After reading an article by Marshall Pruett in Racer magazine in which Mark Miles discussed a possible “big event” for Indycar in 2025, I’m wondering just what is a big event? I thought Indycar already had at least a couple.

Is there a bigger event in racing than the Indianapolis 500? Isn’t Long Beach a big event? Iowa is approaching that status with the concert lineups they have had, the Nashville finale in 2024 could be on its way to that elite status.

I assume Miles is talking about a new street event in one a large, glamorous city. Since NASCAR has Chicago and F1 has Miami and Las Vegas, what remains? New York? Maybe. Boston? Not a chance. Denver? Possibly.

There seems to be a trend across motorsport to hold races in locales that offer entertainment which comes close to making the racing secondary. Iowa is close to this point, and I am concerned that Nashville could also fall into the same trap. Indycar needs to find a better balance un a new event than F1 had in Las Vegas. The race there turned out to be quite entertaining, but did it create new F1 fans?

Should the series proceed with a new “big splash” venue, they need to choose an area not served by IndyCar at present. The northeast has not seen an Indycar race since the series removed Pocono from the schedule.

A new event would have to make sense financially for all the series stakeholders. Will the new venue be a schedule expansion, or will a current venue drop off the calendar?

I applaud the series for wanting to try a different event presentation- some races could use a little more pizzazz- but wouldn’t it be even simpler to tweak things at some of their current big events?