Alonso to compete in Indianapolis 500

[Celestiale]

If you look into it, you will find that they average about the same as F1 drivers, and the gap from rich to poor is much less. They stick with and value drivers in IndyCar, sometimes to their detriment. Not as many T-Shirt sales as old man Max has generated, but the racing is far far closer. The top four at Long Beach were separated by 1/10th of a second.

Sorry if i don't believe that. Average of F1 drivers is more then 10 millions a year, Indycar drivers can be happy when they earn 1/10 of that....
Alonso is probably earning more then all Indycar drivers combined

 

[Brandon Wright]

Not at Indy they don't. 33 cars for 200 years is not bad. Teams and drivers come from all over the world adn new teams are allowed in. It's an "open" series, unlike F1, which was in a serious tailspin, but recovering slowly with their massive grid of 20.

That was true 15-20 years ago, now they struggle to get 33. Last year, for arguably their biggest race ever, there were only 34 drivers and a lot of them were one-off teams/rides that had no real chance of doing well and are never seen outside of Indy. So Bump Day is basically all but extinct at this point. All the other races of the season I believe have 22-24 drivers which isn't much more than F1. And it's 100 years, not 200 years, and not all of those years featured 33 cars. And if you look at the sponsors on the cars a lot of them are companies or brands you've never heard of, there are no more big names like Budweiser, Texaco, Pennzoil, etc. which tells you a lot.

IndyCar is on the upswing and gaining ratings and fans, not F1. Arguably, on a micro level, this is better for F1 and Alonso. Indy is, after all, 30 years older than F1. Ask any driver on the grid what race they respect the most, and the Indy 500 will come up. On a macro level, F1 is worldwide and massively bigger in scope, but it's also a very very narrow skill set that is needed. This is what motivated Alonso. Nay, all great drivers -- winning in different series'. It used to be like that all the time until Bernie and the FIA turned F1 into an oligarchy that intentionally conflicted with other major series'. IndyCar was, at the same time, in a feud that was idiotic. All of racing suffered. Now, Indy is unified and getting bigger than NASCAR here, and F1 is making incredibly good decisions with fresh management. Fernando says it best. He is so eloquent and accurate about the why and how. If Fernando has a great time and finishes high at Indy, say goodbye to your ex-Champ. Read between the lines on that last question....

Slight upswing, yes, and IndyCar has made a lot of good moves in the last couple years and the new car next year should be great. But it's a slight upswing, more people watch a single F1 race than watch the entire IndyCar season. I live about 30 minutes north of the Speedway, yet nobody I know cares about or knows about IndyCar other than the Indy 500 and most of them only care about that for the party. Hell, the local news channels barely even mention IndyCar outside of the 500. If I were to go around the office right now and ask my co-workers if they knew who Josef Newgarden or Simon Pagenaud is only one of them would know, the rest would just stare at me with a blank look.

I love IndyCar, I've lived in central Indiana my entire life, I've been following it religiously for two decades, I read the Mailbag every week, I listen to Trackside, I listen to the Marshall Pruett podcast, I've been to the Speedway nearly 50 times, make multiple visits during the month of May, have been to over a dozen Indy 500s, all of the Indy GPs, multiple trips to Mid-Ohio, Kentucky, I will be camping in the infield in about a month's time, and this year plan to also go to St. Louis and possibly Road America. I know the history of, the in's and out's, and the dysfunctions of the series pretty well, and I have no illusions that IndyCar will ever come close to their former heyday, eclipse NASCAR, or ever be of the same caliber as F1. It's some of the best racing you can find in this country and has a lot of great talent, but people in this country on the whole just don't care and I don't see that changing much in the future. I think Alonso and McLaren coming onboard will be wonderful for the series due to the increased attention it will bring, but it's not going to turn the series into a worldwide sensation overnight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not being negative about the series, I'm just being realistic.

Sorry if i don't believe that. Average of F1 drivers is more then 10 millions a year, Indycar drivers can be happy when they earn 1/10 of that....
Alonso is probably earning more then all Indycar drivers combined

Correct. Alonso makes somewhere around $40 million a year and most IndyCar drivers probably won't earn that over their entire career. The average salary of an IndyCar driver is probably under $1million a year so Alonso actually earns closer to twice what all the IndyCar drivers combined earn in a year.

 

[Rob]

Last year, for arguably their biggest race ever, there were only 34 drivers and a lot of them were one-off teams/rides that had no real chance of doing well and are never seen outside of Indy.

The point is, they have had 33 drivers since 1919. There were some lean years, yes, but that's over (if you follow the sport closely) because of the increase in popularity. F1 currently has 20 cars are many of those are either subsidized or on the verge of bankruptcy. You insinuation that Indy "struggles" in what has been the largest sporting event on earth for over 100 years is misleading. Now, outside the Indy500, I would agree with you in the "lean" years after the split.

And if you look at the sponsors on the cars a lot of them are companies or brands you've never heard of, there are no more big names like Budweiser, Texaco, Pennzoil, etc. which tells you a lot.

IndyCar will never generate sponsor revenue that is disproportionate to their income because they generally don't have pay drivers, like F1. But in the last three years, T.V. ratings have been up around NASCAR levels, or higher. Granted, this is partly due to how far they fell during the split, but it is clearly on the rise both in fan attention and income. Just look at the title sponsor. Izod (then) vs. Verizon now (who owns Vodafone I believe). Verizon pays Pennske massive amounts of money too. NAPA (I'm sure you know them) got on board with Rossi permanently after last year. And Chip has already found a better sponsor than Target (a failing business). So my point is not to compare with F1, but to point out that things are ramping up quickly. In fact, IndyCar is the *only* major sporting series that is seeing these types of increases. Unless either of us can provide numbers, I think this goes nowhere. But the fact show F1 has lost 30% of it's viewership in 10 years. Another 30% in ten years means you are down to 300M per season. 10.5M viewers a race comes nowhere hear what IndyCar generates, even though IndyCar has free coverage on the You Tube.

Slight upswing, yes, and IndyCar has made a lot of good moves in the last couple years and the new car next year should be great. But it's a slight upswing, more people watch a single F1 race than watch the entire IndyCar season.

Ignoring your anecdotal evidence, I never said IndyCar was out-banking F1. It's not and will not in the near future. But if you can't see that what you call a "slight upswing" is unique and very real (and I'd argue not slight at all considering where they had to come from). Attendance at Indy was at an all time high. They had, what, 300,000 people there? It was at capacity. And that's a lot, as you know. Some races, like Homestead, drew more than the NASCAR race the same weekend. That's a massive turnaround. And it shows you just how fast one series (NASCAR) can fall, and just how fast (IndyCar) can rise. Numbers will keep going up. I have met and talked to many of the old guard or even some of the current IndyCar staff and drivers, and other drivers that I have kept in touch with from Road Atlanta. They all say the same thing...IndyCar is set to really take off. What you are seeing is a motorsport thriving when all others are suffering. And it's proportional too, you forget. What has F1 lost in T.V. revenue alone in the last five years? Look it up. It's staggering. around 30-50 million viewers. If you think F1 can't sink like a rock, ask Bill France, Jr. what he thinks. I'm in Charlotte (near) and have spoken to NASCAR officials. It's bad. Really bad. And they were arguably as big as F1 a good while ago.

It's some of the best racing you can find in this country and has a lot of great talent, but people in this country on the whole just don't care and I don't see that changing much in the future.

And I have more experience not as a fan, but as a track owner's son (Road Atlanta) for 10 years or so. I worked there. I watched Nigel win the Championship live at Nazareth. We almost got Indy to come to Road Atlanta back in the bad days (but the "dip" nixed that). I have been to over 100 races I my life and even competed myself -- all forms of racing, including F1 at Spa. IndyCar is changing before your eyes and I'm not sure why you can't see it in the numbers. 55% more T.V. revenue and climbing (I'll get you the numbers if you want) and attendance that is getting back to the old days. You have to remember, seeing 60,000 people at Texas (which seats, what, 200,000) is a bit different that our memory of Nazareth, the Milwaukee Mile. Are you looking at raw data or just your gut? I'm jealous of your location and I love the fact that you are passionate, just as I am, but we just don't see eye to eye on this one. IndyCar will be back to mid 90s levels in 5-10 years is they keep heading in this same direction. F1, on the other hand, is in real trouble, relative to where they could be. Much better this year, though.

I actually did a report for a legal case on driver salaries. No time to go into it here, but the public knows about .04% about what these salaries really are. Yes, the top 4-6 drivers make massive money in F1, while the lower 8-10 have to pay their teams to race. That's not the case in IndyCar. They still bring sponsors, but they all get paid, and some quite well, If you take a look at what is out there (short of IRS records) you will find F1 only has a slight edge. What you hear in the media is all hype re: the big contracts. Hell, Nico's was all for show. lol.

But it's a slight upswing, more people watch a single F1 race than watch the entire IndyCar season.

You are missing my point. If you want to argue facts. go here. (For U.S. numbers, and that's what thsi whole discussion is about to me...the U.S. vis-a-vis F1 and IndyCar. Go "ask your co-workers" what they know about F1 and I'm sure you will have plenty who can't even tell you what it stands for. And I'm sure you realize that Indianapolis dis not get live coverage for the Indy 500 (!!) until last year (it was sold out). That may be your problem in Indianapolis. It's not about the fan base. It's beyond that. However, because of your 33.2 rating (huge) in Indianapolis,

So, for instance, St. Pete...not a very huge race in terms of comparison. Last year, it was up 35% from the previous year (T.V ratings) and down a bit this year. However, since they moved it away from opposing the NCAA Tournament, viewership had gone way up, and that's not even as impressive as the attendance increase.

In 2016, the IndyCar Series racing from Mid-Ohio earned a combined 929,000 viewers on NBCSN and CNBC Sunday afternoon, up 40% from last year (666K), up 141% from 2014 (386K), and the largest IndyCar audience on cable since the 2008 Richmond race on ESPN (947K). NBCSN alone scored 811,000 viewers, trailing last year’s Sonoma final (841K) as its most-watched race since acquiring rights.

Clearly, the ratings problem is not due to the demand. CNBC? Seriously? And the rest are on the "NASCAR" channel, NBCSN. There is your problem outside of Indy. Attendance shows the real picture, though, and if you watched Texas NASCAR, it looked like a ghost town in the stands, which they intentionally hide. Even Daytona can't fill up. Indy is breaking attendance records all over the country. T.V., while inconsistently improving, will explode when they get a decent deal.

I know the history of, the in's and out's, and the dysfunctions of the series pretty well, and I have no illusions that IndyCar will ever come close to their former heyday, eclipse NASCAR, or ever be of the same caliber as F1. It's some of the best racing you can find in this country and has a lot of great talent, but people in this country on the whole just don't care and I don't see that changing much in the future.

You are dead wrong on this one. Look at the facts. This year at Phoenix, NASCAR's ratings were lower than they were in 1998. That's a stunning decline. If you don't think that can happen in F1 (with new management, I'd bet against it though), then you are fooling yourself. Look at real numbers.

And as for F1 getting more viewers in one race than IndyCar, that's will reverse itself in 5 years if the above trends continue. But the comparison alone is a red herring. My point was progress and direction, not overall numbers. What do we compare next? The EPL vs. the MLS? IndyCar alone had 500,000 to 800,000 viewers per race, not counting Indy.

As for salaries, here are the actual figures (best we can tell):
IndyCar 2015 - http://celebrityglad.com/indycar-racers-salaries-list-2015/ (avg. $9 Million two years before the F1 numbers)
F1 - http://www.totalsportek.com/f1/formula-1-driver-salaries/ (avg. $9 Million and much more even due to non paid to play drivers).

 

[Brandon Wright]

The point is, they have had 33 drivers since 1919. There were some lean years, yes, but that's over (if you follow the sport closely) because of the increase in popularity. F1 currently has 20 cars are many of those are either subsidized or on the verge of bankruptcy. You insinuation that Indy "struggles" in what has been the largest sporting event on earth for over 100 years is misleading. Now, outside the Indy500, I would agree with you in the "lean" years after the split.

When I said "struggles to get 33" it was in reference to the fact that there used to be 40, 50, 60, or more cars trying to get into the field. Last year they had 34, the year before they had maybe 35, this year doesn't look much different.

But in the last three years, T.V. ratings have been up around NASCAR levels, or higher.

IndyCar averages a bit over 1 million viewers per race on network, about half that on cable, the season opener was down 20% from last year and the Xfinity race drew more viewers than Indycar.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/201...-viewership-nascar-xfinity-fs1-nhl-nbc-nbcsn/

NASCAR Cup gets 4 million+ viewers and seven of the races last year ranked as the top rated cable sports program of the weekend.

http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/_/page/NASCAR-Televison-Ratings-2016

Attendance at Indy was at an all time high. They had, what, 300,000 people there? It was at capacity. And that's a lot, as you know.

Yes, because it was the 100th running it had a capacity crowd. I was there, it was incredible. But tv ratings were down from the year before ( third lowest rating since they started showing it live in 1986 ) and for several years before the 100th the attendance was about 2/3 of that (estimated 220,000 in 2015). And remember, a good portion of the people there are only there for the party and never watch an IndyCar race outside of the 500 (this includes every single person I know who goes to the 500).

Some races, like Homestead, drew more than the NASCAR race the same weekend.

Indycar hasn't raced at Homestead for years, as far as I can tell 2009 was the last time they raced there. IndyCar is lucky to get 20,000-30,000 people at most races, especially ovals. Do you remember Fontana a couple years ago? I think there were less than 5,000-10,000 people in the stands. Granted, that's partly because it was in June and hotter than hades, but this is also considered by many to be one of the most exciting IndyCar races in recent memory.

They don't release attendance figures for IMS but even the Indy GP struggles, you'd think IndyCar fans would attend any IndyCar race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but I don't think they've had more than 40,000-50,000 for that race, and in a place that holds 300,000+ the place looks empty. Last year looked really slim, maybe 25,000, and that despite the hype around the 100th.

They all say the same thing...IndyCar is set to really take off.

I hope they're right, but I have my doubts. IMO, motorsports in general is a dying breed in this country, evidenced by all the exposed aluminum in the grandstands of most NASCAR races. Yes, IndyCar is on the upswing and has made a lot of good moves in the last couple years, I just don't believe that many people care. Like I said, not a single person I know watches IndyCar and that includes the few petrolhead friends I have, and I live in what should be the heart of IndyCar country. It's sad and a bit depressing, especially since now I'm starting to hear people talking about getting ready for the 500 but when I asked them if they watched St. Pete or Long Beach the answer is always "No, I only watch the 500".

IndyCar is changing before your eyes and I'm not sure why you can't see it in the
numbers. Are you looking at raw data or just your gut?

Like I said, I see it, I just don't think it's going to lead to IndyCar suddenly becoming a wildly popular series because I believe the audience for motorsports in general is declining. I think it will lead to it being more successful and more popular than it has been the last decade or so, but nothing close to what it was in the 60's, 70's, 80's, or 90's. I've watched every race for probably the last 10-15 years so I've seen it happening right before my eyes, I read IndyCar news and motorsports news everyday, I listen to IndyCar podcasts, during May I practically live at the Speedway, and I always keep an eye out for attendance figures and tv ratings. According to this tv ratings on NBCSN were actually down last year but even in 2015 which was a record year for ratings it was only 500,000 viewers. So even if that were to quadruple it would still be less than 1% of the population of the country and still less than half of what NASCAR averages.

I'm jealous of your location and I love the fact that you are passionate, just as I am, but we just don't see eye to eye on this one. IndyCar will be back to mid 90s levels in 5-10 years is they keep heading in this same direction. F1, on the other hand, is in real trouble, relative to where they could be. Much better this year, though.

And I'm jealous of your racing history. But to add to your jealousy, I just found out today that I'm going to have a quote in the Indy 500 program this year. I work for a printing company and IMS is one of our customers, I've made friends with the people in Creative Services and they hook me up with lots of cool stuff (like garage and pit passes, swag, race tickets), one of them contacted me today to get a quote for a piece she's doing called "101 Moments of the 100th Running" and she loved the quote I gave her.

Yes, we will agree to disagree, but I hope that does not mean there are any hard feelings, and I honestly hope you are right and I am wrong. I've not been trying to argue with you, in fact I've quite enjoyed being able to discuss IndyCar with someone because, like I said it, pretty much never happens for me. I've approached this as two IndyCar fans having a discussion over a pint and I hope nothing I've said has come across as combative or argumentative (though I've been typing this at work, and I'm always in a bad mood at work which sometimes bleeds into my posts). I am passionate and I want them to become popular and successful, I'm just not sure there's as much of a market for it as there used to be.

As for F1, with Ross Brawn at the helm of competition I'm quite confident that things there will really turn around in a few years time (after the Concorde Agreement expires). He's already saying all the right things, like getting rid of DRS and top side aero that makes passing impossible.

 

[Rob]

Indycar hasn't raced at Homestead for years, as far as I can tell 2009 was the last time they raced there. IndyCar is lucky to get 20,000-30,000 people at most races, especially ovals.

St. Pete.Not homestead. Please use your talent to spot a mistake from someone who clearly knows where they run.
Like all speculation, numbers don't back you up. See the above post. I edited it with numbers so people can get away from sheer speculation. --
...over a shorter span of history -- say, the past 10 years -- IndyCar is one of the few forms of motorsport that has maintained or is slowly increasing its market penetration.
INDYCAR Avg. = 1 Million attendance per race (2016)

Nowhere near NASCAR still, which is at 5M per race, but it will surpass NASCAR in five years based on the trends. You have to be very very careful though when you compare attendance. Average is what matters. There are 30+ NASCAR races, and only about 18-20 IndyCar races.

I'm glad we can disagree without animosity. I know you love indy and that makes me a fan of yours. We just dont' see eye to eye on the future.

Oh, and I found this interesting: http://www.espn.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/14699512/indycar-showing-signs-better-days-lie-ahead
To its credit, IndyCar has done a very good job of cutting costs to the teams, to the point where the budget to run a car now -- estimated to be $3 million a year at minimum and up to $8 million at the top teams -- is less than half of what it took to compete in the latter days of the CART-sanctioned series. Much of the credit for that goes to the engine manufacturers absorbing millions in development costs to run their Indy car programs in order to keep engine lease prices around $700,000 per car per season.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Oh, and I found this interesting: http://www.espn.com/racing/indycar/story/_/id/14699512/indycar-showing-signs-better-days-lie-ahead
To its credit, IndyCar has done a very good job of cutting costs to the teams, to the point where the budget to run a car now -- estimated to be $3 million a year at minimum and up to $8 million at the top teams -- is less than half of what it took to compete in the latter days of the CART-sanctioned series. Much of the credit for that goes to the engine manufacturers absorbing millions in development costs to run their Indy car programs in order to keep engine lease prices around $700,000 per car per season.

Well, getting rid of those dumb aero kits will go a long way towards reducing costs! Seriously, what were they thinking with those? Everyone said it's going to drive prices up, have a negative effect on the racing, and will not do anything to put more butts in the seats. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. The fans have also been saying for years that they need to go back to places like Road America and Watkins Glen, and both of those had great crowds last year. Perhaps the fans actually know what they're talking about! (Obviously, not always though).

I presume you've seen the new body work for next year and know about the tests they did last year? That certainly has me excited and I think that will do more to improve the series than anything because they will finally look great again and based on their testing the racing should be better than ever because dirty air will be so much less of a factor.

We've probably gonna enough off-topic here but feel free to PM me if you want to discuss and debate IndyCar stuff throughout the season, I'd enjoy it.

 

[Rob]

Well, getting rid of those dumb aero kits will go a long way towards reducing costs! Seriously, what were they thinking with those? Everyone said it's going to drive prices up, have a negative effect on the racing, and will not do anything to put more butts in the seats. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. The fans have also been saying for years that they need to go back to places like Road America and Watkins Glen, and both of those had great crowds last year. Perhaps the fans actually know what they're talking about! (Obviously, not always though).

I presume you've seen the new body work for next year and know about the tests they did last year? That certainly has me excited and I think that will do more to improve the series than anything because they will finally look great again and based on their testing the racing should be better than ever because dirty air will be so much less of a factor.

We've probably gonna enough off-topic here but feel free to PM me if you want to discuss and debate IndyCar stuff throughout the season, I'd enjoy it.

Now this we can agree on. I'm glad you are at least another guy I can talk IndyCar with here. I'll back and forth with you any day, but it sounds like we are eating different versions of the same green apple.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Now this we can agree on. I'm glad you are at least another guy I can talk IndyCar with here. I'll back and forth with you any day, but it sounds like we are eating different versions of the same green apple.

I'm probably not as negative as I've come across, I'm just not real good at putting my thoughts into words and like I said I'm at work which always has me in a bad mood. Life has also turned me into a bit of a pessimist, but the good part about being a pessimist is that when you're wrong it's usually a good thing. I think they're FINALLY doing all the right things to make them more successful and more appealing, and I think having Alonso and Macca in the 500 will be wonderful exposure on a larger scale than they normally reach, I just think there's a limit to how high they can go because from what I've seen the audience for all of motorsports is on the decline in this country. There's too many other easy options for entertainment now and it seems like fewer and fewer people actually care about about cars in general anymore. People care more about getting likes on their Instagram pic than about watching race cars go around in circles.

I'll be sure to send you a pic if I manage to get a selfie with the eye-browed Spaniard.

 

[Rob]

I'm probably not as negative as I've come across, I'm just not real good at putting my thoughts into words and like I said I'm at work which always has me in a bad mood. Life has also turned me into a bit of a pessimist, but the good part about being a pessimist is that when you're wrong it's usually a good thing. I think they're FINALLY doing all the right things to make them more successful and more appealing, and I think having Alonso and Macca in the 500 will be wonderful exposure on a larger scale than they normally reach, I just think there's a limit to how high they can go because from what I've seen the audience for all of motorsports is on the decline in this country. There's too many other easy options for entertainment now and it seems like fewer and fewer people actually care about about cars in general anymore. People care more about getting likes on their Instagram pic than about watching race cars go around in circles.

I'll be sure to send you a pic if I manage to get a selfie with the eye-browed Spaniard.

I'm trained to be a jackass (lawyer), so I think my tone trumps yours for appearing negative. But it's really just an argument, and personal attacks, to me, are a sin. That's weakens your argument. And you were first class. I also learned a lot from you. It must be such a joy loving IndyCar and being in Indianapolis. Ground zero for that sport. I remember when lots of exciting drivers were coming through when the split was going on. I have pics with Helio on his bike, Hunter-Rey (sp?) and his hot wife (back in the late 90s., and even Nigel winning the PPG Cup at Nazareth. I have met countless drivers via Road Atlanta. Jan Magnusson, Paul Gentellozi (sp?), Scott Pruit, Scott Speed, Max Papis, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, all the Dyson brothers, Johnny O'Connell, Robby Gordon, and the list goes on and on. And to a man, they say they all want to race, not be managed or stuck in a dog car. I think that's the essence of why Fernando moved and why others will too. These things can change in a hurry, as you know. And IndyCar is headed back, clearly. F1, though, this year, finally is too. My dream is that F1 gets even bigger and IndyCar gets bigger than that. lol. (I can dream, right?). I have always thought that IndyCar, though, was the best overall test of an open-wheel drivers' skill. That's why I think they are vastly underrated. And the comments from Alonso (on topic, sort of, lol) back that up. He talked about Indy like it was as important as winning the whole WDC in F1. That's heady stuff. But the dirty little secret is, drivers have always thought this. Not all, but the ones that are truly great and respect history always do. LeMans gets mentioned too, so the "triple crown" still involves an event in your backyard. That's world-wide, my friend. And it shows that Indy is being taken seriously again. I'd look for more defections. These guys have all the money they need. They want a fair chance to compete more.

But your points are also well taken. F1 dwarfs IndyCar in popularity. And IndyCar damaged it's own reputation while F1 was exploding onto the world scene. I get you there. And you are 100% right. I just see a real consistent upward trend for Indy (ratings will come), and with more cross-over, you might be surprised how fast both series' get more even. Because when it comes down to it, I love all racing...except that fast walking stuff.

 

[Karl S.]

Reuters article from today: Jacques Villeneuve supports Fernando Alonso's decision to compete in Indianapolis 500. He says it's great and it reminds him of the old times when drivers used to compete in different series.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-motor-f1-alonso-villeneuve-idUSKBN17N1XI

 

[Brandon Wright]

Live stream of Alonso's first IndyCar test.

 

[Rob]

Fernando passed his rookie test. Too bad the forecast is for rain this afternoon because he really needs that track time.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Looks like the rain is breaking up a bit as it gets closer to Indy so hopefully he can get another hour or two in. I'd say he enjoyed himself.

 

[Eric Rowland]

He's out of tires for the day......
A lot of people who have disregarded, or became disinterested, or just plain forgot about Indy and Indycar, are going to become reinvigorated for no other reason than to see cars actually racing each other. There are a lot of great drivers in the series and I hope FA does well.
Logitech on the cockpit surround....smart business!