Well said.......
 

Saw this on facebook. Thought it was a pretty good summary and well worth sharing.

http://sopwithmotorsports.com/blog/i...riced-out.html

Re: Well said.......
 

I totally agree, it's the case with top level series indycar especially. Have money and subpar talent you're in, you could be broke but be the best thing since aj foyt etc and you're screwed.

Re: Well said.......
 

What a sad but true picture of Indycar.

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by Mud Packer:
What a sad but true picture of Indycar.

My Question?

Did USAC sign a no compete contract with either Indy Group?
It is painfully obvious that Indy is on a self destruction path with it's high tec race cars and support. If you have to support your business on the back of the workers vis-a-vis the Drivers it is time to go out of business. No one can devise a formula that would be less expensive for the racer? Give me a break!!!! Work on the Champ car Platform. Indy is not the only race track that could benefit from a big 500 mile race in the spring.

If they aren't doing their job fire them and come up with something better.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

I would love to see a roadster series based on todays engineering and safety innovations.Maybe extend the wheel base on some SC cars

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MC

The way I see it is them people that follow Indy Car racing are not going to go to a Roadster race, and you know, I wouldn't miss them, I wouldn't go to a street race either. But the people like me would probably love to go to a big Roadster Race, and might follow a short circuit of races around the country where the best open wheel driver in the USA are again trying to get the ride of a lifetime in a big 500 mile race. The guys up in Indy sure don't need our support anymore, they don't need our drivers. Why patronize them?

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by badcoupe:
I totally agree, it's the case with top level series indycar especially. Have money and subpar talent you're in, you could be broke but be the best thing since aj foyt etc and you're screwed.

Bad

No if you are as good as Tony you can make your money in stock cars and then buy your way in the back door. I would love to see Kurt's contract.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

It's not the cost. It's the lack of interest from the fans. Racing is expensive someone has to pay. The cost is part of the game, if there is interested fans that flock to the track everything else becomes small. This kid is just another thumb sucking son-of-a-hero that blames everyone for his lack of success.

Rich Mersereau

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by RxIxCxH:
It's not the cost. It's the lack of interest from the fans. Racing is expensive someone has to pay. The cost is part of the game, if there is interested fans that flock to the track everything else becomes small. This kid is just another thumb sucking son-of-a-hero that blames everyone for his lack of success.

Rich Mersereau

Rich

How can you get excited about watching an over priced go kart race where the only thing you can see of the driver is a bump where his head is suppose to be and you can't even see that unless the car is setting still on the race track.

I get just as much fun out of watching a real close RC car race (no disrespect to you RC guys out there) as an Indy race.

Back in his younger wild days old "Smoke" was known for showing up late to qualify for USAC midget races because he was racing an RC show somewhere across town.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

Dad,

Real racers like Smoke would attract open wheel fans. Hard to cheer for drivers that can only kiss butt and write checks.

With the recent "adjustment" to NASCAR wages there is hope for Indy Car racing. But, owners need to be able to PAY drivers or this disease in professional racing will not stop. It would only take a few real drivers to bring Indy back into the mainstream. If Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Rico, JoJo, and Robert Ballou were paid millions to race full time fans would buy tickets and the problem could start to be solved. Can you imagine The Mad Man giving an interview on national TV? Sign me up :44:

Rich

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by RxIxCxH:
Can you imagine The Mad Man giving an interview on national TV? Sign me up :44:

That just might be as good as Jack Hewitt at IRP telling the crowd why he had shaved his moustache :5:

Re: Well said.......
 

Rich

The Mad Man would do just fine on national tv in an interview. I would think it would be a lot easier to make a public speaker out of a driver as opposed to making a driver out of a public speaker.

Back when "Smoke" was coming up there was a guy named Chris Economaki. Chris held free public speaking classes up in Indy at the IMS Hotel right next to the Big Track for "any young driver" that wanted help in conducting interviews with the press. I wouldn't be surprised if "Smoke" wasn't one of his students.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by Mud Packer:
What a sad but true picture of Indycar.

Conor needs to win at Kokomo, Haubstadt, Terre Haute, Eldora, and Perris in the same year. Next move to North Carolina and become acquainted with those who have won previously at those same tracks. Start a new and proven racing career path that rewards racers. He would reach the top level in three years or less.

Re: Well said.......
 

Dad,

Oh how i miss reading Chis Economaki's column. I love Chris's book, Let 'Em All Go! and the part where he goes to Indy in 1938 and the things he discovered for one thin dime :6:

Rich

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by RxIxCxH:
Dad,

Oh how i miss reading Chis Economaki's column. I love Chris's book, Let 'Em All Go! and the part where he goes to Indy in 1938 and the things he discovered for one thin dime :6:

Rich

Rich

In today's money that would be a "Buck Seventy Five". I miss 12C White Castle's.

What I really miss is a big race for real open wheel drivers to aspire to. I guess they figure the average attention span for a red neck open wheel fan is about 50 Laps on a 1/2 mile track. What would be wrong with 500 miles on a 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 mile race track. I think NASCAR has proven they can make an engine run that long with fenders on their cars. How about the same engine in a Roadster. Kentucky Motor speedway would be a good place to start. It would be close to a lot of open wheel race fans, and could probably use a few more days of race action.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by DAD:
Rich

In today's money that would be a "Buck Seventy Five". I miss 12C White Castle's.

What I really miss is a big race for real open wheel drivers to aspire to. I guess they figure the average attention span for a red neck open wheel fan is about 50 Laps on a 1/2 mile track. What would be wrong with 500 miles on a 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 mile race track. I think NASCAR has proven they can make an engine run that long with fenders on their cars. How about the same engine in a Roadster. Kentucky Motor speedway would be a good place to start. It would be close to a lot of open wheel race fans, and could probably use a few more days of race action.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Dad,

I hate to disagree with you but Kentucky Speedway would be the last place I would go to watch a race. The first thing that they did when Jerry Carroll built it was hire Darrell Waltrip to be the company schill. That doofuss certainly didn't help the cause in my opinion. They also installed their smug and better than thou attitude which also turned people off with their Bluegrass Club members treating regular customers like dirt.

I bought tickets for the initial race, the NASCAR Truck Series. I was less than a mile of the speedway 3 hours before race time and they couldn't get anymore cars in due to a totally screwed up parking problem that they had. I sat on the Interstate that whole time not moving and at the start of the race, listened to the radio broadcast that said their wasn't an empty seat in the house. In looking at the grandstand, I bet they didn't have more than 60% filled. I can guarantee you that the 25 mile backup on I-71 had a lot of race fans fuming.

The governor of Kentucky finally flew over in his helicopter and told the state police to shut down the exit (like it was moving anyway:14:) and send everyone on their way. A great way to open a new speedway. Ole DW was still schilling days afterwards about what a great experience it was.

Jerry Carroll finally gave up on his dream of getting a NASCAR Cup Series race and sold it to Bruton Smith. Bruton was able to buy his way into moving a race from another race track he owned to Kentucky. Even with that, they still had problems getting fans in and out two years ago.

They also dumped Indycar racing as apparently it didn't meet their business model. So tell me again, why open wheel fans should embrace the impossible. We all know that race isn't going to happen. Bruton Smith certainly isn't in your corner on this one. Honest as you may be, IT AIN'T GUNNA HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Mud

Aren't we talking about the impossible here!!

I went to the first truck race ever held there also. Only took about 2 hours to get in. We left L'ville at 9 AM. However they had run out of parking lots so they parked us in a cow pasture.>> Well the rains came, we stayed around for a couple of hours and decided it was going to be a non event. We left,> problem they didn't have parking lot lights nor did the cow pastures have names or locations marked on them, just tree rows. After walking around in 2 feet of mud from pasture to pasture with a 75 year old friend we finally found our van after about 3 hours of wondering. We got out to the interstate> the south entrance was closed so we had to drive to Cincy and turn around to go back south to L'ville. As we drove by the track on the interstate they had just re started the race. I swore that would be my last trip.

I was kinda of hoping that things had changed under new management. I did go to a midget race there once to help AJ after that time, but except for that instance with Midgets they have not run any races that I would pay to watch.

I think Indy left because they could not get enough fans to support a race, which seems to be getting more and more prevalent with that series. Burton likes crowds and the money that goes with them.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

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I would go back KMS and pay to watch roadsters race, but then I am an Old Fart stuck in the past. I remember being a young progressive thinking how great them rear engine race cars where going to be, boy did I get snookered.

One of the prettiest race cars that I can remember was the last roadsters that old "Herk" had built for his last hurrah against them darned rear engine machines. It didn't make any difference if it was powered by that big old Turbo Offy or a Cooler full of Millers, it was cool.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Re: Well said.......
 

Originally Posted by DAD:
Mud

Aren't we talking about the impossible here!!

I went to the first truck race ever held there also. Only took about 2 hours to get in. We left L'ville at 9 AM. However they had run out of parking lots so they parked us in a cow pasture.>> Well the rains came, we stayed around for a couple of hours and decided it was going to be a non event. We left,> problem they didn't have parking lot lights nor did the cow pastures have names or locations marked on them, just tree rows. After walking around in 2 feet of mud from pasture to pasture with a 75 year old friend we finally found our van after about 3 hours of wondering. We got out to the interstate> the south entrance was closed so we had to drive to Cincy and turn around to go back south to L'ville. As we drove by the track on the interstate they had just re started the race. I swore that would be my last trip.

I was kinda of hoping that things had changed under new management. I did go to a midget race there once to help AJ after that time, but except for that instance with Midgets they have not run any races that I would pay to watch.

I think Indy left because they could not get enough fans to support a race, which seems to be getting more and more prevalent with that series. Burton likes crowds and the money that goes with them.

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

Well at least you got in. After the race started, the rains came. We were on our way home then and with traffic and all it was about a 4 hour trip home. We got home in time to see the last 10 laps on TV. That was enough for me.

Re: Well said.......
 

Mud

Yeh!!!! You got home before us. We had mud up to our knees, my poor old friend had both of his shoes pulled off by the mud. Getting in might not have been the best thing to happen to me that day.

I think that was one of the biggest earth moving projects in Kentucky history, too bad they didn't move about another trillion yards and put in parking.

But hey we worry too much >>>>>as soon as mass transit gets a spur into up there all we will have to do is hop a train and be deposited right at the race track. Boy I like progressive thinking!!!!;);)

BUT>>Probably before they do that they will first ban all forms of racing events and it won't matter.:5:

Honest Dad himself:6::6:

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I would have loved to have seen the roadsters, but if sprintcars do not sell out 2000 seat tracks. How are they going to fill a super speedway? I was at some sprintcar races last year that were big money losers for promoters. I would love to see our guys run Indy, but truly there are nights when more people are following live updates than attending races.

Re: Well said.......
 

Brent

We aren't business people or promoters, we said it was an impossible dream.

Come to think of it that was one of my favorite songs.

Myfirst trip to Indy was the day that old "Herk" went 149.096 mph in that beautiful Pink Travelon # 56 Watson Roadster.

We sat on the tower side of the track that year and I can still visualize their helmets, shoulders, and arms out in the open battling the wind the race track and those big old fast race cars. Power Steering I don't think so.:9:



Honest Dad himself:6::6: