Motor Speedway and NOLA Motorsports Park about that feeling.
IndyCar released the 2018 schedule today, and not many things changed from this season. In fact, there were only two real changes. But one of them was extremely notable.
The smaller change was the fact that the Phoenix race is moving back to its original 2016 date, which is the first Saturday in April. The only reason it was held on the fourth Saturday of April this past year was because of the fact that Phoenix was the host city of the 2017 NCAA Basketball Tournament Final Four and National Championship Game on that weekend.
The bigger change was the fact that the Watkins Glen race was replaced by a race at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. Watkins Glen was added to the schedule in 2016 for the first time since 2010 when the Boston race was cancelled, and it stayed on the schedule in 2017 as well.
However, the rains came down the morning of the race, which likely scared away many fans even though the race itself ended up being a completely dry race during which there was absolutely no rain.
In 2011, IndyCar raced at New Hampshire for the first time since 1998. The threat of rain was prevalent all day long, which kept lots of fans away, and rain ultimately ended up shortening the race. The series has not returned to New Hampshire since, and they have shown no signs of wanting to, either.
Then for the first time ever, IndyCar raced at NOLA Motorsports Park in 2015. That race also ended up being shortened due to rain, and the attendance suffered. The series has not returned to the track since, and they don’t seem to have a desire to.
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So Watkins Glen not being back on the schedule is a feeling all too familiar for race venues that have not returned to the series schedule the year after hosting wet IndyCar race weekends. Is the rain, particularly its effect on race attendance, completely to blame? Absolutely not. But it is certainly not given the ‘recognition’ it deserves as a factor in the decision not to return.
Here’s evidence of that. IndyCar and Watkins Glen reportedly could not agree on a date because they didn’t want to race on Labor Day weekend. But here are comments from Watkins Glen International track president Michael Printup.
"“Both sides admitted Labor Day was not the weekend to be racing. That was one thing we had in common. We don’t like the holiday [for racing]. That was handed to us from Boston.”"
Yet Labor Day Sunday is the date the Portland race got slotted into, so clearly IndyCar has no issue racing on Labor Day Sunday. And Labor Day Sunday could not have been the only free Sunday that Portland has throughout the span of the 2018 IndyCar season. Clearly finding a date was not the only issue.
Next: IndyCar: Post-Season Driver Grades
No matter what all of the unspoken reasons may be for IndyCar not racing at Watkins Glen in 2018 may be, the fact that IndyCar will not be racing there next year is not going to change, and the series did find a race to replace it, which is something to be thankful for. However, a return to the track is definitely not out of the question in the future.