Schedule gaps kills momentum and ratings

It’s a Wednesday afternoon, and we’re smack dab in the middle of two several-week long breaks in the Formula One and IndyCar calendars.

It feels like there’s been longer periods of inactivity this year because, well, there have been. F1 is in the midst of its annual August summer break, four weeks from Hungary on July 28 to Belgium on August 25. But there have been three-week gaps four times already: from Malaysia (March 24) to China (April 14), Bahrain (April 21) to Spain (May 12), Canada (June 9) to Britain (June 30) and Germany (July 7) to Hungary (July 28). But for the remaining nine Grands Prix of 2013, there are no gaps of that length, and the last six F1 races of the year are three sets of back-to-back weekends, which will push the crews to the max.

IndyCar’s schedule was first-half heavy, with 13 of the 19 races between March 24 and July 14, and only six the rest of the way through October 19. The insane stretch of weekends from before Indianapolis in May through Toronto in July featured exactly one off weekend, June 28-30, which was ludicrous. But now IndyCar is into a heavy stretch of breaks, too: three weeks from Toronto (July 14) to Mid-Ohio (August 4), another three weeks until Sonoma (August 25), and a full month between Baltimore (Sept. 1) and Houston (Oct. 5-6).

News is at a minimum particularly in the dog days of July and August which means speculation runs rampant, and the “silly season" rumor mill heats up. Honestly, it’s just a way to fill space and print, and when you prefer official announcements to guesswork (as I do), it tends to grate. It’s kind of that in-between “we’re not at the awesome, exciting starting portion" and the “thrilling, championship chase climax" points of the year. We’re just kind of along for the ride.

The difference for F1 and IndyCar, unlike the summer baseball months for instance, is that on-track activity ceases to exist save for a few tests here or there, because of cost cutbacks. There’s not a daily grind of games, but there is a thrash at race team shops, as crews work tirelessly to find that extra aerodynamic or damper improvement that could provide that necessary extra tenth or two to put them over the top. You don’t see it, unfortunately, because teams aren’t going to be giving away their secrets.

Breaks are good, but this year’s been tough in the way the schedules have shaken out to provide a consistent dose of open-wheel racing either every weekend or at least every other weekend. It’s something I hope the schedule-makers can rectify in part for 2014. NBC Sports

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