COUNTERPOINT: Street racing
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago.
Posted by: Stephanie
Welcome to Counterpoint, a new feature on Planet-IRL.com.
The idea for this column came about last night during Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee. During the open call-in segment, a fan suggested that the solution to the woes of open-wheel racing today is a return to an all-oval schedule. This resulted in me getting a bit uppity on Twitter, which caused Paul to find me on Skype, and a somewhat animated discussion followed.
After a brief discourse, though, we concluded that it was short-sighted to keep the debate to ourselves. Instead, we’ve each presented our side of the issue here, and we invite the community to keep the discussion going based on the differing perspectives we’ve provided.
Since Paul and I frequently see things from different angles (he’s an IRL diehard from the Midwest and was raised on oval racing; I’m Canadian, and Canada was always Champ Car country), there should be plenty of fodder for more of these columns in the future. If you have any ideas for topics that you’d like us to tackle, please feel free to contact us. We’re always happy to hear from you.
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PAUL’S POINT:
Much has been made about the evolution of the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule since road and street courses were first added to the mix in 2005. Though only three “twisties” were on that 2005 schedule, the amount of road and street courses has blossomed to the point where there will be, for the first time in Indy Racing League history, more non-oval races than oval races in 2010. It is a trend that seems unlikely to be reversed any time soon and one that is of great concern to the most ardent, long-time IndyCar fans.
Yes, the original intent of the Indy Racing League, when first announced in 1994, was to preserve the oval-track racing tradition of America and provide opportunities for drivers from the USAC ranks to run in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Though the words of Tony George have been bastardized and twisted by many of his detractors, it was never stated during the announcement of the League that the Indy Racing League would always run exclusively on ovals. The fact that they chose not to go down that path until 2005 shouldn’t be taken as a signal that they did not have that option or that intention. With the open-wheel civil war since in full swing, it just never made sense for the IRL to sanction events on road or street courses. Now that the two warring sides have gone through unification (or whatever word you choose to use), it is essential that both sides be represented and to that end, I have no problem supporting races that require both left and right turns. My gripe is with the trend that the IZOD IndyCar Series seems to be hedging its bets on city street courses more and more every year and turning away from other opportunities that would seem to stimulate the fanbase with a much greater passion.
There is no doubt that some street courses are worthy of their spot on the IndyCar schedule. Long established venues such as Long Beach and Toronto have proven that they have a staying power and make financial sense. However, these venues are the very rare exception and are nowhere close to being the rule. One only needs to look at the history of CART and ChampCar to see that the street circuit model is riddled with failures – Vancouver, Denver, San Jose, Houston, the Meadowlands, Miami, etc., etc., etc. Unfortunately, what these events provide are many uninterested eyeballs that masquerade as race fans, spurring on other community leaders to undertake similarly doomed events in their city. In the end, these financial disasters inevitably fail and leave a stain on the reputation of the IZOD IndyCar Series. I understand that people think it is successful if 5% of the people in attendance at one of these events choose to follow the Series after seeing it live in person. Unfortunately, that’s not happening. Why? Because, by and large, these races produce very little excitement and give the fan no real indication of what an exciting IndyCar event can be. Sure, there are probably rare exceptions, though at present I can’t really scour my memory for any street race that I would call “exciting”.
During the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series campaign, the Series will visit street courses in Sao Paulo, St. Pete, Long Beach, and Toronto (some would classify the airport at Edmonton as a street course as well). As early as 2011, Boston and Baltimore may be added to that list. Yes, that is the same Boston (technically Foxboro, home of the NE Patriots and Gillette Stadium) that is in the same vicinity as New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a one-mile oval that asked, damn near BEGGED, the Indy Racing League to bring the IndyCar Series to town. Yes, that is the same Baltimore that is smack in the middle of ovals at Richmond, Dover, Nazareth, and Pocono. If these cities get races on the 2011 IndyCar schedule, they will no doubt receive some funding from their cities at the expense of the tax payers. Other funds will be required from corporate sponsors. In the economy which the world currently finds itself, no government agency and very few corporations have the kind of spare money available to support these types of start-up events.
I have no doubt that if either Boston and Baltimore gets a spot on the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, we will certainly hear about big crowds – likely above 100,000 people for that BS “three-day total” that IndyCar fans used to scoff at Champ Car for publishing. What we won’t find on the front page are the stories that come out of Edmonton – the ones saying that the city has lost another $3-4 million dollars hosting this event. Once the novelty wears off, we won’t see the Indy Racing League put out a press release saying attendance is down 30% in the second year or that a major corporate sponsor has decided not to continue their support of the event. The event will likely just go away after three or four years, just like the event did in Denver, just like the event did in Detroit, just like the event at the Meadowlands. Oh, fear not though. These failed events are sure to be replaced by other failed events, likely in cities like Philadelphia or, God forbid, Nashville where the League can once again thumb its nose at an oval that is sitting nearby. Promoter and League officials will claim that taking the race and the Series to the people is a great way to increase exposure and attract new fans. Sure! Sounds great in principle but where are these new fans? Since 2005, have the TV ratings skyrocketed in St. Petersburg, Florida? How did things turn out for Detroit? Others will claim that it isn’t so much about the racing as it is about the atmosphere and the festival. Well, excuse me if I’m not excited about my IndyCar Series being a party favor!
As much as a don’t like the street circuits in the Series, I am big enough to admit that an all-oval League probably won’t cut it anymore. (If it could, it would have been successful in the early years of the split and the Indy Racing League would never have had to look at twisties in the first place, right?) I fully support the League using natural terrain road courses to enhance its image and add versatility to the Series. I’ll even go so far as to say I’d be slightly disappointed if all the road courses were taken away from the schedule. Even though courses like Watkins Glen and Infineon don’t provide the type of wheel-to-wheel action that we see at Kentucky or Chicago, they do provide some good racing. It’s a shame though that other great road courses like Road America and Laguna Seca are being left behind. The worst travesty is the street race in Sao Paulo that is being held only a handful of miles from the Interlagos track. I’m sure there is egotistical mandate that came from the FIA saying that IndyCar was not approved to use that circuit within x-weeks or month of Formula 1 being in town but if that’s the case, then that date should have been worked around. Unfortunately, it just seems like IndyCar’s relationship with Formula 1 parallels the relationship it has with NASCAR here in the States.
So there you go… there are my arguments why IndyCar needs to curb this trend of adding more street “races” to the upcoming schedules. The races are boring, the finances very rarely ever work in anyone’s favor, and the model has proven time and time again that taking the race to the people’s streets does not tend to result in them following next week on TV. I’ve heard Kevin Lee pose the question several times: “Would you rather watch an IndyCar race on a street course or not watch an IndyCar race at all?” To be quite honest with you, Kevin, I would generally watch no race at all. Judging by the declining attendance and TV ratings for these events, it seems I am not alone in this opinion.
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STEPH’S POINT:
Let me begin by putting my view into perspective.
2010 will be my 21st year of following American open-wheel racing. However, due to various other life limitations (being a poor teenager, a poor college student, a poor 20-something, etc.), this past season was the first that saw me leave the city of Toronto to attend a race.
In my world as I grew up, the event in Toronto was my lifeblood. Since I was the only person I knew with an interest in the sport (and we didn’t have the internet as a way to meet other fans back then), I watched racing almost exclusively on television. I yearned for race week in Toronto the way that people in the Midwest yearn for May – it was the only hands-on experience with Indy cars that I had, and it was only because the event was in the middle of the city and I could reach it by public transit that I was able to attend year after year.
And while Indy is always the crown jewel in any race fan’s eyes, claiming a street course as my home track gave me a very different outlook on things. Watching Little Al earn the moniker King of the Beach approached the same prestige as putting his face on the Borg-Warner in my young mind – he was incredibly dominant at a course that was rich in history but that I could also relate to, that required skill in a style of racing that I had witnessed with my own eyes and therefore better understood.
So, yeah – you might say that I have a few opinions on the value that street racing brings to the future of the IRL.
Now, before you start throwing rotten tomatoes: in no way am I advocating a schedule that is entirely built on road and street courses. In fact, I don’t even want a schedule that’s heavy on road and street courses. That road has been travelled, and it didn’t work.
But let’s be fair: an all-oval series has also been attempted, and it also didn’t work. And there are good reasons why that’s the case.
Based on the attendance numbers, the money that was flowing, and the memories that are so often rehashed time and again by those who lived it, there’s no question that the late 1980s through mid 1990s were the zenith of this branch of motor racing. And the reason it worked then is the same reason that the IRL is trending back to it now: the world already has a world-class racing series that runs exclusively on road and street circuits, and a top-level racing series already exists in the U.S. that’s heavily focused on oval racing. CART in the early ‘90s scared the socks off of Bernie Ecclestone and the Frances because the diversity in the schedule perfectly filled a gap in the middle of those two extremes: to be a champion in CART, you had to be the best at both styles of racing, and the lure of that challenge attracted the best drivers in the world to our shores.
And so, as the IZOD IndyCar Series comes back around to this type of schedule – if it’s done right – we should be witness to the best talent pool available on tracks that have sufficient variety and quality of racing to make everyone feel they’re getting a fair balance of their favorite form of the sport.
But even with that established, it still leaves the question open of why it’s necessary to hold races in concrete caverns when there are so many great road courses on this continent that aren’t on the schedule.
The answer is simple. Ovals and road courses are fantastic venues that offer their own unique race-weekend experiences. But for those events, you have to convince people to come to the racing. That can be a challenge, particularly in markets where the interest in open-wheel racing is low to non-existent.
At a street course, though, you take the racing to the people. And that’s where the key difference lies; that’s a benefit that only a street course can provide.
Dropping a weekend of racing in the middle of a bustling metropolis has a massive impact. It generates media coverage by default, alters traffic and public transit patterns, and puts the sights, sounds and smells of the event within an arm’s reach of tens of thousands of people – it becomes nigh on impossible to ignore.
And the market that a street race can reach is very different from any other circuit type on offer. The people who live in cities today are young, hip, and cosmopolitan. This is a group of potential fans that this sport is hungry for, and it also happens to be the exact group that the Series will be looking to draw in with the marketing around IZOD’s title sponsorship. Eventually, if these people can be hooked, they might be willing to travel to the middle of nowhere to attend races. But it’s very unlikely that we’ll get them to do that without putting the product right in front of their noses first.
On top of that, no other venue offers the general entertainment value to a fan that a street race does. Within ten minutes of the track in Toronto, you’ll find restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, shopping, live theatre, a baseball stadium, and the CN Tower – and that list is just a start. Attending a race in the middle of a city turns the entire weekend into an event – a destination, even. Here, a fan can be fully entertained from the moment the gates open on Friday morning until well into the wee hours of Sunday night without ever stepping foot into a passenger car. Heck, we can even get you to and from either airport with public transit if you decide to visit from out of town. From the attending fan’s perspective, no other type of race event is easier.
And a street race has a unique and beautiful effect on its devout: the personal connection with the course itself. Once a street circuit stays at a consistent venue for a few years, it becomes interweaved into the consciousness of the populace. I defy you to find a single race fan in the city of Toronto who hasn’t plowed the pedal into the floor on Lakeshore Boulevard on a sunny summer day. The course itself becomes a part of the fabric of the city, and passing over it at any other time of year evokes memories of race weekends and creates a strong relationship with the racing in a way that can’t be found anywhere else.
However, it would be unfairly biased to ignore the fact that not every street race has been a barn-burner over the years. There are some key factors that are consistent among the most successful events that should be considered when deciding which ones belong on the schedule:
- The circuit must be well-designed. This almost goes without saying. Nobody wants to watch a parade, and many street circuits have come and gone over the years that otherwise seemed viable simply because the racing stunk. The ones that have been consistently successful have several solid passing zones, each with plenty of space for run-off areas to give the drivers a comfort zone. There also needs to be room for flexibility in allowing the track to evolve as may become necessary due to changes in technology or the layout of the host city itself.
- There must be a large potential market to be reached. The Grand Prix of Long Beach serves the Greater Los Angeles area and its population of over 17.5 million; the race at Exhibition Place is within easy access of the Greater Toronto Area’s six million people; the potential new race in Baltimore would put an event within ground transit travel distance of the entire Eastern Seaboard and over 60 million potential fans. There have been exceptions, but as a general rule, starting with a large base population offers a greater chance of finding enough interested people to walk through the gates and keep the event viable.
- A promoter must be in place that knows how to make contact with this unique market. This really can’t be emphasized enough. Convincing urbanites to attend a street race in their own backyard is a completely different proposition from getting people to drive to a track in the middle of nowhere. It requires sideshow events that aren’t as necessary in other markets and a focused knowledge of the advertising methods that work best in the city in question. (A note to the promoters in Toronto: next year, some ads in the subway and a billboard on the Gardiner would be nice.)
Once all of these criteria are met, well-planned street races can be among the greatest assets the IZOD IndyCar Series has, and keeping them as part of a well-balanced schedule is essential if the IRL is to return American open-wheel racing to its former glory.
Nice new segment, by the way.
I grew up in Paul’s category – Midwestern and used to ovals.
However, as the IndyCar Series has added street and road circuits, I’ve come to appreciate them as a nice change of pace to the schedule and a true test of a driver’s ability.
With that in mind, I’d like to see the series explore adding Road America (in place of Milwaukee) and a street circuit in Baltimore (I’ll trust Al Jr. to design a strong circuit).
To placate the oval-racing community, add New Hampshire – it’s unconscionable that the IndyCar Series would not add an oval in a strong market that was begging to host a race.
I think open-wheel fans, regardless of where they came down in The Split, just want a strong schedule, with a mix of big ovals, small ovals and strong road and street circuits. Adding those three tracks would go a long way towards estabilishing that.
BP said it well; “I think open-wheel fans, regardless of where they came down in The Split, just want a strong schedule, with a mix of big ovals, small ovals and strong road and street circuits. Adding those three tracks would go a long way towards estabilishing that.”
As a fan of open wheel I look to the IICS for the diversity of it’s circuts. All oval super speedways, all street or all road courses doesn’t have the appeal to me as a mix of all. If the series gets saturated in any one of these areas it seems like it would only weekin it’s overall apeal and leave it suseptable to the poor promotion or jealous owners in either NASCAR or F1 and the tracks and circuts they control.
What I would really like to see happen before these tracks in Baltiomore and Foxboro get a date is for New Hampshire, Clevland, Road America, Monterey, and Portland get dates back as they are venues not owned by F1 or NASCAR and may have more of an incentive to make the event work and they were all part of the good times in the 90’s. If they get a date and in a few years they didn’t work out in the new IICS so be it but these races and their fans didn’t cause the breakup of OW, they just paid the price for the years of degridation. Aren’t NH and Cleveland asking for a race already?
Brazil has a strong tie to the IICS so I feel that a race should be held there and an effort should be made by the IICS to make it work longterm.
Lastly, the road and streets may not provide side by side racing but they do allow for car development as safe speed can still be engineered at these events unlike the large ovals which are really only side by side because the HP is way down and the cars are designed not to achive a certain speed. The twistes allow for new records in lap times that ovals don’t.
As a long time open wheel fan-since 1993 to be exact, I have spent much time watching the sport and the “fans” of the sport engage in similar debates, and my feelings remain exactly the same. I concur FAR more with Stephanie’s view than Paul’s.
The reasons why I disagree-though not entirely vehemently-with Paul is that most of the points he attempts to make are based on emotion, without any real facts to support his arguments. For example, he claims that “the street circuit model is a failure” and brings up Vancouver, Denver, San Jose and Houston in an effort to prove his point. However, what Paul fails to say-either because he doesn’t know or was too lazy to do any research before writing his thesis-are the reasons why: They include:
The area where the Vancouver track was laid out is in the same area where the upcoming Winter Olympics are being held.
Denver lost it’s sponsor-Centrix Financial.
San Jose was a poor layout running over rail tracks.
Houston only went under because of ChampCar’s folding. In fact, Mike Lanigan-co-owner of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, and the promoter of the race;(he also promotes the Cleveland race by the way, which almost got onto the schedule for this season, but a primary sponsor couldn’t be found or it likely would have been.) wants the race back and, who knows, it very well might be as Houston is a huge market-the 4th largest television market in the U.S.
My philosophy towards certain things is this:if one of your arguments is weak, your entire argument is weak.
Hence, Paul’s statements don’t hold water.
Even though I was a CART/ChampCar fan-I never watched the IRL and always felt to the end that it was an inferior series to the former-I am happy that there is now one series. I am a fan of RACING-virtually all types of racing-not a fan of a series or driver/drivers. One of the things that appealed to me about CART was the diversity of tracks, and to me, that is what the current IndyCar series is trying to replicate. I believe that IndyCar realizes that is what has worked in the past and is trying to replicate that as much as possible.
Unfortunately, there are people-on both sides of what was the open-wheel war-who are unwilling to accept what the series is now and instead want to whine and complain about not getting what THEY want-what’s best for the series be damned-and demanding that the series acquiesce to their demands. It seems on some level that Paul is one of those people-although not as extreme as others. Yet another reason why the statements he has written, which have some though not a complete basis in reality or facts, fails to pass the analysis of a logical, clear-thinking individual.
Memo to Paul-before you write something like this again, get the facts.
As an even longer fan of open wheel racing than Edward, I started following F1 in 1961 and waited eagerly and anxiously for open wheel and sports car racing on ABC’s Wide World of Sport which was the only place you could find racing on television in those days. The transition from front-engined roadsters to rear engine cars to road courses seemed to me to be a natural progression. I grew up in the Upper Midwest (Northern MI) and grew to love both ovals and road courses. The mix of courses that CART ran on was to me a better test of driver skill than some one driving on ovals all the time or on road courses all the time. To be successful at both you had to be versatile and adaptable.
I like road/street courses because they showcase a drivers skill in car control and I like ovals because of the different team strategies that play out over the course of the race. There is room, nay, there is a necessity for both. All ovals or all road street course have been shown not to work. I’m not a fan of city subsidized events such as Gillette Stadium or Baltimore, but I also realize that in the case of New Hampshire there was lousy attendance the last time the IRL raced there. Unless there is heck of lot better promotion than there was in the past, the event (NH) will be a money loser for the promoter.
If the IICS can keep the ratio of ovals and road/street venues approximately equal I will have no problem with that. But if it gets too lopsided one way or the other, I think a lot of fans will tune out.
But the best way to put fans in the seats is to provide a racing product that is interesting and enjoyable to watch and attend.
I think that 50/50 is the best way. The biggest thing about street courses is when I first started watching Indycar in 07, they were an interesting differance from NASCAR. So we need a few. But, no more than 5, EVER. Road wise, the 3 best tracks, Road America, Road Atlanta, and Sebring MUST BE IN THE SERIES. Secondly, Cleveland MUST BE IN THE SERIES. Then, take out Infenion, Mid Ohio, and Barber, there are little to no passes at those places. Then, add back Phoniex, MIS, Loudon, and Charlotte, and you’ll have the best 22 tracks in the country.
The idea that open-wheel racing in the early ’90s is a valid one. However, looking at the 1995 CART schedule (the last one before the split) there are 17 races, only 6 of which were on ovals. That kind of split today would be awful.
One thing that’s also not being considered is what was the IRL’s greatest stretch? I personally believe that stretch to be the early ’00s, let’s say 2001-2003 or 2004 to distill it down to a few years. Those are the years when the top teams abandoned CART and its death was assured. And in those days, the schedule was still 100% oval. Now that CART is dead, some road/street courses should be added, but the IRL “won the war” and started gaining momentum without road courses, and I think one way to turn this ship around is to go back to more ovals.
The IRL should limit street/road courses to a select few: Long Beach, Laguna Seca, The Glen, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Road America and maybe one other. Not Barber. Everyone also keeps saying that Barber is gonna be a great addition. Really? Weren’t all the reviews after the test session last year along the lines of “great track, great fans, but gee… would we be able to pass if we ran a race here?” Has everyone forgotten that but me? Also not Brazil. People turned on CART when they went international at the expense of American tracks (mostly ovals, admittedly). A keystone of professional sports is that there’s nothing like being there, and American fans can’t be there is the event is in Brazil!
The IRL should keep all their oval venues (I dislike Motegi, again because of the international thing. If the IRL wants to build their fanbase, why have a race on the other side of the world at 2:00 in the morning? But it probably keeps Honda happy…). I would add Michigan, New Hampshire, Phoenix immediately. If the SMI offer to get NHMS includes a finale at Vegas, do it. Why wouldn’t you want to, frankly? Also re-add Richmond, it was a great show most years, something remarkably different and a reason for NASCAR fans to watch. I know its a dirty word to many people, but the majority of motorsports fans right now are watching NASCAR, and the IRL needs to attract them. They are easier to attract than the dreaded “casual fan”.
The IRL also needs to re-introduce competition in the engine and chassis departments. If you need to add the Toyota-owned Fuji circuit to compete with Honda’s race at Motegi, so be it. Nothing kills a series like lack of competition, and right now there is no reason for Honda or Dallara to push the technology and the racing on-track when they have a monopoly.
This makes a longer schedule than what the IRL has now, which is also desirable. When the big 4 sports start up, they don’t take a weekend off until they’re over unless there’s a blank spot in the playoff schedule. IRL has routinely abandoned the month of May to barely-watched time trials at Indy. NASCAR’s biggest period of growth occurred in the late ’90s when they were expanding their schedule and also pushing the Busch Series. One or the other was on and in people’s faces every single week. The IRL needs to be as close to this as possible.
Sorry to ramble, but a few years ago I began watching the IRL more and more as they were legitimately the best racing around. Not so much anymore.
Wow, thanks to everyone for the very passionate and well thought-out responses. Steph and I really appreciate you taking the time to read and formulate such thoughtful posts.
Let me just say one thing in response to Edward’s post. Edward, I think, if anything, you just solidified my position about street courses and their long-term viability.
Concerning Vancouver – well, the event is nice but something better has come along so the race has to go.
Concerning Denver – obviously the race itself couldn’t stand on its own merits so it was totally dependent on a major corporate sponsor to pay the bills and keep it alive. Sponsor goes away – race goes away, simple as that.
Concerning San Jose – it was a terrible track that led to no real racing and was mearly a battle of survival. What happened in the second year? A major decrease in attendance, promoter fudged the attendance figures and the city was on the hook for a $4 million tab. Bye-Bye San Jose, hello Laguna Seca (that was the plan anyway).
Yes, Houston was on the calendar when Champ Car finally folded but I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that it was not the same Grand Prix of Houston that took place in the last ’90s. There was a four-year gap between events in Houston and the “second” set of Houston races took place on a totally separate layout from the first go-round.
All of these factors reinforce just how flimsy the street circuit model really is in terms of long-term viability. You leave yourself at the whim of other civic events, lack of sponsorship, lack of government funding, lack of racing (which leads to lack of attendance), or other factors that are generally far beyond the control of the race sanctioning body. Creating more of these events and making them a larger part of the schedule is just building a house of cards – something the IndyCar Series does NOT need to do at this time.
Vancouver only stopped running a race to prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics. It didn’t fail the residents and city choose to put their money into acquiring and running the 2010 olympics.
A good street race needs at minimum the following things:
1 A good track layout with passing zones and adequate run-off areas.
2 Good financials from multiple sources.
3 A promoter who understands his local marketplace.
4 PROMOTION, PROMOTION, PROMOTION !!! And the promotion for next year’s race start the day after this year’s race.
5 An last but not least a good racing product and good supporting events.
While personally I don’t mind road courses I can’t stand street courses (ALL street courses even Long Beach)! But the fact is IZOD is launching a ad campaign based on the speed of the cars and how the IZOD IndyCar Series is the fastest form of closed circuit racing in the world. The problem with this however is that statement is only true on ovals! An IndyCar will never be able to complete in speed on a road / street circuit with an F1 car.
I enjoy watching the BEST! I watch the IRL (that is both the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone IndyLights) because they are the best oval drivers in the world. I watch F1 because they are the best road coarse drivers in the world and, I watch NAPCAR because it is the best cure for insomnia on a Sunday afternoon!
-Brett M. Waldrep-
Let me remind you that the Monaco street circuit’s passing zones are pathetic, yet it’s Formula 1’s major race. Things other than overtaking can attract large crowds too.
Since New Hampshire should be in the calendar (one short oval is nothing!), the perfect Northeastern street circuit would be Baltimore. Road America and Laguna Seca don’t need any explanation, they must make it. And I would love a 400-mile superspeedway race too – if Fontana or Michigan lose one of their Nascar Cup races, the IRL should try to get it.
What the IZOD Indycar Series should be offering fans is the most competitive, wide open racing in the world. There is an opportunity in the racing market if they can create that, too. F1 racing is amazing for its technology and incredible driver skill. Its also boring as hell becuase every race is won in qualifications. Has there been an on-track pass for the lead since Ayerton Senna died? Maybe, but I don’t remember it. NASCAR is boring because its been contrived into just a glorified smash-up derby with loads of big, heavy, slow cars bunched up on the racetrack. If the field starts to spread out so that some actual passing can occur, voila! here comes a yellow (real or manufactured) to bunch the field up again. I like a good crash as much as the next guy, but there’s got to be more than that.
Obviously to take advantage of the opportunity the IZOD Indycar series needs to eliminate the parades that they have been putting on. I consider myself to be a pretty serious fan, but I usually record the races on my DVR so I can fast forward not only the commercials but also the 3/4 of the race that nothing happens because everyone is saving fuel. Obviously the spec car format is a serious problem, but it appears that they are working on that so I won’t flog that horse here. I think that for now they need to go to the venues that provide opportunities for the best on-track competition. Variety will also help – giving viewers something different to look at each week would do a lot to keep them coming back.
I also propose a 50/50 split of ovals and non-ovals. But they can’t race on 10 1.5 mile “D shaped” NASCAR tracks plus Indy. For ovals, give me Indy, a couple other superspeedways (Michigan, Fontina), some “D shaped” ovals (Chicago, Kentucky, and Texas, and Homestead), and some shorter ovals (New Hampshire, Milwaukee, Phoenix). If you have to go to Motegi for the sake of Honda, then so be it. For road courses, give us the traditional greats (Road America, Watkins Glen, Sebring, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta, etc.). Then spinkle in a few street courses (with massive attention on good circuit design) in metropolitan areas that the series wants to target (Long Beach, Cleveland, Baltimore?, Houston?). If you need to go to Brazil, then I’m fine with that, too. You end up with a 22-24 race schedule with circuit variety, geographical variety, tradition, and strong competition. The champion will easily be able to say that he/she is the best all-around driver in the world.
The key is to never go to a place where the racing itself is going to suck. Davey Hamilton famously said that an IICS car couldn’t pass an FIL car at Barber. Why are they going there? Drop it for a track that is going to offer competitive racing.
The majority of fans are going to watch races on TV before they are going to show up for a live race. So to draw the tv audience you need a tv-friendly product and that means PASSING. On camera passing! At that front of the field! Fans are bored watching the COT go round and round with nothing really happening except the occasional crash. Fans don’t want to see more F1 parades. (Yes Monte Carlo is still a draw but that’s because it is the 2nd most famous race in the world and is all about glamour and money. People aren’t tuning in like that for Bahrain or Abu Dhabi.)
There is a huge opportunity for any series that delivers great racing on a week-in and week-out basis. Right now no major series is delivering that. The IICS needs to be the one.