IndyCar announced Friday it is canceling all races through April, including this weekend’s season opener in Florida. Organizers say they are still planning to run the Indianapolis 500 in May.
Major sports leagues have been canceling events to prevent additional spread of the coronavirus and the NTT IndyCar Series is the latest.
IndyCar President and CEO Mark Miles says he will continue to evaluate the situation daily and discuss with teams and parts suppliers the next best steps. As of now, he says May racing is still on.
“You have to know that we’ll do everything possible to have the Indianapolis 500 mile race and the Grand Prix before it in May,” says Miles. “If somehow that ends up not being feasible, we’ll be looking at all the other possibilities.”
Miles says he’s concerned about the entire racing ecosystem but doesn’t believe the canceled races will force some of the smaller teams out of the sport.
“If there’s anything about IndyCar teams, it’s that they’ve shown their resilience, they know how to manage, they care about their people,” he says. “Right now, I think even more than thinking about their businesses, they’re thinking about their employees and keeping them safe and keeping them employed.”
The Indy 500 brings in about 300,000 racing fans each year to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Contact Samantha at shorton@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @SamHorton5.
This is a rapidly evolving story, and we are working hard to bring you the most up-to-date information. However, we recommend checking the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Indiana State Department of Health for the most recent numbers of COVID-19 cases.
