IndyCar’s Boles focusing on the need to bring bumping drama back to Indy qualifying

Since 2016, more than half of the Indianapolis 500 entry lists have contained the bare minimum of 33 cars. As a result, there’s been no competition to qualify for the field of 33, and the trend continues this weekend as those 33 entries are guaranteed to take part in the 110th running of the Indy 500.

Although the reasons behind this month’s shortfall are known, it doesn’t sit well with Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar Series President Doug Boles.

“We've got a TV partner (FOX) who knows how important that emotional moment is to the sport and and it's disappointing this year that we're at 33, but we didn't know that PREMA Racing wasn't going to answer the bell, and obviously, with the F2 rescheduling thing, we lost Colton Herta,” Boles (pictured above) told RACER.

“So there's three cars right there, and that would have put us at 35 or 36. I don't know for sure that the Katherine Legge program (with HMD Motorsports/AJ Foyt Racing) would have actually come together as it did if all that hadn't happened. So the benefit of this is we get a great driver with her who loves our sport and is a great ambassador for our sport, who has an opportunity to compete.”

Boles wants to restore the fight to earn a spot in the Indy 500 during Qualifying Weekend, but there’s no immediate fix to offer. One thing he doesn’t want to do is pad the entry list with guaranteed participants, which was an old Indy Racing League trope from the 1990s where full-time entrants were given preference with ensured participation in the great race as 25 season-long IRL entries were locked in ahead of the event and all others were forced to battle over the eight positions left to claim.

“I love bumping,” he said. “I love bumping and I hate bumping. I love it because it's so much a part of the history of this place, and it's so emotional. I hate it, because somewhere, somebody is going home, and it's a super difficult moment for those folks. But it's part of who we are, and it's something that we want to continue to have here.

“I saw somebody post something about, ‘You guys are going to get back to 25 and 8.’ I've been really vocal about this with the owners, beginning at one of the first owners' meetings I had with them in St. Pete last year, that the Indianapolis 500 has to always be the fastest 33. It can't be a race where you get a guaranteed spot. Now, does someday that change? I don't know. I can't say never, but from my mind, it should never change, and I will always advocate that.”