With Texas opening for business, at certain percentages, but providing clear plastic partitions, our Gov. Greg should have not have only allowed but insisted fans be allowed to watch the IndyCar event in person at Texas Motor Speedway when racing returns there next month.
TMS President Eddie Gossage said that when Greg Abbott issued the order to allow the return of pro sports beginning on June 1 without fans, he never pressed the issue. Like anyone in sports, or any person who owns a business, the real thrill is just the chance to open the doors for one person.
"We didn't hit him with fans because you can't do it for one and not the other," Gossage said of TMS holding IndyCar's Genesys 300 on June 6.
Why not? We've been doing it for one and not the other since Day 1 of this.
Call it an opportunity missed. Abbott's Executive Order GA-23 allows motorsports to operate at "25% of the normal operating limits as determined by the venue owner."
We are either OK reopening and accept the consequences, or we're not. The plastic partition benefits only the manufacturer of that product, and the defense lawyers when the lawsuit comes.
Like most sensible Americans, not only do I no longer know what day, or month, it is but I have no clue what to think about "all of this."
No sport is more ideally suited for its regularly scheduled event in the current conditions with fans better than IndyCar in Texas.
Other than the Indianapolis 500, which did not run on Sunday, the sport of open wheel racing sadly mastered social distancing years before it was a mandate.
"I am first and foremost a promoter so it's counter intuitive to not sell tickets to a race," said Gossage, who may actually be a descendant of P.T. Barnum. "It kills me to tell people on social media, or when I actually do go out, they can't come to the race.
"You could have plenty of social distancing (at the race), but the last thing you want is someone who came to a game, or a race, and got this virus."
No one wants to be Patient Zero in someone else's sickness.
"We are uniquely positioned to do this for a lot of reasons," Gossage said.
Start with the fact the event is outdoors, in one of the largest venues in the world.
"We have 135,000 seats. A quarter of that is (33,750). Now that's a sold-out Texas Rangers game. Or two Mavericks or Stars games," Gossage said. "There is no body on body contact. You can space people out."
And by June 6 our heat index will be approaching "Hell's Third Floor," which according to your scientist, or politician, of preference rising temperatures kill a virus. Or it doesn't.
"I know we will at some point have fans but it's just not right now," said Gossage, who added he does not know when the NASCAR dates are coming to Texas.
Even in a non COVID-19 world, TMS would has been properly socially distanced for IndyCar for the last decade, at least.
Eddie need not be reminded that attendance at TMS for the IndyCar race has lagged for years. They gave up reporting the actual attendance figures years ago, primarily because the number was not a good look.
IndyCar is not dead, but it's like so many other sports in that it's niche.
If a person is "safe" enough to eat at a restaurant outside, they should feel even more secure watching IndyCar run at TMS.
But the policy is uniform.
Josef Newgarden won the Indy Car race at TMS in 2019, and his family will not be allowed to attend the race in 2020 to watch him defend his title.
Gossage had to tell Newgarden that his family can't watch from the suites, or anywhere on the track premises. They have to watch like the rest of us, on TV.
In a few days Texas will allow pro sports to return, without fans.
Gov. Greg should have conferred with Gossage and opened TMS for the IndyCar race, because as we have learned during "all of this" you can do for one and not the other.
And the clear partition fools no one.
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