Not the greatest show on earth, but a winner in our backyard
Fire in pit lane; Wire-to-wire victory took away some of the excitement
John MacKinnon
Edmonton Journal
Monday, July 27, 2009
Think globally, act regionally. Or something like that.
That's the guiding principle the good people who run the Rexall Edmonton Indy should follow with the open-wheel motor race they have now staged for the second straight year.
In truth, Northlands does seem to be using that phrase as words to live by.
It would be wonderful if the IndyCar race, won wire-to-wire on Sunday by Will Power of the circuit's powerhouse, Team Penske, transformed Edmonton into a must-see destination for sports tourists from across the globe.
In time, the TV exposure might lift the city's profile somewhat.
In reality, the race makes Edmonton a destination for fans from around Alberta, Saskatchewan and B. C., with a smattering of folks from the U. S. Northwest, but not much beyond that.
It's reach is similar to, but broader than that of the Canadian Finals Rodeo. Fans can see the rodeo in a variety of places, after all.
But, if they want to watch the Indy cars race west of Toronto and north of the border, the only place to do it is in Edmonton.
"That's a very good analogy," said Northlands president Ken Knowles. "Our reach is Western Canada, obviously, and the northwest United States."
"As the race itself matures, our fan base could expand," Knowles added.
On that score, the funky and physically demanding City Centre race track is a favourite with drivers, fans and racing experts, for that matter.
For instance, Robin Miller of Speed TV had this to say in a laudatory blog post about the Rexall Edmonton Indy: "The undisputed fact is that Edmonton, not Montreal, Vancouver or Toronto, has become the most popular venue north of the border for American open-wheel racing."
That's high cotton coming from a respected commentator like Miller.
But it doesn't mean Edmonton will become a racing capital like Indianapolis or Daytona any time soon. Or ever, for that matter.
And so what?
Job 1 should be to make the race, compelling as it is to most who attend it, THE place to be for even casual fans from the Edmonton area.
"I think we've still got a lot of work to do on that at this point in time," Knowles said, a hopeful realist about the race.
Ironically, Sunday's race itself let the side down just a little.
Many believe race fans lust for mayhem and crashes the way soccer fans thirst for goals. For those who actually conform to that stereotype, Sunday's race must have been a disappointment.
It was safe and clean except for a single yellow caution flag with two laps to go, the fewest cautions in IndyCar racing history.
Oh, and there was a nasty mishap in the pits involving driver Tony Kanaan, who suffered second-degree burns to his hands and face after his pit crew inadvertently spewed fuel all over his car, igniting it for brief, scary seconds.
The biggest complaint coming from drivers Helio Castroneves, who finished second, and Scott Dixon, the defending champion who finished third, was the same one everyday commuters deal with--annoying traffic on a circuit where passing already is difficult, without having to wend your way through the slowpokes.
"It was one of those races where nothing really happened," said Canadian driver Alex Tagliani, who finished a disappointing 13th on Sunday.
Still, it was a spectacular summer weekend.
Out on the midway, a sharp-eyed fan would have espied the likes of Edmonton Capitals manager Brent Bowers, as well as Eskimos head scout Ed Hervey, who took in the race with former Eskimos teammate Shannon Garrett.
Fine, salt-of-the-earth types every one, but we're not talking A-list celebrities here. Still, you take your cachet where you find it.
Nor is the Edmonton race a magnet for worldwide media. Of about 200 accredited media for the race, only a dozen or so came from anywhere remotely exotic, which is partly a function of tightening travel budgets at most media.
The point is, those who believe this race is going to spearhead an image makeover for Edmonton and light it up on the world map probably are guilty of wishful thinking.
Knowles said it was too soon to know what the bottom line will be for a race that famously took a$5.3 million bath last year.
"It's premature to even speculate on what the walk-up ticket sales were today," Knowles said, adding he believed Northlands has a far better grasp on the expense side of the ledger in its second Indy go-round.
It had better, given the worldwide economic downturn, which Knowles said remained the biggest challenge for organizers this year.
Northlands will sit down in the next week or so and do a debrief on every aspect of this year's event.
© The Edmonton Journal 2009
Copyright © 2009 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
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