CaliCar Could Be the Foil IndyCar Needs

Ok, I have another IndyCar idea.

CaliCar.

No, no. I’m not saying IndyCar should change a thing (except, you know, they should only race within the state of Indiana and they should consider trying to get Shohei Ohtani to try driving open-wheel racecars).

I’m saying IndyCar needs a foil.

People hate California. They’ll vacation there, sure, and they’ll consume all sorts of California-produced goods, services, and entertainment (which is a service, right?), loving all three (or two). But they hate the idea of California, which is to say: They hate the libs.

IndyCar needs to lean into this.

They’ll have to do it in shadowy fashion. Give me a bunch of money, ask me to set it up, find someone else to do that once you realize I’ve stolen the money and fled to Slovenia because I have no idea how to logistically construct an open-wheel racing series from scratch and I think Slovenia is a lovely country where I would blend in well enough to get by. That person’s job? Make the most annoyingly liberal racing series in the world: Plant-based fuel. Bamboo-made cars. A highly publicized three-day work week for all CaliCar employees. A vague connection to pot. A vocal connection to social justice with little meaningful action but lots of elegantly simple graphic design. The most important part? A loud marketing campaign about “taking on IndyCar,” to which IndyCar won’t even need to respond because the lib-haters will be flocking to the series in droves.

You don’t need everyone in America to like your racing series. You aren’t going to get everyone in America to like your racing series. You just need one large-enough group to LOVE your racing series, or to hate the perceived opponent of your racing series enough to support you financially. The lib-haters are that group. They’re large enough. They’re loud enough. They’re active enough that I have to imagine they have money enough to not be working too much.

CaliCar.

Get it going.