Life, and Racing, After COVID-19: What We Know and What We Predict

There’s evidence that patient zero lived in Wuhan, China, a city of 11 million people that most of us probably couldn’t locate on a map (find Shanghai, look left). He or she very possibly worked at Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a massive full-block mess of a venue with a thousand merchants who not only sold seafood, but also edible wild …

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Life as we knew it changed so quickly. I was hanging at the GRM tent at Sebring and wouldn't have dreamed that it would come to this a short two months later. A few of the scheduled club races are being asked to give up their weekends to some pro series looking to reschedule. I expect to see some changes in the club racing schedule for events later in the summer or fall. For now its time to break out the sim rig and join your fellow racers online. Hope everybody and their family is staying safe during this time. 

That's a powerful, well-researched and well-written article. In the overall context of this pandemic, our beloved car racing events seem insignificant.  We all have to do whatever it takes to get through this before we can get back to the good times.

This is excellent journalism!

Just to illustrate how fast things are changing, NHRA has now revised their schedule and won't resume until June.

Will any of the June races get postponed? Will we still be locked down in September? Is 2020 going to be the "lost" year for everything? Who knows.

In reply to slowbird :

Yeah, the NHRA revision was released minutes after we posted the article. 

Steven's comment when he forwarded the release to me, in fact: "oh well. like we said, everything is written in pencil right now."

And, yes, he's the best when it comes to writing this kind of stuff. 

Thank you, SCS. 

And by the way, we don't mind if you share this article with your peeps.

Thanks as always. 

The issue for big racing when some form of normalcy resumes, whenever the timeline, as Steven states, is sponsorship dollars. Manufacturers and other sponsors aren't going to have the liquid funds available to support the efforts of many teams across series. 

From a club racing standpoint, as brought up on GRMLIVE last night, it's about track survival and their ability to weather the storm with regards to effectively a lost season of entry fees, events and concessions. The emphasis for series will have to be development of classes which may not be the fastest around the track, but be sustainable with a low outlay or cost for participants to be able to run once racing resumes. You may say something like IT class racing, only with 200TW tires be required, as this would be more cost effective for participants than running purple crack and doesn't negatively effect the competition on track. We may see a shift away from people campaigning higher horsepower, larger wheeled, heavier and yes, faster, modern cars as they're more expensive regarding consumables. Expect to see more contingency sponsorships as well, as suppliers are going to want their support to have a direct tie in to participant sales. 

And remember what Steven said about marking things on your calendar in pencil: The Indy 500 has been rescheduled to August 23.

Fabulous article, David.  I think sponsor involvement, or lack thereof, will be crucial going forward.

One of the biggest factors for racing organizations is the length of the shut down. My thoughts go to a quote from Annis Stukas "We're in the business of making people forget they don't our product." You don't want people to realize they don't need you.

Sharp writing-thanks.

Just so long as Challenge isn't cancelled. 

In reply to barefootskater :

It won't. On a VERY small level, Our Autocross Club faced a location being lost next year and the resulting schedule change for this season put a damper on running for the points before the Corona Scare . May have to wait until next year.

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

Thank you. And Steven did the heavy work. 

And if you feel like sharing the article, please and thank you.

Thanks. 

Thanks for all the kind words, from both GRM readers and editors. Like my friend Steve Potter, PR guy extraordinaire who used to run Lime Rock, said on Facebook, my story is basically a framework in which to blend everything into that will be happening (and already is -- thanks, David, for the updates on the NHRA sked and the Indy 500 move.) David and I were talking right after the story posted, and he asked what my best guess was for when racing might resume, and I said Memorial Day. NASCAR is still saying they will resume racing May 9, and they are saying they will run the Coke 600 on Memorial Day, May 24 -- that would be huge for NASCAR if that happens, not having to compete for once (we hope) with the Indy 500. The governor of North Carolina just issued a "stay at home" order that runs through April 29, so we'll see how that goes. One thing we'll be watching closely: Is this mass movement to online racing just a time-filler, or will it continue at a comparable level after real racing returns? Any, thanks for reading... SCS

Great article. You know it hits the fan when Waffle Houses are shutting down.