So the past 4 months has been quite testing. Thought I would re-start this by giving a quick catch up. Things have not been going super great in my world, but I think that everything is about back to normal now.
I won't make you read all the detail of my life. Things are ok with me for the most part :) I am still watching indycar all of the time, and that will never change. I can't sum up everything that has gone on in racing in 4 months is a short blog, but I have been watching.
Think that right now the biggest issue that seems to be hurting not just indycar but all series, is getting fans in seats. I have been extremely disappointed with the attendance at most of the races that have been going on. Fans complain about teams not having funds to go racing, but they will never get more sponsors if people don't show up to watch. I am, as ever, totally baffled by NASCAR's estimates on how many people are at the races, its sad how much they chose to stretch the truth. Things obviously need to change to get fans more involved again. I have some general ideas on this, but they would make this blog entirely too long!
In general the indycar racing this season has been great! I have been blown away with how well the new car is working to make passing possible in places that it really used to not work. I think that people should be more forgiving about some of the issues that seem to be happening. Engines will fail when they are constantly being tweaked to get them just right, its just part of the process. I don't mind the 10-spot grid penalty for changing engines because it affects all teams and cars, its a fair rule because the new engine that the team gets may have better specs than the one that was previously in the car.
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about changing the last race to 500 miles. I think that really it could go either way, either really exciting or really not depending on how the racing progresses. I just hope that the race doesn't end up in a single file of cars with very little passing. This will def. be interesting.
Overall up to this point in the indycar season, I would give the series a B as a grade. There are obvious things that need to be tweaked and looked at, but overall I think most things are going off well.
Now if everything goes as planned I will be back to blogging like normal :)
To me the California race being 500 miles the true proof that IndyCar/IMS finally realize they don't have to put the Indianapolis 500 on a pedestal. It stands there on it's own. That's held the series back for years.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I like about Randy Bernard he's trying to make all the races big events like NASCAR and Formula 1. Like the 2005 schedule you have the 500, St. Pete, Texas and a bunch of races being played out to bare aluminium and not much else going on. Since 2010 underperforming races have been taken away Vegas was a great event until the crash, the Street races, Barber, Mid-Ohio, Iowa, IndyFest, Texas all great. Sonoma keeps growing, ACS seems to be working hard. Attendance is up I think this change in philosophy is what's caused the series to grow and even break even on the balance sheet. The big problem is TV, ABC kind of promotes but they have the worst production and NBCSN doesn't promote like they do for hockey or the olympics. That holds back sponsorship.
I'm glad I'm not the only one not against grid penalties. Chevy is a part of Penske, AA, KV, etc. Honda is a part of TCGR, SHR, SFHR, etc.
I agree and Disagree lol. I agree that making events more fan friendly and promoting is a great idea. My issue with making this race 500 miles is not that it will cut into any part of Indy, but that the actual racing will be boring. I hope that its not, but it could turn into 24 cars driving in a straight line for 500 miles. Thats really my only concern. Im also not 100% sold that attendance is up. Look at the stands for the majority of the races this season, they have been fairly empty. That is why I said that right now the main goal for the series should be butts in seats. Im thinking ticket give aways and promotions would be a huge help. Yes the tracks may lose a little money on ticket sales for a couple of years, but making new fans will help in the long run. Plus new people in seats means food, drink, and souvenier sales. There is always going to be a catch 22 way to look at this stuff, but in my opinion Indycar needs to start doing things to attract new people. Giving sponsors tickets to hand out to clients/ workers, and maybe doing buy one get one tickets (or buy a ticket get a garage pass) are good ways to get people more interested.
ReplyDeleteI think the race will be a cross between the 500 and Texas. They're using the Indy package but they'll have to cut downforce or they'll have major pack racing. I'm thinking it'll look similar to a late 90s early 2000s CART race there but they'll have to lift more.
ReplyDeleteNot sure a straight giveaway would be a good idea since at some point you're going to have to make them pay. For example, there was a drop in attendance when Marlboro stopped giving out tickets. I like the buy one get one idea or every ticket is a garage pass like the NHRA has done for years. The sponsor idea is great like say if a local Target store gets 25-50 tickets or whatever and most of their workforce is in that all important 18-35 range. Also that's what NASCAR did. They gave value to their sponsors and in turn those sponsors basically became their marketing department. I like the talk of doing 19-20 races next year with fewer gaps. I hate to say this because it comes off a litte WWE but that'll build rivalries and personalities. As of now only Dario and maybe TK and Helio really draw any emotion out of the crowd.