Unless you’re a hardcore IndyCar fan you may not be aware that practice was canceled Friday for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy At Markham near Toronto, Canada. Of course, if you are an IndyCar fan or someone who took the effort to go to the track to see Palou, Newgarden, O’Ward, and others take to the track, you were disappointed, frustrated, and maybe even a little upset.
It definitely wasn’t a good look for race promoter, Green Savoree, who botched the track prep so badly the FIA couldn’t certify it for racing until 8:00 AM ET today after crews worked through the night to install the final barriers, put up the last bits of catch fencing, and install the all important tire barriers. It was so bad that the usually upbeat and guy who always finds the silver lining, IndyCar President, Doug Boles, issued a statement that read, “IndyCar is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site.”
If you listen to the keyboard warriors on Reddit and some of the racing journalists on site, however, you’d think this was a fatal blow to the incredible momentum IndyCar has achieved over the last few years.
No, this was not optimal and Green Savoree, a promoter that has decades of experience preparing for street races at St. Petersburg and downtown Toronto should definitely face consequences for dropping the ball here. But let’s not go overboard, this isn’t doing any long-term damage to the sport or IndyCar’s image.
While canceling Friday’s practice puts a lot of pressure on the drivers and teams to accelerate their learning on Saturday, the TV audience for a Friday practice is usually around 50,000 people. For a race like Markham, these aren’t casual fans IndyCar is hoping to bring into the fold. These are diehards who love all things Indy. Sure, they’ll be upset and they have a right to be, but they’re not leaving the sport over this.
If the first practice on Saturday is any indication, this is a fantastic track that is going to produce some exciting racing. The driver’s love the circuit.
In a post practice press conference, David Malukas said, “I love it. I think it’s a blast, very well designed and a lot of difficult corners.”
Championship leader, Alex Palou said, “It’s fun. It’s so grippy. It feels like a road course with walls.”
So, let’s all take a deep breath, enjoy all the action today and get ready for a great race tomorrow.
And let’s hope the folks at Penske Entertainment who are hard at work getting the street course in D.C. are taking note. If this happens at IndyCar’s most hyped race after the Indy 500, that will be bad.
