Great Racing. Not Popular

Andrew Harper · Jul 8, 2015

I watch some of the races on Youtube, some nice people upload the entire races and watching them in HD is awesome. I've always been a fan of Indycar but it drifted off my radar a little when Eurosport stopped showing it and I could no longer afford Sky Sports.

The racing this year has been great and I would definitely like to see them for real in the next few years.

I saw them in the UK when they did the couple of races at Rockingham. It's odd because they also have a turbo but they sounded so much better than the modern F1 cars we have now, almost like jet engines going round, and that race fuel smell! haha.

One thing I would like to do is travel to COTA and see the IMSA/WEC double header that would be cool.

I'm not sure what the issue with crowd figures is. Reminds me a little of ELMS, FIA GT back in the 90's. I used to go to them, fantastic racing, large fields but the circuits would be almost empty. Everything revolved entirely around F1 then. Now things are different. Silverstone this year was very busy for the WEC race which was great to see. I wonder what effect it would have if Marco started winning all the time?

TobiasR · Jul 19, 2015

Andrew Harper said:
I'm not sure what the issue with crowd figures is. Reminds me a little of ELMS, FIA GT back in the 90's. I used to go to them, fantastic racing, large fields but the circuits would be almost empty. Everything revolved entirely around F1 then. Now things are different. Silverstone this year was very busy for the WEC race which was great to see. I wonder what effect it would have if Marco started winning all the time?

Don't think Marco or Graham winning would change much. I think crowds are fine on the street and road circuits. Seems like it's the superspeedways that don't attract the spectators and that's mostly an issue with the racing on these tracks. Last couple years, it was a big procession and the cars just aren't as exciting to watch anymore.

johnnymat · Jul 19, 2015

Tobias Röhner said:
Don't think Marco or Graham winning would change much. I think crowds are fine on the street and road circuits. Seems like it's the superspeedways that don't attract the spectators and that's mostly an issue with the racing on these tracks. Last couple years, it was a big procession and the cars just aren't as exciting to watch anymore.

I think that was true in the past , but not this year. The oval races at Indy and Fontana were both outstanding. The short ovals have also been very good. Oval tracks have produced the best racing in IndyCar this year. I'm saying this as a fan of road racing and not ovals.
The television ratings for Milwaukee were twice as high as last year and that's due to the buzz surrounding the race at Fontana. Last night's race at Iowa had good racing along with Ed Carpenter flipping off Sage Karam. What more does a race fan want?

TobiasR · Jul 19, 2015

johnnymat said:
I think that was true in the past , but not this year. The oval races at Indy and Fontana were both outstanding. The short ovals have also been very good. Oval tracks have produced the best racing in IndyCar this year. I'm saying this as a fan of road racing and not ovals.
The television ratings for Milwaukee were twice as high as last year and that's due to the buzz surrounding the race at Fontana. Last night's race at Iowa had good racing along with Ed Carpenter flipping off Sage Karam. What more does a race fan want?

Don't get me wrong, I loved the racing this season on the ovals. However, Indy is still licking it's wounds from previous years. If the racing keeps delivering, the crowds will follow hopefully.

johnnymat · Jul 19, 2015

Tobias Röhner said:
Don't get me wrong, I loved the racing this season on the ovals. However, Indy is still licking it's wounds from previous years. If the racing keeps delivering, the crowds will follow hopefully.

You're right about that. Last night's race at Iowa looked fairly well attended , but some of them like Fontana were pathetic. Hopefully , by moving a few dates around , they can increase the spectator count.

Cornys · Jul 20, 2015

johnnymat said:
Hopefully , by moving a few dates around , they can increase the spectator count.

Actually, I think they'd be better off leaving the dates to everything alone. The dates for the oval races have always changed from year to year.

Give them a date that is stable so they can grow that event at that date.

Only one that needs changed is Fontana. Middle of the summer (in the day time) is NOT ideal there.

Andrew Harper · Jul 20, 2015

Yeah the races I've seen have been great this year, no matter if it's oval or road course. The US has some fantastic tracks as well

Maybe like @Cornys mentions above it's simply a change of calendar that's required.

Living in Europe I don't know all the issues they have but this is an interesting thread and explains what some of the problems are.

It would cost a fair amount of money to get there but the WEC/IMSA weekend at COTA appeals, two major championships and the races last year were great. Looking at the website, great value for money as well. Just a shame it's so far away!

Cornys · Jul 20, 2015

Andrew Harper said:
Living in Europe I don't know all the issues they have but this is an interesting thread and explains what some of the problems are.

TBH, the main problem is that Indianapolis Motor Speedway owns the series and doesn't want the rest of the series (ovals anyways) to compete in anyway with Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They make sure that speeds are higher at IMS, and lower elsewhere.

Also, attending the 500, they basically only marketed the 2016 (100th) Indy 500. No mention of the rest of the schedule of events to their captive audience of nearly 300,000 people. Just basically told them to come back next year.

That's not how you run a series.

johnnymat · Jul 20, 2015

Cornys said:
Actually, I think they'd be better off leaving the dates to everything alone. The dates for the oval races have always changed from year to year.

Give them a date that is stable so they can grow that event at that date.

Only one that needs changed is Fontana. Middle of the summer (in the day time) is NOT ideal there.

You're right ; it appears that Fontana was the biggest mistake. Someone made a comment about sitting in metal seats with no shade at the hottest time of the year. That may explain why the race was so poorly attended. I read something that quoted the promoter as saying he would have the series back next year if he can get the old date back.

Reik Major · Jul 21, 2015

Cornys said:
They are trying to get some foreign races, but nobody is really interested.

HERE! HERE!!!

Please bring them back to the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in eastern germany! Since 2006 I'm living just an hour away from the track and would so much like to see them scream by in real life.

A shame they raced there a few years earlier.

The track is located in the middle between Berlin and Dresden. Both cities and the region have developed very much in the last 10 years and the facility is very easy to reach. I think with a good promotion here, they could fill up the grand stands.

TobiasR · Jul 21, 2015

Reik Major said:
HERE! HERE!!!

Please bring them back to the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in eastern germany! Since 2006 I'm living just an hour away from the track and would so much like to see them scream by in real life. A shame they raced there a few years earlier.

The track is located in the middle between Berlin and Dresden. Both cities and the region have developed very much in the last 10 years and the facility is very easy to reach. I think with a good promotion here, they could fill up the grand stands.

I wish they'd come back there too, but if they can't even manage to race in Brazil then an overseas race is even more of a long shot.

Reik Major · Jul 21, 2015

I don't know why they weren't able to race in Brazil. Too expensive to get there?

If so, I suggest the EuroSpeedway management should offer Indycar some money to race here and earn this money back from ticket sales and other commercial stuff. But he, I'm really naive in this point, because I have no clue how such things work.

TobiasR · Jul 21, 2015

Reik Major said:
I don't know why they weren't able to race in Brazil. Too expensive to get there?
If so, I suggest the EuroSpeedway management should offer Indycar some money to race here and earn this money back from ticket sales and other commercial stuff. But he, I'm really naive in this point, because I have no clue how such things work.

For one, I really don't think that Eurospeedway has that kind of money. Ticket sales and drinks only create limited amounts of revenue. Indycar is relatively unknown here in Germany nowadays. Back in the CART days, it made much more sense.
Another factor might be the events of the 2001 German 500... with Zanardi losing his legs just one week after 9/11.

Reik Major · Jul 21, 2015

yep I know and I'm afraid you're right

Cornys · Jul 21, 2015

Rockingham would be nice too, but I see no way for either Speedway to make back a $4,000,000 + investment in an IndyCar race. (That's what Brazil was paying)

Not familiar with either areas, but regardless, I don't see it happening.

In the US the sanctioning fee is MUCH lower, but still, many race tracks here can't make it work.