Iowa
What do Fox Sports analysts think will happen during the IndyCar races in Iowa?
NEWTON — This weekend’s IndyCar racing at Iowa Speedway will likely be better than last year’s processional races, but passing could still be hard, according to members of Fox Sports’ broadcasting team.
In 2024 a partial repave of all four corners resulted in processional racing where passing was almost impossible. Heading into the Saturday and Sunday races (July 12-13), drivers are uncertain whether the racing will be better, with some saying it will be and others saying it could still be hard to pass.
Fox Sports analyst James Hinchcliffe won at Iowa Speedway in 2018. Hinchcliffe thinks the racing will be better than in 2024.
“I do think we’re going to see it much better than what we saw last year,” Hinchcliffe said.
Skyscraper-sized cumulus clouds loomed over Iowa Speedway on Friday, July 11. Sunny skies are forecast on Saturday and Sunday, but a practice scheduled for Friday afternoon was critical to giving drivers confidence to drive in the second lane, Hinchcliffe said.
“The reality is,” Hinchcliffe said, “and we’ve learned this doing this at a few different tracks. When you’re driving around in practice on your own, there’s not a whole lot of reason to go up into the high lane. When you get into the race you don’t want to go up there for the very first time when an incident is going to take you out of the race. So forcing the guys to get comfortable up there, for me I think it’s a placebo effect as much as anything. What I think it does more than anything is it gives drivers some experience up there, comfortable. Up there so early in the race that starts exploring and that just keeps that high line clean all night long and allows it to be useable.”
Will Buxton’s impressions of Iowa
Fox play-by-play announcer Will Buxton gained worldwide fame in the Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” serving as an expert on the series. He is in his first season as IndyCar’s play-by-play announcer for Fox. Buxton also had a cameo in the Brad Pitt movie “F1.”
When Buxton, who lives in England, arrived at the track July 11 he wandered through the corn maze behind the backstretch, and he still had muddy boots to prove it.
“I didn’t realize. Have you been close up to those things, they’re freaky!” Buxton told Hinchcliffe and Fox pit reporter Jack Harvey of his first encounter with field corn. “The roots aren’t underground. They’re above ground, and it holds itself up. It’s like a tripod!”
About a quarter of the winners at Iowa have started from outside the top 10 and the track is known for producing great racing, Buxton said. Last year Will Power won the second race after starting 22nd.
“This is renowned as being one of the best short-course oval tracks in the world,” Buxton said. “I think you come in expecting the unexpected. So even with the repave there’s still the opportunity for people to have astonishing races from wherever they started in the field.”
How did the repave impact IndyCar racing at Iowa Speedway?
The repave added a high amount of grip to the bottom lane. Think of winter roads. The old asphalt is like untreated ice where drivers slip and slide. It’s technically challenging to drive, but entertaining.
Think of the new asphalt as plowed concrete. It’s easy to drive on, but mundane. In highly aerodynamic IndyCars with faster speeds than stock cars the old surface created unpredictable IndyCar racing.
What is IndyCar doing to make the racing better?
In 2025 IndyCar lengthened both races at Iowa Speedway from 250 laps to 275 laps. Before the repave tire degradation was so high that teams never knew how long a full fuel stint could last, Hinchcliffe said.
“More often than not you were pitting for tires more than you were for fuel,” Hinchcliffe said.
With the new pavement on repaved portions, tires lasted a lot longer and teams ran cars out of fuel. So teams realized they could stop for fuel one less time than what had traditionally been done there, Hinchcliffe said.
“By adding the extra laps they’ve made that window harder to achieve,” Hinchcliffe said. “Which takes the incentive to drive around to a fuel number out of the equation and hopefully means that drivers can push flat out for the entire race.”
Essentially IndyCar also “repositioned downforce on the car” to make the racing better, Harvey said. The amount of downforce allowed on cars is essentially what it was in 2024, but is in different places, Hinchcliffe said.
“I give IndyCar a lot of credit,” Hinchcliffe said. “They’re doing a lot to try to combat this issue that wasn’t of their making.”
Race needs to move to Saturday night
Saturday night racing on short-track ovals in IndyCar are as synonymous as church on Sundays. For years IndyCar scheduled its Iowa race on Saturday nights where the track gained a reputation for its unpredictable chess matches. Television schedules set times for races, but Hinchcliffe and Harvey said the racing and crowds could be better by holding the race at night.
“It’s hot in Iowa in July,” Harvey said. “Let the temperature come down a bit. Let it cool off. I feel like that’s an easy win.”
“From a visual standpoint, open-wheel cars around the lights, sparks flying, it just looks cool,” Hinchcliffe said. “It’s almost always the case that the conditions in a night race are advantageous for racing.”
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and motorsports for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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