Everett Ogilvie

Indy car is doing everything they can to gain back fans. First, the whole race is covered start to finish, on network TV. Second, they do side by side during commericials so you can still watch the track. They are marketing aggressively pretty much everywhere in the racing world. If they don't "make it" it won't be for a lack of trying (read that - investment).

mgarfias

If they don't make it it'll be because the racing pretty much sucks. Bring back the old days where innovation was the norm.

I'd like to see a rule book that specified a safety capsule design, and a "box" that the car had to roll into and out of, MAYBE a min weight of like 1400lbs w/driver, and a limited fuel load to limit horsepower instead of a restrictor (say 1200lbs for ~ 4 hour race which would give about 500hp avg).

Then let the engineers goto town. Traction control? Sure! Ground effects? Why not! Big *** wing? Does it fit in the box? Then yes! Wonky suspension designs? Go for it!

Right now the series has all the watchability of a used pizza box.

BrianCunningham

Great coverage

though I keep wondering why Formula cars don't have starters

Everett Ogilvie

What a race for 3rd with Simona De Silvestro battling Kanaan! She drove the wheels off that car! Good for her!

gkmccready

They've been doing this for a few years now, I love it. I try to watch Toronto and Edmonton at a minimum each year.

Rob31

Those guys get rusty over the winter ? I left after the 6th yellow .


Oh gee , maybe I can win this thing on the first lap .
Restarts were omg sloppy ...Seen better at the local short track

varkwso

Coverages cannot even compare

z060ntrack

Agreed; what ALMS coverage!

LT70ZR91

She did great, but will probably get less press than someone who throse tantrums and does commercial and finshes 12th. It is good to see a competitive woman!

TLGunman

I'll root for Simona, but not that other female...

Hopefully next years use of different aero packages, etc., will add some more engineering, etc. to the racing.

...and lets get Weldon back in a car!!

Bill Dearborn

ALMS doesn't have the money to pay for coverage and there aren't enough advertisers willing to buy time on an ALMS broadcast to make it worth while for a network to broadcast their races. Look at the delayed Sebring Race. Complete coverage in one hour. The TV show has to make money for the network or else it isn't going on the air. Indy car racing has a bigger spectator base and enough draw that ABC can sell adds and make money.

Bill

TheSkunkWorks

Sebring and Petit LeMans being a couple of events I wish to see in their entirety (and on my big screen via DVR) when I can't make them in person, I'm not at all happy with ALMS' new ABC/ESPN deal, which was a giant step backwards from Speed's coverage IMHO. No fault of the event itself (the 12-Hour rocks) or of the on-screen talent, but that delayed broadcast "highlight" package made Sebring look somewhat like a crashfest between ultra-wealthy countryclubers rather than the highly professional race that it is. Are we to expect the same all season, including Petit!?!

As for the IRL's coverage, appears they've been making an all-out effort to better market themselves this past year or so, but I do wish they'd get away from spec cars and red Fisher-Price sidewalls, and that teams would give more consideration to worthy American drivers. Not sure what they can do to improve the appeal of certain events to a broader audience, but hope they don't do away with track diversity or fully adopt NastyCar's bag of tricks. If they revert to running cookie-cutter ovals that one can hardly tell apart they might as well have a one race schedule as far as I'm concerned. If up to me, I vote for more genuine road courses!

JMO

Jason

Y'all do know this is the last year for these cars and everything people have mentioned in this thread is in the works for next year. New aero new engines new manufacturers

Han Solo

I enjoyed the race.

They have the best of all coverage with over the air broadcasts. All the cable and satellite companies provide local stations so virtually nobody in America is left out. This is what all racing coverage should be.

Dolfan

I typically don't watch the IRL but I did watch yesterday. The ALMS is sure in last place in regards to "mind share" of the viewing/racing public behind NASCAR, F1, IRL, GrandAM. I'm not saying those other forms are better racing but they can at least get to their market!

I must say I was at the Barber IRL/GrandAM evnet last year and was stunned at the crowd, I asked other attendees if they were there for the IRL or GrandAM and most all said IRL, I follow the GrandAM but also follow ALMS and attend the Petit. There must be a decent following for IRL from what I saw at Barber last season.

And at least their fans can see a race on a proper TV!!!!!!!!

But man those IRL re-starts did look like a bunch of rookies!

TheSkunkWorks

IMHO they urgently need to re-think use of the acceleration line, as all it seemed good for was creating massive accordion effects. Those starts reminded me of the near record carambolage during my one support race at Burke Lakefront Airport caused when every other driver apparently attempted to win the race at the first corner. They might also need to limit use of the push-to-pass button similar to what F1 is doing with the DRS.

95jersey

Help me understand something. I remember being a kid in the 80's and seeing Indy cars on TV and NEVER having interest. I am 39 now, but maybe the older guys can help me understand.

Some background...

I bought my a vette when I was 26 (it was a 1995, maybe 2-3 years old at the time). About that time I started actually taking interest in road racing. I had done the drag thing with Mustangs up to that point and had crotch rockets and dirt bikes. I knew nothing about Sebring and really nothing about LeMans or road racing. A buddy mentioned there was a cool race track (Watkins Glen) where there were going to be Ferrari's and Porsches, so I said let go! I walked the pits on practice day and let's just say I was HOOKED! I started watching Grand Am and was interested in the Prototype cars first (I don't think they had vette's racing in Grand Am at the time). Then in the late 90's I saw this new series called ALMS. It had all the cool cars I liked (road going sports cars). Then the Corvette team came to ALMS and I REALLY got interested (they are the sole reason I passionately got into sports car racing). Now I am a Corvette junkie and an avid Corvette race fan, and begin to understand the whole international scope of this racing (compared to NASCAR or INDY). I felt this was AMERICA on the world's stage proving we are still the best country in the world (it was a patriotic thing, like soccer world cup stuff to me). It drew me in HARD.

So, come on get to the point....

I find that even after years of intense passion of the sport, personal involvement doing HPDE and Time Trials, and a passon for all kinds of racing (motorcyles, sports cars), that I still have NO interest in open wheel racing (none what so ever). While I know the C6R is far from my actual car, to this day (I have tried hard), but I just have little to no interest in watching cars that all look the same and have little differences in design and body work (meaning open wheel cars), even F1. It almost is like...who cares? So the car weights 1500lbs and makes 900hp, so what? So NASA can build a rocket to the moon, do I care..no. It means nothing to me, I can't associate with it. With F1 it is so high tech and so out of my range with rich euro snobs, that why would I have any real interest. I can't relate to absolutely anything about the cars or drivers, same goes with Indy.

If I didn't own a Corvette (or Porsche) or whatever, honestly, I would not haved cared about racing. So my question about the typical Indy/F1 (even NASCAR) fan that generates so many more viewers than sports cars. What makes someone who will never drive anything but an SUV or standard car, care about some open wheel Indy race cars? What does it mean to them?

I just don't understand why sports car racing isn't the most popular form of racing in the US and the world. Why would anyone who doesn't have a sports car (and specifically a marque to follow) want to watch racing? You would think cars guys who own sports cars would be the only race fans and hence make sports car racing the most popular.

2K3Z06

Open wheel racing used to be the ****. Indy 500 was awesome back when the cars were fast and full of innovation. the unsers, foyts, andrettis those guys were good.

today, get your daddy to buy you a seat, for some unknown foriegn driver who can barely speak english. The indy car racing of today sucks, compared to the good old days before the split. Thats coming from an open wheel fan.

I mean nobody wins today, except Penske and Ganassi. Its basically a 4 car race with, moviing chicanes of wantabes. JMO.

Might as well call it the Penske, Ganassi racing series.

mgarfias

Wasn't Penske one of the original principals at CART?

Everett Ogilvie

For me, the short answer is - the racing has to be pretty bad for me to not want to watch it. I watch almost any form of racing. Sure, I like some types more than others, but if the racing is close (which Indy Car has been the last few seasons) I typically watch it. Shoot, I even watch racing that is not close (F1... ). Bikes, cars, trucks, sports cars, open wheel, short track, roundy round (dirt or asphalt), you name it.