It's pretty simple guys. IndyCars need to go back to publishing a set of rules and allowing ANYBODY to build a car that meets those rules. PERIOD. No contracts. No deals. Issue a set of specifications and allow innovation rebuild your fan base.

However, there is one issue that has not been touched upon, and it is significant. Qualifications used to create as much excitement and interest as the race. Punching out a really fast time that challenged the track record generated tons on publicity and built pole day crowds. How long has it been since there was a new track record to excite the masses? Many people who knew nothing of racing went to the track simply to watch a car go that fast. That came through innovation, but people started getting scared when speeds neared 240 mph so we slowed the cars down.

Indianapolis used to be an incredible publicity machine. It used to be a "must-see" event on people's bucket list of life. For thousands of college kids, it used to be part of the rites of spring -- they went for a party and a race broke out. Unfortunately, that party has been over since 9-11 and the speedway stopped allowing massive quantities of alcohol to be brought in.

God, I could go on and on, but the real question facing IndyCar racing is what do you do after you've slain the golden goose? A run-what-you-brung format will help, but that is not the only thing wrong. A $100 million from the state government for lights, new seating and other improvements will not provide the spark. The people running IndyCar have to realize that what made that circuit, and Indianapolis, was it's appeal to the common man who worked in factories, farms and your local stores. Having those people in the grandstands made it a good marketplace for the nation's corporations and brought their financial investments through sponsorships and other means.

The key to the Golden Goose is the common people, but they are pretty hard to see from the corporate board rooms.

It all went down hill the year they closed up the "snake pit."

How about the party on 16th street the night before,or the midgets racing across the street. It took a lot to entertain us back then and we found a way to do it all on our own.

Honest Dad himself

Jim, and NASCAR is just the opposite, that's why their at least 3 times bigger then Indycar. They appreciate the common man.

My first time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1966 on pole day I saw: Rear Engined cars, front engined cars, five USAC sprint car champions and two future champs, two USAC midget champions, two formula 1 champions and one future champ, one future NASCAR Cup champion, one IMCA Sprint car champion, one racer of dragsters, two sports car racers, a motorcycle racer, offys blown and unblown, fords, a Novi, a turbine in a roadster, a twin engined Porsche, a Chevy, AJ and Mario, Eagles, Lotuses, Lolas, Watsons, Gerharts, an Eisert, a Shrike, a Cecil, BRPs, Volstedts, a Brawner Hawk, a Brabham-Moore, a Halibrand, Coyotes and Huffakers, a track record broken twice in one day (George Snider and Mario), Four former Indy 500 winners, racers that would race on a Saturday night in a bull ring, open wheelers that would race stock cars and sports cars and most of the racers that would race more than 30 races a year.


This is just off the top of my head so I may have forgotten a few. I've never seen anything so diverse in my life and never quite would again. This is what made Indy car racing and the Indy 500 for me. If I could just see 10% of what I saw in 1966 I would probably be coming back.

You witnessed the end of the Golden Era of INDY. We did not see it coming.

Honest Dad himself

There's a fine line between appreciating the common man, and dumbing down your product. I'm definitely not the most sophisticated person you will ever meet. But every time I watch a NASCAR telecast, with DW's "Boogity, Boogity Boogity!" line, it sure seems like NASCAR thinks its target audience is 5th grade boys with ADD.

Have you ever been to Talladega to watch a NASCAR race? Ole DW's crowd enjoys all the "reckin, rubbin and resling" that they can get. And that is before they get out of their tent to go to the race.