[Dick Monahan]

Originally Posted by ThePurple73 What you say is true but, if no one see's it, the value is diminished substantially. USAC needs a video system that people can subscribe to for most the races's Live, individual races Live, replays of all races, then have DVD's of special events and a year book. Then have free after race videos for those that don't subscribe but are interested. Get sponsors that are in the USAC area and help improve revenue and share with tracks, promotions and drivers....

You're talking about an outfit that doesn't even have a program for its special events.

[chad1miller]

I'd like to start by saying I totally respect the effort that Usac Media puts into these races. Thanks for your hard work!

I try to make as many races as possible but with my work schedule, it is impossible to make them all.

What if I paid a fee to USAC or to the hosting track to watch the feed live? I would generously support USAC and the track by paying a nominal fee to watch the races live.

So what would be a nominal fee to pay to get the live feed?

Chad Miller

[darnall]

Originally Posted by racephoto1 Left rear coming apart would be no big deal. If the right rear would have taken a bite when he was shutting off the car it would have been a whole lot worse. Nothing like being drug around by a race car.

I beg to differ....have you seen how a blown tire tears the body to pieces in NASCAR? Winged cars frequently end up with destroyed wings when a tire comes apart at speed, even if they don't flip or hit the fence.....OK, thin sheet metal right, no biggie...one of my coworkers blew a tire in a ford 1ton van while running 65MPH....it tore the rear fender almost off that van..buckled the floorboard a ton, made a heckuva mess....tires exploding during inflation kill people, that's at 35-50 PSI.

Even the guys from the show J@ck@$s wouldn't be stupid enough to sign up for a beating like that...haha


Kudos to the guy who reached in and hit the kill switch...guys like you make guys like me feel better about strapping in and gassing one up.

I have read some of the comments above, and I wish to bring a few things to light...

USAC recently came out with a press release in which it detailed what the new media site will become. It will be a full service website that will encompass races from the "Thunder" days, as well as my archives from USAC events from 2005 to present (and hopefully fill in the holes as time goes on), and current racing events as well. It is not my business model, it is USAC's. I am simply one piece of the puzzle. But, it was developed mid-season (during the busy month of May 2012) in order to cover the current races so they did not go uncovered (like so many did last year). It hasn't even scratched the surface of what it will become.

Presently, very few tracks allow for live streaming because they fear people staying home instead of coming if they know that can watch it from their living room (Which was the case with Kokomo this past weekend. Hell, they didn't even want the delayed "On Demand" broadcasts up until the weekend was over). I have always contended that live streaming never should have been free from the start. Once you give something away, some will never pay for it. I have believed all along that live streaming should be a PPV model that has a revenue share for the tracks that allow streaming. However, the fact remains that getting tracks interested in allowing live streaming continues to be difficult, and thus, the next best thing is a next day On Demand model. USAC is trying this to see if it can generate interest in their new site.

But, if people rail against it arbitrarily because it's a pay site, then you might as well get used to the idea of not having ANY professional video at these events. Here's a stark reality folks. There are only a handful of us that do this well. And only a few of us in Indiana. There aren't enough of us to go around as it is. If we cannot make ends meet by continuing to do this, you will be seeing less and less video all the time.

The bottom line here is, soon, USAC will be launching the latest version of their Media site, and it's going to feature a lot of very cool things from the past on it, as well as events on the current schedule. All for a reasonable monthly or yearly fee. If we get enough people who want to be members of this site, and view as much of the past and current content as they can handle, then we are going to have the opportunity to do some great things in the coming months and years. But, it's going to take the support of the racing community to make it happen. Nobody is trying to soak you of your hard earned dollars without giving you a viable product. We simply hope to put up content that you as race fans feel you can justify spending your dollars on.

One last thing before I go. None of us who do this do it for the money. If we did, we would have quit ages ago. But, personally, I have been covering this sport for 29 years, and I keep hanging in there because A) I have a strong passion for it, and B) I want to do my part to help the sport flourish. Many of my colleagues gave up on this long ago, because there is NO REAL MONEY in it. But guys like Sean Buckley and myself keep diggin' because we want to be here, and we want to be a part of the solution. We don't need your praise, or any acclaim for it. We simply need the support of the racing community and for you the race fan to believe in what we are trying to do. We are just like you. We want to see good things happen within the sport of Sprint Car racing.

Thanks for "listening". Sincerely,

Dean Mills - race fan

[Bill Gardner]

PPV live video would be very nice!! I wish more tracks embraced the idea.

Most of the people purchasing the live video would not be locals. There is nothing better than being at the track and people who attend races on a regular basis know that. I don't believe people will stop attending races because they know there is PPV live video.

I guess the real question is... Is the risk worth the reward?

I never imagined Indiana Open Wheel would get the amount of traffic is does today... According to my Google Analytics page, in the last 30 days Indiana Open Wheel has been visited 197,559 times from people in the United States. 201,724 worldwide.

34% (67,824) of those visits are from INDIANA.
24% (48,597) from Illinois
8% (17,505) from Ohio
4% (7,450) from California
3% (6,031) from Michigan

How many visits are from people who would actually attend the race? I don't know the answer but if only 10% of them purchased PPV live video it's better than nothing at all.

I'll shut up now...

[cws9]

What about Henry's model out in California? They have a 100 mile blackout....basically, you can't buy the PPV. If you are that close, go to the track! I have purchased more than a few of the CRA races. I have also paid for the sprintweek month. I really hope the PPV catches on. It allows guys like me to see good racing without making an 8 hour trip.

[Jonr]

Originally Posted by cws9 What about Henry's model out in California? They have a 100 mile blackout....basically, you can't buy the PPV. If you are that close, go to the track! I have purchased more than a few of the CRA races. I have also paid for the sprintweek month. I really hope the PPV catches on. It allows guys like me to see good racing without making an 8 hour trip.

I am having a hard time understanding the technology that they are using for a 100 mile blackout. Does anyone know?

[racefan20]

Pretty sure it looks at the IP address you are using and calculates it using that.

[ThePurple73]

They make you enter your zip code they may use the ZIP or it is posible to look at your billing info on your billed card. The CRA video plan works well.

Video could be a great thing.
Look at Bill's Indiana Open Wheel site. I am out of state and I get almost all my sprint car news and opinions from this site. I also decide to go to races based on this site. The excitement created from the fans and some from promoters, but mainly fans, have a big impact on me traveling many hours and spending $300-$600 to attend. This site is extremely valuable to the open wheel world.
Last week end we almost changed major long time plans and went to Kokomo, based on all the good reports and excitement here.

Video could do the same thing and build as much excitement and keep USAC racing infront of fans and on fans minds. It has to become part of the Open Wheel culture. The dividends will far out weigh any imagined downside.

Not many years ago most would have never dreamed IOW site would provide racing focus to/for all of us. We got the news once a week from Speed Sport News.
A good video plan would take it to another level just like Indiana Open Wheel has.

[Rpracing1]

Originally Posted by Bill Gardner PPV live video would be very nice!! I wish more tracks embraced the idea. Most of the people purchasing the live video would not be locals. There is nothing better than being at the track and people who attend races on a regular basis know that. I don't believe people will stop attending races because they know there is PPV live video. I guess the real question is... Is the risk worth the reward? I never imagined Indiana Open Wheel would get the amount of traffic is does today... According to my Google Analytics page, in the last 30 days Indiana Open Wheel has been visited 197,559 times from people in the United States. 201,724 worldwide. 34% (67,824) of those visits are from INDIANA. 24% (48,597) from Illinois 8% (17,505) from Ohio 4% (7,450) from California 3% (6,031) from Michigan How many visits are from people who would actually attend the race? I don't know the answer but if only 10% of them purchased PPV live video it's better than nothing at all. I'll shut up now...

Wow Bill, just think if you CHARGED per view!!!