IndyCar is looking for its moment.
formula 1 2020 found a game-changing event for Netflix in the US as “Drive to Survive” introduced the series to a massive new and domestic audience. IMSA made its journey into the limelight with the introduction of the hybrid GTP formula in 2023, which has attracted big crowds and big commitments from participating auto manufacturers.
And then there’s IndyCar, without new cars, and lacking a transformative reality show to spread its gospel, but as the three opening races of the 2026 season have shown, there’s nothing wrong with taking a familiar product and working hard with a fresh approach to promoting it.
It kicked off the season on March 1 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, filling the venue with more fans than it has seen in decades. partnership with NASCAR Six days later another smash hit with fans and a large TV audience at the Phoenix Raceway Oval during the stock car weekend. And IndyCar hit a new high Sunday by using a time-honored playbook to attract new fans to America’s oldest open-wheel series: Take racing to the streets of a fresh, new market.
Inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington marries IndyCar dallas cowboysAT&T Stadium and Texas Rangers‘Globe Life Field as the centerpiece of the 2.7-mile, 14-turn street course. It brought motorsports back to the heart of Texas in a place that was not already on the NASCAR or F1 calendar. And it was a runaway success.
“Arlington is We have the best street course circuit and event in IndyCar right now,” Arrows McLaren Pato O’Ward told ESPN after finishing fifth in his adopted home state. “it is The benchmark when it comes to circuit size, the size of the IndyCar paddock, suites and the overall experience. It’s really the whole package, and it showed today with a sold-out crowd.”
six-time IndyCar champion scott dixon Has raced and won in more street races than any other driver in the field, including the marquee Long Beach Grand Prix, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025, giving the 45-year-old living legend a perspective that no other driver can offer.
“I think it’s definitely the standard now,” said Chip Ganassi Racing driver. “The track and the presentation, the activation. I think combined with both the Cowboys and the Rangers, you can’t ask for better than that. Like I said on Thursday, I didn’t think I was going to an IndyCar event. I thought it was probably an F1 event. Very cool. Congratulations to everyone, and that’s the standard everyone needs to be at now.”
The formula introduced by IMSA in the 1980s was to identify metropolitan areas with strong populations and picturesque locations to hold street races and market their exotic cars to the masses. IMSA was not the first to hold major road races, but it was the first to make it a central and widespread component of its annual schedule: Miami, San Antonio, Columbus, Del Mar, West Palm Beach.
Hardcore racing fans are happy to drive deep into any outback and see a track dedicated to their favorite racing series, but for those who aren’t familiar with the sport or the specific type of racing on offer, the best way to capture a new crowd is to drop a series into their proverbial lap.
As the 1980s transitioned into the 1990s, the take-it-downtown concept evolved to include cities with major sports teams and grand stadiums where races would take place. The Canadian Football League’s BC Lions Dome headlined the series’ arrival in Vancouver, while IMSA charged around the Superdome in New Orleans, IndyCar also got into the game. IndyCar fires rockets in and around the Astrodome houston texans‘Street racing tours around NRG Stadium in 2013 and 2014 baltimore orioles‘Camden Yard between 2011 and 2013.
Downtown Nashville welcomed IndyCar with a competition that made waves all around tennessee titans‘ Home, F1’s recent dive into Florida uses this miami dolphins‘The ambition has been to bring IndyCar back to Denver with Hard Rock Stadium, a road race that revolves around broncos‘Empower Field at Mile High, and the list goes on.
The combination of motor racing and big-time stick-and-ball arenas is a proven winner, further bolstered by Arlington’s sold-out grandstand seating for its first event.
“Fantastic event,” McLaren Racing CEO Jack Brown told ESPN. “The drivers loved it, the sponsors loved it and it was packed. I think we should consider bigger cities around stadiums and convention centres. It’s a good model. In the past Long Beach, Miami F1, Toronto, Vancouver and the Meadowlands all offer good opportunities to build good circuits. I’m a fan of expansion within the US: Mexico, Brazil and the Northeast.”
IndyCar recently added an 18th race to this year’s calendar Freedom 250 street race flagged off in Washington, DC The course, designed to use the nation’s capital and the National Mall as its anchor, is meant to be used only once as part of the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations, but D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is known to have inquired about bringing the series back in 2027 and beyond. If it continues on its current trajectory, IndyCar’s moment could be sustainable.
“The whole idea of street racing, if you will, and taking our product to cities is something we obviously enjoy,” IndyCar president Doug Boles told ESPN after the checkered flag waved at Arlington. “The nice thing about it is you’re in the middle of the community, but you have the benefit of these huge parking lots and roads and a way to actually build a proper racetrack without shutting down the city.
“So that kind of formula definitely works in the right scenario, and obviously with the Rangers and the Cowboys and the entertainment district with their stadiums and the hotels here, it’s great. Everyone did great. So it absolutely gives us another formula that we can interact with as we keep thinking about the next places we want to do our racing.”
