Indy Racing League TV ratings aren’t exactly burning rubber, but they are accelerating.
Sunday’s race at Toronto, which started at 1 p.m., earned a 1.0 rating, which equates to 1.1 million television households nationwide, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s higher than the .87 national rating the race at Watkins Glen earned a week earlier. Start times were the same and both aired on ABC.
The Toronto race also beat the national ratings for the IRL's races in Milwaukee (.6) on May 31 and Iowa (.8) on June 21 (which both aired on ABC), making the Honda Indy Toronto the most watched race of the year, not including the Indianapolis 500.
The national rating for the Honda Indy Toronto was double what Sunday’s Formula One race earned, starting at 3 p.m. on Fox. According to Nielsen, the German GP earned a .5 rating, with 628,000 TV households tuning in.
In Indianapolis, the IRL’s Toronto race earned a 3.3 rating, with 37,000 TV households watching. That was higher than the 2.74 (31,000 TV households) the Watkins Glen race tallied locally. Sunday’s F1 race scored a 1.6 rating (18,000 TV households) in the Indianapolis market.
Honda Indy Toronto was the IRL’s last of five races on ABC. The remaining seven races will be broadcast on cable channel Versus, starting with the Edmonton race July 26. The green flag drops at 5 p.m.
Versus has been promoting the race heavily during its Tour de France coverage this month. With Lance Armstrong’s return to the Tour and ratings for that event on the rise, it could mean an increase to the meager cable ratings the IRL has earned so far this season.
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Greatly appreciated.
And I thought nobody liked to watch street parties.
Ovals on Versus will be back in the 0.15-0.22 range, sponsors will be lining up to get in on that action.
Count Tracula,
I seem to remember you saying that immediately following Watkins Glen we would hear about Barnstormer losing his job. Am I wrong? Where’s the announcement?
I actually enjoy reading some of your posts, but you’re losing credibility……
BerwickGuy Says: July 16th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
JoBu,
Nice how the inimitable Count evaded your question. Seems like he/she was more interested in defending his/her self. Don’t you agree?
JoBu Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Yeah, Berwick, scratching my head at the no reply as well. But it’s probably better than hearing some half baked story about why he’s wrong on that prediction. Something ‘out of his control’, but ‘trust me’.
COUNT Says: ......................
The oval around your pie hole.
Sure ratings are low, but they are increasing which is what needs to happen. The return to Vs. will be interesting to see.
ALL the peaces is in place. JUSt watch now. please
Oh, and Count, I try to stay out of the elementary school name calling drivel, but I think it's interesting you claim that Indy is easy, but it would probably actually have merit if you were more than a former participant and actually a winner (no matter what the circumstances...er...um...excuses you would make). Wait though, if you were Buddy Rice you did win....wait, but those were crap cars too. Rats.
Oh, and quit insulting the folks that pay to see you work. You really are a feeble human being, even in blogorian jest. Definitely not a champion at the professional level, that much is clearly obvious. That should cut a few off the list for those trying to figure out who you are.
Why would the series fire your beloved Barnstormer if they just intend to close shop after 2011 anyway? Why pay someone else if it's already done? Why pay the severance?
Seriously, you are so full of conflicting and fickle remarks, I can understand why our gracious host doesn't attempt to use you as an 'official' source.
My, my, my...........
How about a post for all the followers here, be they haters or not to post their all time top ten Indy 500 drivers?
Just a thought.
During his stay in Indy Lights he won the 1993 B-series championship.
Miller won the championship by virtue of being the only driver to compete in every race in a B-series car.
The old boy was really stickin' to his guns! Kinda sounds like a Count, don't it???
Hey, we just need Da Hooey to kick around for awhile.
SSD is still tryin' to figgur out where his pie hole is. And note that I've learnt Da Hooey spellin' fer shur, fer shur. Or was that BiGirlFan? Oh, whut tHe HeCk, oNe and THe SaME.
Inset REALLY BIG SMILEY FACE HERE WITH A SMIRK
Yee haw.........
The IRL will be folding 2011. Barnfart's job status has nothing to do with the status of the league. They are not one and the same. Two observations: 1) Your question is silly. 2) You are clearly not cut out for sports business. Best that you just watch others who an actually do.
Name-calling is all just part of the fun in mixing it up here. I egt called names and let it bounce. You should try it. Oh, I'll defend my positions to the hilt because I am on here as a person in the know just having some fun with you all. The rest? Sticks and stones and carbon fiber and Indiana concrete you know?
So JoPoo, Berwick Girl, BigGirlIRL Fan,DaPooey, lighten up. Have some fun. Anthony is a cool guy with some good info and he doesn't need any sources more than what he already has. As for me, consider it a treat, I am here. I would if the roles were reversed and I was a fan banging it up and bashing around with a REAL racer on these forums.
It is great fun to be somebody else beside the PC person I am essentially forced to be on TV and in the other media.
I was not wrong about Barnfart so much as 16th and W. Georgetown simply changed their minds (which they do on virtually every aspect of our sport several times a day) at the last minute. Barnfart should be looking for work today. His sentence has been stayed and he can collect a check for his terrible effort for a few more months, then go out and hit the streets or get a cush side-gig at IRL until the ship goes down in 2011.
I bet you bring your own helmet and bag to the indoor kart track and look around to see who is watching don't you? Got your name painted, no you used a label maker but, on the side of it and your very own MarlboroTeam Penske visor strip you bought on Ebay now don't you?
How are those lap times, Bob. Go through your print-outs and get back to me. I'll share some of my lap times at IMS with you if you do. And hey, NO chicken lift on that chicane that runs by the popcorn machine ok? YOU CAN DO EEEEEET!!!
Indy Car racing is dead!
anyway - good work tony george! Bringing back foreign street racing to America!! :gomer:
What would be interesting to find out from now to the bitter end of the earl season, is the ratings for whatever is the lead-in on ReVersus. Not like there is any more proof needed, but some more evidence that people actively shut off the 'league' would be mildly amusing.
The ratings are gaining speed alright. Did talkin' Terry need to be sedated from his euphoric state after this latest massive 'success story' and was thus unavailable for spin? :lol:
sc = affews
Count: Joie Chitwood: You're Fired!!!
Unbelieveable.......
from an insider at IMS... Joie's resignation was a bombshell announcement here today... strap on your helmets and hold on casue this wasn't the first and last departure... there are more folks preparing to head for the exit lanes... stay tuned
And the Count lives!
Next up to the plate for his beaning: Brian Barnfart. Sooner if not slightly later. That is still being sorted out.
Cottman is safe for now.
You cannot make this crap up!
The IRL: Nobody wants it, nobody cares.
20 Teams
31 full time drivers
17 races
3 chassis
2 tire manufacturers
2 engine manufacturers, 4 at a few races
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_IndyCar_season
for the Indy 500 that year:
45 drivers and 48 cars were entered to qualify.
40 cars/drivers made a qualifying attempt.
the slowest non-qualifier was 224.101
A 9.4 Nielsen rating
And in 1996...
going into the final race of the season at Laguna Seca:
* any 3 of the 4 chassis manufacturers could have won the championship, the lone exception was the Eagle
* any 3 of the 4 engine manufacturers could have won the championship, the lone exception was Toyota
* both tire manufacturers could have won the championship
All three drivers that could have won the title that day were American.
Vasser, Unser Jr. and Andretti.
And Tony George decided to fix everything
0 Teams
0 full time drivers
0 races
0 chassis
0 tire manufacturers
0 engine manufacturers, 0 at a 0 races
for the Indy 500 that year:
45 heavy equipment operators and 48 Caterpillar bulldozers, scrapers, loaders, and a crane with a headache ball.
the slowest Cat is 2.4 mph
CART is dead people, get over with! :D
When the IRL takes its last breath it will be all over.
Next up, a major overhaul shall we say, of the IMS. An historical plaque will be left in place with the original yard of bricks incoporated into the new development as I understand it, based on the plans I reviewed in May.
Look, face it, I KNOW. The media will soon get scraps and mini-details, but nothing they can put the paper to bed on.
Be gone with you, you fraud.
And will the future plans for the speedway fit in with the redesign of the town of Speedway?
Thanks for making the point Count.
Very successful business model I would say
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
like I said, you people are a hoot
What??? 'YOU PEOPLE'!!! No need to get racist SSD. Would expect it from the South Side, but that doesn't make it right.
Also notable, your use of the word hoot. I pictured you as Sarah Palin making that remark. SSD, the NEW and improved Sarah Palin.
GO VERSUS!
Look, you can eat a big steaming bowl of my stink I KNOW what I am reporting to you for a VERY GOOD reason and the facts are what they are.
IMS is going to cease to be a race track when the sisters sell the joint. Fact. A karting center? Maybe. A real race track, no. You should see what is planned there. You would all shit twice and a pee a puddle. A racing purist would go mad. No, wait, a racing purist is already mad. But you get my point.
Here is a hint: The land the Speedway is worth far more than the projections for future Indy 500s and otehr associated piddly mish-mash like motorcycles and sports car races. The Hickabilly race is history anyhow.
It comes down to dollars and the long-term investment is sound if it is anything but a race track.
BerwickGirl, I would listen up. You are a fool if you think I am faking.
Am I the only person that is getting sick of the Count and his over the top profanities and absurd rants?
Every track/event pays sanction fee to the IRL... this is not CART/Champ Car anymore...
Hey, I'll just show up again in another form on another ISP if you try to get rid of me.
Count, the contents of your post was overboard for this Blog. Show respect for other people's product.
Fact is this: The Brickyard 400 is over. After this race, the plug is pulled. There goes important revenue, albet it revenue the is down significantly, for both IMS and the IRL. The IRL gets the lion's share of the pain in that one. The NASCAR race just doesn't pencil anymore.
That leaves MotoGP, a possible sports car race, and the Indy 500 for revenue generation. MotoGP is minor league for the Speedway and just another way to suck some revenue out that overpriced road track and get some value out of it. That event too, will be history, all due respect to the sport.
The sports car race idea is a loser and the 500 is marginal anymore. The truth is, for the 500 to pencil anymore, the event needs to be 10 days tops, and I mean tops, and the place needs to seat no more than 175,000, tops. Tops. More reasonable: 1 week, 150,000. It pencils then. Things change. And this is one sporting institution that had REALLY been in need of a change that reflects its place in the sporting world.
The only thing that will make the 500 work is to downsize or the only alternative is to sell the place and call it history. The land in that area is far too valuable to drain money for the sake of a historical event. The family knows this. Potential buyers know this. Fans need to know this because the event they love is in danger of going extinct. And it probably will.
Ask yourself this? Would the world really be at a loss if there was no more Indy 500? Of course not. Neither would Indianapolis. The city has evolved into a pro sports mecca. It can get by just fine without IMS, and the proposed usage of the land would generate far more tax dollars over a ten-year projection.
First you were a mystery, then you implied you were somebody with insight, then you said you were nobody. Now - you're nobody with conjecture, pure conjecture. Nothing more.
Right Von Dickey? :lol:
The IRL: Nobody wants it.
You don't get it do you? Everywhere I go with my informed posts, I mess around and change things up and fake to the left and right and keep everyone guessing. So I know you don't get it. Also, if you follow racing as closely as you claim to, you see me on TV and in print all the time. No, I am not Robin Miller. And I am not a journalist. I am in the sport. But who am I? Really? Nobody seesm to guess correctly. A couple have been close. You guys are not even close. Nice try, though.
Fact is: I gave you the facts. Scares you, I know. But fact is fact.
Keep trying girls...
Nice try Cornholedigger, I can see you are not a business man. Not at all.
That is funny to me.
You that sweaty fat guy in dollar discount days sneakers and a goofy Indy 500 trucker's cap full of collectors pins that dangled a Sharpie from a bunch of shoe strings tied together when I walked past the Gasoline Alley sign to my race car, hoping I'd sign your freaky homemade presto-board photo shrine of me, when clearly you saw three things: 1) I was busy. 2) The racing hero you'll never be. And 3) The beautiful woman on my arm that you'll never have. The same one I nailed through the Hyatt bed springs later that night while you were home posting about how great I was on Fast Friday on one of these gay bob forums like Trackcrackforum or SpeedfreakTV.
Have a seat fissure face. Also, PLEASE stop it with the PM photos of your ride, wearing my T-shirt, with that ssshit-eating grin on your fat, unshaven, gap-toothed ugly mug. Do you smell when you sweat like that? Ewwwww...and by the way, I am not impressed with your lame '92 Corolla ride with that rediculous wing on the trunk deck lid.
Sit down, you are messing with the Count. I don't want you go hurt yourself.
Thanks for the laughs..!
I don't even read you anymore.
He thinks he is being funny by calling himself Count Caroline.
Little does he know that we all know what a douche he really is with this fake arrogant drivel he is spewing.
Grow up John, your side is failing and your beloved killed Aow racing.