Originally Posted by oppweld:
I attended every IRL race there from 2000 - 2004 and they blew the doors off any NASCRAP event in that era.
Indy Cars don't make as good of a billboard as NASCAR. Same as winged sprints. I remember being at a Williams Grove USAC race in 1996. A couple of people asked me how I knew which car was which, without the wing.
Originally Posted by Pancho Stapp:
I love my fellow Americans but the series has changed so much. Now you have to have the dinero to go along with the talent and that keeps some on the sidelines. I am glad to see some of you respond and chime in on your viewership. I love the ovals and always will. Sadly no one goes and it’s a damn shame. Talking about tense and white knuckle TMS is all that and then some. Blows the “Cup Cars” out of the water. While we are on the subject a tip of the hat to Jimmy Johnson, dude had brass balls. If anyone tuned in last year and watched he wasn’t scared. Kudos
A number of the Indycar drivers these days have more dinero than talent.
Originally Posted by openwheelfan1:
We tuned in for the IndyCar race from Texas today and thought it was an excellent, entertaining race. My wife did see something somewhere this morning that they were moving the start time up (sorry, not sure how much, I THINK 30 minutes) because of incoming weather. I don’t know what if any impact the weather had on the crowd, but it certainly looked sparse on TV.
I truly don’t know what the solution is for oval racing and IndyCar. I think there were more people that showed up for practice @ St. Petersburg FL than for the race in Texas. Hopefully the turnout at Iowa and Gateway is better.
Only missed the Covid year. Thought about coming down to 16th street and hanging out and listening and watching the jumbo-tron but i didn’t want to be tortured.
At its peak it was 200,000 but Texas is at around 100,000 or less seats now.
The WoO were in the same general area as Texas but as far as I know there was no cross promotion. You have to think at least older folks like both because of the open wheel connection. IndyCar is essentially just the skeleton of Cart and in most people’s opinion a minor league to both Nascar and F1.
The race was mostly great, but there should be a little bit of changes to the aero so the leaders don't break away after 20 or so consecutive green flag laps.
Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
I thought the racing was real good. Not a huge crowd by any count, but the place seats close to 200,000 I believe. Probably more there than it looked. Everyone says they want more ovals, but never go. IRL ran ovals at Kentucky, Chicagoland, Milwaukee and Nashville. All fairly close to the base of this board. I would bet very few on here who say they want more ovals bothered to attend.
Made two trips to Chicagoland, 3 trips to Kentucky(Where Sam Hornish emerged), 1 trip to Milwaukee, 3 trips to Richmond (where they should add to 2024), 3 trips to Michigan. ALL of these tracks had great racing, super access to the garage, pit, and drivers, fun areas to explore, and a core of 25K fans. Unfortunately, NASCAR was at its height and IndyCar coming off the second split could not change the narrative and gain traction. Due to streaming, dirt LM & sprint/midgets are on the cusp of major breakout of viewers and spectators which will further hinder fans attending IndyCar.
