I was unimpressed they would even run a lousy deal like that not to mention the fact you kick off an American based series in brazil. The race was a sell out but almost no one in AMERICA watched and I doubt very many Americans made the trip to watch in person, you know AMERICA where your fan base is supposed to be...... 50% road courses means 50% of the races will feature little or no passing, woo hoo, can't wait... The new car will only make it worse since the plan is a 4 cylinder turbo with a high tech all new design, can you say overpriced? Can you say even less competition? NASCAR may suck but they still out draw the IRL in attendence, fans, ratings, money etc by a VERY large degree. As far as the Indy 500 being a shear joy the last few years, then you must like a bunch of no name, non americans running up front while the people we root for everyday like BC and Dave Steele and so on can't even get a chance, hell, can't even get a pit pass...... You're right tho, it takes a driver to run a road course BUT it takes a RACER to run a sprint car, give me a racer over a driver ANY day of the week. VS will NEVER come close to what ESPN is, sorry but that's a fact and even if it does come close it'll be several years from now, when your main draw is NHL and the IRL you really don't have much hope for growth... And the payday for the IRL is no where near 6 figures for last place except at Indy, and an engine lease is closer to 2 million for this year and Honda has never been fair on who gets a good engine and who gets a bad one, look at Indy where you have several levels of engine lease for just one race... Sorry guy but the fans have spoken, ratings suck, attendence sucks other than the street "events" and we all know those numbers are bogus. The IRL is on life support and it's not long before the plug is pulled........

I didn't even know they were racing, after I read this I found a highlight video. What was with that cloud on the start? The track was dry and dusty, Then the course looked wet, was that from rain or did they "work" the track after the start. Parecía una gran cantidad de público.

i thought it was farily entertaining......saw some new faces running up front, and they have dramatically downscaled their all danica all the time broadcast............

I would have to say for a street race it was pretty good. The competition was closer than usual. There were 3 cars right there at the end going at it for the win. An American driver finished second. Vitor Meira (in A.J. Foyts car) finished third. Even though a Penske car won, it had a different feel than the usual Ganassi/Penske sweep of the podium... The track had many areas to pass and it showed. Cant wait for Indy!

I thought this argument about "old school" was worn out by now...I guess not.

Did you see the WDW race in '96 and then take a 14 year nap or what? You are just now figuring out that it is different now than from back then?

How many of those guys that you mentioned would have had ANY chance of being in an IndyCar at all had it not been for TG and the IRL?

Sure it's different now. Stuff happens. In a perfect world Darland, Levi, and Hines would be in the 500. But it's a different world now and moaning and groaning about it will not bring back the old days. Accept it and enjoy it for what it is or move on.

I guess I must be only a small percentage of the fans that are able to enjoy USAC midget, sprint and Silver Crown racing AND IndyCar too.

FYI, There are more oval races (8) on the 2010 IndyCar schedule then back in 96 (5?). Those 8 races make up 47% of the schedule, not 20% as you want us to believe.

And I've been around as a fan since 1955, so I've seen a lot of them come and go. I've seen lots of changes. Everything evolves, like it or not. I happen to like the current IndyCar product. So kill me. If you don't like it, then maybe you should move on to something that makes you happier.

I agree with you, you either accept it for what it is or not. One thing for sure it won't be going back to the "good old days" as much as we wish it would.

REH

I agree with you also. I happen to like winged and non winged sprints, midgets, IRL and gasp...even a little NASCAR. Must be the 1955 born on date.

I was actually born in '51, but did not go to my first race untill 1955. But hey, what's three or four years? I guess that great minds think alike.

Also born in 51. By the late 50s my dad showed me how to listen to the 500 and score it myself from the radio broadcast. My dad and uncle became short track modified owners in the early 60s and I read the NSSN religously for all kinds of racing where ever they raced. My first love is open wheel dirt short track racing, followed closely by short track pavement racing, but I enjoy superspeedway racing both stock cars and Indy cars. I even enjoy road racing, drag racing and tractor pulls.
But by the early 90s, my interest in Indycars was almost gone. For mostly the same reasons others have suggested here and elsewhere. The IRL revitalized my interest in Indycars. And as much as I love the short tracks, some of the IRL races at TMS in the late 90s and early 00s were the BEST races of any kind I had ever seen anywhere. But around 2005 something changed or perhaps changes that were in process early came to be and I quit going to TMS for the IRL and quit watching them on TV. 18-20 cars on a superspeedway was either a joke or an insult. Last year I decided to go back to an IRL race at TMS mostly due to a large number of my internet friends coming in from out of state. I got tickets for me and my brother who is not as rabid a fan, but a lifelong fan just the same. We both agreed afterwards or actually during the race, that we would never attend another IRL race without some drastic changes. As suggested though, I can take it as it is or leave it. My choice is to leave it. I can see more great short track races than my budget allows and I can still take in the trucks, ARCA and Nationwide out at TMS when they don't conflict with a short track race. That's good enough for me, although I miss those great IRL races of a few years back.

Forget it its over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *** its be over since rear engine cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!