As NASCAR rolls into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 21st year, it's time for what has become an annual tradition, the discussion about the slow decline of the Brickyard 400, once one of the sport's watershed events. Meanwhile, the fabled speedway's full-time resident, IndyCar, has spent the week wrestling with the fallout from a wacky weekend in Iowa and the even wackier disciplinary rules rolled out in the days that followed.
It's a weird time for the motorsports industry. A tough time. Yet that time is taking place in an era when the on-track product across all forms of mechanized competition is the best it has ever been. Ever. (Sorry, way-back whiners, but it's true.)
So, how does the industry turn a slow decline into a sharp, snappy uptick? How does this weekend's once-epic Sprint Cup Series event recapture past glory? How can the many and varied forms of American motorsports reintroduce themselves to the nation that once embraced them so fully?
I have an idea. It's a proposal that would require unprecedented cooperation from longtime rivals. An ego-swallowing recipe that would create a grand alphabet soup of racing sanctioning bodies, served up on the greatest motorsports platter of them all.
Let's call it the World Series of Motorsport (WSM).
Imagine a weeklong Bonnaroo of racing, held in and around the Racing Capital of the World this very week, the one time of year when there is little or no other competition for the attention of the American sports fan. A 10-day motorsports march, bookended by this nation's two biggest racing series, with every other group featured in the days and nights in between.
For a minute, let's forget politics. Let's forget the corporate suits who always step in to ruin everything. Let's be willing to bend the space-time continuum of logistics -- although only a tad -- and allow ourselves to think about a racing utopia where gearheads of all disciplines can lock Nomex-encased arms and remind the world of just how ridiculously awesome this world is.
Trust me. This would work.
Day 1 - Friday
Opening ceremonies & Red Bull Air Race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The granddaddy of motorsports showcases kicks off with the motorsports legacy parade to end all motorsports legacy parades. The folks at the IMS Hall of Fame Museum open up their legendary basement and field a flotilla of legendary racing rides, driven by the legends themselves.
Imagine Richard Petty in his 43 followed by A.J. Foyt in his 14 followed by Parnelli Jones driving Ray Harroun's Marmon Wasp. Gasoline Alley hosts an impossible-to-believe autograph session. There's a concert at the start-finish line. And then the maniacs of the Red Bull Air Race fill the skies above the speedway, re-creating the spirit of the racetrack's inaugural event, a 1909 balloon race.
Day 2 - Saturday
Indy Lights & IndyCar qualifying on IMS road course; World of Outlaws on Snake Pit Dirt Track
Wait. What exactly is the Snake Pit Dirt Track? It's the .4-mile dirt oval that will be dug into the dirt down inside Turn 3 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What, you think there's not enough room down there? Then you haven't stood down there. Or you haven't seen that infographic IMS likes to throw around showing how you could cram a pile of other famous sports stadiums and historic venues into its massive, 560-acre infield. And what series would be better to break in this new bullring than the World of Outlaws, with its modified and winged divisions.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the racetrack, IndyCar takes center stage as its junior circuit races on the IMS road course, followed by qualifying for ...
Day 3 - Sunday
IndyCar Grand Prix of Indianapolis on IMS road course; World of Outlaws on Snake Pit Dirt Track
Yep, that's right. We're moving the Indy GP from early May to mid-July. This year's aerobatic insanity proved that IndyCar needs to run on an oval as its warm-up to the Indy 500 anyway. The primary selling point of the inaugural GP was that it would add some needed buildup to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Well, the Indy 500 doesn't need that. The Brickyard 400 does. And this race, which has been great in its first two editions, would be the proper showcase for the series that calls IMS home to kick off one of the Speedway's biggest-ever moments.
Over on the Snake Pit Dirt Track, the Outlaws wrap up two days of clay-covered madness.
Day 4 - Monday
IMSA on IMS road course; UMP Modified/Late Models on Snake Pit Dirt Track; ARCA at Lucas Oil Raceway
With the IMS road course already up and running, the sports cars move in for two days of racing, which is plenty of time to run events for most of its divisions. The Snake Pit will be handed over to the DirtCar divisions, modifieds and late models.
The stock car transition will officially begin 6.5 miles away in Brownsburg, as ARCA goes to battle on the legendary .686-mile cage match formerly known as IRP and ORP, now the Lucas Oil Raceway. There's been some energy missing from this week ever since NASCAR bailed on the Brickyard's little cousin, and it's time to bring that back. Reviving Lucas Oil Raceway also gives the WSM night-time throwdowns all week.
Day 5 - Tuesday
IMSA on IMS road course; USAC Midgets & Sprints on Snake Pit Dirt Track; NASCAR K&N Series at Lucas Oil Raceway
The sports car portion of the week culminates in a six-hour Tudor United Sportscar enduro, which will no doubt provide rides for IndyCar racers still hanging around after the Indy GP and NASCAR drivers eager to get going before the 400. Over in Turn 3, USAC makes its return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the Midgets and Sprints move into the Snake Pit.
And ... wait ... what kind of weird construction project is that happening over on the backstretch and behind the Pagoda?
Day 6 - Wednesday
AMA Superbikes on IMS road course; AMA Pro Flat Track on Snake Pit Dirt Track; AMA Motocross in Hulman Boulevard parking lot; USAC Silver Crown at Lucas Oil Raceway
Welcome to Motorcycle Mania. Before the USAC Silver Crown hits Lucas Oil Raceway for the night, the two-wheelers rule the big speedway. The AMA Superbikes take over the road course; AMA Flat Trackers take over the Snake Pit; and AMA Motocross knack-knacks its way around a dirt course that's been constructed in the long rectangular parking lot that runs alongside Hulman Boulevard. You say that seems like a lot of effort for a one-day dirt bike race? Well, we're not just using it for the bikes...
Day 7 - Thursday
NHRA on IMS oval backstretch; Rallycross on IMS road course/infield; NASCAR Modifieds at Lucas Oil Raceway
A taste of the X Games joins the WSM lineup as Scott Speed and his pals run a loop that uses the half-dozen infield turns of the IMS road course located inside oval Turn 4 plus a couple of purposely wide dirt berms from the motocross course. Don't laugh. These guys have crammed makeshift circuits into all sorts of strange quarters over the years.
The ground pounders of the asphalt Whelen Modified Tour, north and south, officially kick off the NASCAR portion of the week, the first of a quadruple-header that will build toward the Brickyard 400 finale.
And now, as you hear John Force yammering in the distance, you realize what the construction project was over on the backstretch. That's right. We're going to run the NHRA's top four divisions -- nitro (Top Fuel and Funny Car), Pro Stock and Pro Stock Bikes -- at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Yes, the backstretch is flat enough. Yes, it is wide enough. Yes, it is long enough. Well, OK, it'd be tight. But this is too cool an idea not to at least try, right? They could pit and stage in the parking lot of the Hall of Fame Museum inside Turn 2 or on the roads outside the turn.
I guess we could just do this on the Lucas Oil Dragway. We totally could. But do we really want to take away from the U.S. Nationals, held there just eight weeks later? We could let the IHRA or the NHRA's lower divisions run over there. And have I mentioned how cool this would be?!
Yeah, you're right. Lucas Oil would be the way to go, but they're already busy over there and this is my event, so I'm going to try it this way. (If all else fails, we could run them down Hulman Boulevard.)
Day 8 - Friday
NHRA on IMS oval backstretch; Camping World Truck Series at Lucas Oil Raceway
The NHRA runs its elimination rounds as the NASCAR Sprint Cup haulers fill up Gasoline Alley and the big oval begins to prep for the Brickyard 400. Over at Lucas Oil Raceway, the Camping World Truck Series returns to a place it never should have left.
Can you imagine if the trucks ran Eldora and Lucas Oil back to back?
Day 9 - Saturday
Brickyard 400 qualifying on IMS oval; Xfinity Series at Lucas Oil Raceway
The two-day (yes, two-day) Brickyard 400 weekend begins with practice and qualifying. That night, the Xfinity Series also returns to Lucas Oil Raceway. A place it also should have never left.
Day 10 - Sunday
Brickyard 400 on IMS oval; closing ceremonies/awards
Finally, the World Series of Motorsport finishes with the Brickyard 400. After the winner of the now-refreshed crown jewel event is crowned, the winner of every race throughout the 10 days joins him (or her).
A grand World Series of Motorsport champion is crowned, the racer who collected the most points throughout the event. That award comes with a very large check, encouraging cross-discipline participation (this would be the greatest and busiest week in the life of a driver such as Kyle Larson). There is also an award given for the manufacturer that had the greatest success, the ultimate auto manufacturer bragging rights.
In the end, every winner lines up shoulder to shoulder for one giant simultaneous kiss of the fabled yard of bricks. Stock car racers, open-wheelers, sport car aces, motorcycle racers, dirt trackers and dragsters.
And, beneath fireworks, the post-WSM concert starts. How about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, starting off their set by singing "Born To Run"?
As I said earlier ... trust me, this would work.