IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard is considering adding races in Chicago or Houston next year, but the long-term plan calls
for a European swing.
“Oh yeah, in the next five years, I think you’ll see the IndyCar Series reach more international markets,”
Bernard said. “I’d love to see us do the oval in Germany.”
A likely initial target for the IndyCar Series would be the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, a two-mile tri-oval race track situated
near Klettwitz. The track is located in the eastern part of Germany between Dresden and Berlin.
Bernard said foreign manufacturers either in the series or expected to join—engine makers in particular—could
dictate a move to Europe by 2016.
Bernard concedes Europeans have little awareness of the IndyCar Series, but pointed out that European TV ratings for the
2011 Indianapolis 500 were up more than 10 percent over the 2010 race.
“I think there’s real potential for us in Europe,” Bernard said.
While the move might help current sponsors and attract new ones looking for European exposure at cheaper prices than offered
by Formula One, the downside could be additional logistics problems and expenses for teams, some of which are already financially
challenged.
But in the near-term, Bernard is focused on the 2012 schedule. The series could add races next year in Mexico or Brazil,
but currently a road race near Reliant Stadium in Houston looks like the strongest possible addition for next year.
“Talks continue to go strongly in Houston,” Bernard said. “We will have a decision in the next month.”
Why Houston?
Simple, Bernard said. It’s a huge market—the nation’s fourth-largest—with 6 million residents in
the area.
Oh, and there’s one more very good reason.
“Our sponsors want it,” Bernard said.
Back to Top
IBJ Conversations
103 Comments
Add Comment
But seriously, what planet are you IRLer's from? have you exhausted all of the venues in the good old U S of A? 24 and counting and stinking up markets everywhere. Toronto had 105,000 LESS fans (since 2007) and a 55% drop in TV ratings (since 2010).
Remember when sponsors DROVE teams to the IRL during the split dayz? Now they are driving them AWAY from the destroyed marketplace.
F1 wannabees you IRLer's are. Whine and cheezers....yes, you are that.
More intriguing than the Europe trip was this line "Bernard said foreign manufacturers either in the series or expected to joinâengine makers in particularâcould dictate a move to Europe by 2016." Since the only confirmed engine manufacturers are Chevy(US), Honda(Japan) and Lotus(UK), is this a not so subtle hint that VW, Audi or MB or some combination may be headed to Indy? There is still the ever present rumor that Fiat is looking at Indy as they bring the Fiat nameplate back to the US.
Not bad for a series that is not running next year per Chief.
So, the teams' sponsors are DICTATING the series' direction. Well done, (former) IRL. You done won.
Does anyone have the vision to save us??
Chief, you can stay at my place.
Is this CCWS 2007 or ICS 2012?
I would think your time would be better spent writing in to your local government about taxes, health-care, and other things that directly affect you and your life.
We are all more than aware at this point that you are waiting for a notarized apology from Tony George. However, we also know that you will be waiting quite a while for that to show up in your mailbox, so why do you continue to waste your time?
-A curious Indycar fan.
P.S. If you wish to answer this with phrases like, "sinking ship" and "commited crimes against motorsports" blah, blah, then don't bother answering at all. You've said it before. Just a simple question as to why you care so much about something you claim you don't care about...
It's condition today is appalling, and I serve to advocate for the sport.
This new dream state of Euro races in the future exemplifies everything that is wrong with the speedway running the show. 15 years has been lost in this sport satisfying a vendetta....only to arrive today with less-is-more mentality. Just because you goose-step to the whims and gimmicks of the speedway and the IRL, doesn't mean I have to.
Where did all the fans in Toronto and Edmonton and Australia go? YOU should CARE...sinking ship.
OMG, how long has this been going on? sponsors dictating what a racing series does? i mean they only spend millions in advertising, why should they have any say.
they do have excellent traffic flow however. pretty easy to get in and out when you're the only one atending the race.
Why on earth would they want to do that?
Something tells me the hometown boy will work a few more deals for Indycar. Great news for Zach and JMI. Also interesting that he has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Ecclestone.
Amazing what a not yet 40 year old who, I do not believe, went to college can acheive.
I see where your IRL hiro Rupert Murdoch has been humbled and apologized before Parliment today. Why would he want to do that? The IRL runs on lies, denial and gimmicks everyday and gets away with it, why apologize?
And as a certain insider and his little copycats always pound out on their keyboards CART/Champcar died twice doing things like that.
I guess the third time will be the charm. Let us count: USAC - One. IRL - Two. IZOD Indycar - Three? Adds up, is it a sign of end times?
Hollow hypocrisy, here we come. It is all fine and fixed now, Anton told us so.
The Guardian in London posed the question. He is one of the few people who is liked by both Bernie and the team owners. It could happen. If it does, I would rather like you not to become a fan of Indycar. Something wrong with that idea.
I tend to believe with J that there is going to be one or two Europe races(England and Germany) max. One in China, two or three in Latin America (Brazil and Mexico) two Canada. So around 8 out of a 24 race schedule is not bad. I would rather see fewer, but I understand the temptation. China has added a lot of money to the NBA with Yao, and if the Chinese driver can make some races, there is going to be a lot of interest. Brazil and Mexico are Indycar hot beds with good sponsorships. With Lotus coming on line and a possible VW or Audi engine deal possible both countries make sense.
Chevy and Lotus car companies won't be making the engines? How long has this been going on. I mean it is not like Fords were Cosworths, Hondas were Judds and Chevys were Ilmors....oh, they were? Huh, never made the connection.
I found this quote interesting.
"We needed a partner, and we are very happy with Judd," Berro said. "We didn't want to work with a big company like Cosworth, because everyone would call our engine a Cosworth with a Lotus badge."
The fact the sport has major integrity issues does not help with the very few who follow it.
The Indy 500 is big still. Texas and Iowa are well-attended. There may be one or two others that do ok. But that is it.
Time to kill it. It will resurface as a USAC-type deal with six, seven, eight, minor races and the Indy 500. That is the sport of the future.
That is a refrain we have heard from your ilk for sixteen years. For sixteen years only one thing is consistent: You are 100% wrong. That would appear to be the case for many years to come.
"The manin reason: Lack of interest."
Except, apparently by obsessed, disenfranchised cart enthusiasts lacking the maturity to orient themselves in the correct century. If there is such a lack of interest, why all the inane commentary over and over again?
"It is a miniscule, niche sport with just a handful of events that are well-attended. TV ratings are atrocious. And there is a significant part of the population that has no idea the sport even exists."
There is also a significant part of the population that follows it without any juvenile hooliganism, as evidenced by:
-Consistently upward trending in demo-specific targets on television (not 12+ zap2it summaries)
-Sponsor spend that increased over $80 million from 2010 to 2011. Total spend for 2012 is on track to exceed $200 million.
-Attendance is trending north. Over 1.2 million last year and more at all venues except one this year.
-Increased car counts.
-New cars and engines on the way next year, as well as one of cart enthusiasts' favorite gimmicks: the TURBO.
"The fact the sport has major integrity issues does not help with the very few who follow it."
Suspicion of 'integrity issues' is predictable given the propensity of your favorite twice deceased series to off itself in mind numbing ways. Thank goodness the decomposed cart past is nothing more than manure-enriched fertilizer for future growth of Indy Car.
"The Indy 500 is big still. Texas and Iowa are well-attended. There may be one or two others that do ok. But that is it."
You need to orient yourselve(s) inside actual reality. Numbers are up everywhere but Milwaukee.
"Time to kill it. It will resurface as a USAC-type deal with six, seven, eight, minor races and the Indy 500. That is the sport of the future."
Again, I remind of you actual reality. Sixteen years of being 100% wrong. You kids need to work on your objectivity. Religious pamphlets generally contain more objectivity than your largely incoherent rambling.
Work on that.
I see Honda only going to do 10 engines next year, Illmor too. No how in the heck can a Billy Boat, a Jeff Ward, Greg Ray, or a Dr. Jack Miller gonna race at Indy?
16 years of wanting to be CART, and discovering the jock is so big it YOU can't fill it. That's the IRL today...a hypocritical joke that lemmings are following up that incline to certain cliff-jumpage. Bansai, suckers!
It is hard to tell if you are showing your ignorance or stupidity.
If you think Chevy, or Ford or Toyota have any more to do with building stock cars than giving money and handing a bowtie, oval or whatever the Toyota symbol is, you are fooling yourself. The last "real" stock cars were the '80's when they still were stock sheet metal. After that, they at least still had the cars shape, more or less. Now they are all the same car with a different sticker. So much for "stock cars".
So where did you see that Ilmor and Honda are only going to build 10 engines? Forgive me if I do not trust you, but you have a habit of getting creative with the truth.
He must have accepted my answer...the IRL sucks.
We hear Baltimore continues to NOT be able to attract a sponsor. Edmonton is going to struggle to get 1/2 of CCWS attendance there this weekend. Haha...IRL and Tony George fixed the sport good.
Why can't the IRL draw sponsors or attendance? 350% ROI baby!
You can read that at trackforum.com the popular home of the most insightful race fans and the largest indycar fan forum on the interwebs.
All of that seems to be popular topics amongst the posters there. You can almost read that very sentiment daily, as many times an ordinary thread gets into those very subjects. Over and over and over again.
There are even thread topics making those very issues the topic. I doubt Chief is the cause of that.
But I get the feeling you already know all that. Maybe you need to join and create an account or three so you can explain that to the actual fans, what is left of them.
Fascinating read....a letter forwarded directly from Robin Miller to Randy Bernard. Apparently a former RJ Reynolds marketing dude embarrassed by the Toronto farce and the IRL overall (and it's handlers) give the one finger salute to the series.
He called the IRL "I have decided that IndyCar is not really serious about being a professional racing series."
His words again to describe modern day IRL/IZOdcarz, "amateur".
So, whoever here thinks that the Disciple's and the Indyman's of the world are legitimate fans and not paid spokespeople for the IRL/Speedway gang-that-couldn't-shoot-straight, well, you all need to drink some more kool-aid.
-This guy from Miller's article, very pointedly, made the same observations as we supposed 'haters' do.
Your response is typical Speedway hypocrisy PLUS arrogance tossed in with a heaping helping of DENIAL.
And to think this Duncan fella was trying to get big name sponsors involved in the AOW sport via the IRL, right here in year 2011.
And you question my credibility?
"-Toronto stunk, by every measure. You have offered no rebuttal."
All 'races' on temporary street circuits stink. It does not matter what series runs them. The thing that made Toronto entertaining was the soap opera storylines. Toronto was just the latest excuse the kiddie haters obsess about. Same story. Different race.
"-This guy from Miller's article, very pointedly, made the same observations as we supposed 'haters' do."
That is because he is a hater. A repeat offender hater. This is not the first time he has yelped hysterically via Robin Miller's web mailbag. When you kids threaten to walk away from Indy Car it would be nice if you followed through on such threats. I cover this topic in more granular detail in today's blog.
"Your response is typical Speedway hypocrisy PLUS arrogance tossed in with a heaping helping of DENIAL."
My response is measured, mature, and indicative of a grounding in actual reality.
"And to think this Duncan fella was trying to get big name sponsors involved in the AOW sport via the IRL, right here in year 2011."
I suspect he is bending the truth. He has not been involved in sponsorship for sixteen years, and when he was it was for R.J. Reynolds, whose products kill millions every year. Where is the outrage about that?
Any questions?
Toronto got 55% LESS TV ratings for the 2011 race than the 2010 race. Why? No outrage?
Toronto had the most inconsistent rule enforcement ever seen...and actually this has been reinforced all season. The series is looked upon by participants as a joke...even connected marketing folks are calling it "not professional". Why? No outrage?
Why no outrage from you? Old Disciple Flatulence, you of all people should realize this is the worst incarnation of hooey the Speedway has "evolved" in all of it's 100 years. Yet you have no outrage....
How's your 500 hit a day blog? I'll just bet you voice your displeasure for the IRL series there, don't 'cha? IMS get that raw sewage problem fixed yet?
"Toronto got about 120,000 fewer fans through the gates than that race's heydays. Why? No outrage?"
Fiction. Imagine my surprise. Between overblown 3-day estimates that characterized every single cart event (little wonder such business practices forced their own self-immolation, twice) and underestimated disenfranchised cart enthusiast numbers (by the way, thanks for watching, again) I suspect whatever gap you deem important is much smaller than your kind tout in such gullible ways. Here are things that are actually important in the real grown-up world:
-The promoters deemed it successful
-The city of Toronto deemed it successful
-Indy Car deemed it successful
-On site vendors deemed it successful
-Most fans not afflicted with the same type of irrational stupidity that typifies obsessed, repetitive nonsense posting on blog pages deemed it successful
-Sponsors that took part deemed it successful
With that in mind who really cares what a handful of bitter, disenfranchised cart enthusiasts spout with their usual incoherence?
"Toronto got 55% LESS TV ratings for the 2011 race than the 2010 race. Why? No outrage?"
Wasn't the Toronto race on network last season? Again, pesky facts indicate this Indy Car event drew the highest ever Indy Car ratings for Versus. Ratings for key demos are also strong. This upward trend is bolstered by:
-increased sponsor spend again in 2011 and also trending northward
-sold out avails
As usual your frantic taunting remains hollow and without merit. So what else is new?
"Toronto had the most inconsistent rule enforcement ever seen...and actually this has been reinforced all season. The series is looked upon by participants as a joke...even connected marketing folks are calling it "not professional". Why? No outrage?"
Because your 'connected marketing professional' is nothing more than a fellow obsessed hater who offers brutally inane commentary well outside his area of expertise, then threatens to quit watching, then continues watching and offering critical commentary all over again. That defines what a hypocrite does. Many of you kids won't be happy until they wheel Wally Sr. in there, oxygen and all, to apply twice-dead cart discipline on 'em. This is a good time to remind you that we are in the year 2011 in the 21st century, and thank you again for watching so intently.
"Why no outrage from you? Old Disciple Flatulence, you of all people should realize this is the worst incarnation of hooey the Speedway has "evolved" in all of it's 100 years. Yet you have no outrage...."
Outrage for what? So I can be as hideously inappropriate a fan as you and your little pals? No thanks. I define what a fan is supposed to be. I have been watching, attending and spending my money for over five decades. When something bugs me, I call or send mail to Randy to express my angst, and he always replies. Hint: It helps to try and spell words correctly, use correct grammar and write in a mature, adult fashion in order to be taken seriously.
"How's your 500 hit a day blog? I'll just bet you voice your displeasure for the IRL series there, don't 'cha? IMS get that raw sewage problem fixed yet?"
Blog is doing fantastic. Fewer plumbing problems at IMS this time and they are mowing the grass regularly. I'll check again for you when I attend the BY400 next weekend. Any other wild, off-topic diversions you need to screech about?
IRL street races are supposed to get 170K+...it sez so in their promotional literature. But, they don't even come close. How come?
My theory is that CART was a superior series, and the IRL sucks. 120K fans know it...you should get with the program dude.
Please get back to me when they cancel Toronto, kiddo.
Forget about getting with the program, son. You would do yourself and the rest of us adults a tremendous service by simply orienting yourself in the correct century.
CHAMPCAR Edmonton - 200,000
IRL Toronto - 40,000
IRL Edmonton - 35,000
WE WIN. Bigger is better. Good thing Tony ended the split. Sponsors are happy :) . Promoters are happy :) . Watkins Glen fans are hiding under their seats. Kansas fans are hiding under the grandstands. It didn't rain locusts on the IRL at Pikes Peak. Those cars don't fly. They love us at Nazareth. It may not look like a sellout, but seriously folks, it's sellout.
The IRL sucks....2011 DEATHBLOW continues....send in the clowns was a popular song in the 1960's....probably one of Mari's favortites.
Just for you some actual facts about the Honda Indy Toronto.
From the Toronto Sun web site, dated Sunday July 10, 2011 by Toronto Auto Racing Sports Reporter Cathal Kelly.
Here are a few lines from his report:
âThe race has had a painful fall from the heights of its popularity in the mid-90s. Thatâs clear from the thinned out bleachers and easily negotiated walkways. Donât blame Toronto fans.â
From Toronto Sun Reporter Bill Lankhoff
âNot from the crowd. They were either huddled under cover in their luxury boxes or sprawled out on the lawns and bleachers. There was plenty of room and no lineups for food. Being unpopular has its logistical advantages.â
âThatâs the right way to end a sweet day at the track. Maybe weâll see you there next year. Thereâs plenty of room.â
Fans are having a nice time wandering the paddock. But the crowds arenât what they once were. The main stands look fairly full but they build them smaller now and where once every racing teamâs lounge would be filled, it is
11 a.m. and the Target team tent has a solitary figure. Under the Andretti awning sit maybe a dozen people. Maybe itâll get busier later.
Or, maybe later will never come for this series. There are now more cars, itâs more competitive, no Tony George induced in-fighting, and yet the fans have not come back.
âThere isnât the buzz,â says Pat, who has been to all but one of these yearly events. âThe big beer money isnât backing it.â
And these are actual Toronto Sun Reporters that if you read the full articles you can tell they are trying their hardest to cover this event in the most positive light they can. They are proud of their city and they are proud of their past with this event.
But are they happy? I think you can tell they are not. Well, maybe you can't tell through your own agendas.
So, you and Indyman may not like Chief or âhis little buddiesâ but they are not lying. I think it is you that stretches the truth.
Who knows, maybe later this year when it is time to renew this event and add it to next yearâs schedule Chief may actually be able to get back to you kiddo.
And keep in mind...it is this version/evolution of Indycar we are talking about, the split is in fact over, and yes CART is truly dead, but the new fixed-split Indy car is not as alive and these comments prove it. You might want to actually orient yourself to these problems and do a little growing up your own self.
But then, that would take some growing up and acting your age.
Sorry for it for it to turn out as it did!
What is up with that Anthony???
Sheesh. What a mess. I hope some of you can get the point.
Ahh screw it. Disciple is just going to keep on lying about the real state of affairs anyway. And for sure the way this comment turned out will give him an excuse to put me down too.
-cart suddenly springs back to life after self immolating themselves into non-existence, twice, and returns your starved lives to the utopia you believe you had...
or,
-when the management of the Toronto event ends their Indy Car relationship because they or the involved sponsors believe the event is a failure.
Either of those things happening seems highly unlikely, and is further indication the handful of you so darkly obsessed should really try to orient yourselves into the correct decade and century.
They also are reporting Lotus is mum on 2012.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110725/SPORTS01/107250314/Lotus-quiet-about-signing-IndyCar-teams-2012?odyssey=nav|head
The verification words for this post seem oddly appropriate given the subject matter and the mostly incoherent taunting of disenfranchised cart enthusiasts: 'lunatic effect.' I can't stop chortling about that.
What sport is in that? The Penske series? The Ganassi series? The Danika series? Is it any wonder no one cares any more?
That's EIGHT HUNDREDETHS OF one percent increase...0.08. That's what the IRL is today friends, the splitting of 1/10 of 1 percent and touting it like it's some great victory.
WOW, let's celebrate this victory...because it's so pathetic...attendance down, TV ratings non-existent on a 4th tier network no one has or can find on the dial.
This is nothing but a two bit sport, far from the mainstream.
-Television ratings that are strong in targeted demos. Those are trending up in much more dramatic fashion.
-That drives advertising revenue, which is also up.
-The continuing upward trends also drive increased sponsor spend. The increase over 2012 is up over $80 million, and is on track to break $200 million in 2012.
Things that do not matter:
-Hysterical, obsessed, repetitive shrieking by bitter malcontents who pine for what they thought they had with cart. If these children were not hypocrites and it really was awful would they be paying so much attention?
As far as pining for the past, you pine for the past as you claim Indy was great and better in the 60's and 70's.
But about pining, I think you can lay that on Indycar too. They seem to be trying to recreate both CART and Champcar...as this very blog topic is pointing out. Going to Europe, running CART/Champcar venues, trying to be as diversified as CART as quickly as they could get away from the original IRL visions.
So spew as much of your same old arguements as usual...but it seems Randy, even Anton to a degree, must have liked a heck of a lot about those twice dead series.
And as far as being a hypocrite...what is wrong with ex-fans talking about what and how they'd like to see the sport. That is what blog comment sections and forums are all about. They are fans in limbo, fans hoping for change, fans all of them nonetheless.
You want Brave New World/Animal House talk-speak as controlled by the likes of you and Indyman.
Welcome to free speech.Get over yourself.
Just because you accept anything that happens as long as CART isn't around does not make it right. Maybe you should practice a little bit of that maturity thing yourself.
You cry as much as anyone, if not more, when what you see/hear isn't just exactly what you want.
So, maybe some bitter ex-fans are carrying signs about the "end of the world" while you go around as a cheap suit evanglist talking about "repent sinners or be cast out."
Both are extremes and just as nutty when judged by truly rational people.
Real fans accept evolution. I liked the 1960s in Indy Car but I hardly pine for them. You know why? Because it is presently 2011, and we are preparing for 2012.
Indy Car is doing spectacularly considering the damage inflicted upon the sport by cart and its owner-led management. That is a mistake I hope will never be repeated.
A lot of you simple thinking youthful enthusiasts like to make frivolous, unrealistic comparisons between the Indy Car of today and the cart that ignorantly killed itself. Twice. That is stupid. The owners are no longer in charge. IMS is. As it should be. To their credit they recognize their shortcomings and brought in a gunslinger.
In short, let us all move forward. Not backward. It is high time you kids stopped playing this obsessive little game of yours. It stopped being cute and relevant around early 1998.
Like it? Be responsible and act mature about it. Hate it? Then be responsible and act mature about it by leaving, once and for all.
Soooooo....despite yet another sub 1 rating, all is rosy because the tiny little audience the sport is appealing to is watching. Kind of more like a cult than a sport no?
A little weird cult of open-wheel guys, tassle-loafered, polo-shirt (collars up boys) wearing Rahal's, and fat, balding, 60-somethings who still geek on Parnelli. Will call the first group: The Rahalites. The second group: The Parnellians. Must be two or three thousand of you.
Big time sport you have there, pops. Ah, come on, don't take it personally now. It is a miniscule, unpopular sport, but it has one big race every year still for those not in the cult.
Item one: My old friend Andy from Grove, Oklahoma, attends the Indy 500 every year. Has gone to it without missing a race since 1980. That is the only race he watches. That's it. About this time of year he'll ask me what is going on or mention, like he did last year, that he saw some late night highlight of Helio in a confrontation with officials and ask what that was all about. Other than that, he doesn't even watch racing. Any kind.
Item two: In California, I know a couple from Newport Beach who get free tickets to the Long Beach Grand Prix every year. They go. They are familair with one or two of the driver's, Danica, of course. They went with me to the last Fontana race, but left early. Not racing fans. Just something to do and they kept calling the race track a "stadium".
Item 3: I took a girlfriend to the Chicago race Ryan Briscoe almost killed himself in. She had a good time. Even bought a shirt and a cap. She went to the race the next year with her sister when I was overseas. She didn't watch the Indy 500 and only watched a Kansas race with me because I asked her to put it on. She doesn't watch or attend any races any longer and, in fact, thought Danica was in NASCAR full-time when I told her how she ran at Indy this year.
Those are micro examples of the sport as it is today. There is a very small group of hardcore followers who know Ryan Briscoe's shoe size and what Simona eats for breakfast and can site Practice One lap times from three races ago. Then there is the consistent fan who tunes in all the rces and attends one or two a year. Then there is the fan who tries to "catch" a few races and get out to the Speedway for practice days. These are the fans and they total no more, generously speaking, 300,000 from what I have read over the past few years. I have no expertise on the matter, but from what I have read, combined with what I have observed, and then analyzed, I'll bet that is fairly accurate. Combined with TV ratings that cannot crack a 1.0, which is bottom level expectation from sponsors, it stands to reason the IRL is, indeed, a very small, niche sport with a tiny following. It just happens to have one modestly followed now, large event of epic tradition, but also one, in truth, that has lost a significant level of interest among the masses as demonstrated by its relatively small TV rating.
Discipe can say all he wishes. I mean, Target Schmarget, dippity-do, he says pee-pee, I say poo. It is all wishful thinkign gobbeldy-gook even if he was an insider, impact source, closely working with the powers-that-be in the sport...which he is painfully not based on his communications here and at Trackforum. If he just accepted he follows a minor league sport he might enjoy it better rather than spewing more stink sauce than a Simona firesuit.
The past is relevant because it was better, it set standards...many the IRL will never eclipse.
That's just another fact many here ignore in their quest for legitimacy of the IRL. Remember, for 9 years now, with the same carz, same teams, same Indy and they are crowing over 0.31 TV ratings and 1/3 of the attendance. Slight upward trending is meaningless for the slow meaningless series.
If you were told lawnmower racing was the next IRL generation, would you buy into it and say it was the greatest evolution, or would you resist because it wasn't what represented AOW previously?
I suspect many would go along without hesitation....right timmy, disciple, Iman?
If the past was better, why did it not survive? Twice? I am surprised, given your obsession with Indy Car, that you are unaware of the series branding change that occurred over a year ago.
"That's just another fact many here ignore in their quest for legitimacy of the IRL. Remember, for 9 years now, with the same carz, same teams, same Indy and they are crowing over 0.31 TV ratings and 1/3 of the attendance. Slight upward trending is meaningless for the slow meaningless series."
The elusive fact that cannot penetrate your skull is that in the economy of today and given competition and technological evolution, any increase is noteworthy particularly when so many other sports and entertainment ventures are faltering.
"If you were told lawnmower racing was the next IRL generation, would you buy into it and say it was the greatest evolution, or would you resist because it wasn't what represented AOW previously?"
Lawnmower racing will never be offered as a viable evolutionary phase. We will never have to worry about that. Many fans are also looking forward to the debut of next generation Indy Cars for the 2012 season.
"I suspect many would go along without hesitation....right timmy, disciple, Iman?"
Another swing and a miss from one of Indy Car's biggest, most enthusiastic followers. Keep up the good work.
Went backwards because of one reason: The speedway had a vendetta to avenge, and the sport suffered because of it. Stop trying to convince anyone today is better, because it's not. not in attendance, TV ratings or on-track racing. Proof has been repeated adnauseum zillions of times. Perhaps the skull incapable of penetration is yours?
No matter the situation there is always the stiff British upper lip as they utter such comedy gold as The Black Night howling 'tis but a scratch, had worse, just a flesh wound as he is cut down without arms and legs and still screams that Sir Arthur is chicken and running away from a good fight.
Or, Old Perkins the British soldier that awakes in the Meaning of Life to discover he has no leg and explains it is just a nasty bite and the doc says nothing to worry about as another character looks at the mosquito netting obviously missing the very large hole where the big cat got in and bit off his leg. It just stings a little!
And like Python characters you just have to laugh at the absurd black comedy. It is funny, sad and pathetic at the same time.
Tally-ho then, off to find the foxes as they tear down Indycar on message boards.
Once again ignoring another big hole in the netting.
To you, it's not. I'm OK with that. I choose to reside in 2011. As an actual fan, I have enjoyed every evolution of the sport since 1959 in person. I am very happy and always looking forward to what comes next. You obviously refuse to budge from the early 1990s and that is your deficiency. Don't like the product today? Don't watch. Problem solved. That, of course, requires more maturity than you obviously possess, but hope springs eternal. As it stands now, your hypocrisy is obvious and comical.
"Went backwards because of one reason: The speedway had a vendetta to avenge, and the sport suffered because of it."
Once again, the fantasy world in which you live is filled with vivid figments of your child-like imagination. Want to know what actually happened? cart owners staged a mutiny that began in 1979 and attempted to marginalize the one institution that gave them ALL of their legitimacy. What happened when they were finally able to try and run their own show and leave Indy behind? They killed themselves. Twice. This is fact. The sport suffered because instead of accepting Anton's IRL as complementary, they freaked out and threw a floor fit that makes two year olds flopping around and screeching in a Wal-Mart aisle look normal. Then they took to scorching the earth with as much gusto as a plane full of agent orange flying low in Vietnam. Their own stupidity led directly to their death two times. If Anton is as stupid as I am led to believe he is by you petty little children, how is Indy Car still around and cart dead, twice?
"Stop trying to convince anyone today is better, because it's not."
To each his own. Beauty/beholder, etc. If you do not like it, you do not have to watch. Obviously, you do. Either that or your hypocrisy is even more pronounced.
"not in attendance,"
1.2 million fans per year (and rising) is pretty good in the context of 2011.
"TV ratings"
Beats the 0.0s cart gets these days. Twice.
"or on-track racing."
Again, Beauty/beholder. I prefer not watching parades where only 2 or 3 are on the lead lap at the end as we saw in the so called utopian years.
"Proof has been repeated adnauseum zillions of times. Perhaps the skull incapable of penetration is yours?"
My skull is just fine. Grounded in reality as well. When are you going to begin acting responsibly and with maturity and class?
The IRL isn't even in the top 10 most watched sports in this country. NASCAR DWARFS it by comparison. tHE Tour De France dwarfs it by comparison, so does the NHL.
You just don't want comparisons to the past because you now how bad it is in AOW today. And, you know how good it was....
Toronto 167,000 then
Toronto 35,000 today
Pretty clear thats an indication something is wrong...or in your world something thats right? Why can't Toronto draw more folks? No PR? Promoter stinks? Street racing? Garbage strike? Too expensive? WHY?
The majority of driver/teams all raced in front of big Toronto crowds before, enen in this century. What happened?
Good for you. When will your indignation extend to simply ignoring it as any adult with similar feelings would, then? When you toss out claims like that you just scream 'I'm a hypocrite.'
"The IRL isn't even in the top 10 most watched sports in this country. NASCAR DWARFS it by comparison. tHE Tour De France dwarfs it by comparison, so does the NHL."
Still, the Indy Car Series (that is what they call it here in 2011) draws more than 1.2 million attendees every year, has increasing television ratings that sell avails to targeted demos, garners well over $110 million in annual sponsorship and features the largest single day sporting event in the world. Not too shabby, even for cynics with only mildly firing synapses.
"You just don't want comparisons to the past because you now how bad it is in AOW today."
Actually, such comparisons are meaningless and are not used business anywhere today. The only reason you keep trolling them out is to make yourself feel better. You are likely never to get over the brutal self immolation, twice, of your favorite series. Most mature people have moved forward. The entire planet has. Trying to compare anything today with how it was more than fifteen years ago is, in a word, stupid.
"Toronto 167,000 then
Toronto 35,000 today"
Nice comparison of a three day over-estimate with a one day under-estimate. If you had a functional brain, you might be better served comparing corporate sponsorship and involvement. The promoters, sponsors, fans who attended and city of Toronto do not share your child-like pessimism, kid.
"Pretty clear thats an indication something is wrong...or in your world something thats right? Why can't Toronto draw more folks? No PR? Promoter stinks? Street racing? Garbage strike? Too expensive? WHY?"
Who cares? It draws enough to be renewed and continue to draw more corporate dollars; i.e., it's profitable. Things that supposedly happened in the early 1990s simply do not matter, except to floor fit throwers like you. My advice? Grow up. It's 2011. It's not bad here.
"The majority of driver/teams all raced in front of big Toronto crowds before, enen in this century. What happened?"
They still do. And now there are way more corporate dollars. They will next year and for the foreseeable future as well. So what is the problem, kid?
Think we'll run this cutesy, repetitive reply nonsense up to 100 this time, kid?
Today you covet the cowpie like it is a holy grail. It is not. But, you'll deny it as usual.
Now the fact Discipe blathers on about "sponsor spend", and "key target" this and that actually soldifies our argument. If it were truly a successful, big time, very popular sport on the path to even greater heights, he'd never mention such things. He's grasping in defense of his beloved, teensey-weensey, niche sport, of virtually no appeal to 99.9 percent of the population.
But good for him. Loyalty can be a virtue. He must be a very good man. We shall call him El Capitan.
Interesting, then, how this 'nonexistent' entity can:
-Increase sponsorship spend from 2010 to 2011 by over $80 million to a total of about $110 million, a figure that is projected to exceed $200 million in 2012.
-Generate television ratings, particularly in targeted demos, that manages to sell the inventory and generate millions in ad revenue.
-Draw 1.2 million through the gates, where millions more are spent on concession and merchandise. The director of Indy Car merchandising recently stated sales are way up this again this year.
Not too shabby for a 'tiny' entity, eh junior?
"blahblahblah...of virtually no appeal to 99.9 percent of the population.
Wow, just imagine if everyone other than your purported .1% become fans. If current revenue is extrapolated we're looking at tens of billions. Your quaint, obsessive agenda is kind of exposed, there, kiddo.
"Hey, didn't Crown Royal used to sponsor a IRL car? What happened?"
Don't know. Sponsors come and go. Always have and always will. Do you feel the same sense of loss for Matt Kenseth and his NASCAR team? I am comforted in the knowledge that $15 million of their money now funnels to IMS, which bodes even better for the Indy Car Series' corporate parent.
You kids have been reduced to stabbing aimlessly in the dark.
You follow a small-time sport, of which most of the general public is not even aware exists. Run down to a non-Indianapolis shopping mall, McDonald's, mini golf course, movie theater, things of this nature and ask the general crowd who they think will win the Indy championship. Then ask them who will win the NASCAR championship or maybe the World Series. Ask them who their favorite golfer is and then their favorite Indy driver, except Danica. Danica is household. Going to Cup Cars, though. Har!
Ahhhhh, El Capitan. You kill me, dude.
Hey, only ten more nonsense responses until this puppy is run up to 100! Keep up the good work, Indy Car obsessed.
HAy Defender....we need a report on the raw sewage in the T1 head, along with will they open E stand or the SW vista for practice? It's all about Indy after all.
Sometimes the similarities between a zoo and Schoettle IBJ comment sections are simply uncanny.
Amazing how you always try and answer each and every negative comment with the same old crap, adding at least one-third of the comments to the tally and then ask if it going to go to 100.
Yep, the ol' janitor doesn't realize he is part of the zoo too, and he and the sweepings stink as much as the rest.
We should all know our places in the world. Some are too arrogant to notice theirs.
Like a two-speed, dumb and dumberer.
- From they shot themselves in the foot good this time department
Here you have a prime auto racing TV audience, and YOUR major sponsor (which gets 350% ROI from the IRL involvement) who has a zillion TV commercials involving your series, decide to run a commercial WITHOUT the IRL being mentioned or displayed.
HOW COME?
" Unfortunately, I fell for one of the biggest cons racing has ever seen."