Ten with Townsend: Fontana and 2014 IndyCar debrief

By Sep 3, 2014, 10:29 AM EDT
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After 500 miles of racing to cap off the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series season, we take a look back at the season finale and the season on the whole with NBCSN IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell for the final 2014 scheduled installment of “Ten with Townsend.” As always, we thank him for his time and insights. Here’s an archive.

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-We know Will Power’s always battling his head, because his speed has never been in question. How do you measure his resolve and fortitude the second half of this season, to be able to get past the penalties, dominate Milwaukee, recover after Sonoma and finally capture this IndyCar championship?

I think the victory speech said it all and he readily admits there is a lot going on upstairs!  Luckily, when it comes to the driving part…he’s just that much better with raw speed.  And that helps balance the various issues.  I’m excited to see what he can accomplish the next several years with the championship box now ticked…  He could run up some even more impressive numbers with a clear head and some good sleep!

-How impressed were you with how Power ran his race Saturday night?

It was shockingly conservative at the start…became shockingly manic on that restart…. and ended about right.

-Was it refreshing to see Tony Kanaan finally break through given how strong he’s been both on ovals and the second half of the season?

It was a nice way to end the season.  There’s a nice 7 month glow in the offseason for that one.

-You noted it right towards the end of the race, but how surprising was it to see no crashes, and no reliability issues?

Never would have predicted that based on the 2013 race.  The drivers should be commended for handling a very challenging and intimidating set of conditions.

-We’ve had all three 500-mile races go 150+ laps this season before the first caution. Do you think that’s more down to the depth of talent throughout the field or are the cars fairly easy to drive? 

Well, having driven in 1 of the 3 I can say that it’s not that easy!  I just think the talent pool of drivers and teams is deeper than ever.  Reminds me of my rookie year in 2001 and 2002 CART.

-Looking back on the whole, who or what were your biggest surprises of the season?

I think Carlos Huertas.  He won a race but most impressive was that I can’t think of a single on-track driving error that sticks out.   Extremely rare for a rookie..  If not unheard of.

-JPM’s (Juan Pablo Montoya) first year back, from methodical at the start to P4 by the end, how do you rate his comeback?

JPM also exceeded expectations…  I think he’s very honest with himself and where he can focus this offseason, and that should lead to an even more impressive season in 2015.

-Where do you rate this year’s rookie class, with the year said and done?

I’d say the best I’ve ever seen. Hawksworth, Aleshin, Munoz were right there from the first session of the season.

-What were your favorite races to cover and favorite moments?

I really enjoyed Toronto because of all the chaos and unpredictability.  My favorite moment was when Will Power called me out from pit lane (Pocono).  Also when my 8 year old son asked Leigh Diffey, “Now what exactly do you do for my Dad?”

-Lastly, the schedule. Did you like the frenetic nature of the condensed schedule and what do you think IndyCar can do to enhance it for 2015? 

I liked it… Feels weird to be done so early but that’s what IndyCar used to do.  Laguna Seca was always early September as the season-ender.  Plus I love watching the NFL!

Roger Penske vows new downtown Detroit GP will be bigger than the Super Bowl for city

By Jun 1, 2023, 2:00 PM EDT
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DETROIT – He helped spearhead bringing the town a Super Bowl 17 years ago, but Roger Penske believes the reimagined Chevrolet Detroit GP is his greatest gift to the Motor City.

“It’s bigger than the Super Bowl from an impact within the city,” Penske told NBC Sports. “Maybe not with the sponsors and TV, but for the city of Detroit, it’s bigger than the Super Bowl.

“We’ve got to give back individually and collectively, and I think we as a company in Michigan and in Detroit, it’s something we know how to do. It shows we’re committed. Someone needs to take that flag and run it down through town. And that’s what we’re trying to do as a company. We’re trying to give back to the city.”

After 30 years of being run on Belle Isle, the race course has been moved to a new nine-turn, 1.7-mile downtown layout that will be the centerpiece of an event weekend that is designed to promote a festival and community atmosphere.

There will be concerts in the adjacent Hart Plaza. Local businesses from Detroit’s seven districts have been invited to hawk their wares to new clientele. Boys and Girls Clubs from the city have designed murals that will line the track’s walls with images of diversity, inclusion and what Detroit means through the eyes of youth.

And in the biggest show of altruism, more than half the circuit will be open for free admission. The track is building 4-foot viewing platforms that can hold 150 people for watching the long Jefferson Avenue straightaway and other sections of the track.

Detroit GP chairman Bud Denker, a longtime key lieutenant across Penske’s various companies, has overseen more than $20 million invested in infrastructure.

The race is essentially Penske’s love letter to the city where he made much of his fame as one of Detroit’s most famous automotive icons, both as a captain of industry with a global dealership network and as a racing magnate (who just won his record 19th Indy 500 with Josef Newgarden breaking through for his first victory on the Brickyard oval).

During six decades in racing, Penske, 86, also has run many racetracks (most notably Indianapolis Motor Speedway but also speedways in Michigan, California and Pennsylvania), and much of that expertise has been applied in Detroit.

“And then the ability for us to reach out to our sponsor base, and then the business community, which Bud is tied in with the key executives in the city of Detroit, bringing them all together,” Penske said. “It makes a big difference.

“The Super Bowl is really about the people that fly in for the Super Bowl. It’s a big corporate event, and the tickets are expensive. And the TV is obviously the best in the world. What we’ve done is taken that same playbook but made it important to everyone in Detroit. Anyone that wants to can come to the race for free, can stand on a platform or they can buy a ticket and sit in the grandstands or be in a suite. It’s really multiple choice, but it is giving it to the city of Detroit. I think it’s important when you think of these big cities across the country today that are having a lot of these issues.”

Denker said the Detroit Grand Prix is hoping for “an amazingly attended event” but is unsure of crowd estimates with much of the track offering free viewing. The race easily could handle a crowd of at least 50,000 daily (which is what the Movement Music Festival draws in Hart Plaza) and probably tens of thousands more in a sprawling track footprint along the city’s riverwalk.

Penske is hoping for a larger crowd than Belle Isle, which was limited to about 30,000 fans daily because of off-site parking and restricted fan access at a track that was located in a public park.

The downtown course will have some unique features, including a “split” pit lane on an all-new concrete (part of $15 million spent on resurfaced roads, new barriers and catchfencing … as well as 252 manhole covers that were welded down).

A $5 million, 80,000-square-foot hospitality chalet will be located adjacent to the paddock and pit area. The two-story structure, which was imported from the 16th hole of the Waste Management Open in Phoenix, will offer 70 chalets (up from 23 suites at Belle Isle last year). It was built by InProduction, the same company that installed the popular HyVee-branded grandstands and suites at Iowa Speedway last year.

Penske said the state, city, county and General Motors each owned parts of the track, and their cooperation was needed to move streetlights and in changing apexes of corners. Denker has spent the past 18 months meeting with city council members who represent Detroit’s seven districts, along with Mayor Mike Duggan. Penske said the local support could include an appearance by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer.

Denker and Detroit GP  president Michael Montri were inspired to move the Detroit course downtown after attending the inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We saw what an impact it made on that city in August of 2021 and we came back from there and said boy could it ever work to bring it downtown in Detroit again,” Denker said. “We’ve really involved the whole community of Detroit, and the idea of bringing our city together is what the mayor and city council and our governor are so excited about. The dream we have is now coming to fruition.

“When you see the infrastructure downtown and the bridges over the roads we’ve built and the graphics, and everything is centered around the Renaissance Center as your backdrop, it’s just amazing.”