IndyCar racing in Boston fast became a reality
I know next to nothing about racecars or auto races or fuel injectors, chassis, superchargers, or Farfegnugen. But I do know, in my 45 years of tooling around downtown Boston, first in a 1970 Ford Maverick with Hurst shifter, I’ve never once been able to go faster than 28 miles an hour. So count me in. This excites me. I’ll pay just to see a car go that fast on our streets without hitting a traffic jam, pothole, toll booth, or political stonewall.
My quick trackside analytics tell me that it’s roughly 2 miles between the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge and Leverett Circle. If I could go full throttle down Storrow Drive at 180 m.p.h., I could cover that in 67 seconds. When you’ve spent a lifetime staring at the Hatch Shell, trying to get from the Mass. Ave. Bridge to events on Causeway Street, that is pure automotive porn.
What strikes me most from the opening green flag here is that this whole thing didn’t get crushed by politics or our typical Bostonian kvetching. We woke up the other day to find a deal in place for what will be a four-day race and entertainment event for five consecutive Labor Day weekends beginning in 2016. Boom. Just like that. While we were still agonizing over the continued waterboarding of Deflategate and the 2024 Olympics bid, a whole bunch of Indy-style cars fell from the heavens and landed on the streets of the Seaport District.
Just like that, the Hub had a foothold on the Exhaust Circuit. How the hell did that happen?
“The Walsh administration certainly helped us,’’ said the event’s CEO, Mark Perrone, who in another lifetime was Cam Neely’s agent when the Bruins’ strapping winger was the hottest thing on two wheels in this town. “Great partners. It has been absolutely nothing but positive from the Walsh administration. They get it. They are open for business . . . that’s the message . . . the city is open for business now.’’
Per Perrone, that was not the message he received prior to Marty Walsh moving into the mayor’s office. More than four years ago, when he first trotted his IndyCar idea to Tom Menino’s City Hall, said Perrone, the reception there was “lukewarm, let’s say tepid . . . at best.’’ Which led him to try to land the race in Providence, only to find a similar political ethos of no. He also spent nearly two years trying to have the race staged at Gillette Stadium, where, if not for the 2011 NFL lockout knocking negotiations off track, the big race now headed to Boston might have zipped in and out of Patriot Place (sorry, gents, tire inflation gauges not provided).
“It would have been a good event at Gillette,’’ noted Perrone, “but this is going to be spectacular. The Seaport setting is perfect, and the track, with dips and turns, will be unbelievably exciting.’’
A look at the race course.
JAMES ABUNDIS/GLOBE STAFF
Over the decades, both the Red Sox and Patriots toyed with the idea of bringing sparkling new stadiums to the Seaport. Now its signature sporting tenant will be, of all things, auto racing. It is so un-Boston. But so, too, is Foxborough, where Gillette’s iconic lighthouse stands proud, preventing sailors from crashing their seaworthy vessels into Red Robin or the Bass Pro Shops. Really, find me another forest with a lighthouse. When global warming swells the Atlantic, we’ll all be thankful for Kraft family ingenuity.
The IndyCar event is a massive production. It will take nearly 21 days each year to install the intricate safety system, comprised mainly of the 4-foot-high concrete walls (think: Jersey barriers) that will trace around the entire course. That’s a lot of concrete. The barriers, said Perrone, will be made locally, then stored each year between events. The teardown and storage, which will begin immediately after the checkered flag, will take an additional seven days. Added fencing, 10 feet high, will run atop every section of the concrete barriers, topped by another 4 feet of fencing angled inward toward the track at 45 degrees. A no-man’s land will be established, fans kept at least 20 feet back from the barrier.
“There’s a lot of labor involved,’’ said Perrone, “so we’ll be hiring. These races bring jobs.’’
Race teams, with cars in tow, are slated to arrive on Wednesday each year. Pending final approval, said Perrone, the Boston Convention and Exposition Center will serve as the cars’ paddock area, allowing fans a few days to get a close look at all the gears and grease. Race operations and the media center also could be housed at the Convention Center.
The revenue streams are four-fold, including sponsorships, hospitality suites, merchandise sales, and general admission ticketing, the latter of which accounts for upward of 60 percent of overall revenue, said Perrone.
Final pricing has not been set on tickets, but the preliminary target is in the $25-$35 range per day.
Fans may register on the race’s website to receive ticketing information as soon as it is available.
Meanwhile, we wait. The Indy circuit in North America already has its open-wheel cars thundering down city streets in Long Beach, Toronto, St. Petersburg, and Detroit. Now it’s our turn. Somehow, with little fanfare and zero tomfoolery, the Hub of the Universe got its rear end in gear.
By Kevin Paul Dupont’s “On Second Thought" appears regularly in the Sunday Globe Sports section. He can be reached at dupont@globe.com. Boston Globe