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Indy Car Racing... anyone watch this?

JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
I just turned on the race at Fontana Speedway in California and there is NOBODY at this race. I'd say the stands are maybe 20% full.

Also, why is Steve Machett commentating this race? I thought he only did F1. Good for him, he seems like a good guy.
 
I haven't watched Indy car racing in decades myself.

I didn't even no it was a category these days to be honest.

CART ruined Indy cars at Indianapolis around 1980.
 
MongGrel said:
I haven't watched Indy car racing in decades myself.

I didn't even no it was a category these days to be honest.

CART ruined Indy cars at Indianapolis around 1980.
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No, they didn't. Indy car was insanely popular in the 80's and early 90's. It attracted F1 champions in their prime.
USAC was a corrupt organization in the 70's.

IRL, nee Tony George ruined it.
 
Because IndyCar's upscaled fans aren't going to drive to bumf'k Fontana in the San Bernardino county just to watch a race. The race isn't the problem, it's the fair weather fans who aren't willing to make the trek when they could rather congregate near the beach for the long beach grand prix (and who could blame them?).

Fontana, OTOH, is a staple for NASCAR...which is not all that shocking.
 
foghorn67 said:
No, they didn't. Indy car was insanely popular in the 80's and early 90's. It attracted F1 champions in their prime.
USAC was a corrupt organization in the 70's.

IRL, nee Tony George ruined it.
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Yeah they did.

You didn't see shit like this after that.

STP_Turbine.jpg


Probably was earlier than that.

True Indy car racing was pretty much unregulated at what you could put on the track once upon a time as long as the safety inspectors approved it to be drivable on the track.

Once upon a time, before they regulated it.
 
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MongGrel said:
Yeah they did.

You didn't see shit like this after that.

STP_Turbine.jpg


Probably was earlier than that.

True Indy car racing was pretty much unregulated at what you could put on the track once upon a time as long as the safety inspectors approved it to be drivable on the track.

Once upon a time, before they regulated it.
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Unregulated cars on a 2.5 mile oval? Right. Keep dreaming gramps.
Maybe you can find a league of racers from a debtors prison, or Dubai slaves for your entertainment. Regulated Indy cars keep hitting 250+ before they throw another wave of formulas to slow them down.
 
foghorn67 said:
Unregulated cars on a 2.5 mile oval? Right. Keep dreaming gramps.
Maybe you can find a league of racers from a debtors prison, or Dubai slaves for your entertainment. Regulated Indy cars keep hitting 250+ before they throw another wave of formulas to slow them down.
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Dreaming?

It used to be a regular thing you idiot.

They were inspected to be safe to drive on the track, they weren't regulated.

Is why they had 30 Days in May of course since Indy started, if you didn't qualify for a spot you wouldn't be on the track to begin with.
 
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JulesMaximus said:
This is actually a pretty good race. Go Montoya!
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I watched a couple of races last year. One of them had multiple lead changes on the last ten laps. On a street circuit. This series should be more popular. But people start hyperventilating and barking words like F1 (or NASCAR).
 
foghorn67 said:
And a boatload died. Could you imagine today's technology with no regulations?
No. because your an old curmudgeon that keeps reminiscing of days of old instead of finding something new.
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Ever watch RUSH ?

F1 thrived on it.

I still don't see how what your posting even pertains to the OP to begin with.
 
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MongGrel said:
Ever watch RUSH ?

F1 thrived on it.

I still don't see how what your posting even pertains to the OP to begin with.
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Rush was in the 70's dude. Stop living there. The Cosworth of James Hunt was putting out 450bhp, made a nice power/weight ratio. But with today's engine tech...good luck in thinking unregulated is good. People don't put up with deaths in open wheel anymore. It's been a long time since someone died in an F1 race, the reason why Jules Bianchi's head trauma was a lot to take in for everyone involved in the sport.
Loosing Dan Wheldon in an Indy car recently was horrible. Nobody wants death.

Nobody "ruined" anything to regulate the speed and add safety.

Like I said, if you want a death race...just enroll in an extreme sport of your own. Just make sure nobody is around you.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make either. You are the one that went on the tangent, and said Indy car was ruined in the early 80's. I said it wasn't. I'm no more off topic than you are.
 
core2slow said:
Because IndyCar's upscaled fans aren't going to drive to bumf'k Fontana in the San Bernardino county just to watch a race. The race isn't the problem, it's the fair weather fans who aren't willing to make the trek when they could rather congregate near the beach for the long beach grand prix (and who could blame them?).

Fontana, OTOH, is a staple for NASCAR...which is not all that shocking.
Click to expand...

Yep, Long Beach gets quite the crowd. Even the support races get lots of love.
 
To become popular, I believe any sport needs stable television coverage. NFL nails it. Who doesn't know when NFL games start?
 
foghorn67 said:
Yep, Long Beach gets quite the crowd. Even the support races get lots of love.
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Long Beach is the only Indy race I watch/attend. I'm a die hard F1 fan but that Fontana race was very good I thought.

Stands were EMPTY though.

I liked Montoya and watched him come up through the CART Champ Car series in the mid 1990s and then followed him in F1. Good to see him back in open wheel racing.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Long Beach is the only Indy race I watch/attend. I'm a die hard F1 fan but that Fontana race was very good I thought.

Stands were EMPTY though.

I liked Montoya and watched him come up through the CART Champ Car series in the mid 1990s and then followed him in F1. Good to see him back in open wheel racing.
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The same! I love Montoya. His Ganassi years were awesome. Seeing him win in F1 with Williams was pretty cool. A lot of people can't make that cut. Little Andretti, De Matta, etc.
 
I almost watched this race, but the description on the TV said it was oval track. No thanks. I don't want to watch a bunch of left turns.

I've been to a few of the road races though (Grand Prix of Houston). Not as exciting as F1, but that is probably not as true as it used to be due to F1 being a battle between Lewis and Nico then a full 20+ second gap before anyone else...
 
Indycar racing is a bit like baseball. At one time Indycar was the biggest motorsports racing series much as baseball was the biggest game in town. But, just as the NFL supplanted baseball NASCAR has supplanted Indycar.

Indycar came apart in the mid 90's with a two sided attack. First, NASCAR was growing ever more popular and then an open wheel competitor using the NASCAR oval formula came along. Up to that time Indycar (CART) was a pretty balanced series with about as many road races as oval races whereas NASCAR and the newer open wheel competitor (IRL) was almost exclusively oval.

I was at the Indy 500 last year and there was about 200,000 spectators there but they've had as many as 400,000 at earlier times. I enjoyed the race and Indy is like a living museum.

I think fewer people are into racing today than 40 years ago -- there's just way more things for people to do today.


Brian
 
IndyCar really has a image problem, unlike NASCAR. With NASCAR you get drivers from all over with all kinds of backgrounds and styles, and not just driving styles. Some are nice, some are assholes. Some are clean cut and some are ragged around the edges. But they all share the same humility, it seems. You can walk up to any NASCAR driver and shoot the shit (I have with many). They don't have a lot of attitude.

IndyCar, on the other hand, is full of pretty boys who wouldn't give you the time of day if asked. They can't be bothered to have to walk to their cars because it might mean interacting with the fans. So instead they ride little silly scooters back and forth from the garage to pit road. Oh, and there isn't any difference in style, driving or otherwise. They are all very similar and the driving is super boring. Put the gas pedal to the floor and you are done. Real stimulating. :\
 
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