I recently was referred to this article by Anthony Schoettle of the Indianapolis Business Journal. It is filled with delicious irony.
Derek Daly and Paul Tracy have championed an international, road racing direction for IndyCar racing for many years. Now, because Daly's son and Tracy himself are unable to land IRL rides, they are angry.
Derek and Paul will find no sympathy here. I have argued for some time that businesses can not have everything that they want. In this case, that means that the IRL can not have multiple road and street races, high-tech, high-cost equipment, and a solid base of American drivers.
I have explained in some detail here, here, here, here, here and here.
Graham Rahal lost his ride because McDonald's no longer has to fund NHL in order to procure salad dressing. He will not get another funded ride because the series is not designed to appeal to an American audience. Paul Tracy and Derek Daly's kid are no different.
Just ask the IMS ticket marketing chief, who quit this week.
This is a problem that will not be solved by a new car, delta wing or no delta wing.
Again, the problem is that IndyCar can not have everything that it wants.
Gentlemen, it is time to grow up.
Roggespierre
Agree!!! This thing is going down and there really is no way to stop it. The economy is part of the problem but not all of it. Simply, the product is past its prime and it is now going to see another "power play".
ReplyDeleteNice to see your return RP!!! Hope your time away was refreshing and gave you some time to reflect on the site and the future of Indy Car.
Hello Oldwrench,
ReplyDeleteAfter getting some much needed encouragement, I think that I'm ready to get back to the Indy Idea.
I will admit that I did not watch the Brazil race. Frankly, I found it difficult to care. That's the first time that I've felt that way about an IndyCar race.
I'll try to care about St. Pete, but it won't be easy. I'm just not a fan of street racing, I guess.
Roggespierre
You didn't even watch Brazil? I think you are the one who needs to grow up.
ReplyDeleteDemondSanders,
ReplyDeleteI see your point, but I was not really trying to make some kind of statement by not watching the race. Street races just don't interest me. MLS doesn't interest me, either, so I don't watch the games.
That aside, the point of this post still stands. Businesses must choose what they want to do. The IRL has chosen to street race. It will therefore not acquire a large enough U.S. audience to attract significant domestic sponsorship for U.S. drivers.
And that's just fine, so long as nobody cares whether or not there are U.S. drivers in the series. But for guys like Tracy, Rahal and Daly to whine is ridiculous. They WANTED to see IndyCar do the international, road and street racing thing, high-tech. Now they wonder why there's no money.
I'll watch the races that interest me. Brazil did not.
DemondSanders,
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I like the Colts blog.
As far as street races go, Sao Paulo was okay I guess. However, it had a bunch of the things I hate about street races, visually unappealing vistas, disjointed "last-two-minutes-of-a-NBA-game" action, an antiquated two hour time limit and a generally low-rent feel. It did, however, have as much passing as the average IRL race at Iowa or Richmond, so I can't complain too much.
ReplyDeleteIf the IRL needs to do a couple of these each year to satisfy sponsors and generate cash, I can't fault them. However, they better not expect me to watch every one of the them if this is all they are planning to offer.
Welcome back! Here's what you missed:
ReplyDeleteBob Jenkins, who introduced the Indy 300 @ Sao Paulo on Versus as the first appearance of "American open-wheel racing here in a decade." Umm, of 24 drivers, seven were Brazilian, four from the UK, and only three American - four if you want to include a Canadian. None of the cars are American (Dallara Automobili), nor are the engines (Honda). Okay, most of the teams are American.
There was a US 500-esque first corner crash...several caught running slicks in an expected downpour ...Milka's usual misadventure...Kanaan into the runoff...Briscoe into the tires...real major league stuff out there. Oh, yeah a Penske car won under Australian Will Power. Four lead changes under green.
As one who is sickened by the direction the IRL is taking the product, I must admit that the Brazil race (at least the last half - I turned it on right before the rain came down) was about as entertaining as I could hope for in a street event. The on-track action was certainly more compelling than that at any road/street course last year. If we concede type of venue and lack of diversity in car makeup (i.e. D/H/F), I think more American drivers is the ONLY thing that could reasonably be expected to improve what I saw on television.
ReplyDeleteThat is my opinion on the particular race. It was good fun. It is something I'd tell someone to check out. I mean, if I'm hoping for the IRL's 2010 product to SOMEHOW increase its hold on an American audience, this is a good first step.
But then again, as Roggespierre has pointed out, the overall scheme of things just ain't right.
I have become rather romantically attached to Rocketman53's "$35 million on the table" idea. It's like an all-in move in tournament Texas Hold'em poker: if your stack is dwindling, there arises an ideal time to push the whole thing in - too soon, and you're risking much to gain little; too late, and you don't have enough clout to force marginal hands to fold. But at the perfect moment, there is no better play than all-in.
I can't help but think that IMS/IRL are approximately at that point. The 500 is diminished, but still has an appeal and pull that reaches into the mainstream (and overwhelmingly trumps the series). Now would be the moment to make the grand gamble - push all the chips into re-elevating the 500 to the transcendent auto racing contest it used to be.
Of course, I'm up for anything that causes the 500's stature to increase. If the series and 500 can both be placed on a long-term track to success, that would be fantastic. But it ain't happening when a J.R. Hildebrand is sidelined in favor of a Mario Romancini. That's the kind of thing that really rips the guts out of Indy car.
By the way, I encourage you to keep posting, Roggespierre! Yours is really the only voice of well-reasoned comprehensive dissatisfaction out there, and the longer it carries on the more likely that someone will listen...
ReplyDeleteBC,
ReplyDeleteI'll do it so long as I don't become mentally unhinged. That's where I found myself at the end of last season, and I didn't like it at all.
The trick, I've been told, is to write extemporaneously and to not succumb to "blogorrhea".
Roggespierre
I agree with BC. This site is the only one that keeps a clear perspective dispite some outlandish behavior by some individuals. It is clear, concise and makes valid point on each step we take. Rocketman and I did not agree originally, but after stating his case and supporting the financials as to payout, I change my mind and support his idea with the belief that if current equipment, older equipment with current safety standards met, we could make his idea work. That is the reason why I come here, to listen to others and their perspective on the business of Indy Car Racing.Not the cars, the BUSINESS!!!! Stay with it RP as you can guide the way to a possible solution.
ReplyDeleteOldwrench,
ReplyDeleteYou give me too much credit. That said, I do appreciate it.
I also tend to agree with you regarding Rocketman's ideas. He was alone on this board for some time. However, the more I looked at the numbers and the enormity of the task at hand, the more I came around to his way of thinking.
The solution must begin with an awesome Month of May in Indianapolis. That will require lots of cars, lots of drivers, and lots of competition on three consecutive weekends. This would give the series a foundation upon which to build.
There are ample revenue-generating opportunities in May IF the racing program captivates an audience of sufficient size. Logistics would seem to suggest that the target market should include a large helping of the Midwestern United States.
Roggespierre
I too was a bit skeptical about Rocketman53's idea at first but the more I think on it the more I think it may be just the thing to jump-start the 500 to it's former glory.
ReplyDeleteI was over at the Crapwagon site a couple of months ago and there was a thread(s) about the history of AOWR. The first sanctioned(?) open wheel race was in Charleston SC in 1805. But that is not what struck me the most. Those first races were on public roads and they were primarily contested by RICH multi-millionaire sportsmen who hired drivers if they didn't drive their own car. Most of the races were either on the East Coast or the West Coast. There was very little interest on racing in the heartland. Oval racing grew up in the mid-west and flourished there. So in one respect, if this series is to survive, it must acknowledge that historical base but it should not scorn the historical fans that followed road racing in the early days. To do so would, in my opinion, dis-enfranchise a significant portion of our potential fan base. I think our current 50/50 mix of ovals and road/street courses is the best way to go. All ovals, all American did not work and all road/street courses didn't either.
Thank you for the kind comments, but it's not my idea to offer an extravagant purse, it's a return to the "first principles" that were at the heart of the 500-Mile International Sweepstakes until 1996. Until the mid-50s, when AAA folded and Tony Hulman got USAC off the ground, there was little conjoining the 500 and the National Championship. To rebuild open wheel racing the first step is to revitalize the Sweepstakes, and sever its direct relationship to the IRL. The next step is to restore the National Championship - perhaps starting with a "triple crown" three-race series on superspeedways to re-establish a unique American character. Then add on from there...road or oval...whatever the market supports.
ReplyDeleteRocketman,
ReplyDeleteWell said - and thank you for providing a good opportunity for me to make something very clear.
I am not anti-oval or anti-street course. If I believed that IndyCar could achieve a solid mix of U.S. stars and international drivers by prominently featuring road and street races, then I would be all for it. However, it is my opinion that this is not possible.
American drivers require American sponsors, which in turn require American fans. From an economic point-of-view, drawing fans on television is far more important than attracting fans at the track because the TV numbers are 1) much larger and, therefore, 2) worth a lot more money to sponsors.
Once a base of marketable domestic talent and corporate support is achieved, road and street racing becomes potentially profitable. Recall that the two best attended road races in the U.S. each year are the NASCAR Cup events at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. Why is that? Most NASCAR fans don't seem to care much for road racing?
Taken a step further, does anyone believe that a NASCAR Cup race through the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida would fail to draw at least 3X the crowd that will attend the IndyCar event?
And why might that be so?
It's a good thing for the IRL that NASCAR and ISC are connected at the hip. Otherwise, the Nationwide and Truck Series - both more popular than IndyCar, by the way - might snatch up all of the street racing opportunities.
Roggespierre
That is why RP, this site works! We think about what is said and try to understand where we can fix the problems. It isn't about needless nonsense. I think we all agree that we all bring a different perspective to the table. With that maybe we can bring something forward in the future that can help restore Indy Car to its former greatness. I am glad to see all gathering at the virtual table tonight, and hope others who can provide their thoughts in a positive and constructive manner will sit with us and bring more ideas forward. Welcome back gentlemen!!
ReplyDeleteA couple of quibbles and/or corrections. First, I had fat fingers when I posted the date of the first sanctioned auto race in the US. It was in 1905 not 1805. Secondly, the AAA did not fold, it still survives today at the AAA Auto Club, providing insurance, trip planning, maps, etc. It stopped sanctioning automotive competitions in response to the 1955 LeMans disaster.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rocketman is correct in that Tony Hulman founded USAC as a response to AAA getting out of the sanctioning business. Thus began the perceived and actual linkage of IMS and the racing series. Will it be possible to sever that perceived and actual linkage and will it, in the long run, actually matter?