If you were wondering why Hy-Vee kept its IndyCar advertising up long after the 2021 Indianapolis 500 weekend and throughout the summer months, you got an answer on Thursday.
Hy-Vee is head-over-heels on going hard into IndyCar with advertising dollars in hopes to garner national exposure for the Midwest grocery store company.
The group announced on Thursday that it would be sponsoring not just an IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa Speedway, but will also serve as the primary and exclusive sponsor to a third Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda during the 2022 IndyCar Season.
Not only is this a major moment to see the return of the speedway so many fans and drivers adore in Newton, Iowa, but also a major milestone in what looks to be the start of a big partnership between Hy-Vee and the sport of auto racing in and around Iowa.
I’m thrilled.
It’s evident that Hy-Vee has fallen in love with IndyCar racing through their partnership with RLL, and it’s playing a big part in saving Iowa Speedway.
“I think the best thing about this – it’s great to come back to Iowa Speedway – to have Hy-Vee behind it is massive,” RLL’s Graham Rahal said. “Everything that they’ve ever done for us, the promotion, and the effort that they’ve put in is tremendous. Not all partners are like that. That’s what I think will help push this over the edge and be a huge event (on the schedule).”
The partnership between the two parties started during the 2020 IndyCar race weekend at Iowa Speedway.
Hy-Vee put some money into Rahal’s No. 15 and he ended up on the podium.
“We started in 2020 with a simple, one-time partnership, that was brought to us by a gentleman by the name of Tom Boehland with Citrus Systems,” Hy-Vee CEO Randy Edeker said. “He came to us and asked us if we wanted to be on the No. 15 Graham Rahal car for the Iowa Speedway IndyCar race. We said absolutely, and then Graham Rahal podiumed that day with that Hy-Vee logo on the car. We got so many comments from suppliers and customers that it made us start to think about running a partial season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan.”
The two parties came together again in 2021, sponsoring Santino Ferrucci in a part-time role that included being on his car for his P6 finish in the Indianapolis 500.
It’s lead to Thursday’s announcement, and to think it just started with a Rahal top three.
“I think it did spark a lot of interest,” Rahal said. It did get them going. It got Hy-Vee extremely excited and interested in the sport. When I first met with Randy (Edeker), he kept talking about how great it was to get recognition and mention Hy-Vee and how different that was from a lot of other things he had participated in. I don’t know if it necessarily sparked it and made it all happen, but it certainly helped move the needle forward.”
The event becomes the biggest race that will host a full capacity crowd since the track last operated a multi-weekend schedule in 2019.
And that’s a major hurdle that’s now cleared.
Newton Mayor Michael L. Hansen echoed the disappointment felt through the community when NASCAR announced it would not be coming to Iowa Speedway in either 2020 or 2021.
“We were disappointed, obviously, as many across the country were, as the pandemic effected motorsports entertainment,” Hansen said. “We thought we would work through that issue. Other things came up to where NASCAR made some decisions to what they were going to do. They went to a different model where they had to make choices on where they were going. We were just unfortunately a victim of that.”
The last two seasons, ARCA has raced at the 7/8th-mile oval and outdrawn the average ticket sales for the series.
“As you know, we had the ARCA Menards Series here this summer,” Hansen said. “I had a conversation with Pat Warren – an executive of the Iowa Speedway along with others – and the average ticket sale for an ARCA race at a facility runs at about 1500. They were just south of 6,000 at the ARCA race. There’s a core of enthused race fans that still want to enjoy the facility.”
The talks to host IndyCar once again in 2022 began after the 2020 race, speaking to Penske who was preparing to take over the series.
It was just a matter of bringing all of the parties involved together.
“We’ve had continued conversation with Penske since 2020 when IndyCar was there,” Hansen said. “They love the facility and love to race here because, as you heard Graham (Rahal) and Roger Penske talk about, it lends to a lot of passing and a lot of racing. And frankly, fans want to see that too. So when you say was it hard or difficult, the difficulty was getting everyone in the room to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.”
The large event concept means a lot to Hansen, too.
He cares deeply about the speedway and wants to see the place grow to a level that could have only been dreamt of when he saw the track open in his town in 2005.
“I’m the happiest mayor in the state of Iowa today,” Hansen said. “I’m the only elected official still serving the state that was there when the speedway was built. For me it’s gratifying that we can continue to offer, not just racing, but entertainment and family friendly entertainment at a scale that you will not believe that Hy-Vee is prepared to roll out here.”
Don’t let Hansen fool you with being satisfied either.
The dreams of bringing a NASCAR Cup Series race back to the track are still alive and well.
“We’re hoping that the success of this weekend pushes the owners (of the track – NASCAR) to bring the successes of their top series to Iowa, as well,” Hansen said.
Now, it’s just a matter of what the weekend translates to in July of 2022. Put on a big show and maybe Iowa might get its Cup race after all.
