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I reckon there were plenty of others besides me who got up early on Monday to watch the NASCAR Race from Indianapolis. It was worth it.
It wasn’t the best race I’ve ever seen, but it was great to be able to follow the progress of Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki on Fox Sports.
Both of ‘our guys’ put in superb performances. Of the five international ‘ringers’ in the field, they finished first and second.
SVG’s 10th place at Indy would have been hailed as huge by everyone if it wasn’t for his stunning Chicago win.
But the fact is that this event was always going to a different proposition, given the experience of the regular drivers at The Brickyard road course as well as the very limited practice time.
In his second Cup outing, to be qualifying, running and finishing in the top 10 was an amazing result and only further validates his plans to move Stateside for 2024.
Meanwhile, Brodie did a great job in overcoming the total lack of pre-event testing, the limited practice and the handicap of a rear of the grid penalty.
The race strategy might not have worked out well for him, but he finished 22nd from the back, and outraced the other three internationals.
Mike Rockenfeller, Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi are highly credentialed racers, to say the least! Brodie smoked them all despite the lack of mileage beforehand.
Hats off then to Brodie and SVG, whilst it’s also worth giving Pete Adderton a shout out for his support of the BK campaign. Well done.
Now, if SVG (and potentially others from this neck of the woods in due course) is going to compete in the US next year, we need NASCAR and Fox Sports to come to the party and give us the coverage we deserve.
Let’s be blunt. We don’t pay Foxtel or Kayo subscriptions to have our viewing interrupted by advertising. That’s called clipping the ticket twice. There’d be, quite rightly, uproar if that happened during an F1 or Supercars live race.
Yes, NASCAR might feel the need to rush to a break every five laps under whatever TV deal they’ve got in the USA, but we’re paying here for the privilege of watching the show. NASCAR supposedly want to grow the international audience. So, at the very least, give us a continuous feed as per IndyCar on Stan.
I don’t know, or care really, whether this is down to NASCAR or Foxtel to fix. But please get it done.
Of course, it would be better if NASCAR (or someone) gave us a continual commentary, but at least give us the pictures during their ad breaks.
And whilst things are being fixed, NASCAR, please join us in the 2020s and work out how to update positions on the totem pole on the TV feed more than once a lap. It’s not club racing.
I honestly feel that there’s a chance that there could be three or four Antipodeans in NASCAR in a couple of years’ time. That would present a real opportunity to grow the TV audience very significantly in this part of the World if the product is good.
And now for some daydreaming…
Let’s say that, in 2025, SVG, Brodie and Cam Waters are racing in NASCAR. Ratings here are through the roof. Early Monday starts have become the norm for race fans here as we catch the racing on TV before heading off for work.
Someone at NASCAR HQ in Daytona Beach figures out that there’d be a huge appetite for an invitational race in Australia…
Ignoring all the practical impediments such as cost of transport, time in their calendar, and sanction fees (I did say daydreaming), where should they race in Australia?
I reckon we’d like a road course, so even if Calder Park Thunderdome was useable, let’s look elsewhere.
Bathurst? Might scare them all away!
No, I think that the best place for a NASCAR race would be Albert Park. The Grand Prix track is wide enough and flowing enough for a NASCAR race car to stretch its legs. Thirty-odd Cup cars would look and sound tremendous!
Format? Maybe a couple of 300km races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
The show could replace F1 at a fraction of the cost. How’s that for heresy? Sure, the crowd would probably be smaller, and the corporate spend less than for the GP, but then the whole event would cost a lot less.
Even an IndyCar/NASCAR double header, as per Indianapolis at the weekend, would cost a lot less than F1.
Hang on. Time to stop the daydream. I’ve got a better idea. Melbourne will want to keep F1.
Let’s take this to Adelaide. Recreate the original F1 circuit and put both IndyCar and NASCAR on the streets of the City of Churches at the end of November.
The event could be massive, at a fraction of the cost of the AGP F1 show. And I’m no longer dreaming.
Finally, I, along with many others, witnessed the huge accident at Queensland Raceway late on Saturday afternoon during the Porsche Sprint Challenge race.
It’s great to hear that both Andrew Goldie and Richard Cowen are on the mend and I’m sure that all readers will join me in wishing them, their families and respective teams all the very best.
