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Can growth-minded IndyCar afford to return to Thermal?

There weren't many fans who turned up to see it happen. The size of the TV audience for the two-hour contest was disappointing. And a long stretch of the broadcast was lost when, while broiling in 90-degree heat, a circuit breaker blew in the broadcast compound that caused the national feed to go dark for 21 minutes.

By any metric a sports league might use to measure success, the inaugural Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix was a failure. And yet its attendees don't want it to disappear.

Held across March 23-25 in California's Palm Desert, the first professional motor race at The Thermal Club has become a polarizing affair.