IndyCar drivers praised the initial Java House Grand Prix of Arlington after the race Sunday. Kyle Kirkwood won the race under a yellow flag after a crash involving Romain Grosjean and Nolan Siegel on the last lap.
"This event was done right. The track was built properly with the fencing, the walls, the branding," Kirkwood said after the race. "It looked good, it looked clean. It looked exactly how a premiere motorsports race should look. I could see this being one of our marquee events outside the (Indianapolis) 500 in a very short period of time if we continue coming back here."
Kirkwood drives for Andretti Global, and the win was the team's 78th on the IndyCar circuit and 21st on a street course.
"All the guys had to overcome some adversity. It wasn't our best day in the pit lane, but I think that just shows the resiliency of this team. It shows the speed of the cars, and it shows the talent of the drivers," says Dan Towriss, chief executive of TWG Motorsports, the parent company of Andretti Global.
Towriss says the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and City of Arlington worked well with Indy Car and the teams to ensure the race's success.
"This was a great event by any stretch, let alone for a first year event," he says. "Thank you to Jerry Jones and the team who put this together. I think everybody knows they do it right. It's absolutely a big race on the circuit. We've known IndyCar is some of the best racing in motorsports for a long time, but to showcase that, we need big events. We need events like this event in Arlington, Texas."
Alex Palou finished second and says he could tell upon arriving in Arlington the race would be a "big, big event."
"You could see the facility, you could see how the track was built. You could see we would have a wide track, a long street track which is what we'd been looking for," Palou, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing, says. "It would be a ten out of ten. Attendance was incredible, the fans were incredible."
Will Power joined Andretti Global this year. He finished third and says the race "is setting a new standard for what our events should look like," thanking Penske Entertainment, the Cowboys and Rangers. Andretti Global drivers finished first, third and fourth this weekend.
"The thing with this team is we've got so much room to improve. I know we do, but we've got an amazing team already," he says.
At a reception the night before the race, Jill Gregory, president of Andretti Global, said the race in Arlington would provide more variety to the IndyCar schedule.
"It's an amazing market for us. The fans have been really excited and just to see the backdrop of this city and metro area is great for us," she said.
Gregory said collaboration among the teams in the Entertainment District led to a track that could appeal to die-hard race fans who would want to see how the cars are set up to handle a complex track with sharp curves and a long straight but also appeal to casual fans who might look forward to other events and festivals around the track.
"I've seen a ton of families here," she said. "We know with race fans, it's usually generational transfer, so if your dad was a fan, your uncle, your grandfather, your grandmother, they bring you to your first race, you love it and that cycle continues. I think this is going to be a good trial for a lot of those local families who might now love racing."
Gregory said the Cowboys and Rangers went "all-in" to support the race, but Arlington's history helped the city prepare for a new event.
"It takes a lot of people, but it takes a lot of collaboration," she said. "The owners of the facilities need to be involved, but you need the local authorities. You need public safety, you need the fans, the community leaders. That's what's been so great about this. Everybody is so excited to have this race. That's what it takes to put on a first-time event like this."
