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Demise Of ‘IRP’ Long Time In The Making

Charlotte, NC (July 25, 2011) – While the Brickyard 400 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will draw most of the attention of the NASCAR world this weekend, many in the sport of stock car racing will also take one last gaze at Lucas Oil Raceway.

The venerable Clermont, IN track, just a stone’s throw down the road from it’s bigger and more famous ‘Brickyard’ cousin, will host both NASCAR Truck and Nationwide Series events for the last time this weekend. There is sure to be an outpouring of sentiment for the .686-mile oval, many wondering why the track is being bumped off the schedule after a long and historic run.

The fact of the matter is that if you looked close enough, you could see this coming for some time.

While ‘IRP’ – Indianapolis Raceway Park as many old timers will always call it – has produced a lot of great races over the years, the reality is the track has been on borrowed time for several seasons.

It would be easy to say that living in the shadow of the Brickyard led to the demise of Lucas Oil Raceway. However, the two tracks have co-exited since the Clermont oval was opened as IRP in 1961. NASCAR’s involvement at IRP goes back almost 30 years to 1982 – a full 12 seasons before the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 – when Morgan Shepherd won the first of what has turned out to be 29 Nationwide (then NASCAR Sportsman) races at the track.

The Truck Series made its first trip to IRP in 1995 during its inaugural season with Mike Skinner taking the checkered flag. Since then, the facility has been the launching pad for the huge NASCAR Indy weekend with the Trucks, Nationwide and Cup cars providing fans with an exciting tripleheader.

The rumblings in past years of bringing the Nationwide cars to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to support the Cup event there finally became a reality earlier this season when NASCAR announced the 2012 NNS event would be held at the giant 2.5-mile oval. The Cup and Nationwide events will be partnered with a sports car event on the Brickyard road course to preserve the unique tripleheader racing weekend for the fans.

There was an immediate howl from traditionalists that it was a NASCAR money grab. Others hailed the move as yet another break with the sport’s short-track traditions.

Frankly, economics played a major role in the decision. We won’t dispute those conditions played into the move. Think about it. Moving the NNS race to a facility that will draw at least two times the 40,000 that now see the race at LOR is a good business move. There’s nothing sinister about that.

And let’s face it – other than places like Bristol and Martinsville, two smaller facilities that have been able to keep up with the times by expanding seating and providing more fan amenities – short-tracks have been on the NASCAR endangered list dating all the way back to the start of the ‘Modern Era’ in 1972.

Meanwhile, if anyone who has ever attended or raced in an event in the last 20 years at Lucas Oil Raceway is completely truthful, they will have to admit surprise the track has lasted this long as the fact is the place is substandard in many ways.

While a new main-straight grandstand was a welcome addition several years ago, many fans attending the NASCAR races at Lucas Oil Raceway still sit on portable bleachers erected in the corners. Meanwhile, rest rooms for most of those fans are of the ‘Porta Potty’ variety.

No one will every confuse this place with a modern day sports facility.

And while the seating and amenities outside the track are adequate at best, the working conditions inside it border on deplorable. Race teams have to unload all of their equipment and then take their transporters outside the raceway. Working in tight conditions and under tents, we can’t begin to count the number of times that teams have had to scramble to protect their gear from inclement weather conditions that often turns the mostly grassy infield into a quagmire.

There is also no infield media communications center to speak of and the rest room facility is a tiny block building – probably still there from the original 1960 construction – that is so vile that its amazing the track has been able to get away with retaining it for the last 25 years.

Throw in the fact that the track hasn’t been resurfaced in years, features an extremely narrow entrance to pit road off of Turn 3 and has tiny, dangerous pit boxes with an extremely low retaining wall. There are also little or no Safer Barriers to speak of so you have to wonder why NASCAR has continued to sanction major division races here as long as it has.

Before you begin to think that this is a total bag on Lucas Oil Raceway, I have to state for the record that I have many positive feelings for the track. My early career got a bit boost when I covered some of my first-ever Nationwide (then Busch Series) events there. Without that experience, I may have never gained the opportunities that have led to a long, full-time career in NASCAR.

Additionally, I had the pleasure of racing at ‘IRP’ spotting a total of nine Truck and Nationwide races. As a competitor who loves short-track racing, I can tell you that the two fifth-place finishes I spotted in those nine events are among my most cherished racing memories.

That said, like many, I’m sorry to see Lucas Oil Raceway fall of the schedule. But I’m also disappointed that the National Hot Rod Association – the current owners of the track – never took the time to put the kind of effort and money into the facility to continue to make it a relevant and viable place to hold NASCAR events.

The sport has changed exponentially since IRP was constructed more than 50 years ago. Unfortunately, much of what IRP is today hasn’t changed with the times making it vulnerable to losing its marquee events. If you are looking for answers as to why this weekend’s NASCAR races will be the last at the track, you can start by asking questions here.

Last Call –

Here’s a tip of the cap to all the NASCAR officials who, like fans and crew members – braved extreme weather conditions this past weekend.

The officials who worked the Truck and Nationwide events in Nashville and the K&N race at Columbus (OH) this weekend put in yeoman’s duty in searing heat. With ambient temperatures reaching as high as 115 degrees and pavement temps approaching 150 degrees in the pit area, these individuals ‘pulled the plow’ making sure the races came off without a hitch, just as they do every week.

Decked out in full gear, the first-to-arrive and last-to-leave NASCAR officials toil in anonymity for the most part, only feeling the ‘heat’ when something goes wrong. That’s why it’s important to note when events go off without a hitch – especially in the kind of oppressive conditions everyone faced this past weekend – that they get a little recognition for the service they provide the sport.

Here’s a salute for the job NASCAR officials do and hoping that they – and everyone else – get a little break from the heat in Indy this weekend.

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