IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard has two troubling things to ponder in the wake of Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Well, three if you want to count attendance. Event organizers said the crowd assembled over three days was 170,000, about 5,000 fewer than a year ago. But the attendance downturn was mostly due to a rainy Friday.
Still, with all the excitement generated from the 2012 engine and chassis formulas, you’d think more car-loving Californians would come to check out the new wheels.
Speaking of wheels, that’s at the center of Bernard’s first—and most serious—concern that surfaced at Long Beach. When Marco Andretti hit Graham Rahal from behind on lap 23 Sunday, Andretti’s car went airborne and was closer than anyone would like to see to flipping upside down.
The accident happened at road race speed, which is much slower than speeds attained on an oval, especially one as big as Indianapolis. Clearly the new coverings on the rear wheels aren’t enough to keep the cars from going airborne when the front tires of one car touch the rear tires of another. Any maybe nothing save enclosing those rear wheels altogether will do that.
Closing the rear wheels any more than they already are would be a major departure for open-wheel racing. Still, safety concerns may push Bernard and his technical crew to do something more radical with the back wheels.
But what must also be troubling to Bernard, not to mention the IndyCar safety and engineering crew, is that the new Dallara chassis might be as prone to take flight as the old chassis retired after last season.
The risk for the IndyCar chassis taking flight has long been a concern among IndyCar racers and teams. That was magnified after Dan Wheldon was launched into a fence and killed in Las Vegas last year when his car ran up on the back end of another.
Andretti’s quote after the accident was enough to make IndyCar officials shiver.
“I’m lucky I didn’t get upside down. I could have been killed,” Andretti said.
Though it pales in comparison to the concern over drivers’ safety, Bernard and his marketing crew must also be concerned about how many people at the Long Beach race lacked basic knowledge of IndyCar racers’ identity.
Sure, the 24 food trucks allowed into the track for the first time this year were a big draw, and Long Beach has always been almost as big a draw for the party as for the racing. But when scores of people failed to recognize the IndyCar driver who qualified on the front row, you have a marketing problem.
Josef Newgarden, who had qualified alongside Dario Franchitti on the first row for Sunday’s race, was just having fun when he took off his race suit, grabbed a mic and roamed among the fans asking them if they knew who Josef Newgarden was.
While the YouTube clip is entertaining and showcase’s Newgarden’s off-track talents, the takeaway is that IndyCar marketers have a long, long way to go. A dozen people asked by Newgarden himself who “this kid Josef Newgarden” was, hadn’t a clue. Several said they had never heard of Sarah Fisher Racing.
Has Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500? No. Has he been at the top of the series leader board? No again.
But Newgarden can drive—the rookie was last year’s Indy Lights champ and he’s one of the series’
most promising up-and-comers, and if a marketer can’t sell this 21-year-old American’s personality, they need
to get out of the business.
Newgarden didn't help his own cause by crashing out on lap one Sunday, but for the IndyCar Series to go from niche to
hip its most engaging personalities have to be recognizable by the people coming to series events.
At one point Saturday, Newgarden pulled out a post card with his picture on it, stood right next to Long Beach Grand Prix attendees without his sunglasses and asked if they knew who that guy was who qualified in the front row.
Lots of blank stares. The good news, at least most of them knew who four-time series champion Franchitti was.
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In my section the "fans" were mostly sunning, drinking beer, watching the "eye candy", and many were twittering or blackberrying or messing with whatever little hand-held techno-devices they had.
What is ever worse for Randy is this overriding sense that Indy Car racing is just not cool. There is a strong "geek" factor. The cars are tencho-geeky and akward. Most of the drivers have the look fitting right in on Big Bang Theory.
Racing in visceral. And teh IndyCar Series misses to that end on almost every check box.
I would say the series needs to end. The whole thing needs to be reinvented as a much smaller, Indy 500-centric, basic Indy Car, five to six race oval series with Indy Cars that can be had for $250,000 tops and $1,000,000.00 to run a season.
That would attract teams from all disciplines of racing...ALMS, NASCAR, WoO, SCCA, etcetera...
It about Indy.
The current idea is psuedo-F1 (not popular in America), akward in appearance, and with too strong a "geek" image to do well.
Indy Cars should look something along the lines of the 84 March, sound like the 80's Cosworth, or a stock-blocker Chevy, and be driven by mostly guys that are like the ones in NASCAR right now with the an Helio here or a Justin Wilson there that give it just the right amoung of international flair.
The series has never gotten this and that is why it is in the toilet.
A small-scale series of five or six races, on ovals, here and there at places like Iowa, Fontana, Pocono, what have you, with no expectations beyond what a good truck race would draw is ideal to at least make it beneficial to teams to run an Indy Car as a "side" operation to what they normally do. Cost reduction is everything here. Everything. From the cars, salaries, ticket prices, everything.
I think with the history and lure of the "500" plenty of small teams and certainly eager race car dirvers would line up, especially if there were a couple other races during the year to keep sharp, run fast, and always be thinking "Indy." They'd draw 18,000-25,000 at most races and we would all have to accept this is the sport as we know it.
I used to attend races at Texas World and Ontario in the old USAC days. 25,000 people and a far smaller, almost hokey atmosphere was the norm. But there still was a small series and a chance to "rev up" for Indy.
USAC could run it and the "500" would have cars, drivers, and teams, SCCA, USAC, WoO, ALMS, ARCA, whatever...think a guy like Joey Saldana and his team wouldn't run the "500" if Red Bull only had to find a qaurter of a million for a shot at glory in the most famous race in the world? Think a Dyson or Highcroft Racing wouldn't take a shot at it? We might even seen NHRA teams.
250,000 for a car/engine tops. A basic March-like Indy spec, but open to run watcha brung as long as it meets that basic spec. Same with engines.
An Iowa night race here, a 500-miler at Pocono there. Maybe a twin 250 at Gateway, what have you. Five, six races, tops with economics such that if you are going to go Indy Car racing, you'd better be in some otehr form, NHRA, WoO, Rally Cars, whatever, for your bread and butter. Indy Car is supplementary income (maybe), and if you win Indy, here is your Two Million check to help your Indy program and your ARCA team.
Again, American racing is visceral, loud, dangerous, fast, red, white, and blue, and racers come from the backwoods to the boardroom, Boston or Bloomington, all nuts, and guts, and loud, and proud.
It is not a psuedo-F1, tassle-loafered, tofu, techno-geek sport. It is just the opposite. NASCAR identified that visceral need, and ran with it. They are number one.
No, I am not wrong. The Indy 500 and a handful of economically-conservative oval races that make it the worth while for real race teams from real race series like WoO or Trucks ot the NHRA to run the biggest race in the world.
Obviously you haven't seen the new series that CBS is doing. INDYCAR 36 cameramen and reporters select individual drivers and following them for 36 hours in order to introduce them to the public.
It's a great start.
If you think the ratings are cesspool now, wait until you see the number that comes in from the Brazil race.
I have read the series must get a 1.0 to 1.5 to remain an entity. If so, now way it makes it.
The IndyCar Series is the soon-to-be Chicago Motor Speedway of a series. Chip, know what I mean? Uh-huh. Thought so.
This 'slow, agonizing' process has been going on for sixteen years. That seems like a long time for unsustainability to be supported.
How many more decades will the kids make themselves look foolish? It is gratifying to know so many of the critics either went or watched.
IndyCar and its sponsors thank all rabid fans for their support.
Not too shabby if i say so myself. I saw the clips all over the internet. The car is a piece of crap.
Indy awaits and the car is unstable at speed and can't do 220mph.
Seems to me the next *Perfect Storm* is brewing. Lotus is in deep trouble, cars flying from limited contact, Randy sez ratings stink and need to get better (+12's), PenaltyGate has the press calling IRL leadership *numbskulls*, TV ratings averaging 0.5 for 3 races, Dallara is clueless as to how to make a racecar.
Who ya gonna blame it on now Disciple? The haters? That is some serious momentum Indycarz are building up...hopefully no one gets killed because the drivers are spooked.
It was amusing for the first few hundred times, but now it's more of an annoyance. Like a lice infestation.
We all agree on that. Lets hope the H/G clan cut off funding for the hapless league after wasting >$600,000,000.00 "fixing" AOWR. :roll:
BTW, if you find people annoying and lice like here, perhaps you should stick to posting on your own blog, where you have like minded, delusional, racist, place fans a-plenty. Oh, wait...
Looks pretty clear to me someone's gonna have to be killed for anything to be changed....again. In fact, what has changed? The Marco airflight proved the new car failed at each of the supposed safety functions it was designed for. What were those safety improvements again? Yup, they were never released. Lip service....in memory of Dan Wheldon.
Stay on them Anthony.
I stated what that is.
Let's see if the powers-that-be listen. So far they have proven to be rediculously off the mark.
If the twice fired Lord Sagamore announced a new "Vision" tomorrow with 5hp Briggs and Stratton go carts the Lemmings would be all for it especially if it banned foreign drivers.
If a car can fly like that on a city street, imagine what it might do at 200-plus miles per hour at IMS.
There may be a fair amount of pooped pant at the Speedway this May.
By the way, the term "IRL" was canned, just like Tony George.
Wrong again. The child card is merely a reflection of the hypocrisy of your obsession and the whacko, tin foil hat types of theories about which the handful of you continually fantasize. Some are worse than others, using epithets like 'gomer,' 'Captain Lemming,' 'Lord Sagamore,' etc. Nursery school level stuff.
Once in a great while someone with a lick of sense; e.g., Mario above, drops by to state the obvious. Racing at high speed can result in airborne behavior even when driving bricks with wheels. The incident at Long Beach is probably more the result of the Andretti-like driving of Marco.
The only thing missing from IndyCar is the requisite level of class from its most obsessed fans.
That said, credibility might be enhanced by spelling words such as 'ridiculous' correctly.
At any rate, onward to Brazil for another low TV rating and bizarre exhibition of psuedo-F1.
DON'T proclaim the new car is safer by proving in your 3rd race with it that it wasn't. THE NEW CAR IS A FAILURE.
It was so important for the speedway to give the *impression* something was being done to prevent the circumstances of Wheldon's death rather than do something, apparently. None of you 'speed kills' advocates seem to get that.
In just two weeks "killed" has appeared twice in print regarding the new car. You can't change perspective by covering up failure and incompetence. Wake up IMS numbskulls.
Your concern for the three IndyCar drivers killed since 2000 is touching.
Sincerely,
Bob Akin, Michele Alboreto, Blaise Alexander, Ove Andersson, Scott Baker, Tom Baldwin, Ryan Bard, John Blewett III, Possum Bourne, Peter Brock, Dennis Brooks, Jeff Clinton, Ashley Cooper, Dale Earnhardt, Guido Falaschi, Fritz Glatz, Shane Hammond, Kenny Irwin, Jr., Bert Jackson, Scott Kalitta, Billy Kimmel, Steve King, John Lingenfelter, Mark Lovell, Eric Martin, Stewart McColl, Eric Medlen, Mark Niver, Marcelo Nunez, Carlos Pardo, Michael Park, Neal Parker, Stan Perry, Adam Petty, Wanda Phillips, Mark Porter, Tony Roper, Darrell Russell, Gustavo Sondermann, Rafael Sperafico, Henry Surtees, Nolan White and anyone else killed since 2000 in a racing vessel other than an Indy Car.
That's a fitting tribute to Mr. Wheldon, Mr. Brayton, Mr. Dana and Mr. Renna. And all the countless other IRL/Indy drivers who had their backs broken in the car that both flew and went into the wall backwards.
For 9 year the series knew it was a crapwagon death trap....only admitted it in silent fashion because Dan died. Now, you want to ignore again. We've seen this picture before.
Say what? You are merely offering a consistently hostile, contrary opinion based mostly on subjective prejudice. But at least you spell most of your words correctly.
'And our viewpoint is that a once great sport is now essentially a semi-pro, shell of its former self with dangerous, akward race cars, driven by chicks and F1 retirees, on city streets and motorcycle tracks in front of a national TV audience not much larger than the population of Corpus Christi, Texas.'
What, in your esteemed opinion, made it great and when was that exactly? Why is it a shell of its former shelf? Why are the race cars (note correct spelling) awkward? I thought Katherine Legge was the great chested hope; the Danica alternative for the boycott crowd. Did your little klatch rejoice in ecstasy when 'ol Rubhino joined the fray? What is different about that than several other periods of history? Have city streets not been a part of the mix since your 'good old days?' Perhaps you should visit Barber before condemning it. It has a museum your kind would drool over and Indy Car has turned that motorcycle track into a relatively exciting event attended by tens of thousands of people every year. Do not knock it until you try it. You can even pickle your liver and act like delinquents there, just like the good old days at Road America. Is your claim that Indy Car is any different in the 2012 television universe than the vast majority of other entertainment options? If so your tendency to pigeonhole only what fits your prejudice is even more pronounced.
'Add akward, helter-skelter officiating, boy band-like American drivers sipping Starbucks and Tweeting like school girls, and a series leader from the fair and rodeo circuit who thinks Rubens Barrichello is a drawing card in Peoria and Pacoima,'
Uh, Mr. Barnhart got bumped upstairs. Your crowd is supposed to be excited about that Barfield fella. He has been a road course man. Lots of your little obsessed buddies are excited about Beaux. Should you not be gleeful? After all, look what that bunch did pumping up Rubens. Bernardâs gullibility bought it hook, line and sinker. Again, it is 2012. Like it or not, the short attention span average Joe and anyone with any celebrity tweets. That is a reality not present in the 90s.
'well.......it just comes down to the pile of Marco suit poop the series is. We are entitled to our opinion. And that is what blogs are for.'
That is correct. Opinions. Opinions (even those complete with gratuitous scatological references) that have proven laughably, nearly 100% incorrect for sixteen straight seasons.
Nationwide gets a 1.2 on Friday night on the deuce. That 10 year deal with the former Outdoor Life Network is looking beter and better for the ICS*. LOL
Good lookin' out IndyCar!
No, hey, look, sorry to report, Disciple, but the series is just not popular. In fact, it is fading into almost total obscurity. The Indy 500 in May will help it along awhile. But I'll make a prediction: Bad TV ratings for 2012. Real bad. AM I going out on a limb here Disciple? Do you have different numbers indicating we are all wrong? In fact, millions are watching right?
The series needs to shutter the doors this Fall and call it good. Well, call it bad, but you get my point.
Have any of you youthful Internet television executives cast your gaze at the breakouts so we can actually discuss numbers that actually sell spots? Have you noticed some of the blue chippers buying time; e.g., Budweiser?
Hey, it's your impediment, and if you'd like I will keep chucking at your collective expense.
You can't develop popularity if no one can see your product....and it's compounded by the fact no one wants to see your product anyway.
It's worrisome problem #4, Anthony just doesn't touch TV Ratings anymore because of the pathetic-ness of the series makes them look so bad. With 0.07 ratings point growth each year, the series will be 6 feet under in no time. Except if the Hulman's keep rolling $$$ into the $799million PLUS moneypit called the IRL.
Didn't Budweiser used to sponsor an Indycar? I wonder why they don't anymore? LOL.
Danica was used as a marketing ploy by the IRL, but when they used her that way it detracted from her talent and belittled the sport. She's gone, the sport is better for it. Milka Duno was exactly the same, a worthless ride buyer and field filler with D-cups. not much to like there.
I always enjoyed the diversity of the sport, roads, streets, ovals. The IRL wasn't diverse then, but it is now...go figure. And I still refer to it as the IRL so no respect from me.
Hundreds of driver injuries from 16 years in IRL cars that flew, gratered and punched holes in wall with broken thoracic arteries, fractured femers and forarms, drivers burnt up, killed, backs shattered, all with the knowledge the car was at fault...but the IRL refused to do anything about it.
There is plenty to hate about the IRL and the current day Indycar series. As long as they still run it like the IRL, it will NEVER have my respect.
So, take my comments in the context they were offered....typically with a healthy dose of sarcasm mixed with occasional facetiousness. Why? Because the series is crap, from spec flying crapmobile with faux safety features designed to act like the series did something about Dan Wheldon's death...in which they did nothing. Your mileage may vary.
"The Long Beach street parade for 2012 is in the books and by most measures (if you discount the predictable screeching by the handful of obsessed IRL-hating imbeciles) it was successful. Great crowds, a celebrity factor, wide ranging sponsorship, increased 12+ overnights and not a bad race for a festival oââ¬â¢ speed. As an added bonus the weather on Sunday was a chamber of commerce postcard."
I'm sure everyone can tell who the blogger is by the wording in the parenthesis. Makes you wonder why he seems to use the much hated +12 ratings does it not? Is it because they are up?
Oh well...seems a bit dishonest in its own right. But you have to do what you have to do when you are a defender.
I loved AOW in the early 1960s when the rear engine revolution began. Fortunately, as I became older than 6 my emotional maturity also evolved. Then guess what happened? As an actual, real racing fan I enjoyed IndyCar through all of its evolutionary iterations even though whoever was running the sport at any given time made it difficult. I did not do something as stupid as planting a flag in one evolutionary iteration then refuse to budge while screeching like a classless idiot for sixteen years.
'It didn't need to happen and we (all fans) are NOT better for it, and neither is the sport.'
Yes, it DID need to happen. The leadership at that time advocated marginalization of IMS and de-emphasis of the Indy 500 in favor of a diverse, worldwide series to compete against Formula One. That is the wrong approach. That has been conclusively proven, twice, over the past sixteen years.
'Danica was used as a marketing ploy by the IRL, but when they used her that way it detracted from her talent and belittled the sport.'
Gee, ya think? LOL. At least she had enough talent to finish high consistently, qualify well, and win a race that has driven the obsessed tin-foil conspiracy theorists crazier since.
'She's gone, the sport is better for it. Milka Duno was exactly the same, a worthless ride buyer and field filler with D-cups. not much to like there.'
...as opposed to what? Katherine Legge? LOL.
'I always enjoyed the diversity of the sport, roads, streets, ovals. The IRL wasn't diverse then, but it is now...go figure.'
It appears from your level of obsession, commentary and attention to even minute details that you remain one of the biggest fans of the sport.
'And I still refer to it as the IRL so no respect from me.'
Do you understand how absolutely and completely stupid and out of touch the handful of you who remain appear to actual adults?
'Hundreds of driver injuries from 16 years in IRL cars that flew, gratered and punched holes in wall with broken thoracic arteries, fractured femers and forarms, drivers burnt up, killed, backs shattered, all with the knowledge the car was at fault...but the IRL refused to do anything about it.'
Actually, IndyCar and its leadership have consistently led the way in safety enhancement, from funding and testing of the SAFER system, HANS, continuous evolution of machinery, etc., and takes the subject much more seriously than positioned by some random enthusiast of a series that killed itself. Twice. Your attempted positioning of IndyCar as the only place where serious injury and death occurs is well beyond clueless. Yesterday, for example, I cited 42 instances of death in other forms of the sport since 2000. You should see the list of serious injuries. Heck, ask Christiano DaMatta or Alex Zanardi how their careers are coming along since their days with the boycotters. When your ilk spouts nonsense like the death and injury card, you prove you have a lack of even the most basic understanding of motorsports in a general sense. Your credibility vanished around 1998. All you do with crazy woman ranting like that is dig that particular hole a bit deeper. Grow up.
'There is plenty to hate about the IRL and the current day Indycar series. As long as they still run it like the IRL, it will NEVER have my respect.'
Then it defies logic that you would follow it so rabidly. That makes no sense. If you 'hate' it, why on earth would you follow it and comment abut it for sixteen years? That is indicative of a serious lack of both sense and maturity.
'So, take my comments in the context they were offered....typically with a healthy dose of sarcasm mixed with occasional facetiousness.'
Frankly I do not believe your kind is bright enough for that. It appears more like abject immaturity several levels deep.
'Why? Because the series is crap, from spec flying crapmobile with faux safety features designed to act like the series did something about Dan Wheldon's death...in which they did nothing. Your mileage may vary.'
It is not a matter of mileage. It is a matter of maturity. My advice: Try to discover what makes a real fan. Maturity, the ability to evolve, a willingness to try in positive ways to affect future evolution, etc. If you are unable my advice would be to get out. Find something else to follow. The sport needs more fans, but not your ilk. There are not enough of you to make a difference, and given your obvious tone you bring nothing to the sport. In short, leave.
If you want IMS 'held responsible' because a band of mutinous boycotters decided to off themselves, twice, then you have far bigger problems than those that are readily apparent. Grab a mirror, kid.
Zanardi and DaMatta are still racing and walking, the same can't be said for Simon Pagenaud's owner. Another victim of the ill designed IRL* sled
That is like a burgalar getting injured while breaking into your house and then trying to sue YOU for it!
You people are delusional.
The IndyCar Series is almost non-existent on the national sports concious. It seems larger and more relevant to all of us who follow the sport because we follow it daily, for better or worse, and either watch or attend the races. Some us here at this blog watch and attend just as much as the pro-IndyCar folks. The difference is we have a counter-opinion to the "sun is shining on IndyCar" position people like Disciple take.
I attended the Long Beach Grand Prix lst weekend. My previous Long Beach Grand Prix races were: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2003, and this year. This year's race had the same, SoCal atmosphere but with far fewer people and virtually no buzz about the IndyCars. The fans seemed more interested in the ALMS cars and the celebrity race. Further, there are fewer grandstand seats, in my estimation, than ever, EVER, before.
Back in the late 80's, when the sport was strong and things were run correctly, this race was HUGE! Now the IndyCars are almost an after thought. Sure, it is still the main event of the weekend. However, the "buzz", the "atmosphere", the whole "aura" of the Indy Car race has an unmistakable sense of unimportance and irrelvance.
Brazil should help. Brazil is mega with John and Jane from Jamestown. Onward to Brazil!
In Marco's flight at Long Beach did the rear wheel enclosure (bumper/bodywork) work as described, fail or was it totally circumvented?
1) The 1980s are not coming back. Get past it. Even the reincarnated cart we have today is not meeting your lofty expectations. Television 12+ overnights for IndyCar are roughly akin to most other sports and entertainment programming. The job of the leadership is to squeeze some more out, and that process continues.
2) The Rahal/Andretti accident was more side by side and the rear end mechanism was not a major part of the brief flight.
ICS* TV ratings are lower than NASCAR Nationwide and the truck series. Congratulations.
The DW12 was "designed" to stop NASA moon launches. It is a failure. RIP Lionheart.
The Baltimore GP is in major trouble. Maybe Budweiser or another "blue chip" sponsor will step up. LOL.
The ICS* is a failure. 16 years of burying your head in the sand won't change it. Ask your hero Tony. Fired by his Mother.
Let see if you can give a real answer to that instead of your usual and very tired talking points.
Who said that because some don't like current racing we should give up on hoping the sport can make a comeback once someone with a brain figures out that what some of you are willing to accept is unacceptable to others?
Answer no one.
This just goes to show that all you are is a bully. Some of the others too.
The "don't like it take a hike" method is a proven bully tactic.
I rather think the folks that are "fight for what we like and what is right" are better and just as big a fan as you.
Get over yourself...maybe for once, But I fear you are totally incapable.
I bet Randy B. just loves your tactics. Maybe you can discuss your methods with him. I would wager he would want Chief and Burl back and could possibly do with out you.
I think you need a rethink of who and what is mature and who needs to grow up.
If you do't think others think the same of your ilk...maybe we should buy you a mirror.
What is missing is speed, innovation and technology. Three things that seperated the 500* from NASCAR and the rest. Now the powers that be decide who gets what engine package and TEAM funds. After you sign your engine lease please.
Did they really need an ICONIC committee to come up with this package? The rule that an engine has to be tied to a manufacturer is ludicrous.
All of the place fans who like to point out CART's failures embrace and encourage some of the same things that lead to CART's demise that are in the ICS*. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Some changes are a must: pack racing needs to be eliminated, the ability for cars to launch over each other must be greatly reduced, and the ability for a driver's head to contact a steel pole or hard object in a crash--at any track--must be reduced.
Beyond those measures, there's little else deemed as an immediate and actionable item at present."
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-49-page-wheldon-crash-report-explored/P6
Marco's car got airborne, when will the IMS put out a public statement describing what they are going to do about it?
With what part of that basic truth are you having difficulty coming to grips?
And where is your cutesy outrage about accidents in other forms of the sport?
"IndyCar satisfied with DW12 safety features after Marco Andretti's aerial crash at Long Beach"
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98938
Hey, what is the deal with all the cutesy use of the asterisks? Is there some point? Very few events in 2012 have the television ratings they did (if they were even around) in 1996. We are over a decade and a half removed from that evolutionary period. Actual racing fans have a tendency to evolve with the sport. At least that is my experience, which began first hand in 1959. Back then everyone had an Offy and a roadster. I did not stop, stomp my feet, screech like a little girl and become obsessed for the next sixteen years. That is not what real racing fans do.
'For me it's a travesty to have the weekly NASCAR race have better TV ratings than the 500*.'
Why? NASCAR also uses minimal, carefully regulated specs, race primarily on ovals, and is accessible to its fans. As an added bonus, most of the drivers are American and so are the venues, which occur with alarming regularity. They did not suffer through an owner boycott, scorched earth or a lack of ability to promote themselves. I would not call it a travesty. I would call it predictable.
'What is missing is speed, innovation and technology. Three things that seperated the 500* from NASCAR and the rest. Now the powers that be decide who gets what engine package and TEAM funds. After you sign your engine lease please.'
Good ideas. In this day and age, however, who gets to pay for it? Who is willing to do so? Another thing that is definitely not the same as it was in some subjective utopia is the economy. Those of us who work for a living are acutely aware of the economic conditions that exist today.
'Did they really need an ICONIC committee to come up with this package? The rule that an engine has to be tied to a manufacturer is ludicrous.'
It does, however, ensure participation and a certain degree of safety, and given the aforementioned economic conditions and recovery mode of the sport is such an approach unwise? Perhaps in your deluded fantasy world. In the real world common sense must take precedence.
'All of the place fans who like to point out cart's failures embrace and encourage some of the same things that lead to cart's demise that are in the ICS*. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.'
This is perhaps the most perplexing of all the hater slams that get tossed out there. If the IndyCar of today is the cart of yester-decades why is it not as popular as what you folks believe you had back in the utopian days of yore? And what, exactly, is a ââ¬Ëplace fan?ââ¬â¢ Most of the people I know attend races of all disciplines at venues around the globe. My annual agenda, for example, usually includes off road, Formula 1, NASCAR and others most every year. You?
One would think that someone "who has attended every 500* since 1959" would be able to decipher the decreased level of talent.
If I recall Cheever's big win did not help him retain his main sponsor Rachel's Potato Chips and he was then dumped by Red Bull for a lack of results.
It was Norris McDonald, the sage writer from the great white north who penned the classic "NUMBSKULLS" reference to Indycar management this past weekend. I can not claim credit for that, but thank you for giving me the thumbs down.
Looks like LOTUS is in danger of not even making the 9 days of May. Also, there appears to be some concern about the Penske/Chevy alliance and the fact Penske has won all 3 races and builds the Chevy engines too.
Mario, enjoy them races racefan! There are storm clouds on the horizon....
Thanks to the CART safety team Zanardi was able to race again and is not in a wheelchair.
Did anyone at 16th and Jonestown conduct any due diligence on Lotus? How many cars did Lotus sell in 2011?
How long as Alex Zanardi operated IndyCar and Indy Lights teams, conducting more business with his tongue than most others accomplish with their entire bodies? Oh, that's right. None.
Barber 0.25
LB 0.32
That's a marketer/advertisers dreamboat right there. Putting that in perspective....of 700 Million possible viewers on the third tier outpost Versus, only 0.45% bothered to watch.
No angst here, them ratings suck.
34 cars? LOL
Ah yes, the wonderful 90's. Seems like light years now from even Honda's spec lump 3.5 of just yesteryear. Now, teams wanna get out of leases, switch teams mid-season, Indy in jeopardy. Three races in and tv ratings suck, engines squabbles, and a car that got airborne when the new safety devices on the DW12 worked as designed. Banner week this is...oh forgot Lotus is headed downward in a swirling motion in what equates to more cars down the drain. Great week!
Al Unser Jr., Jimmy Vassar, Paul Tracy and company were idiotic shills for an arrogant, self-important series very few were interested in.
I've been an IRL guy since Day One. Sadly, the series became CART all over again and now the suck has never been so big a suck.
The IndyCar Series today is a poor man's, ugly CART copy.
Or Chip. Yeah, Chip and Rog. Together they can not be stopped.
Fix that series right up...
Did 4 cars drop out all of a sudden? Is it because of Penske building his own Chevy's? Lotus is slow and going bankrupt? Honda upset with lack of turbo regulations? Not enough safety devices for all cars?
Where's Randy when leadership is needed? WHY is their only 22 cars going to Brasil? How are the 0.45% of 70 Million NBC Sports Network fans going to get the FULL IRl series on their TV's? I think the series is too cheap to send 26 cars....can an Actual Adult please answer? Thx.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120423/SPORTS0107/120423034/
Indy! Home of Headline makers!
The sport is in such awesome shape!
No doom and gloom here, just FACTS! Woot!, this is GRATE for the series! Prized demographics and +12 vanity numbers with be benefactors for sure, even though the IRL doesn't even use them, they are going so well now. !
Is it concerning to have a full 33 car field for the big race during the partial month of May?
I was reading some of the posts at Track Forum.com and I see where many are growing worried with the Lotus engine problems and the lack of spec chassis, there might be trouble getting 33 cars.
Some think it could be a negative reflection on the Indy 500 in general and send some bad messages to the media which will use it all to bash the sport.
What are you hearing Anthony?
They show comparison footage from pole day 1992/1994 and compare it to pole day 2011. I gauge that 2011 had less than 10% of the attendance of 1994 pole day.
Where did all the fans go? Why didn't they come back? HaY Randy, maybe you should have apologized?
Thanks for watching!
Who won the 1994 Freedom 100? Did they have a "centennial era" back in 1994? They sure packed 'em in in 1994 without the luxury of a condensed Indy 500 schedule or a change in date from Thursday of race weekend....did they?
Why did all those fans come back in 1994, anyways? I still take 1994 for a winner over lame 2011 anyday...maybe no one likes sitting next to you Defendered.
Didn't someone say that one of the reasons for the now dead IRL* was that CART teams wanted to "emasculate" the month of May?
Will Lynrd Skynrd travel by bus or plane to IMS* on "carb day"?
LOL
You sure have a warped sense as to what makes some of the folks posting in this thread actual " rabid fans!"
And you say you know about marketing???
Could you kindly point out some kind of info that would 'defend' that take on how disgruntled former fans can be considered good for the sport and good demographics for the advertisers as they are?
Oh, and by the way...I have been in advertising and marketing and even race PR for years. I think it would be hard to make such a case. But, I know you'll give it a good ol' college try...or jut flat make something up.
LOL, LOL, LOL!!!
How pathetic is THAT? When the IRL's numero uno falsifier and resident BS artist can't even lie to coverup the atrocities of the Indycar Series in year 2012, man, that IS pathetic. Too funny!
Did TG sell his helicopter at his little garage sale?
How are they going to fill the field on fill the field day at the speedway fer the 500 without no engines? I love how the new evolution of Indycars in 2012 has that element of surprize and suspense. Beats 1995 hands down, and gives that Tony Stewart fake out a few years ago a run for it's money.
Tony George said 33 is just a number (He is God like!) Who cares how many cars start as long as the rightful heir Ed Carpenter does? Anyone who says anything negative about IMS is a juvenile delinquent CART obsessed maggot who doesn't know the history of real INDYCAR racing that was invented by Tony George in 1996.
Please stay on topic and grow up.
Now the atmosphere is so non-existent, it almost makes me call into question why not just make it a regular race weekend. Ok, it is the "500", so maybe open for practice on Monday. Practie Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Qualify front to back on Thursday. Two-hour practice on Friday. Parade on Ssaturday. Race on Sunday. Go home. Why even have the dorky dinner thingy they do? Oner week tops.
The "500" just isn't important enough to warrant all the other and the Pole Day TV ratings and lack of attendance at practice and Quals clearly show that it is not a big deal.
One week. Tops. If that. IT coudl also seriusly be considered to make it just a regular race weekend. Practice Thursday. Qual Friday. Parade Saturday Race Sunday. If it rains, points set the field. Only 26 cars? Add seven "promoters options" if 33 is so magical. But is it really? No.
The "500" is not a nig deal anymore. People cling to traditions that are old and irrelevant.
The sport today is for spec cars, chick drivers, and international rich guys, "playing" race car driver in the "500". That is the image. People see that. Mixed in are about ten real race car drivers who apparently don't know any better.
And Defenseless, face it. Your sport is near death. Our sport, I should say. Difference is, we accept that, sad but true. It is a sport that can no longer sustain. What a minor league, irrelevant entity it has become.
The Indianapolis 500. R.I.P.
He sure does seem to come of like this is his blog.
I guess he has to defend Anthony. Well,defend him except when he doesn't like when Anthony writes stuff like how much money the Hulman/George families have had to spend to keep their visions visible.
I sort of feel sorry for Disciple. Less places on the internet that allow him to defend the way he defends, troubles with engines, car counts, fans, ex-CART team owners running the sport.
Life in Speedway is tough!
Sometimes the best comedy is unintentional.
LOL
Maybe Bernie is expecting the IRl to call it quits and wants to be ready to take over at the speedway? Betcha the brickhouses will have the plumbing fixed, I garontee!
Where's the series this week...must be on a an oVal warming up the coiled snakes for the brickyard! Anyone know?
Also, seen MEGA Kentucky Derby 500 advertisements...none for the Indy 500. What's going on? I thought they were gonna promote the 500? The zip-lines and static old carz in downtown on cold Super Bowl evenings in the winter just ain't gonna cut it. Did they advertise the series during NFL football or NCAA basketball tournaments? Hmmmm, set up for a 4.0 again I suppose...iCarly gets that on a regular daily basis. Betcha Defenerer watches that show.
May is coming up, it will be a struggle to stay away from tenderloins. One day at a time, one struggle at a time.
That comment is borrowed from your own postings here, at Track Forum and your own blog. YOU are the one that complains about former CART owners running the show and fooling Randy, etc.
There is really nothing for me to be boastful about.
At one point in history, making this a month-long event may have made total sense. Race cars were developed and improved on right at the Speedway on lazy May afternoons, day after day. It was a different era for motorsport and life in general. Those days are long gone.
Today the sport has a single, spec chassis and a couple of engine manufacturers and that is all. Granted, the car this year is new and so are the engines. Things are unproven to date. But the time, money, and energy spent on development of this car/engine has been spread out over multiple race tracks and events leading to Indy next month. I think they have a good amount of time next month to work the car and engine up and toward the "500". But the days of teams and fans needing to be there for even two weeks now is a thing of the past.
The Indy 500 is still an important event on the annual sporting calendar in thsi nation. It is a bug race. Still. But the truth is, the way the sport has unfolded in the past few years, it has become something of less impact and importance overall. For auto racing it is big. For sport in general, not so much.
A better and more interesting use of time and capital would be to condense the schedule to something more reflective of the times and the attention span of people and the media. Everything is quick, hurry-up, now.
So, I submit the Speedway opens for practice the Sunday before the "500" with an Opening Day "festival"-type atmosphere and then a practice. Practice would follow on Monday through Wednesday. That is four, solid days of practice, to include Rookie Orientation. On Thursday, Time Trails would be held and would be a simple process of lining them up and qualifying 1 through 33 and then whoever is left over would have the opportunity to bump until 6 PM. Field set. A two-hour "Carb Day" practice on Friday, downtown parade on Saturday, the "500" on Sunday. Factoring a Saturday "load-in" day, and a banquest Monday night in Indy, the teams and personnel would be engaged for one week and two days.
Again, with rain a potential factor, it is acknowledged events could be washed out. If Qualifying was washed out, Friday would be available. If that does not work out, then set the field by practice speeds. This also makes practice all the more imperative.
I think a condensed, critical, short-period of practice and qualifying would be of more interest even if only slightly more so.
The low TV ratings and woeful attendance of Pole Day and other qualifying days coupled with the almost non-existent attendance at regular practices is evidence the "old days" are long past.
A week long "Indy 500 Festival" type atmosphere, condensing it all into a compact, basically seven day format, is both realistic and most likely much more palatable to those remaining few who actually have an interest in events beyond race day itself. It would cost-effective, challenging, potentially more action-packed, and possibly of more intrigue.
Ther old gray mare ain't what she used to be and past models, though long in tradition, are really no longer applicable to the modern, 21st Century reality of what is left of this nominal sport.
And because he has a different approach and/or opinion, you dismiss it as "pathetic."
Who is really pathetic, Disciple?
Indeed, thought so.
I don't know anything about racing, I spend most of my time at the track in the john or trying to catch a glimpse of the Tiger Woods of auto racing, Greg Ray.
And therein is the answer as to why so few in theis country watch the sport. So few indeed.
And for that we can be grateful oh great paddock loiterer.
Grateful indeed.
Have fun chewing the fat, literally, with your brethern like Zoomie this May, pops. Have good fun. There will be plenty of room to stretch out.
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/thundercrack/224/matlock.wav :lol:
Lotus killed them. No doom here...this is great for the 500! WooT!!!
Hate never sleeps.....
A. Indycar is too cheap to offer it
B: Brazil needs Indycar blackout for attendance reasons
C: Indycar can only afford to send 22 pilotos
D: No one cares about Indycar
But the 9 days of May are about to start! I guess those CART teams did end up emasculating the month of May. LMAO.
Will qualifying for the Brazil monsoon be live on the former Outdoor Life Network?
Just sell the series and speedway to the Brazilians...they'll fix it. The morAns at 16th and Jonestown couldn't light a match with a handful of fire.....
You forgot the rest of the sentence.
That's the tweet from John Barnes. Seems a bit sensitive on indycar's part, don't ya think? $25K LARGE for a twitter quip especially if the rest of the world sees Indycar with egg on their face. SAd state of affairs over their.
Now that is funny.
Randy has so much to work on. Even the Indy cars that the average person thinks looks like a giant go kart.
But hey, while we have ya, since Brazil got a lowly, and we mean LOWly 0.23, which means hardly anybody in America was watching, can you please give us the REAL number?
Surely there are several million fans unaccountd for in the target demographics.
How did those numbers come out, Disciple. I mean, I know a ZERO POINT TWO-THREE (0.23) rating is unimportant when there are so many fans watching.
OH well, the Month of May is here and 32 cars are poised to attack the Speedway in a couple of weeks when they open the place up.
0.23 is just a number. The Greatest Spectacle In Racing Awaits the 32 coiled snakes.
It's all just part of the ongoing Vision. Just wait till May, all 9 days of it. The coiled snakes will strike just like jet fighters in a gymnasium. 33 is just a number.
You don't know what Qingdao means.
Hows that for loss of interest Indycar leaders and paid propagandists? Fans are not liking what you are dishing up. This 7 year contract with NBCSN is the curse of death.
BUT, this Michael Shank Racing taking the absurdity of the Indycar's engine unavailability issues is startling! Robin Miller just piled on over at SpeedTV, and their were other writers getting on board this AM too.
Man, Randy's got a ****storm hitting the fan today. Too funny! I guess they'll just have to fine and penalize everybody everywhere!
I'll bet Rubens is why Brazil got a 0.23 instead of a lowly 0.20.
Good looking out Randy! Good looking out!
I'm bullish on the future here. I don't know about you fellow Gomers, but I am gettign misty-eyed at the prospects this May!
2010 = 0.40
2011 = 0.08
2012 = 0.23
That looks to me to be a 45% DROP in TV rating from the first Brazil race.
WHAT happened? IRL even advertised the race during NHL hockey playoffs! This is not good news.
IndyCar is DEAD! DEAD! Not even the 9 Days Of May and 32 coiled go karts will save it.
People DO NOT CARE! and DO NOT WATCH!
A couple people at the sports bar the other day thought it was "The Indy 500". Does that not tell you how BAD things are? All-American, nach-munching, beer drinking sports guys thought Brazil was the Indy 500 as in "Hey, the Indy 500 is on that screen over there."
IndyCar Racing. Done.
Key metrics in targeted demographics were up 150%.
Joyce Julius indicates that Ed Carpenter's 9 crashes in Brazil generated $1 billion dollars in television exposure for Fuzzy's Vodka.
And I just got off the phone with Roping Randy who said that 67 cars will compete for one of the coveted 33 spots. No 25/8 this year!
I can't wait for May 12! Or 19th or 20th or whatever it is.
It's May baby!
Can any media insiders or speedway spokespeople PLEASE highlight the revenue sharing deal here? How much is the IRL getting? Bwahahahahahaha! NBCSN (VesUS+) must be getting ready to jettison the re-broadcasts as non-money makers. Too bad....WHAT HAPPENED?
What's really gonna be funny is when the Indy 500 TV numbers come on about one month from now. We'll be looking at the lowest rated ever. My prediction.
I predict a solid 3.0, maybe a 3.4.
The Indy 500 is small taters anymore.
So while a 100-percent American racer, the real deal, cannot find anything other than the dud Lotus, Randy is off in Qingdao nailing that one together.
Because after all, when you think Indy Car racing over the past 100 years you don't think of guys like Michael Shank. You think of Qindao.
If I were Shank and I wanted an open-wheel race team that turned left I'd tell these IndyCar Series dingleberry's to stick it and start a WoO or USAC team. There if a guy had everything in place and needed an engine, a wrench, a water jug, some duct tape, or a can of oil to get out on the track it would happen. Heck, the fans would come down from the stands to help.
The INDYCAR Series is Dead. Randall? You resignation please.
32 cars and no Gomer sounds like a great start to the 9 days of May!
"We are on a network that is available to 75 Million Homes," proudly states (insert name of IndyCar guy here).
"Really?", responds the Potential Sponsor Company guy. "And how many watch the races?"
"Well, uh, well, uh, the thing is, no, what I am saying is, well, uh, er, you see, uhhhhh, the fact is, well, er, oh lordy, I guess what I am sayin here is, uh, well, errr,", stumbles the Gomer.
"I asked you sir, how many viewers do you have for these car races? Is it 75 Million? Half that much? Ten million viewers? That's not bad. We could see ROI in that."
"Uhhhh, well, sweating here, uhhhh, well, you see, it is uhhh, the thing is, well, errr...sorry, whooops, yeah, that was me, uh, yeah, that one smelt, uhhhhhh, well, you seee...it's uh, oh what the hell, I'll just spit it out....250,000 watch our races. BUT, we have the potential for 75 million. You don't know what Qingdao means!"
Pathetic...and they fined Barnes for twitting what we all know and think.
Haven't seen any promo for the 500. WHAT'S HAPPENING?
Let's take a look at that one more time...
0.003.
Of that is accurate, and I am just ballparking here based on published evidence, it does not bode well for attracting sponsors does it?
I think we can conclude that the current IndyCar Sreies is, essentially, an epic failure, the powers-that-be stupidly attempting the CART/Champ Car/OWRS model once again.
I hope I am wrong by these numbers. If even close to the real score, it is TERRIBLE.
The only hard evidence I have that thigns are that bas is the fact at the last race, in the sports bar I was in, while the race was on a screen, NOBODY was watching. NOBODY. And I had to ask to have it put on. Only one person looked up, and they thought it was the "Indy 500."
Qingdao may solve all the problems, however.
Qingdao is everything.
On a national TV audience, the IRL/Indycar series did a 0.23, that against all people who have TV sets but didn't bother to get MSNSNBC/verUSes or howveer they measure the mess.
It's pathetic, so I guess Jenna just divided it up to try and not make it look so pathetic. Only magic and ToNey George can do that.
And remember, we have been informed that "sponsor-spend" is really on the upswing. That might explain why Sonny's BBQ is on board and Michel Jourdain Jr. is back at Indy after a 16-year absence. Money must be flying out of board rooms and into Gasoline Alley due to this key target metric system dealy-o.
And with Katherine Legge, Simona de Silvestro, and Ana Beatriz all going elbows out, blue flame, and red rotor this May, even with the awful absence of superstar, fan favorite Pippa Mann, I have to think this year's "500" is going to give all racing a beat-down on credibility and outright intrigue.
I mean, Ana Freaking Beatriz? Who wouldn't watch to see her go nost-to-tail, wheel-to-wheel, grass to marbles, with Michel?
Things look up!