At Play in the Fields of the Bored

Welcome to a new week at the Indy Idea. It is clear that IndyCar racing has vanished from public consciousness. The coming weekend will effectively be the fourth in succession in which the product is not party to the sporting and economic culture of its home market. This is attributable primarily to Honda's Deep Capture of the IRL.

The Indy Idea: An IndyCar Detailing Shop

Those who routinely review the financial statements that publicly traded firms must file with the SEC are aware that the most important information is often located in the portions that almost nobody reads. Review of the footnotes brought down Enron. Evidence that allowed for prediction of the banking crisis was also to be found there.

We are pleased to have attracted some worthy contributors to the footnotes here at the Indy Idea. Citizens will find their musings in the comments that are linked below each original entry.

Osca has been an observer of the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar racing since 1946. He has a degree in economics and therefore understands the macro and micro factors that have so changed the sport since he watched George Robson lead the postwar Junk Formula contingent to the checkers.

Oldwrench is a former participant in the sport. He was there to witness a time of great change and upheaval, the late 1970s and early 1980s, when many of the issues that now haunt IndyCar were in their nascent stages. His articulation of the way in which the IndyCar racing supply chain has evolved to become a perverted morass is invaluable. He has compelled me to reconsider and refine some of my own views.

Citizen John has provided hard data and analysis that we have incorporated in some recent articles. He and I agree that the IRL lacks a competitive market advantage. We do not always agree with regard to how the league might actually achieve competitive advantage. This is healthy and constructive. He makes me think better. Perhaps he will have the same effect on you.

Damon has contributed hard data that have allowed for quantitative analysis that is more accurate and relevant than it would otherwise have been.

Trick Dickle is a NASCAR enthusiast who seems to yearn for an IndyCar Series that he would actually want to watch. He might be converted to customer status if the IRL were to get serious about managing its product to attract an audience. Mr. Dickle is much more representative of the mainstream motorsports market in the United States than any IndyCar fan can fairly claim to be.

Others have contributed anonymously. The Indy Idea is a low-risk proposition. Competitors, managers and other participants in the series are welcome to join the discussion fully incognito. We don't want to hurt you. We want to help you lift yourselves out of the quicksand.


The anonymous option will remain until we begin to receive scary ramblings that focus on either irrelevant aerodynamic technicalities or the precious bodily fluids of the American people. At that point we reserve the right to reconsider.

Please reserve cliches, incremental solutions, and justifications for the albatross that is the present IndyCar Series for other forums. Don't expect to bring the same old tired, weak stuff here and have it accepted as wisdom. You will come away disappointed, aggrieved and angry.

The Indy Idea makes every attempt to respond to each comment with relevance and courtesy. At times, we succeed, but it becomes more difficult as additional readers contribute. This is a good problem to have.

Roggespierre