For many of the drivers that will compete in the Indianapolis 500, they’ve already experienced a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this season in front of empty grandstands. It was the July 4 GMR Grand Prix.
“Once you’re in the moment and you’re locked in, when I’m racing wheel-to-wheel with Sebastien Bourdais or anybody else last year, I’m not looking at the grandstands, right?” Rahal explained. “A couple of my buddies play in the NHL. I’ve been talking to them. I asked them the same question, ‘What is it like to play without fans?’
“They said, ‘To be honest, once we start playing, I didn’t even think about it.’
“The same for us. That’s even in a much closer environment than even Indy.
“Do we want fans? You know we do. We all thrive off of that. Hopefully it is us that wins the 500 and drives through the Yard of Bricks. To see nobody, it’s going to be a weird feeling, for sure.
“At the same time, we all understand the position that we’re in today and what we have to do to keep this thing going forward.”
Spencer Pigot is joining Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the Indianapolis 500. He believes the moments leading up to the start of the race, and the command, “Drivers, start your engines” will be the most impactful without a crowd.
“It’s going to be different not having people standing outside the garages, Gasoline Alley, cheering for you as you walk out onto the grid,” Pigot said. “It’s going to feel a lot different.
“Obviously, the decision was made for the greater good of the community. We always have to respect that decision. We are looking forward to hopefully seeing all the fans packed in in 2021.”
Takuma Sato was hailed as a hero when he became the first driver from Japan to win the Indianapolis 500 in 2017. He completely appreciates the reaction, but will enter the 2020 race with the same determination as always.
“Under the circumstances there’s not much choice,” Sato said. “We respect the decision Roger Penske made. We support it. I think to 2021, hopefully everything will be ready, go back to the 250,000 people. Even more probably appreciate it for the over hundred years of history for the first time.
“The TV audience will be as many as it should be. We all excited. For the drivers’ point of view, it’s the same. The atmosphere is a bit different.
“Once get in, the visor down, driving, I think it’s nothing really different.”
Conor Daly has grown up with the Indianapolis 500. His father is retired driver Derek Daly, who competed in six Indianapolis 500s in his career, the last coming in 1989. Two years later, young Conor was born, but his Indianapolis 500 odyssey continued because his stepfather is Doug Boles, the president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Daly has a unique perspective on what the fans mean to the event.
“There is only one day a year where we have the massive crowd,” Daly said. “We so look forward to that.
“That is part of the reason why I love the Indianapolis 500 is the crowd, the people, the sheer magnitude of the event. Yeah, I mean, it is very sad. It sucks. It’s a terrible situation all across the board no matter what. But we’re going to do the best with the situation we’ve got.
“These teams are still working hours on end to prepare these cars for the Indianapolis 500, which is our biggest event, at the greatest racetrack in the world, I think. We’re going to give it our best shot. We have a great partner with NBC to give us a great TV broadcast.
“We just got to make sure that every single person in the entire universe will be watching the race, that will be awesome.”
The pomp and circumstance and the pageantry will be gone, but it will still be the Indianapolis 500 to the 33 drivers that will attempt to win it.
“No matter what, you want to be the best on that day no matter if there’s a million people there or no people there,” Daly said. “Racing is so competitive; you could be at the rental go-kart track and you still want to beat everyone. It’s the same thing. Obviously, it’s much larger at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but we’re going to get out there and want to beat each other. They still, as far as I know, give you a glass of milk and a trophy, your face goes down in history forever.
“That’s what we’re going for.”