IndyCar: The Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a gimmick, but that’s not a bad thing

By Asher Fair | May 10, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 10: Cars drive on the track with the city skyline during the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 10, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

The Grand Prix of Indianapolis is nothing more than a gimmick on the IndyCar schedule, but in this case, that is not a bad thing.

The Grand Prix of Indianapolis, officially dubbed the IndyCar Grand Prix, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was added to the IndyCar schedule for the 2014 season, and it has remained on the schedule ever since.

This race, which is currently an 85-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway natural terrain road course in Speedway, Indiana, has been held on the Saturday that is 15 days before the scheduled running of the Indianapolis 500 on the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval on Memorial Day Sunday.

When this race was added to the schedule, it was naturally perceived by may fans as a marketing tool and somewhat of a gimmick for the Indy 500 at the venue later that month.

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At this point, the race is nothing more than that.

Since Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Simon Pagenaud won what was an unpredictable and exciting inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis from start to finish back in 2014, the entertainment value of the races at the track has not been high, and that is putting it mildly.

The race polesitters have dominated this race in each of its last four running going back to 2015. Team Penske teammates Will Power and Pagenaud are the only two drivers who have ever won this race. Power has won it three times since 2015 while Pagenaud has won it once.

Power started the race from the pole position in 2015 and led 65 of its 82 laps en route to winning it. Pagenaud started the race from the pole position in 2016 and led 57 of its 82 laps en route to winning it. Both drivers won in dominant fashion.

Power then started the race from the pole position in 2017 and 2018 as well. He led 61 of the race’s 85 laps in 2017 and 56 of the its 85 laps in 2018 en route to winning both races, unshockingly in dominant fashion.

But while this race become one of the most lackluster races on the schedule as far as the racing is concerned, the fact that it has become nothing more than a gimmick is not necessarily a bad thing, especially not right now.

As far as the buildup to the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” concerned, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis serves its purpose.

Considering the fact that the final race on the schedule before the series traveled to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the open test session this season was held on Sunday, April 14, it makes a lot more sense just to keep the series at the track until the Indy 500 as opposed to going to some other track for a race in mid-May or even early May and coming back.

It also makes more sense to host some kind of race at the venue instead of going nearly a month and a half with no competitive action whatsoever, and the Brickyard’s interior road course gives IndyCar the opportunity to do that and to build up the Indy 500, including the practice and qualifying sessions for the race, even more at the same time, especially with NBC’s new TV deal with the series.

While the racing itself in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis may be the kind of racing you forget about a few hours after the race ends, the race itself still serves its purpose in the grand scheme of things when it comes to the month of May, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indy 500 and IndyCar in general.

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The sixth annual IndyCar Grand Prix is the 2019 IndyCar season’s fifth race, and it is scheduled to take place this Saturday, May 11 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. NBC is set to broadcast it live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.