oops.. Sorry.. I meant the race formerly known as the Indy 500.

What the hell happened to this race? As a kid I remember a huge build up, Foyt, Andretti, ..
Just not feeling it anymore

Maybe we are just not liking a race that goes in a circle a bunch of times.

I remember the old buildup also and it's funny that I didn't even know it was today even though I am an avid news watcher.

Cory

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88 Coupe 4cyl 5 speed (Carl)
88 GT built 3.2 5 speed (Bianca)
"I am NOT a buck-o-nine weakling with a pocket protector. I am actually 6'6", 290lbs and carrying around a shitload of pent-up rage. You really want to meet me?" ~Stimpy

I knew it was on today for three reasons. Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher, and Milka Duno. And they're all in snug driving suits. Whoohoo!

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Whade' "The Duck Formerly Known As Wade" Duck
'87 GT Auto
'88 Ferrario
'84 Indy

quote Originally posted by whadeduck: I knew it was on today for three reasons. Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher, and Milka Duno. And they're all in snug driving suits. Whoohoo!

I'd be more interessted in a snug swimsuit...

Overhere, the information about racing results are very rare, only this annoying F1...

quote Originally posted by swisscheese: I'd be more interessted in a snug swimsuit...

As would I. But I'm taking what they give me.

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Whade' "The Duck Formerly Known As Wade" Duck
'87 GT Auto
'88 Ferrario
'84 Indy

And Duno just went into the wall....................

John Stricker

No kidding! I was sick of the way they fawn over her in 2005. It's getting REALLY OLD now.

The race is good this year, though.

Ed

Is starting to rain pretty good now. Red flag. May be over now.

quote Originally posted by Uaana: oops.. Sorry.. I meant the race formerly known as the Indy 500. What the hell happened to this race? As a kid I remember a huge build up, Foyt, Andretti, .. Just not feeling it anymore

The 500 stopped being 'the race' long before she came on the scene.

I live here, and i remember it bing a huge deal, now its more of an irritant.

Even Jim Nabors phoned it in this year to indy.

I grew up with the AJ Foyt, Andretti's, Jackie Stewart so excited, Cris O'Conomachi in the pits, the anouncers were fabulous back then. I lost some interest when a split in racing leagues developed, two different circiuts, hard to keep up.

I did like the split screen during TV commercials, that was cool.

I liked Danica much better when she was hosting Power Block on Spike.

Racing in circles is not always a bad thing. Indy way back when was all about inovation. Now the same thing in Nascar and Indy cars.........all clone cars with a 500 page rule book. You can thank the people that run Indy cars for trying to turn it into another WWF. Indy being called an all American Race with all the cars running with Honda engines and majority of drivers from Brazil, lol. I never was fond of Indy cars (aka exploding cars) anyway and gals in it like Danika is the only reason I even glimpse at it during channel surfing. Exciting pre month....mmmmmmmmm, ya....33 cars trying hard for a month for 33 starting positions.......

The biggest problem is that the two open wheel circuits in this country are split, and are being stupid about it. Can't get all the stars of open wheel racing in there to keep up interest. In addition, moving the start of the Indy 500 back an hour, eliminating the ability of driver's like Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon and others who want to try it, to drive the double of the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600. Getting some bigger name NASCAR drivers to drive the Indy 500 would give them some better press. Until then, this is a NASCAR country, for those who are into racing.

The reason one of the main "storylines" is Danica is due to the IRL trying to snag the casual fan. Real fans of the series (and it is a great series if you watch more than just the Indy 500 every year) get to know almost all the drivers. The guys in the booth do pretty well at talking about most of them, and the film footage doesn't always jusy stay on the front two or three.

Danica winning the Indy 500 or any other series race would be huge for the IRL, who isn't big enough to compete against NASCAR. It would bring in even more casual fans, and some might stick around for the other races. This is actually a good time for fans to be fans, because it is very easy to get garage access, meet the drivers, get autographs, see the cars, etc. The IRL is doing well enough to sustain itself, but if Danica (or Sarah) won, it would grow exponentially.

I'd like to see the IRL absorb CART and make it a large series again.

As far as the good old days of the Indy 500 go, this year there were three Andrettis in the field (John, Michael, Marco), an Unser (Jr.), and a Foyt (IV). AJ is a team owner, Penske is still around, Andretti is a team owner, and time marches on.

The IRL is my "offseason" sport when football isn't around.

Flamberge

Racing is so boring for me to watch.. I try and it's "vreeen vreeen vreeenn... ohh another hit the wall! caution flag, race ends

Can't do it.

quote Originally posted by InTheLead: Racing is so boring for me to watch.. I try and it's "vreeen vreeen vreeenn... ohh another hit the wall! caution flag, race ends Can't do it.

Would you feel the same if you went to a race? It's a whole different animal - like watching football on tv and watching it from the stadium.

Your User Name is ironic if you don't like racing.

Flamberge

I like watching races that aren't determined by who can pit stop faster. I get more pleasure from a dirt track sprint race than I do from the indy 500..

Just personal opinion, and no I don't dislike all racing.. misleading comment by me. I do like test and tune 1/4 miles runs against my buddies and regular old races on weekends at the local track. Pro racing just isn't fun for me to watch anymore. And yes I've been to plenty of races and it's much more fun in the stands than on TV. I'me saying watching on TV and trying to follow races week in and out is jut not fun for me.

[This message has been edited by InTheLead (edited 05-28-2007).]

Bring back the races with different kinds of cars in one race. Imagine indy cars passing nascars, nascars drafting indycars... Throw in the busch cars and formula 1 for more action.

well, what other drivers are in the indy 500?

yes, there were a few of the "old classics".....but, noone cares one bit about most of the field.
having 2 open wheel series' that try to knock each other around just makes them both suck.

Formula 1 is so much better anyways.

The one reason the Indy 500 isn't the pinnacle of motorsport anymore is the idiot that owns the track and runs the IRL....Tony George. He single handedly caused the split in American open wheel racing and let NASCAR bury the Indy 500 in popularity. He can only ride Danicamania so long before people get bored again.

He has failed at everything he wanted to do when he started the IRL: He said he wanted to lower costs, he hasn't, he said he wanted more American drivers, there are now less, he said he wanted to help support oval track owners, they give away more tickets then they sell, he wanted to race only on ovals, a third of the series is now on road courses, he wanted it to be an U.S. only race series, they now race at Motegi to keep his only engine supplier Honda happy now that Toyota has bolted to NASCAR. Nothing he set out to do worked and there is no way this guy should get control of a fantasy football league much less control Indy racing as a whole. His selling out of the track (he bankrolls the IRL by running the Brickyard 400 and the F1 U.S. Grand Prix at Indy now) disgusts me also. There was some mystique behind a track where only one race (the 500) was run each year which is now gone.

I miss the 1990's (and earlier) when Indy and Indycar racing used to be most popular motorsport in the country. I remember when Nigel Mansel won the F1 championship and then came to the CART series to run the Indy 500....that was something....along the lines if Schumacher would come and run Indy today, but why would he if he isn't racing against the best?

I still watch both ChampCar (the old CART series) and IRL racing and long for a day that they unify but with Tony George holding the 500 hostage and calling the shots, I don't think it'll ever happen. Kevin Kalkoven (one of the co-owners of ChampCar) even left the month of May open in the ChampCar season schedule and offered to run his 5 top drivers (Paul Tracy, Sebastian Bordais, Graham Rahal etc.) as an olive branch towards reunification at the 500 if he could rent (not buy) chassis for them this year. Tony George turned him down even though there has to be enough old chassis floating around since the IRL is running a 5 year old car design. C'mon Tony, quit being stubborn and compromise a little and start to repair the image of the 500 before no one cares anymore. Honda has stated that they will leave after 2009 if they have no one to race against and the chassis are starting to become dated. Champcar has a new lower cost car this year (ironically a Panoz) that has been certified to run ovals, Kalkoven owns Cosworth which can supply the competition that Honda desires and I'm sure Dallara or Lola would be willing to supply a newer design chassis to compete against the new Panoz:



Hell Champcar even has a woman driver (Katherine Legge) that has actually, unlike Danica, won a major open wheel race in the U.S. but Champcar doesn't have the 500, and until the two get together (maybe the Hullman family will eventually talk some sense into Tony George) open wheel racing will always play second fiddle to NASCAR. Everyone wants reunification of the series (ABC even tried to force their hand by signing ChampCar to a TV contract this year so both series are even on the same network) except George which refuses to ever admit he is wrong apparently.

[This message has been edited by kslish (edited 05-29-2007).]

Sports car racing has all makes and models running head to head all in the same race. They are classed by performance as groups though within that race. Its funny, but sports car racing is more ' stock ' car racing than are stockcars. Ferraris even race with their a/c operating.

About football........mmmmmm......the only good part about watching that was the cheerleaders at halftime. And now they dont even show them. You couldnt give me free tickets to the superbowl if it was across the street.

The one thing I hat about IRL is that they order a crate engine and the only thing they are allowed to do to the engine by IRL rules is to bolt it to the car, and unbolt it and send it back to the manufacturer when it blows up.

The cars are identical right down to the last bolt. That is why racing is so boring to watch. oooo lets watch 33 identical cars with different paint and sticker schemes drive in a circle for 3 hours. Yeah sounds like fun to me.

I knew it would be a bad race when Gomer ( Jim neighbors) was out sick and could not sing the ind. song...

Down hill from there

Sorry, I didn't see the race but, If I may ask, "Who won the race and whose 2nd, 3rd, 4th and , the womens positions?

from what little I did see, mika crashed, danica finished 7 or 8. She ran in the front 3 for a while. I never heard anything about sara. Some of the local interest is due here to her since she lives about 15 miles from me.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 05-29-2007).]

When I was a kid (back in the 60's) living in Western Michigan, Indy was the race--everything else was secondary. I was a little kid and went a couple of times with friends families--it was all pretty cool, tiring, exciting for me.

Nowdays, theres CART, there's Indy, there's Nascar. And Indy has just kinda faded into the background.

I didn't even know when the race was on locally--ABC did such a great job of showcasing it and promoting it. Crappy Miss Universe can be in prime time, but Indy's gotta be on in the middle of a sunday afternoon--that's just stupid. Lots more people would have been likely to watch if it were an evening race on Monday--organize a barbecue around it, make it on the same level as a Superbowl party.

So what did I do while Indy was running? I was out on an 35 mile dirtbike (motorcycle) ride around and up the side of one of our desert mountains. I fell once with the bike on top of me. Been on Vicodone since Sunday, btw. I HURT! Had a monumentally good time, tho. Lots better than watching some dumb ol' race on TV.

How could you fall in 35 miles..........isnt Nevada flat as a cookie pan............

Shes just an over glorified / vilified racer


Till I see her centerfold in Penthouse, shes just another race car driver.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: How could you fall in 35 miles..........isnt Nevada flat as a cookie pan............

That's what the Donner Party (the original fun for lunch bunch) thought when they left Missouri.

Actually Brian Barnhardt runs the IRL now. Tony George handed over the reins in 2005. Also, he isn't solely to blame for the IRL/CART split. Penske, Green, and a few others had a lot to do with it.

Sure you've never heard of the drivers if you haven't been watching for 10 or 15 years. If you hadn't seen or paid attention to anything pertaining to baseball I doubt you could list more than a handful of players. There are some good ones. Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, and Sam Hornish Jr. are all stars in their own right. But since they don't fight each other for all to see or talk a lot of smack, they remain obscure.

The list off the top of my head goes like this...

Helio Castroneves
Sam Hornish Jr

Scott Dixon
Dan Weldon

Marco Andretti
Dario Franchitti (won the Indy 500 this year)
Tony Kanaan
Danica Patrick

Vitor Meira
Kosuke Matsuura

Sarah Fisher
Buddy Rice

Thomas Schecter
Scott Sharp
Buddy Lazier
Milka Duno

That's off the top of my head, broken up by team except for the last four, which I can't remember who they race for.

So now you've heard of some of the drivers in the series.

Having identical engines and chassis isn't prefered by me either - I'd like to see at least one more engine mfr. and see the Panoz chassis get back into it. The problem is the Dallara is a better shape for the air. There are a lot of ways to make the car different. It is one of the reasons why the cars aren't "identical". This isn't IROC. The wings, control surfaces, ride heights, weight jackers, fuel rich (except at Indy), and pit strategies all play a part in who gets across the line first.

I'm not saying it's the greatest thing ever, but it's the best racing circuit in my opinion, and that includes F1, CART, and NASCAR.

Flamberge.

quote Originally posted by Flamberge: Actually Brian Barnhardt runs the IRL now. Tony George handed over the reins in 2005. Also, he isn't solely to blame for the IRL/CART split. Penske, Green, and a few others had a lot to do with it.

Tony is still the owner and still determines the overall direction of the league. Brian Barnhardt is the COO and President of the IRL, but he stated on March 11th, 2007 that he plans on stepping down as soon as a replacement is found because he has been unsuccessful in his current position. He wants to return to his previous head of competition role with the IRL. Rumor has it that Eddie Gossage (general manager of Texas Motor Speedway) will be his replacement.

It's funny how Tony with his "it's my ball and I'm taking it and going home" formed the IRL to get away from Penske, Green and others because he thought that they had too much power in CART and he wanted more say, but now he's all buddy buddy with those same people because he thought that getting those teams away from ChampCar would kill the series, but it didn't because drivers and teams see it as a reasonable (cheaper) alternative to F1 to gain experience in or to stay in if they can't get one of the preferred F1 rides.

quote But since they don't fight each other for all to see or talk a lot of smack, they remain obscure.

It's called marketing.... NASCAR has a excellent marketing machine, the IRL doesn't and ChampCar's is nearly as bad.

quote Having identical engines and chassis isn't prefered by me either - I'd like to see at least one more engine mfr. and see the Panoz chassis get back into it. The problem is the Dallara is a better shape for the air.

The Dallara also flys through the air like a kite if something gets the car a little airborne (Marco Andretti found that out firsthand this year). The Panoz is actually a better road course car because it has more downforce and a superior suspension but teams don't have the funding to run different chassis at different events (except Ganassi who has run older Panoz at road courses in the past) and the IRL is still primarily a superspeedway series. The Panoz also suffers from a lack of development because they are busy building their new cars for ChampCar. Remember that Danica almost won the 500 a few years back (and Buddy Rice did win the 500) with a Panoz, and the chassis that they are running are still essentially the same cars.....Dallara has just "tweeked" their aero package more and Panoz (not being a huge company) would rather sell complete new cars to ChampCar than develop and sell aero update packages for their IRL cars for little profit. Wish they would though, but I guess it's simple economics. Of course, I also wish Reynard wouldn't have went bankrupt....Lola is probably the only other manufacturer out there capable of producing decent open wheel cars for these series but they have always been way too expensive (which is why ChampCar dropped them last year). Maybe they will face reality and produce a economical design though. Swift is also a possibility but their resources are probably tied up supporting/supplying the ChampCar Atlantic series.

Anyways, I follow both series closely, and it all comes down to if Tony would come to his senses he could bring an end to all this and have one unified series that could be the best of both worlds. Kevin Kalkoven has already said he's just a phone call away from Tony, but Tony's not interested in working out a re-unification plan and it's a dead issue and he'll continue on working on rebuilding ChampCar.

I've been to both IRL and ChampCar races in person, the IRL events (other than the 500) have the stands half empty yet ChampCar races are packed with people because they know how to put on an weekend "event" that pulls people to the racetrack (hopefully I'll make the Cleveland race again this year). The IRL has better car sponsorship due to the exposure of the 500 and they both practically have the same TV contract on ABC now. Drivers and teams are just simply spread too thin because they constantly struggle with what side of the fence to be on each year. Buddy Rice ran the ChampCar race in Mexico City last year and Franchitti was thinking about doing the same and was in talks with RuSport until Andretti Green resigned him at the beginning of the season. Bobby Rahal is suppossedly thinking about taking his team back to ChampCar and Newman-Haas is thinking about running some IRL races so Graham Rahal can compete in the 500 but he'll mainly stay in ChampCar because he eventually wants to try F1. It's all unneccessary confusion and drama and it's too much for a lot of casual fans to follow or make sense of.

[This message has been edited by kslish (edited 05-30-2007).]

I cant name a single baseball or football player. Well not entirely true, I know of Mickey Mantle and Archie Griffith (he was in my custom van club).

Actually I think the problem with why no one follows indy/champ/F1 is because it doesn't get the air time that say NASCAR does. I have a really hard time finding any races on. I really like F1 and champ because it's not just oval. I am partial to road courses. But I have a heck of a time finding any races on TV. Occasionally there will be a race on SPEED at 2 am that isn't live, but that's about it. I can never find a live race other than NASCAR. I am also a fan of IMSA/Lemans, can't find those on TV either.

quote Originally posted by fieroluv: Actually I think the problem with why no one follows indy/champ/F1 is because it doesn't get the air time that say NASCAR does. I have a really hard time finding any races on. I really like F1 and champ because it's not just oval. I am partial to road courses. But I have a heck of a time finding any races on TV. Occasionally there will be a race on SPEED at 2 am that isn't live, but that's about it. I can never find a live race other than NASCAR. I am also a fan of IMSA/Lemans, can't find those on TV either.

actually - most of the F1 races on SpeedTV ARE live - its the time zonez. they started in australia - 1/2 day off in time zone, and slowly worked west, towards europe. and, then they replay the recorded race later, for people like me who cant stay up that late....
and, TV coverage is a two way street - if enough people cared - it would be on TV. but, there is no action. and, like the title of this thread - it really is the Danica show. they cannot go 5 mins without mentioning her.
and, road course vs oval - no matter to me. my complaint about most road courses, is the finish position is usually the same as the starting position. yay. a really really fast parade. any first corner position changes are it. the ovals really highlight the better drivers & teams. espeically in something like IRL - where there are no diffeences in cars. how else does someone get lapped - other than by being "not as good"? but - racing in circles....
I really like the crowded NASCAR approach. things happen. cant do this with open wheel cars.
anyways - for me - theracing goes: NASCAR, GrandAm/GT, Daytona Prototypes, F1
I watched the Indy 500 because it was the Indy 500 - thats it. I dont watch IRL/Champ/Cart whatever they be today.

quote Originally posted by kslish: .....

Great response, kslish. I disagree with you on a few points, but you are well informed and knowledgable.

Visually the Panoz car looks better, more "Indycar-ish" to me. The Dallara is just sleeker, and you're right about the aero package.

As for CART, a reunification would be the best thing for both series, but if one has to die, I hope it's CART. (Actually, I prefer NASCAR to go away, but we can't all get what we want. )

NASCAR not only has a better marketing engine (no pun intended), it also has cars that feature a ton of advertizing space on them compared to open wheeled cars. That makes a difference.

I would go see a CART race in person I suppose (I watched the Houston Grand Prix this year on ESPN), but would much rather see an Indycar race if I had a choice.

Anyway, great post, thanks for the debate.

Flamberge

Okay, she's pumping-up the rear and looking better. Danica Patrick

Woops, I forgot the linkie, hehe. http://jalopnik.com/5150612...ion?skyline=true&s=i

[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 02-10-2009).]

TY for the linky!



got to almost meet her at the Detroit Grand Prix last year. tiny little thing she is

[This message has been edited by Pyrthian (edited 02-10-2009).]

quote Originally posted by madcurl: Okay, she's pumping-up the rear and looking better. Danica Patrick Woops, I forgot the linkie, hehe. http://jalopnik.com/5150612...ion?skyline=true&s=i

Not normally a fan of 'models' but something about her is different then most. She seems more like a real girl that happens to be pretty too.

Oh my.

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Whade' "The Duck Formerly Known As Wade" Duck
'87 GT Auto
'88 Ferrario
'84 Indy