Wednesday morning, 10:30 am, asleep (don't judge me, late working and then the cinema, Hidden Figures, very good, anyway), my phone begins to vibrate, I check it, a tweet from @LesRosbifs, "Completely blindsided. I suspect @IndycarUK will be skipping about with this news." I was just thinking what the hell is going on? My jaw hit the floor, well, figuratively. Wait, Aprils fools right? Surely? A quick screenshot on twitter and an even quicker response from Andretti Autosport pointing out it was April 12th, and that they are looking forward to working with McLaren at the Indy 500.
So who expected that? Not me, well, I tell a slight lie, I thought one day Fernando Alonso might give the 500 a go, but only once his time in Formula One was done. But to skip the Monaco GP, with the support and blessing of the team, not only was he, but McLaren bringing their name back to the speedway for the first time since 1979 when they had Sneva, McCluskey and Rutherford as part of a three pronged attack, no one can honestly say they expected yet.
So who expected that? Not me, well, I tell a slight lie, I thought one day Fernando Alonso might give the 500 a go, but only once his time in Formula One was done. But to skip the Monaco GP, with the support and blessing of the team, not only was he, but McLaren bringing their name back to the speedway for the first time since 1979 when they had Sneva, McCluskey and Rutherford as part of a three pronged attack, no one can honestly say they expected yet.
Alonso in a McLaren at Indianapolis in 2007 (Indycar Media)
So why now? Alonso had made it no secret his desire to run the Indy 500 as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and had previously disclosed this a number of years ago to F1 journalist Nigel Roebuck. It would be fair to say his current car is not the best he has had, power and reliability problems have dogged the team in recent years, Alonso is in the final year of his contract so was this a sweetener to keep a prized asset on their books? Possibly, new owners of the team too would like to see their team in a positive light to, so an expansion into Indycar, sports car racing is one avenue.
Mark Miles and Doug Boles discuss the Alonso / Mclaren 500 deal (Indycar Media)
How about Indycar, what does this do for them? In my opinion this is the biggest news to hit the series in 25 years, back to when Nigel Mansell, the then current world champion left F1 for the States and won the championship in his first year. This is not a Barrichello at the end of his career, or an Alesi out for a Sunday drive, this is a driver who in the right car (engine) is a contender and whose on track skills are among the best of his generation. When Barrichello joined the series full time, it was a real shot in the arm for Indycar at the time, but it has had nowhere near the media impact that the past few days have. Then again those times were a lot different for the series compared to now. The ground work by the management in those early reunified years was a start but politics and changes at the top brought things to a stuttering halt. This has not been an issue in recent years, management has been stable and the marketing team has grown to double the size.
What will this do for the Indy 500? I should ask what will this do for the 101st Indy 500, last May was one of the most unbelievable experiences you could have. The build up, the event, the crowd, the race, it was not a let down in the slightest. The question was how can IMS improve on that, or even hold station? This announcement has given them chance. As for the race itself, the worlds' attention is on IMS, Indycar and the 500 again, the like which would not have been seen since the early nineties. You can see the majority of positive reaction from drivers in F1, team bosses who think this is great for Fernando. Some not so, maybe the 500 does not fit with their social plans or maybe some see it as too big a risk, but as Alonso said, he's a racer. He knows the risk, it's their no matter where you go.
The media centre was busy last year, I can only imagine a few more reporters from further afield will be in attendance this year, more column inches, posts, blogs and beyond. The positive publicity gained by McLaren and Andretti has put them at the forefront of promotional materials for this years race, as will Stefan Wilson whose selfless act in stepping aside has gained him praise, and a guaranteed run in 2018.
Do I give Alonso a chance of winning the race? I do, he's is 16/1 with a leading bookmaker here, but on track he will have ample opportunity to practice, turn laps, tweak the car. Running in traffic and notably overtaking will be something I'm sure will appeal again to Alonso. If I was to break the field into three groups, I'd happily have him in the top of the second tier, experience is a key factor at Indy, but who saw Rossi winning from nowhere last year. You'd like to add the caveat that he would return to defend his title!
What will this do for the Indy 500? I should ask what will this do for the 101st Indy 500, last May was one of the most unbelievable experiences you could have. The build up, the event, the crowd, the race, it was not a let down in the slightest. The question was how can IMS improve on that, or even hold station? This announcement has given them chance. As for the race itself, the worlds' attention is on IMS, Indycar and the 500 again, the like which would not have been seen since the early nineties. You can see the majority of positive reaction from drivers in F1, team bosses who think this is great for Fernando. Some not so, maybe the 500 does not fit with their social plans or maybe some see it as too big a risk, but as Alonso said, he's a racer. He knows the risk, it's their no matter where you go.
The media centre was busy last year, I can only imagine a few more reporters from further afield will be in attendance this year, more column inches, posts, blogs and beyond. The positive publicity gained by McLaren and Andretti has put them at the forefront of promotional materials for this years race, as will Stefan Wilson whose selfless act in stepping aside has gained him praise, and a guaranteed run in 2018.
Do I give Alonso a chance of winning the race? I do, he's is 16/1 with a leading bookmaker here, but on track he will have ample opportunity to practice, turn laps, tweak the car. Running in traffic and notably overtaking will be something I'm sure will appeal again to Alonso. If I was to break the field into three groups, I'd happily have him in the top of the second tier, experience is a key factor at Indy, but who saw Rossi winning from nowhere last year. You'd like to add the caveat that he would return to defend his title!
Token Pagoda shot (Indycar Media) The fan friendly atmosphere will be something new from the secure financially restrictive confines of F1, constant autographs, pictures, questions will be an experience, but he may thrive it in, who know may even catch a bug that I did from the outside.
I followed CART through Chanel Five late night highlights on 'Live and Dangerous' but when those disappeared in the early noughties, my interest in the series waned as my favourite team and drivers had jumped across to the IRL. I had kept something of an interest in the Indy 500 itself, I'd listen to the commentary on the race control website, but with the full coverage only being on the expensive Sky Sports platform, that was it. When the two open wheel series reunified in 2008, I sat up took notice and thought it may be time to see how this develops, it was that actual article.
In 2010 I checked the Indy 500 off my bucket list. It grabbed me, like nothing sporting wise I had previously experienced. Time to test it out again, so came back to the races in Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and Las Vegas. TV was still struggling, the worst way possible to end the season, the attendance was mixed to poor, you could count the crowd at Milwaukee. I always wanted to see someone from F1 come and try the 500, but realistically I knew it would more than likely not happen for a very long time, if ever, this wasn't the sixties anymore.
It was clear then that the series had a long way to go to rediscover those previous glory years. It is not back to those days yet, will it ever? It is hard to say but Indycar finds itself a lot further down the road to success than a decade ago, and having a double world champion, a championship winning team in the field on Memorial Weekend can only push them further along, for me, maybe I will have managed to pull my jaw back up by the time May comes around.
I followed CART through Chanel Five late night highlights on 'Live and Dangerous' but when those disappeared in the early noughties, my interest in the series waned as my favourite team and drivers had jumped across to the IRL. I had kept something of an interest in the Indy 500 itself, I'd listen to the commentary on the race control website, but with the full coverage only being on the expensive Sky Sports platform, that was it. When the two open wheel series reunified in 2008, I sat up took notice and thought it may be time to see how this develops, it was that actual article.
In 2010 I checked the Indy 500 off my bucket list. It grabbed me, like nothing sporting wise I had previously experienced. Time to test it out again, so came back to the races in Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and Las Vegas. TV was still struggling, the worst way possible to end the season, the attendance was mixed to poor, you could count the crowd at Milwaukee. I always wanted to see someone from F1 come and try the 500, but realistically I knew it would more than likely not happen for a very long time, if ever, this wasn't the sixties anymore.
It was clear then that the series had a long way to go to rediscover those previous glory years. It is not back to those days yet, will it ever? It is hard to say but Indycar finds itself a lot further down the road to success than a decade ago, and having a double world champion, a championship winning team in the field on Memorial Weekend can only push them further along, for me, maybe I will have managed to pull my jaw back up by the time May comes around.
For those reading this who haven't followed Indycar from the UK before, all the races are live on the BT Sport network of channels with uninterpreted green flag coverage, the 101st Indy 500 is on the 28th May from around 5pm, post Monaco GP, in case you missed the news...
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