[JarrettFarms73]

Devils advocate: what if the diminishing oval crowds from yesteryear is in PART to do with an also diminishing chance you’ll get to see any indycar driver during the year competing at a state fair or similar event? Now that the household names are pretty much gone, there’s nothing to sustain the familiarity.

IMO, the problem with the network TV brands of racing is that they’re asking me to be a fan of a specialized driver in a specialized series w/ budgets the average race fan can’t fathom, let alone the casual viewer.

The average baseball dad and soccer mom knows more about the NFL right now than they do of all the racing series combined. That tells me it might be a bigger problem than just ovals or road courses.

[BrentTFunk]

Originally Posted by Brickyard Has more to do with a crowd of 5,000, a cat, couple of dogs, a few roosters, and 10 rats showing up than not wanting to do them. This was one of the very complaints made during the first split in regards to promotion, audience, etc. Miles has repeatedly said it does nothing to grow the sport, and I agree with the him and guy knows what he is doing, to show up and present to a national audience, especially with this new TV contract, when you have 5 freaking people in the stands. That second split killed any momentum gained, even the 500 took a big hit. Took these guys out of the spotlight. Yea, you got to see some local heroes run the 500, but at a huge cost. As much respect as I have for drivers like Kinser, they were never going to garner the attention of someone like an Alonso.

I agree with you that the crowds have been bad, but a lot of that came from little promotion, and a lot of negative press, some of which was very much intentional. I also agree with you that Alonso at Indy was huge. The formation of the IRL had more than ovals at its base. When Al Unser was unable to run the 500 because there were no engines available, even Bobby Rahal said in his book, it meant things needed to change.

CART was very good at sponsorships and corporate involvement, But when the economy tanked after 9/11 the series couldn't survive on its product. I also agree that when Boat, Hewitt, Kinser, Tyler, and other short trackers ran the Indy crowds were terrible. Many people on this board say that's what they wanted, but never went to a race.

Another thing that hurt CART is there was no stability with their leadership. It seemed to change yearly, and that doesn't help foster long turn business relationships.

[jdull99]

Originally Posted by BrentTFunk Whether we admit it or not the split happened when CART split from USAC. It just continued with the formation of the Indy Racing League. A lot of the reason why Indy Cars are not on many ovals, is the 2 groups that control almost all of them are not interested. If Penske still owned California and Michigan, I would bet they would still run there.

Thank-you! THAT was my go-to line for YEARS when all this stuff happened / people still kinda cared about racing (like the late 90s/early 00s) enough to argue about it...the original IRL was over for me when robby Buhl spun between the 2 penske cars on like lap 156 of the 2001 Indy 500...I've NEVER ben back for the 500...lol...(almost did this year!)

[davidm]

If CART was so good and the racing so great, how did a rag tag bunch of oval racers start a new series and eat their lunch in a matter of a few years?

[Rhody]

Ragtag bunch of oval racer? By that do mean "Indianapolis Motor Speedway"? IRL was pretty much a Tony George power play, and it's all gone back to road racers on ovals again, so no one won that deal.

[mc/rider]

Indy cars on mile dirt tracks . Thats my wish

[brsteg]

Grass roots open wheel racers go to NASCAR if they want to be in big league auto racing.
Big League Open Wheel racers come from Europe. (Danica and Rossi, though American went Europe and came back)

That's how it is. And I think attendance issues have to due with no connection to the cars or the stars of the sport.

I feel like the IRL was missed chance to support young talent that came up in the back yard of America. But it wasn't supported.
The car choice however was quite unfortunate as the IRL car just didn't say Indy Car. It only kind of looked like one and didn't sound anything like one. That was part of the experiment that went bad.

[davidm]

Originally Posted by mc/rider Indy cars on mile dirt tracks . Thats my wish

Some might think real Indy Cars still race on mile dirt tracks. They just don't call them that any more.

[Rhody]

Originally Posted by mc/rider Indy cars on mile dirt tracks . Thats my wish

I agree with you there. And if they can set them up to get over the bumps at Belle Isle in Detroit, they can can set them up to handle a hard packed Springfield. Look at what dirt did for the NASCAR truck series, it got me to watch one of their races.

[wright59]

Yeh they’re going to set them up to run on dirt??? They’re running short on front wing supplies now. Be realistic and plenty of dirt racers have had a’chance’ Just didn’t get it done. If you want to be a indycar racer then y hav to take a diff path! FACT, it’s the different Mazda series. No more expensive then USAC! Another FACT!