Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa “Deep Dive” with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Penske Corporation President Bud Denker
PIT PASS INDY PRESENTED BY HY-VEE – SEASON 3, EPISODE 30 – Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa “Deep Dive” with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Penske Corporation President Bud Denker
July 25, 2023
Show host Bruce Martin recaps the biggest IndyCar Event of the Summer – the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway on Pit Pass Indy Presented by Hy-Vee.
We celebrate Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden’s doubleheader sweep at Iowa followed by an exclusive interview with Penske Corporation President Bud Denker.
Although the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway is completed, race over to your local Hy-Vee throughout the year.
Hy-Vee -- Where there's a helpful smile in every aisle.
For more INDYCAR coverage, follow Bruce Martin at Twitter at @BruceMartin_500
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In the world of racing, "Penske" means performance ... and winning. For good reason. Since 1966, Team Penske has won 44 national championships, 17 IndyCar alone. And last year, Team Penske recorded its second-straight NASCAR Cup Series championship and won its record 19th Indianapolis 500. Those are results that are tough to top.
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Speakers: Bruce Martin, Josef Newgarden, & Bud Denker
[Music Playing]
Bruce Martin:
IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen
Podcasts. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series.
Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT
IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport.
I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands
as nbcsports.com, si.com, ESPN Sports Ticker, Sports Illustrated, Autoweek, and Speed Sport.
So, let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy.
Welcome to this week's edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee. We are proud and honored to
bring Hy-Vee to the show as the presenting sponsor of Pit Pass Indy. We will continue to cover the
entire NTT IndyCar series community, and our partners at Hy-Vee will help us tell those stories.
And what a story from over the weekend at the second Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa. It
was more than a race, it was a doubleheader. It was also, more than a race, it was an event as the
biggest names in entertainment shared the spotlight with the fastest drivers in IndyCar.
Carrie Underwood performed before the Hy-Vee Homefront 250, presented by Instacart on
Saturday, July 22nd before Josef Newgarden stole the show with his impressive victory in the race.
Kenny Chesney wrapped up the first day of the Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend with a 90-minute concert
afterwards.
Those were tough acts to follow, but that is exactly what Hy-Vee and IndyCar did the next day. It
started with a showstopping concert by Zac Brown Band before Newgarden completed a
doubleheader sweep for Team Penske by winning the Hy-Vee One Step 250, presented by Gatorade
for his six-career victory at Iowa Speedway.
Global entertainment sensation, Ed Sheeran put an exclamation point on the weekend with an
incredible 90-minute concert afterward.
This episode of Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee, will take a deep dive into the weekend. We start
off with an exclusive interview with Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden, after he won the first race
of the doubleheader.
Joining us now, on Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee, is the winner of the Hy-Vee Homefront 250,
presented by Instacart. It's Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, your fifth win at Iowa Speedway, your
28th career NTT IndyCar Series Victory. You're a master here at Iowa.
But earlier today, when you qualified, you weren't real happy. You wanted to win the poll, you
thought you had a better race car. But it seemed like when the race started, you proved why your
car was so good.
What was it about today and how do you reflect on today's win?
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Josef Newgarden:
Yeah, we definitely needed some patience today. I think the beginning of the race, we weren't
where we needed to be, which was also, a reflection of where we were at in qualifying.
Qualifying was just not quite — balance wise, it wasn't perfect. We were a little underbalanced, I'd
say. And we carried that into the first stint of the race.
Once we had that first pit stop, I felt like we got the car in a good window and finally found our
groove. And from that point, it was just a matter of trying to be as efficient as we could relative to
the competition.
That's what Iowa demands is good efficiency. And I feel like we have got the team to beat and we're
going to be working hard to make sure that we are in the conversation tomorrow.
It is two important races. It's a doubleheader and until we leave the weekend with both races down,
it's hard to feel complete with it.
Bruce Martin:
Why are you so good at Iowa Speedway?
Josef Newgarden:
I don't know. I personally think we're good at a lot of places. I do. I think we've got multiple tracks. I
want us to be good everywhere. I don't want us to just be good at Iowa Speedway, I want us to be
good any track that we show up at and be in the conversation. And I think we can do that.
But there's no doubt I love short oval racing. I would add more short ovals if I could. It's just a
fantastic form of IndyCar racing and something I've always enjoyed from the very beginning when I
tried it in 2011 in a Indy NXT car.
And I continue that today. I'm really looking forward to hopefully getting more in the calendar.
Bruce Martin:
The goal is to come in at the Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend at Iowa and have a sweep. How realistic do
you think it is that you can win the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade on Sunday?
Josef Newgarden:
It's definitely realistic. I think it is within the realm of possibility that we can be in the fight
tomorrow. I believe that. It's going to be tougher. I'm not starting in as good of a position.
I was really disappointed with qualifying. I just did not do a great job of figuring out where we
needed to be with my engineer, Luke. And I'd take that on my shoulders that I just felt like we were
short, and we noticed that in the beginning of this race.
I don't think tomorrow in the beginning of the race will be as bad because we've got a better idea of
where to be. But starting seventh first third might take a little bit more time. So, I think patience is
going to be critical for us.
But the big thing is being there at the end. That's what's going to matter at this track. And that's
what we're going to try and get right.
Bruce Martin:
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You came into the race 126 points behind Alex Palou. Alex finished eighth in the Saturday race.
Should you trim another 28 points out, you're now 98 back entering the Sunday race. If you leave
here, say 70 points out, 72 points out, is it game on over the final five races after that?
Josef Newgarden:
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, we have to see how this thing takes shape, but it all helps. Tomorrow's
going to be important. For us, they're all going to be important. There's six races to go and the clock
is ticking. I'm not a future teller, but let's see.
We've got to do the best that we can. That's the only way we can give ourselves a chance to
potentially win this championship.
So, I'm going to be pushing just as much as I was today and hopefully, the racing gods shine on us in
the second half of the season.
Bruce Martin:
We have a longer interview with you later in the show, so I'm going to let you go.
Josef Newgarden, driver of the Hitachi Chevrolet for Team Penske, congratulations on winning the
first race of the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway. And thank you for joining us on
Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee.
Josef Newgarden:
Thanks, Bruce.
Bruce Martin:
As the great baseball hall of famer, Ernie Banks used to say, “It's a beautiful day, let's play two.”
IndyCar believed it was a beautiful weekend, let's race twice.
Once again, Newgarden was the dominant driver as he scored his six career Iowa Speedway win, his
fifth straight oval track victory, and the 29th IndyCar Series win of his career. Tying him with the
legendary Rick Mears for 13th on the all-time victory list.
I caught up with Newgarden after he swept the doubleheader for this exclusive interview for Pit Pass
Indy presented by Hy-Vee.
He's back for another appearance on Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee. We ought to rename the
show Pit Pass Indy presented by Josef Newgarden. It's the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa
doubleheader winner, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske.
You were able to win both the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 on Saturday, the Hy-Vee One Step 250 on
Sunday. You finally got a sweep. How does it feel?
Josef Newgarden:
It feels really good. I feel complete for the weekend. It's tough on a doubleheader where you're
trying to feel satisfied after a great first day, but you have another day to go and you can sort of
reverse any points gain that you had on that first day with not following it up on a good day the next
day.
So, I was really concentrated on that. But to be able to sweep the weekend, big deal for our team.
They wanted to do that coming in here, and they felt like they had the potential to do that.
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And so, to realize the potential is always really satisfying.
Bruce Martin:
You were able to knock Alex Palou's points lead down to 80 with five races to go. How doable do you
believe it is with five to go, that somebody can at least make a good championship battle out of it?
Josef Newgarden:
Yeah, it's doable. It's very difficult. I think they're in a good spot and Alex is by far one of the best
competitors I think you could run against, not just in this championship, but the world.
So, it's going to be difficult, but we're going to stay focused. We're going to try and do our best and
fight to the very end.
Bruce Martin:
How was Sunday's race different than your victory on Saturday?
Josef Newgarden:
I think we had to be more diligent with our adjustments throughout each stint. It was really difficult
to look after the tires in race two. And there's just a little bit more wear out on the tires with higher
track temps than ambient.
But yeah, a similar day. I think we tuned on the car and made it a little bit better. And we knew how
to manage things probably a little bit better than we did on day one.
Bruce Martin:
You were quite vocal with the way some of the drivers raced and the Saturday race. Do you believe
they heeded your advice on Sunday?
Josef Newgarden:
No, I think it was the same game. But for me, it was just a matter of how do I put myself in a better
position to react and to give myself the tools to maneuver where I need to.
Because it's hard to control everybody else there. The game is what it is, and so, I've just got to be
prepared for it. And I felt like I was, today. I felt like we had everything we needed to get the job
done.
Bruce Martin:
I'm not going to ask your secret, because you're not going to tell me anyway, but it's your sixth
career victory at Iowa Speedway. So, why are you so good here?
Josef Newgarden:
I don't know. I hope we're good at a lot of places because you need to be in IndyCar. It takes
consistency across the schedule to win a championship. And my goal is to always be good
somewhere we're not good.
So, yeah, I think we've had a great car here. You can't get around that if you don't have a good car,
it's difficult to win around this place. We've had very, very good race cars here for multiple years,
and I think we have good cars in a lot of places.
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But there are some tracks that we need to continue to work on and make better. And hopefully, we
can do that in the second half.
Bruce Martin:
Alex Palou entered the weekend feeling like this was not going to be one of his better tracks. He
would've been happy to get out of here with two eighth place finishes. He leaves with an eighth
place and a third place in the Sunday race.
Are you a little surprised he was able to finish third? And what do you think of just the ability that
he's able take a bad race and make it a good race?
Josef Newgarden:
Yeah, he was just stellar. Typical Alex, he's a great competitor. He knows how to finish well, and he
did a great job this weekend. I was not surprised to see him pull out a third place. He really
maximized his day.
Bruce Martin:
And finally, just the whole Team Penske effort was very solid this weekend with your teammates,
Scott McLaughlin and Will Power. And from a team standpoint, how much does that really validate
what the team is able to do?
Josef Newgarden:
Yeah, it's big. I think it's satisfying for everybody, and our team and we love being able to compete
and compete well. And I feel like we did that this weekend. All weekend long, really.
Bruce Martin:
And wrapping up here with Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway race winner,
doubleheader winner, that is, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. You do so well at Iowa Speedway,
maybe they ought to rename the town from Newton, Iowa to Newgarden, Iowa.
Josef Newgarden:
You never know, Bruce. You never know.
Bruce Martin:
Congratulations on the doubleheader sweep. Good luck on your home track in Nashville coming up
here in a couple of weeks. Thank you for joining us today, on Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee,
where there's a helpful smile in every aisle.
We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.
Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee. Bud Denker is the president of Penske
Corporation and was the promoter of the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway.
I had an exclusive interview with Denker the day after the race at Iowa Speedway and learned some
fascinating details about the weekend.
Here is part one of my exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview with Penske Corporation president, Bud
Denker.
Joining us now, on Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee is Penske Corporation president, Bud Denker.
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Bud, it is the day after the second Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa. Everybody that I saw that
came out here had a really good time. The musical entertainment was fantastic. The racing was
great.
It was a great day for Team Penske, or a great weekend, I should say, for Team Penske as Josef
Newgarden swept the doubleheader.
But let's take a deep dive into how the second Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa went. From
your perspective, I know that you were pretty excited about a lot of the things that went on. There
were a lot of new additions this year.
So, the day after the race, how do you review it?
Bud Denker:
Well, I guess the measurements for me were from the customer lens, and we're in the customer
service business, whether it be retailing our cars across our 350 dealerships, or we have 420,000
trucks in the road now, and the customer experience there, or what we get from Penske
Entertainment, from a customer service standpoint, that's where this ties into.
Did the customers have a better experience than last year? Is a measurement. And by all means, I
think they did, from what we saw from the on-track action, but also, the off-track entertainment
that we'll talk about in a minute.
The accessibility to getting in here easy from a parking standpoint, the amenities we had for them
this time to use from concessions and all the things that Hy-Vee did in the active stages to having
concerts throughout the course of the weekend, even during our races in the concourse, the new
beer garden they developed.
So, I think the customer experience was number one in our mind that was better than it was
previously. And that's number one.
But then I think if you look at what Hy-Vee's done to raise the bar, once again, how do you raise a
bar last year when you have Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani last year, and Tim McGraw and Florida
Georgia Line. Well, they did that.
And with Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney, and then we had Zac Brown Band, and last night
we topped it all off with Ed Sheeran. How do you beat that next year?
But guess what, Hy-Vee will beat it next year. You just watch them perform.
So, we're blessed that the IndyCar Series has been attracted from Hy-Vee to us, from all they do,
from advertising and supporting this event here in Iowa, but also, other events across the circuit as
well. Their stores look like an IndyCar merchandising area. There're 300 plus stores.
So, Bruce, I think the fact that we provided the customer an even better experience was my final
measurement in terms of success. And I'm very happy for what the team did here.
Bruce Martin:
There are so many people in the IndyCar community, and when I use that term, that includes fans,
media, crew members, everybody else that maybe thinks that a crowd is basically coming from Iowa.
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But I'll tell you, at my hotel, most of the licensed plates were from Nebraska, Minnesota, South
Dakota, states that they're nearby states, but that's not exactly a close drive necessarily to get to
Newton, Iowa. Ontario, there was a license plate in the parking lot I saw from Mississippi.
Talked to some loyal listeners of Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee that stopped me in the garage.
They came up from Florida.
So, in a lot of ways, you've been able to create a crowd that has a national reach, or at least a
tremendous reach in the greater Midwest. And I'm sure that was probably one of the goals that you
had with Hy-Vee when you revived Iowa Speedway.
Bud Denker:
No doubt. When the governor and Randy Edeker, chairman of Hy-Vee, and myself got together in
the early days, the governor said, “We don't want to be a flyover state. We don't want to be people
flying over our state looking down and seeing what we have here. It's come here and see what we
have to offer.”
And that was one of the key tenets of why we have this event here at the Iowa Speedway, is to
attract people from around the country to bring them here for yes, racing, but this amazing
entertainment.
To your point, I met a couple last night in my hotel in downtown Des Moines at the Surety Hotel.
They were from San Antonio, Texas. They saw my Hy-Vee shirt on and said, “Did you go to the event
today?” I said, “Yes.”
“What's your role?” I told them. I said, “Where are you from?” “San Antonio, Texas.” I said, “San
Antonio, what brought you here?” “The entertainment brought us here. My wife's a big Kenny
Chesney and even a bigger Ed Sheeran fan.” And they came to explore this event in Newton, Iowa.
So, I asked them what they think. They said it was unbelievable. I said, “Well, why is it
unbelievable?” Because of those things I mentioned, accessibility, easy in, easy out. The concerts
were amazing. The racing was incredible.
The racing lasted an hour and 35 and an hour and 40 minutes. They weren't here all day. They
weren't here for three hours watching a race. And then those people bought the passes to go right
down next to the stage, and they were three feet from the artist.
You're not going to get that at a Ford Field or any other concert like that, but you get it here at Iowa.
And that drew them here. And they said, “Next year, we're going to be here with three more couples
because we've told these people what we're going to do.”
So, Bruce, the vision that Randy and the governor and myself have is that let's create this Sturgis of
Iowa. Let's create this Lollapalooza of Iowa. Let's create an event that has 40,000 people a year, not
50, not 60. Because if we have to go more than that, we're probably going to lose this customer
touch.
And 40,000 people every day on Saturday, and every day on Sunday would be amazing. And we're
almost there already. Not there yet, but we'll get there.
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When you think about those events, Lollapalooza, Sturgis, I mentioned, they weren't created in a
year. They weren't created in two years. Sturgis has been there 60 years now. Give us a little bit of
time.
What's going to happen two or three years from now, when their friends tell their friends of their
friends of what an amazing weekend event this was.
And yet have I used the word race. It's always been an event. And this has become that kind of
event.
So, show me anywhere else in the country where you have those four artists, an amazing
entertainment act as well including racing, or football, or baseball, or hockey. It doesn't exist.
Even the Super Bowl doesn't have those kind of four artists together, do they in one weekend? We
had it here in Newton, Iowa. And for that, I'm grateful to Hy-Vee.
Bruce Martin:
And for another part of what I call the IndyCar community. Once again, those of us who are on the
garage side of the speedway, members of the media, team people, we have no idea what's going on
over in the grandstand side, behind the grandstand with a lot of the activities that were going on
over there.
I saw the video of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark's autograph line. And that was really a long line
just to prove how popular she is in the state of Iowa.
If you could maybe describe what some of the events that were going on over there, even during the
race.
Bud Denker:
During the race, as you mentioned, Caitlin Clark, I came up here in the morning and saw this amazing
line stretching some 700 to 800 people long. And what is that? I thought it was to view the
Champion's Trophy from the Kansas City's Chief's bus.
No, it was Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa basketball star who set the world on fire last year in
the final of the women's competition in basketball that Hy-Vee brought to us.
During the race, I was behind the grandstand and saw a bagging competition with people lined up
about a hundred people around people bagging groceries and who got the best time. And they got a
nice gift certificate to walk away.
During the race, we had a concert stage in the concert area with artists from around Iowa,
neighboring states performing all race long.
And then, by the way, we had about 20 food trucks out there, various degrees. We had a
Wahlburgers out there one time that had a hundred people in line waiting for a Wahlburgers during
the race.
So, we've created this act, these activities where, yeah, go watch the race for a few laps or maybe
the start of the race. If you get hot, we got a lot of other things going on for you as well. That's the
beauty of this event. You don't have to sit in the sun for an hour and a half, go out and see other
things going on here too.
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But we got you here. You're going to see an amazing event before the race concert. Like you saw Zac
Brown yesterday, he was amazing in the morning. You're going to see an incredible race.
And guess what? An hour after the race ends, we brought Ed Sheeran on the stage for an hour and a
half. Find me somewhere else that does that.
Bruce Martin:
What was Ed Sheeran's reaction to this? Because he also started race two by waving the green flag
from the starters stand.
Bud Denker:
Ed was into it. Let me give an idea of what it meant. Ed's manager called Hy-Vee and said, “I have
one request to meet somebody at the racetrack. I want to meet Roger Penske.” So, Ed Sheeran
wanted to meet Roger Penske before the race.
And then Ed Sheeran wanted to throw the green flag. He didn't have to be convinced to throw the
green flag, he wanted to throw the green flag.
And sure enough, you saw him in the stand yesterday throwing the green flag to these cars and then
going away a couple hours later and coming out to put a great performance. So, he was all in. They
were all in.
And the beauty of this speedway is that, guess what, next to the Speedway is a 5,000-foot runway
that these artists fly in on, have the event as well as these other people that fly in on their corporate
jets.
It's just an amazing facility here in Newton, Iowa, 40 miles out of Des Moines, that provides you this
incredible situation to have entertainment, to have racing.
So, hey, NASCAR built a amazing place years ago when Rusty Wallace helped them build it. And now,
we're helping keep it full and keep it exciting.
Bruce Martin:
Another thing that I believe people lose sight of was the number of campers that were here because
once again, a lot of people look and try to judge, they think the only amount of people that are here
are what they see on the overhead shots of the grandstands.
And yes, there were some empty spots in the grandstands, but you look at that campground and it
was packed.
What would you say the camping facilities were up to in terms of capacity and how would you gauge
that?
Bud Denker:
Sold out. We sold out the camping, didn't have another site to sell. The first site to sell out are RV
Hill, the luxury campers around the RV Hill area. And the next ones that sold out are the ones out in
the campgrounds. And they were totally sold out.
But Hy-Vee instead takes another step, they had miniature convenience stores set up in the
campgrounds. Two of them where you could walk in and get charcoal, you get beer, you get soda,
you get lighter fluid, you get whatever you need. Hats, sunscreen.
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They bring that to the customer, or if they don't find what you need, they'll order it online and have
it here in a half hour from a local Hy-Vee store delivered to you, delivered to your campsite for that
matter if you want.
So, they provide the amenities that the customer wants here to raise that customer experience.
They don't miss a beat. I like to think that people call us Penske Perfect, Hy-Vee's making Penske
better by having this event here.
Bruce Martin:
What is capacity for the camping?
Bud Denker:
200 campsites. And then RV Hill on top of that as well too. So, all 200 campsites were sold out.
Bruce Martin:
Another comment I heard from somebody who saw the race on TV said, “Why did they build the
extra suites behind pit lane? Because there weren't people sitting out in those seats.” And I said,
“Did you see who was inside? There were a lot of people inside those suites.”
So, if you could describe how that dynamic worked.
Bud Denker:
Yeah. Hy-Vee had 73 corporate customers last year at our first event, and they build suites for them
all. They were in turn one and they were in turn four, as we all saw last year.
They built 123 corporate suites this year. I think they had 120 suppliers that bought those suites this
year. They went from 73 to 120. An amazing increase in supplier participation and partner
participation.
And that's a keen number because all of those companies, many of which probably had never been
to a race before, I'm going to guess perhaps, were now included in this event. They were at our
event.
Besides the consumers that bought a ticket, we now, had all these corporate companies here as well
too, which is why this airport was, I think, the busiest ever yesterday. People flying in here for the
event.
So, Hy-Vee's objective is to bring their partners in. They did that and they increased it from 73 to 120
this time. That's a major success story. And they created this entire chalet structure as you're talking
about, behind pit lane.
So, they're going to continue to evolve in terms of where those are and how they build them.
Remember those chalets they had in turn one were in Detroit last month. The structure behind pit
lane will be moving to Grand Prix and Las Vegas next. So, their infrastructure is amazing.
By the way, this year, they were all air conditioned as well, which is why you saw a lot of people
inside, because last year was quite hot. They weren't going to make the mistake again in having their
customers in the heat. Amazing.
Bruce Martin:
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From a business-to-business standpoint, if you have 125 suites with suppliers and other people who
are involved on the Hy-Vee side, if say 5% or maybe 10%, if some of those people are sitting and say,
“Hey, wow, why don't we go ahead and take the next step and become an IndyCar sponsor.”
That has to also, be something taken into effect that these suites can be fertile ground for the next
sponsors that come into the series.
Bud Denker:
Absolutely, yeah. And it's no secret that when we bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the
IndyCar Series, there's an additional 14 new sponsors that are part of this series and part of the IMS
that we brought to the table.
That's just osmosis. People being close to the sport that now want more to do with the sport and
your point's a very good one.
So, I think that, as I mentioned, things take time to build. In Iowa, word of mouth is going to get out
there and it's going to be tremendous. It's going to happen. You tell somebody who tells somebody
else, tell somebody …
Let me give an example. I had my team from Detroit here putting the event on. Detroit Grand Prix
team, who are just amazing. As well as members of the IMS team were here as well working with the
Iowa team.
I had my Detroit team go up into the stands both days and give people wristbands to go down in the
infield. People were crying because we gave them a gift to go down in the infield. A mother and a
daughter came down and the daughter was crying. “I get to go down there and see the artist that
closeup?”
That person's going to tell 50 people over the next year how well we took care of them. And maybe
20 of those people will come to our event next year. That's how you build these events.
You build them one by one, year by year. And our goal is to make it better and better. We did it year
two and watch us do it in year three.
Bruce Martin:
From a revenue standpoint, you told us before the event that in the first year, there were some
tickets that were made available through Hy-Vee and through other sponsors where people could
come into the race.
This year, you pulled those back in, put them up for sale. So, even though if you looked at the
grandstands last year, there were probably fuller, but you had less seats last year than you did this
year.
How would you gauge the way ticket sales went from year one to year two?
Bud Denker:
Yeah, despite getting more tickets in the inventory to sell, we sold more this year than last year. And
by the way, if you know, we took our prices up considerable from what they were in 2022.
So, prices went up, may have lost some of those loyal ticket racing followers because of that fact
that weren't maybe interested in the entertainment. We'll get those back and we have a plan for
that.
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But the key thing was our ticket sales were up this year, year over year. And that's important. And I
mentioned we went from Hy-Vee sponsorships from being a 73 to 123.
So, we were well over the 30,000-person number here each day. My goal, as I mentioned, is to get
to that 40,000 number, hit it, and stay there because that ensures we have a great event here, but
also, the customer experience does not suffer.
Bruce Martin:
And also, wasn't there a technical glitch at one point with the Ticketmaster site that in error put out
a discount code for 50% off? And how did all that happen and how did that get rectified?
Bud Denker:
Well, our Penske employees obviously do a lot of great work for us. So, we went out and offered a
discount to our local Penske employees here, and it went broader than what it should have gotten
out there for. So, it was rectified.
But no, I think anybody that came here saw the offering that we had, no one can discount the
impact that Hy-Vee has made in this community. No one can discount the presentation we provided
people.
It was beautiful here, the restrooms were clean, the places were just … everybody was polishing it
every day.
Hy-Vee had over 200 of their employees here every day working, taking care. Anybody in a red shirt
was a Hy-Vee employee. They volunteered their efforts out of their stores, out of their corporate
offices.
And as I've said countless times, if it wasn't for this company, Hy-Vee based in Des Moines, Iowa,
who's got over 80,000 employees, we could never put this kind of event on.
So, I'm most grateful for Randy to Jeremy, their entire senior leadership team.
The other thing that I'm grateful for is because of what's they brought us together here in Iowa.
They've now become great personal friends.
So, they had a presence in Detroit this year. Detroit Grand Prix, Bruce. They don't even have a store
in Detroit. That's the kind of partners these people are.
So, I'll give you one more story. Last year, Josef Newgarden got hurt here and was in the hospital.
And I went to the hospital that evening and stayed there a number of hours, stayed overnight. And
at about 9:30 at night, the place was cleared out. And I was there by myself in the auditorium
waiting for an update on Josef.
Who walked in? Randy Edeker and his wife, Dawn at 9:30 at night on a Sunday night to give me a
hug. To give me a hug. That shows the kind of people these people are, and the kind of giving that
they are, and the kind of community presence they have, and the kind of integrity and care they
have.
They came to give me a hug at 9:30 at night. Wasn't even their driver. It wasn't even their driver.
And that shows the kind of loyalty and passion and the kind of people we're dealing with here.
Bruce Martin:
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The other thing about Randy is for a guy who was so brilliant, as the chairman of the board at Hy-
Vee, come up with tremendous innovative ideas.
Anna Stoermer, the chief marketing officer said he was able to identify the buying habits of
millennials before they even had the buying power way back when. And that he just sees things in
the future.
But as I was leaving through the tunnel Saturday night, getting up there toward Rusty Wallace Drive
to get on Iowa Speedway, I look over to the left, there on a golf cart, is Randy Edeker with his
grandsons.
And I just sit there and look. Here's a guy, this is his event, and he's driving his grandsons around on
the golf cart, checking things out. I just thought that was kind of a cool thing to see somebody of that
stature, it's as big an event to him too as a fan, as it is for him from the corporate side.
Bud Denker:
Well, I look at he and I look at Roger and their attention to detail. I look at he and look at Roger in
terms of their vision. I look at he and look at Roger in terms of their mission, but also, how they get
there. It's through taking care of people and being loyal and being transparent.
And I think that's why we get along so well. And the fact that our values at Penske align with the
values of Hy-Vee and their organization, and that's why we've become such great friends as well.
I'm grateful and I'm blessed that Graham Rahal and Bobby Rahal have brought them to our sport. I'm
grateful now, that that's been able to transfer and prosper into a friendship I have with them. And
look forward to seeing them in Nashville in a couple weeks.
Bruce Martin:
Speaking of Roger Penske, what was his reaction?
Bud Denker:
Well, he owns the racing series, obviously, so he got here and was just amazed at how beautiful the
place looked. Would Roger Penske say that he's the biggest fan of Ed Sheeran or Kenny Chesney? I
can't say that.
However, of course he's delighted that Josef Newgarden won two races. Came back and rebounded
from what happened last year when he got injured on Sunday. Of course, Will Power and Scotty
McLaughlin also, had top twos.
So, pretty happy from the performance of Team Penske, but most happy from what the series got
out of this event and how it raised our series up, once again, in the eyes of the fan, but also the
person watching the race with great racing, great coverage, competitive racing.
Get this number. On Saturday, there were 1,502 passes. That's staggering in one race at 1,502 laps.
Some in some series, it's probably a decade. I won't name who it is. But 1,502 passes in one race.
You're next on a swivel watching what goes on in this series. Most competitive racing series in the
world.
Some of the best drivers in the world, who's got to compete on short ovals, big ovals, fast ovals with
high banks, road courses, street courses, that's diversity and that's adversity also, that these drivers
face.
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Bruce Martin:
We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.
Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee.
Here's the rest of my exclusive interview with Penske Corporation president, Bud Denker for Pit Pass
Indy.
Speaking of Team Penske, you and I have both been in racing for quite a while. We've seen drivers
who are on a roll at particular tracks. We've seen drivers who have owned particular tracks, but Josef
Newgarden's mastery of Iowa Speedway is pretty impressive.
How would you even begin to describe how good he is here?
Bud Denker:
Boy, that's a good question, Bruce. Master I guess is maybe a good word for it. And I think even his
peers or his competitors, have got to just shake their head, this guy.
I watch up there in the spotters tower and the suites, and watch his lines that he races. And how he
comes out of turn two, how he comes out of turn four. How he stays down on the stripe at the lower
level that no one else can do.
He conserves his tires probably better than anybody else does, which is why you see him going good
laps at lap 30 and lap 40. But he really has a way about this racetrack.
Had he not been injured last year and had that part break in the car in that last race, how many
would he have won here now? Seven or eight, I think it is.
And then he's pretty darn good in the ovals. He's won the last five ovals in a row stretching back to
St. Louis of last year. So, he's got one more coming up here.
But yeah, he's got a way about this track. Scotty McLaughlin, when he finished second to him on
Saturday, said, “I'm getting closer and closer to you, but I'm not there yet.”
Bruce Martin:
Well, he's also, pretty good everywhere. His victory now puts him in a tie with Rick Mears and when
you're in a tie for career victories in IndyCar with Rick Mears, you're reaching some pretty legendary
status. So, how important is that to you?
Bud Denker:
Yeah, that's rare air. And Rick is so modest, I'll tell you that his records are here to be broken at
Team Penske in the IndyCar Series, and Josef's got a long runway ahead of him, our drivers do.
But boy, the talent of this series, you go back again, look at the qualifying within a second of the use
of 28 drivers for this race, most competitive series you'll have in the world.
Other than Iowa, a race that anybody else could win. Some 20 plus drivers. We've seen it this year
with probably seven or eight different drivers in many of our events.
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We have five more to go. We have an amazing competition going on now. Palou has got a pretty big
lead still, I think, what 90 points or 80 some points, 90 points. Josef cut into that by a few points this
week.
But I hope it goes down to the end to be a competitive racing series to Laguna Seca, and I'm sure it
will. And hey, we're going to be back out of here in Nashville in two weeks.
Bruce Martin:
80 points is the deficit between Josef Newgarden in second place, and Alex Palou, the leader. And
we have to give props to Alex Palou because he knew coming in that short ovals is not really his
expertise.
He wanted to get out here with two eighth place finishes. He finished on target with an eighth place
on Saturday, came back Sunday and finished on the podium with a third place.
How amazing is he? Can somebody make up 80 points over the next five races?
Bud Denker:
Yeah, it's going to be tough. I mean, he's had one of those years. I mean, the guy was in Toronto
weeks ago and had a wing hanging off with a thread hanging onto it. He could have fallen off, but he
made it and finished the race. He stayed off the curbs and that's how we finished.
And you saw him yesterday, I think he was a lap down in 12th place at one time. And made that back
up and cut through the traffic and finished in third place. Came out of kind of nowhere the last
couple laps to do that.
So, hey, he's a great racer. He has had one of those years. His peers will tell you he's had one of
those years as well. He is ultra competitive, great talent.
But many other people are great talents in this sport as well too. And we have a lot of young rising
stars that we're proud of that have come up through the other series, whether it be here or
overseas.
And we're rich with really good talent. And we've got years ahead of us of these people being to
prosper. And Alex is one of those people.
Bruce Martin:
Back to Josef Newgarden. I know one of the big supporters of Iowa Speedway is the mayor of
Newton, Iowa. Have you talked him into maybe renaming the town for one weekend out of the year
Newgarden, Iowa?
Bud Denker:
Versus Newton, Iowa, Newgarden, Iowa?
Bruce Martin:
Yeah.
Bud Denker:
Well, the mayor had an idea, maybe we named the race next year, the Josef Newgarden Invitational.
So, that perhaps could be something that we consider as well too.
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But no, mayor Hansen, by the way, is the mayor here in Newton. One of Hy-Vee's objectives bringing
this race was to help out small communities. And this is a small community. This has done that for
them. Their restaurants, their stores, obviously, the hotels they have here. It's a big, big weekend for
this small community.
And hey, IndyCar and Hy-Vee put the Iowa Speedway back on the map this weekend. We plan to put
it back on the map for many, many years to come with Hy-Vee's support.
So, we're here. We didn't have 6 or 7,000 people as we might've drawn with just a race. Instead, we
had 30 plus thousand people a day because of what Hy-Vee provided to us both in entertainment
and racing.
Bruce Martin:
You promote a race in one of the largest cities in the United States with Chevrolet Detroit Grand
Prix. You also, promote a race in the smallest city on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule in Newton,
Iowa. Sometimes is it best to be the big fish in a small pond?
Bud Denker:
Yeah, it could be as well. However, I'll tell you that the reason why our event in Detroit went off so
well this year, and the reason why it went off so well here in Iowa is because Michael Montri and his
team from Detroit, Anne Fischgrund, who's general manager of this racetrack now for us, for our
event, and the folks from IMS put this thing on.
This was not hundreds of people that did this. This is about 20 people that came together along with
Hy-Vee's volunteers of 200 plus to make this happen.
Michael and Courtney and all of my team in Detroit, their reward was after doing a great job in
Detroit. Guess what? Now, you got to pick up and move to Iowa for a month or so. And they do it
with a smile. They do it because they love it. They do it because it's a passion for them.
And these are young people in most cases that are under 30 years of age that just have a passion for
putting on an event for people to give them great pleasure.
And I can't be happier or proud of my team in Detroit. Can't be more thankful for Doug Boles to let
us borrow some people from IMS to put on the event. And now, they got to go back and get ready
for the Brickyard event here in a few weeks.
Bruce Martin:
The goal, of course, was to make this a fan event, to give the fans a weekend to remember, an
entertainment extravaganza in many ways.
But you also, feel that at the moment it has become a corporate event because of all the corporate
involvement that you've been able to attract through Hy-Vee.
Bud Denker:
Yeah, I think it's equal there, Bruce. We need the corporate support to help Hy-Vee put the event
on. As I do in Detroit too.
In Detroit is no secret, our event in Detroit, some 70% of our revenue is corporate, 70%. The rest of
it is the fans that come. And we need the corporate support to have these events happen.
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And the corporate support brings a lot of people, obviously, with their companies as well. So, I would
say it's an equal balance between what Hy-Vee's done to bring those 120 customer or suppliers and
companies here, but also, what they're doing with the entertainment and what we're doing to help
bring those fans here as well.
So, I think it's an equal 50/50 proposition. When you have that together, we'll get to those 40,000
fans. It's my goal per day here in a couple years.
Bruce Martin:
It's a tremendous investment to put this event on. But with all of the corporate support you were
able to generate over year one, how much has that improved the bottom line for this event?
Bud Denker:
Well, Hy-Vee contributes a tremendous amount to the infrastructure, to the entertainment to do it.
So, that's the important part for them.
For us, because we sold more tickets, obviously, we've got more revenue and that's a good thing as
well too.
Hy-Vee even took over the concessions this year. They were all done by their employees, not by a
third party like a levy. They were done by Hy-Vee. They did all the catering this year, not a third-
party outfit. Hy-Vee did that because their experts in that.
So, they brought the effort, they brought the commitment, they brought the support, and they
brought the resources to be able to do that.
So, they're accountable for a lot of those things from infrastructure and entertainment. We're
accountable for obviously, putting on a great event operationally, security, safety, parking, all those
things, obviously, and ensuring we have a safe event here.
So, hey, when you sell more tickets, there's more revenue. And when Hy-Vee obviously brings more
suppliers in, there's more revenue for them as well.
Bruce Martin:
Hy-Vee's slogan is Hy-Vee, where there's a helpful smile on every aisle. But it really seems like every
time I saw one of the Hy-Vee people, whether it be senior management or store volunteers, they all
had a smile on their face.
They were very helpful, and you could just tell that they really loved being engaged in this event.
How important is that?
We've had sponsors in the past, but not necessarily as happy and as friendly to be part of it as we
see with the Hy-Vee people.
Bud Denker:
Yeah. How about this example. When I showed up here on Wednesday or Thursday, all these red
shirts were out there with power washers, power washing the asphalt. These are Hy-Vee employees
power washing the facility that NASCAR owns.
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I brought our painters in from IMS and our people have been cleaning this place up also, in the
grounds and all. But Hy-Vee's here cleaning the carpeting in the suites. Not even their suites, but
their suppliers suites, even the Team Penske suites.
They're cleaning the windows, they're polishing off the glass, they're polishing off the counters.
These are Hy-Vee people that are from their stores that have a full-time job somewhere else, or at
the corporate office that are here.
Many of them says it's like a sabbatical for them. They find great pleasure in coming out here and
seeing it.
But you're right, the consistency of their service, the consistency of their smiles, the consistency of
their support is amazing.
And I've been to the Hy-Vee's store here in Newton several times to get my coffee in the morning.
And it's so great to see these people that are so supportive of our event. It's so great to see what Hy-
Vee’s done to support the series. But it's also, great to see all those smiles that you talked about
that's consistent in their stores.
Indianapolis is lucky because they're getting some Hy-Vee stores next year, as are Nashville and
many markets beyond their eight-state territory right now.
So, hey, we've got great leadership, we've got a great model, we have a great partner.
Bruce Martin:
When this partnership was announced in August of 2021, I asked Roger Penske whether it was going
to be NASCAR in charge or whether it was going to be Penske Entertainment for the actual property,
he says, “As long as we have the lease, we're the ones that are able to make the decision.”
So, how do you explain how the whole situation works?
Bud Denker:
Yeah. So, we lease the property from NASCAR because NASCAR owns the Iowa Speedway. So, we
provide a rental fee that they give us every year.
But Tyler Clement and his team here and Pat Warren from the Kansas Track also, they come up here
and they support us as well too.
So, Tyler's got his team, Tyler's got his brother who focuses on fire and safety that's located here
locally. Tyler's the expert around the area to help us get the volunteers we need for parking and the
police protection, those kind of things.
So, it's a joint effort, I would say from what NASCAR provides us. Operationally at the racetrack to
put the event on, it's our teams from Detroit and from IMS. But you couldn't do without those
people we talked about from Hy-Vee’s volunteers too.
Bruce Martin:
But I'm sure NASCAR has to be ecstatic over the improvements that have been made to this facility
that have been done by Penske Corporation and Hy-Vee.
Bud Denker:
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I would hope so. We painted all the suites last year. We painted the outside of the suites last year.
We painted the railings this year. We painted the starter stand this past year as well too.
So, we've been doing a lot of sprucing up on a property that we don't own. So, I hope NASCAR's
happy with the person here that's leasing their space.
Bruce Martin:
Are you able to give us attendance figures, or a guesstimate, or what the weekends crowds were
like?
Bud Denker:
Yeah. We did just about 80,000 last year and we'll exceed that this year. I don't have the walk-ups
for yesterday yet. Maybe I should have those numbers, but I don't have those.
But we'll see what we had last year based upon the fact we had more ticket sales than last year. But
also, we had more corporate sponsors than last year. That includes Friday as well. Remember
Friday's a free day.
And so, hey, that's a good number. And if I can get to that 40,000 number on Saturday and Sunday in
the future without impacting our customer service along with Hy-Vee, I'll be just happy with that.
Bruce Martin:
Because of the Olympics next year, it's going to create a large open gap in the schedule because NBC
is the broadcast partner for IndyCar and most of NBC's televising or television equipment, talent,
production will all be at the Olympics.
Have you been able to identify a weekend date for next year for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend
at Iowa?
Bud Denker:
Yeah, we have. And we know what that date is and we're not ready to announce that date yet, but
we have.
Because you're right, there's a three-week window in the latter part of July that NASCAR's not racing
and we're not racing because both are being covered by NBC during that period of time. So, USA's
taken up, Peacock's taken up for the most part, and NBC of course, with the Olympics.
So, yeah, we have a date that we've established for next year that Hy-Vee also, knows about that
we're planning around already.
And I would say give us the next few weeks to begin announcing. We may announce some venues,
specific ones ahead of time, and then maybe around the Laguna period you'll see us announce our
whole race schedule.
Bruce Martin:
One of the popular things about IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway in the past was when they were
night races. Obviously, it's very important to Hy-Vee and to Penske Entertainment and to IndyCar to
be on the big NBC, the primary network.
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But has there been any discussion or thought into maybe turning it from a Saturday, Sunday day race
where it can get hot in Iowa? However, it didn't get too hot this year. It was in the 80s instead of last
year when it was over a 100.
But has there been any thought to a Friday night, Saturday night doubleheader?
Bud Denker:
Yeah, there has, and there's two things about it. First of all, you have to get a TV window. They're
not easy to get on evenings.
The second thing is, it's really not a night race because it doesn't get dark until 9:30 at night. You
start a race at nine o'clock. No, it's too late. That's 10 o'clock eastern time.
So, you have to start the race at seven o'clock. The race is going to end at 8:30 and it's still light
outside and it's still pretty warm outside.
So, you really don't get the impact of the climate weather decrease from a temperature standpoint.
And you don't get the impact that the lights being on to be under the lights that used to get when
Xfinity raced here in the fall or the springtime.
So, it's really a misnomer to race here at night because you're going to be racing well into 10:30, 11
o'clock central time, which you don't want to do.
Bruce Martin:
I'm sure you and I both remember a couple of years ago when it was a Saturday night race and it
rained and I think we got out of here about, I think it ended like 10 minutes to 3:00 in the morning.
That was obviously you don't want to go there.
But the other thing you have to factor in is the concerts. If you have a night race, you then want
concerts going on till midnight, even though there's some venues where concerts do go on till
midnight.
But I'm sure that's really not a situation that you want to get involved in with an event like that
lasting that late, and then people having to return to their hotels in Des Moines or wherever.
Bud Denker:
Right. Now, and that's a good consideration. We've looked at that, Bruce, to say, do we start our
race later in the evening, so it's early in the afternoon, so it starts at say five o'clock or seven o'clock
or six o'clock or so.
And then you have a night concert after that, or a semi night concert. Because once again, it's still
not getting dark here to 9:00 plus.
So, those are all considerations, but what evolves around that or drives, the first thing is a TV
window. You got to get the TV window from the network.
And we prefer to be on obviously an NBC network like we were this weekend, two races, one a two-
hour window, one a three-hour window. That drives that consideration and timing.
Some entertainers, they want to perform only at night, so they kind of rule themselves out
performing under the lights. So, we have to work with that dynamic, or I should say Hy-Vee does as
well too.
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So, hey, we were lucky this year in terms of the weather. It was great in the 80s, as you said. We had
a breeze out there blowing. Still warm, but it wasn't the degree of temperature we had last year at
this time when we were in the high 90s.
Bruce Martin:
28 car starting lineup. That was a full field back in the so-called Glory Days of Kart. So, from an
IndyCar standpoint, you have to use that as a metric to show growth.
Bud Denker:
Yeah, strong field again. With Ed Carpenter entering it this week, obviously, we had a big field of 28
cars. When you think about 28 cars on a seven, eight-mile racetrack, there's a lot going on. I think
Josef started lapping cars, or Will started lapping cars by lap 14. It's a long line of cars.
So, you're right, we've got a terrific field. Even our Indy NXT Series now, with 17, 18 cars out there
racing on Saturday evening was a great starting lineup too.
Think about it, just three years ago there were 11, 12 cars out there racing. Now, you got 17 or 18
there.
So, we're in a very growth period right now. Our TV ratings are up. One of the only sporting events
you can talk about now with TV ratings up year over year.
Our viewership, our number of views right now, on what we broadcast out from social media are up
like 70%. We have more viewership already on what's been pushed out on social media we had all of
last year.
So, we got great momentum in this series. The number of entries you just mentioned is strong at 27,
28 this weekend. So, we got a lot of momentum. It's our job now, in the IndyCar Series, to ensure we
continued that momentum.
100 Days to Indy was a great success. Over 3 million people watch that, those episodes. We're going
to be pushing it to the international audience here very shortly. Hopefully, millions more will watch
it internationally.
A lot going on, Bruce. We'll be announcing some exciting things about our schedule here in the next
few weeks. And we're very bullish on where we're going.
Bruce Martin:
I do want to sneak one more question in though. You've run a very successful street race in IndyCar
for years. NASCAR got into the street race business back in July on the streets of Chicago. Coming up
here we'll have the IndyCar NASCAR double header at the Brickyard for the fourth time.
Can you see how soon it may be, or is it realistic to see a NASCAR IndyCar doubleheader on a street
race?
Bud Denker:
Not out of the question. I'll tell you that, Bruce. With Steve Phelps at the helm now, and of course
Jim France, and Steve O'Donnell, and Ben Kennedy.
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I would tell you Ben Kennedy is one of the visionaries in that organization now, who's obviously had
the clash now obviously, it's the LA Coliseum, his baby. What happened in Chicago, his vision as well
too. Other ideas he's thinking about in the series as well.
He actually came and visited us in Detroit before our event to see how we're doing things there,
which I really valued. So, it's a very collaborative discussion. I wouldn't rule anything out.
They're great partners of ours. We know them well. We love the NASCAR people because we raced
in their series and we've known Jim France and Lisa and the team there, Mike Helton for a long, long
time. We value our relationship.
We're sharing best practices between what happened in Detroit and what happened in Chicago. I
went and visited Chicago, I walked the racetrack with Steve O’Donnell, and we talked about things.
So, I would never say never. Nothing here in the imminent future to do that, but be pretty cool to
see Indy cars going around this track in Chicago too, wouldn't it sometime?
Bruce Martin:
And wrapping up here with Penske Corporation president, Bud Denker, as we look back at the Hy-
Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa, you mentioned about how sparkling, how beautiful, how freshly
painted, how spectacular the facility looked.
How do you get the other promoters on the schedule to make that the standard more than the
exception?
Bud Denker:
No, it's a good question. And we've got some really good promoters. But many of the promoters
don't have the kind of support we have behind the scenes with our partner Hy-Vee. Not behind the
scenes, in front of the scenes.
And we have that same kind of support in Detroit with General Motors, don't we? Chevy's obviously
our title sponsor with Lear being our presenting sponsor. And those people make it possible to do
what we did in Detroit and also, do what we did here in Iowa.
Not every promoter has that opportunity or that luxury to have that kind of support behind them.
We're looking to improve every one of our races, even Indianapolis Motor Speedway here in Iowa
and Detroit as well too. And I expect our promoters to do the same thing on their behalf as well.
This is a good benchmark though, isn't it? But once again, to have the kind of entertainment you had
here, you can't expect a promoter to go out on their own, that you've got to do it.
And I just want to say finally that Randy, and Jeremy, and Donna, and Anna, Aaron, Matt, thank you
for your support. I know they're going to listen to this, they always do. Thank you for your support.
Thank you for your friendship. And we're here together to make this event even bigger and better
next year.
Watch out for us in this series. Watch out for us in this event two or three years from now, because
it's going to be talked about across the country, not just here in these Heartland states.
Bruce Martin:
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I also want to thank them for their support because they're loyal supporters of Pit Pass Indy
presented by Hy-Vee. It's been great to be involved with them. They're always very helpful and able
to supply content and access to their top senior officials.
He's always got big ideas, just like Hy-Vee's, Randy Edeker. Penske Corporation president, Bud
Denker, thank you for your generosity for so much time today, to be able to talk to our loyal listeners
at Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee and good luck for the rest of the season.
Bud Denker:
Thank you, Bruce, and appreciate your coverage and what you do for our series. And we'll see you in
Nashville.
[Music Playing]
Bruce Martin:
And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee.
We want to thank our guest, Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway doubleheader
winner, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske and Penske Corporation president, Bud Denker for joining
us on today's podcast.
Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help Pit Pass Indy presented by Hy-Vee, your path to
victory lane for all things IndyCar. And because of our guests and listeners, Pit Pass Indy presented
by Hy-Vee is proud to be the winner of The Best Podcast by the National Motor Sports Press
Association.
And for all your shopping needs, be sure to visit your local Hy-Vee, where there's a helpful smile in
every aisle.
For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at Twitter @BruceMartin (one word, uppercase B, uppercase
M) _500.
This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts. A special thanks to our production team.
Executive producers are Brigid Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me,
Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcasts.com.
Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.
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