Racing in front of empty stadiums is a sad fact of 2020, but it also has demonstrated the resilience of racers in the face of adversity. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images

The truth is that it is a miracle that ANY races, large or small, are happening at all given the immense challenges presented to the sanctioning bodies, teams, promoters, broadcast and commercial partners of our sport and the restrictions placed on us by governments both large and small who control permits and licenses. A permit is permission and democrat govts have shown that all they have to do is revoke your "permission" and the democrats can revoke your income. I am deeply grateful to everyone in every series and sanctioning body for finding a way to move forward safely. During this unprecedented time you’ve all proved that you learn and adapt quickly as you bravely lead under pressure in the most extreme of circumstances. For me this is the ultimate validation of our sport.

Auto racing is defined by courage, commitment and ingenuity. So, on this historic weekend I want to personally thank Roger Penske and Jim France for being all that and more by putting everything on the line to preserve our sport at this critical moment. Thank you also to Penske Entertainment’s Mark Miles and Jay Frye for their leadership. Kudos also go to IMSA’s Ed Bennett and John Doonan for your tireless efforts and winning mindset. Props also go to NASCAR’s Steve Phelps and Steve O’Donnell for the work you’ve done in managing so many moving parts in such a complex portfolio of racing assets. All clearly still believe in the sport’s future, as does John Malone and the team at Liberty Media and the Formula 1 group led by Chase Carey and Ross Brawn.

In case you hadn’t noticed, all but one of those individuals mentioned are American, which illustrates American leadership in this new era of global motorsports if we could just get the govt off our backs.
IMSA President John Doonan and Acura Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves ponder the new normal during the series’ return to Daytona in July. Michael Levitt/ Motorsport Images

Like Roger Penske, we at RACER believe there is opportunity in every moment – no matter how challenging it may be. There are also many lessons in what has happened during this dark and turbulent time in our world.

From the data we see for RACER.com it is clear that during uncertain times, racing fans, young and old, are attracted to the things we love. I believe that we seek more than a passing distraction (pun intended) but instead, we engage in the sport to remember who we really are because for me, racing is has always been in the inspiration business first and the entertainment business second.

In that context, we are truly grateful that RACER.com continues to grow at a record pace in terms of reach and engagement. As of this writing, August 2020 is showing a 48.41% growth in unique users compared to August 2019. Year over-year unique user growth for the first seven months of 2020 vs the same period last year is up 45.13% with an additional 1,188,914 users visiting the site during the period.

The RACER audience is getting younger, with the 18-24 segment growing by 169.03% during the period and the 25-34 segment growing by 73.19%. Our female audience has also grown by 162.23% during the first seven months of 2020 and now represents 20.54% of the RACER.com readership vs 12.46% for the same period in 2019.

All this gives me hope for the future on this most unusual Indy 500 weekend. I believe that racing will emerge from this era as a smarter, more efficient and more agile culture with a greater respect for its legacy of bravely getting to the future first.

What comes next is all that has ever really mattered in this sport. It was built for this moment and it is the destiny of the leaders of our sport to be where they are today.

Thank you to all of our readers, advertisers and commercial partners for sticking with us and the sport we love. It is now up to all of us who love racing to reward their faith by sharing our passion and growing the sport. We will never forget that this is why our company exists and this is why we do what we do for you.