An Indycar Thanksgiving

In the spirit of positivity and the holidays and love for the Indycar series, I thought I'd share what about the series and the 500 I am thankful for. In the spirit of Hanukkah, which begins Thursday night, this list has 8 things to be thankful for:

1. Sebastian Bourdais, Tony Kanaan, and Juan Pablo Montoya. At one point or another, it looked like one or more of these guys wouldn't be racing Indy cars in 2014. In Montoya's case, it didn't even occur to us until September or so. Fortunately they all have funded rides and we can look forward to seeing them battling on track next year. By 'battling', I mean Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, and Jimmy Vasser should order a few extra front wings from Dallara. 
2. Will Power, Scott Dixon, Justin Wilson, and Simon Pagenaud will be back in 2014. No disrespect to anyone not listed, but these guys had some good momentum going in the final third of 2013. Plus, they'll be on track with the guys mentioned in 1, above.
3. An Indycar leadership willing to try new ideas-and tinker to make them work. See: Road racing at IMS, Double headers, standing starts, and ending by Labor Day. Even if we don't always agree with the ideas, somebody is doing something-which is much more than a few years ago.
4. A different, badass-looking race car. Yes, I still like the DW12. 
5. An entire season of racing, and I can't think of a single one I didn't enjoy watching. The events at Sao Paulo, Indianapolis, and Fontana were classics. Seriously, watch the closing laps at Sao Paulo again. It's worth it.
6. Another thrilling Indianapolis 500 with another crowd-pleasing winner. That might have been the loudest crowd I've ever heard. 
7. For that matter, a marquee event that just so happens to be an American institution, a family reunion, a party, and an overall great time. This year I arrived in Indianapolis Thursday night before the race and enjoyed 3 days and 4 nights of racing, friends, food, history, etc. It's worth saving up vacation time and 'Daddy Goodwill' for an entire year. 
8. One set of informed, intelligent, entertaining TV announcers for the series. St. Petersburg looked like things might get a bit rough for Wally, but everything smoothed out and he, Townsend, and Leigh did a great job for the rest of the season. 

Ok, maybe not the greatest list, but 2013 was overall a great year for Indycar and I'm really, really looking forward to 2014.

Would it be too much to hope for NBC Sports to rebroadcast some races on Thursday afternoon while we digest our turkey?