IndyCar Series, Hy-Vee create race-weekend website for July doubleheader

Rumors were swirling. Local fans thought Iowa Speedway might shut down for good.

There wasn’t a race season a few summers ago. And the pandemic didn’t help much either.

But a few months back, Hy-Vee stepped to the plate and teamed up with the IndyCar Series to bring Newton a three-day race weekend that promises to have a festival-style atmosphere and the only doubleheader on the 2022 schedule.

“I think it’s important to be back at Iowa Speedway for numerous reasons. Not just for IndyCar but because of our partnership with Hy-Vee,” said Anne Fischgrund, who is the General Manager of Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend at Iowa Speedway. “With Hy-Vee being so integrated into this state and the governor’s true push to create a bigger atmosphere here, it was important for both companies to dive back into this area of the country and show our fans we want to bring great oval racing to the IndyCar Series.”

Representatives from IndyCar Series and Hy-Vee were at Iowa Speedway on Tuesday.

The two teams were meeting to discuss the plan for the July 22-24 weekend that will have the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 on July 23 and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 on July 24.

The most recent announcement by the two teams was the addition of www.hyveeindycarweekend.com, a website created for the race weekend at Iowa Speedway. When it becomes available, information will be posted there for racing fans.

Tickets go on sale for the event in January of 2022. That’s when more announcements about the festival-style event will be released.

“We are thrilled to be back and to be able to bring a Sturgis-type of event to Newton. We want this to be an annual event that fans look forward to every year,” said Tina Potthoff, who is the Senior Vice President of Communications at Hy-Vee. “We think we have some things we are working on that are pretty big. It will be an impressive weekend. When tickets go on sale, you’ll want to get them quick because we are expecting them to sell out in a couple of days. Our goal is create an event that is so popular that it sells out fast.”

The IndyCar Series started doubleheader weekends in 2014. It had three doubleheader events that season and the past few years, the doubleheader took place at the Detroit Grand Prix.

The only IndyCar Series doubleheader in 2022 will be at Iowa Speedway in July.

“It does provide great racing, has a great atmosphere for our fans and we don’t have a lot of ovals left on our schedule,” Fischgrund said. “The festival-style atmosphere will be perfect for a doubleheader. We are working on very exciting things.”