It was Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks who coined the phrase, “It’s a beautiful day. Let’s play two.” He was referring to the days when Major League Baseball regularly scheduled doubleheaders.
However, because of the changing economic model, baseball did away with the two games in one day to generate more revenue.
Back in the day, instead of doubleheaders, IndyCar held “twin” races. Michigan Int’l Speedway hosted the Norton Twin 125s on July 15, 1979, with Gordon Johncock winning the first 125-mile contest and Bobby Unser the second.
On June 11, 2011, IndyCar ran two races the same night at Texas Motor Speedway — the Firestone Twin 275s. Dario Franchitti was the winner of the first race and Will Power the second.
Faced with a shortage of venues, IndyCar created the modern “doubleheader” concept in 2013 with two full races on back-to-back days at Belle Isle, Toronto and Houston. All three venues hosted doubleheaders in 2014, but Houston dropped off the schedule and Toronto reverted back to a single-race weekend in 2015.
The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle continued to run doubleheaders through 2021.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the world in 2020, professional sports had to make dramatic changes to how it operated. Doubleheaders saved IndyCar that season with back-to-back races at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.; Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa; World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.; Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio; and Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the renewal of the Harvest Grand Prix on the road course.
In 2021, doubleheaders were run at Texas Motor Speedway in May and Belle Isle in June.
Both Texas Motor Speedway and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix went back to a single-race weekend in 2022, but there remained one doubleheader on the schedule.
It was a concept that helped save Iowa Speedway, which for the most part had sat dormant since IndyCar competed there on July 17-18, 2020.
It’s known as the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa, but it’s more than two races on back-to-back days. Through the efforts of race promotors Penske Entertainment and Hy-Vee, along with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and the town of Newton, Iowa, it has turned the venue into an entertainment destination.
Hy-Vee is a chain of supermarkets based in the Midwest.
It’s perhaps the biggest IndyCar weekend of the summer with two races on the .875-mile Iowa Speedway oval and four of the biggest names in entertainment performing.
American Idol winner Carrie Underwood will kick off the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend with a performance prior to Saturday’s race (July 22), the Hy-Vee Homefront 250.
Six-time Grammy Award nominee Kenny Chesney will perform following the IndyCar race.
The action continues the following day (July 23) with another full IndyCar Series race, the Hy-Vee One Step 250. Three-time Grammy Award winner and country music super group Zac Brown Band will perform prior to the race.
British singer-songwriter and global chart-topping artist Ed Sheeran will wrap up the weekend with a performance following Sunday’s IndyCar race.