The first Indianapolis 500 was run in 1911. The first Monaco Grand Prix was run in 1929. The first World 600 was run in 1960.
Over time, the races have been held on different days and at different times due to promoters attempting to maximize their return on investment. In 1993, after the installation of lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the start time for the 600 was moved to 4:30PM, more for the comfort of the fans than for any attempt to not conflict with the Indianapolis 500.
In 2001, Formula 1 moved the Monaco Grand Prix to the same Sunday as the Indy 500 and World 600. The result was what some people, the author included, referred to the day as “Racing Christmas.”
While the 600 is at least second in magnitude to the Daytona 500 on the NASCAR racing calendar, it is still a huge race in the eyes of NASCAR fans. After this year, the Monaco race is being moved to June, which brings an end to 25 years of the greatest day in motorsports. There are certainly various reasons behind the move, but one thing is for certain: tradition and history should take precedence over chasing dollars.
One thing is true about the Memorial Day races: they are not known for great racing. In the last few years, the Indianapolis 500 has been the most exciting and competitive of the races, although this year the lack of excitement at the front of the field harkened back to the days of drivers leading more 100 laps and under 10 cars finishing on the lead lap.
The World 600 had been the most competitive race for some time, though since 2015 and especially with before the advent of the Next Gen car, the competition had been rather lacking. Monaco, on the other hand, has really never been a race with an intense amount of passing anywhere in the pack, let alone at the front. The circuit is so tight and the design leaves very few braking zones that could lead to passing. It is a crown jewel of the F1 season, but not because of the racing.
That brings us to tradition and the importance of these races on the calendar, and especially to the last Sunday in May. Formula 1 is the epitome of excess in the world of racing. The cars can cost upwards of a billion dollars to contend for the season. The steering wheels are worth the equivalent of a Beverly Hills mansion. The entire sport is based completely on who can outspend whom and how much over engineering can go into a car.
The beauty of Monaco is the environment of the race exudes every ounce of the excess that the race teams foist onto their machines. The yachts that are parked in the harbor for the weekend are some of the most expensive in the world. The apartments and penthouses overlooking the race course are worth more than some small towns in America. Tickets are insanely expensive for seats that afford a view of roughly 100 yards of racing for the 78 laps of the race.
There is one of the most opulent casinos in the world located right in the middle of, and over, the race course. At the end of the day, the trophies are presented by princes and princesses. The lavishness of the weekend cannot be overstated. It is the most famous race on the F1 circuit, but none of that fame comes from the competition. However, to be fair, many of the greatest names in the sport have been victorious at the race.
The moniker of the Indianapolis 500 is “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
As mentioned before, the racing has not been the best for the majority of the life of the race, although of late it has become a lot more exciting.
The allure of the 500 is the pomp, circumstance and grandeur of the entire event. To start with, there are more than 300,000 people in attendance. It is the biggest single-day sporting event in the world. The race has been centered around the Memorial Day weekend, or Memorial Day, for most of its life.
That significance is not lost on the activities leading up to the race. There is a huge military presence. The pre-race flyover started at Indianapolis. The playing of “Taps” to remember the men and women of the military who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms is quite possibly the most moving moment in all of sports. Until two years ago, the balloon release at the end of “Back Home Again in Indiana” was the largest of its kind.
As the race begins, unlike most every other race in the world, the field lines up in 11 rows of three, rather than rows of two. The track is one of the few in the world with seats on both sides of the front straight and it has more permanent seats than any other sports venue in the world. While the racing is generally anti-climactic, it is the activities surrounding the race and the overall experience that oozes with tradition that makes it the spectacle that it is.
Looking at the World 600, which is now the Coca-Cola 600, the people of Charlotte Motor Speedway take the honoring of our military to a completely different level. The number of military personnel on the grounds for the race dwarfs any other racing event on the planet. Speedway Motorsports, the parent company that owns Charlotte, has embraced the attention to the military and Memorial Day that Indianapolis started and taken it to an extreme.
Shortly after the United States invaded Granada, the folks at Charlotte staged a full-on recreation of the invasion in the infield on the front straight at Charlotte. Since that year, there has always been some sort of military activity in the pre-race. Charlotte has worked with the Honor and Remember Organization to place the names of fallen military members on the windshield of every car that races on 600 weekend. They also work with Goodyear to replace the normal Eagle branding of the side of the tires with the Honor and Remember logo.
The pre-race ceremonies are filled with military personnel for the 21-gun salute, “Taps,” presentation of colors, National Anthem and more. Finally, after the second stage, the cars come down pit road and stop. They turn off their motors and there is a moment of silence for all of the fallen heroes who have died for our freedom.
All of these things are tradition. Some have been around for a decade or two, some have been around for a century. The bottom line is that the racing that takes place on “Racing Christmas” takes a backseat to the traditions that have been in place longer than the competitors have been competing.
Those traditions should be honored and respected and never pushed to the side in the name of some corporate decision or money desires. For now, the Monaco Grand Prix is moving to June. Let’s hope that is for a short period of time and it will quickly return to the last Sunday in May.
In the meantime, this could be a magnificent opportunity for a local short track to step up and put their hat into the “Racing Christmas” party. The most ideal choice just might be right up the road from Indianapolis in Anderson, Ind.. Anderson Speedway holds the Little 500 every year on the Saturday before Indianapolis. It could be a stretch, but they could move the start time to 8:00 AM on Sunday and get the race in with time for the fans to run down the road to see the 500 in Indianapolis.
There are some other options too. The Oxford Plains 250 is in August, they could potentially bump it up to May. Thunder Road Speedbowl has the Milk Bowl every fall. That would be another big race that could potentially move to May and kick off the racing on Memorial Weekend Sunday.
Someone needs to step up for the Sunday Morning race slot on the greatest weekend in racing and begin their own traditions that can carry on for decades. In the meantime, we’ll hope that Formula 1 has an epiphany and rethinks this horrible decision.
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.