Indianapolis 500 VS Monaco GP

[zeeblofowl_1969]

Tony George? Probably (still) the most hated man in North American formula car circles. He's the recovering coke addict that pretty well killed open wheel formula car racing in this country. The teams don't have the money to buy anything now mainly because him and that gang of gomers at IMS fucked things up so bad when they formed the IRL. How bad of a fuck-up does a fellow have to be to make his own mother eventually fire his ass? But yeah, I heard something about the old woman letting him back on the Board of Directors. But Randy Bernard is running the Indy Car Series now - Tony Boy isn't allowed to have a hand in running things any longer. I guess 15 years of money down Tony's rat hole, and still not making a profit, was enough for old Mari Hulman. Mario Andretti said that Newman-Haas' budget, when both he and Nigel Mansell were with the team in the early 90's, was about $30 million - and the team was flush with cash to pay the drivers good salaries, buy multiple new chassis every season and even make a lot of their own parts. I used to visit as many CART teams as I could back then and it was amazing the stuff they had. But the ratings were high and the sponsors were happy to fork over the cash every year. But once Tony "Boy George" formed the IRL, the ratings sank, the fans left in droves and the sponsors & money left. Then the ride buyers and attention seeking hacks like Danica showed up. Things have gotten a little bit better the past couple of years. But the ratings, even for Indy (from 10's back in the 90's to barely a 4 now... about where Long Beach was back in the day), are still in the cellar. The average race gets about the same ratings as a Grand Am race these days. The NASCAR Truck Series gets better ratings and the Nationwide Series easily beats the average Indy Car race. You'd have been labeled a heretic if you'd suggested any such thing was possible back in the early to mid 90's. So the sponsors aren't going to step up their spending until the series can show that it has some relevance with the public again.




Yeah, somebody with a name and some talent, right? Gordon and Stewart are probably a bit too old (and rich) to do it. People hoped that Dale, Jr. would just sit in a car at Indy (like Stewart did a few years back), or maybe even start a team now that Chevy is back in the game. I'm not confident that any of the big NASCAR names would give the Indy Car Series a second thought, as far as driving. But if the ICS was smart (and they really aren't) they'd pay Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Stewart, et al to start teams. Just attach their names to some teams in the series and pay them to show up to a few races. Seriously. Remember when Chip Ganassi did that with Joe Montana around '95 or '96? And Dale Coyne had Walter Payton as an owner (a real owner) back in the glory days. Hell, try anything while this thing still has some life in it. Do you remember when CART IndyCar races were star-studded events? Hell, you could go to a race and see Elle Macpherson, Christie Brinkley, Billy Joel, Sly Stallone and other A-listers hanging out. Now you might see one of the Kardashian sisters turning tricks behind a grandstand (or whatever it is that they do to make money). Yeah, we definitely need some blessings and some help.

Would be the smartest thing open wheel racing ever did if they could just get the Earnhardt or for that matter Jimmy Johnsons names attached to their series. Most Americans have trouble rooting for Helio Castroneves or Tony Kanaan as personally as they once cheered for the Unsers or A.J. or even Rick Mears. The Olympics proves that Americans like to root for their own and there just is not enough homegrown talent in the series to draw the crowds. Oh for the glory days......

 

[Rey C.]

Would be the smartest thing open wheel racing ever did if they could just get the Earnhardt or for that matter Jimmy Johnsons names attached to their series. Most Americans have trouble rooting for Helio Castroneves or Tony Kanaan as personally as they once cheered for the Unsers or A.J. or even Rick Mears. The Olympics proves that Americans like to root for their own and there just is not enough homegrown talent in the series to draw the crowds. Oh for the glory days......

Yes, the glory days are missed. But once you consider that Emmo Fittipaldi, Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya were "furiners", yet became household names in the U.S. while in CART, it's about more than just nationality, I believe. Personality has a lot to do with it... combined with talent. We have quite a few Americans competing in IndyCar now. But none of them really have all that much personality. Apart from Ry@n Hunter-Reay having a smoking hot wife (Robby Gordon's sister, Beccy), there's not that much about any of them that appeals to even me (a hardcore racing fan and an avid follower of formula car racing for a long, long, long time). I wouldn't skip a step to ask Marco Andretti for an autograph. And poor Graham Rahal's apple seems to have fallen quite a distance from the tree as well. They have "names", but lack the drive and talent that their fathers had. And the Unser kid... well, Mini Al was completely bleh! It's a real shame that our 3rd generation IndyCar names have turned out to be pumpkins thus far.

But yeah, I do think that IMS/IndyCar should pony up some cash and literally pay Little E., Gordon, Stewart or whomever to field a team... even if it's just a shell team that somebody else runs. Like I said, it's been done before (though not directly by a series). My position on improving the current sad state of American open wheel formula car racing: do absolutely anything to make it more popular, as long as it isn't illegal (or involves Danica P@trick).

 

[RavinFlamer]

F1 is far more awesome than Nascar. The problem is that it is so expensive to watch live. When visiting Baltimore I wanted to watch the GP there but left when they told me decent seats were $300. But on tv, F1 is still amazing.

 

[Rey C.]

F1 is far more awesome than Nascar. The problem is that it is so expensive to watch live. When visiting Baltimore I wanted to watch the GP there but left when they told me decent seats were $300. But on tv, F1 is still amazing.

There's never been an F1 race held in Baltimore - and none are scheduled. I think you're talking about the IndyCar race held last month. There will be an F1 race in Austin, TX in November though. 3 day grandstand passes were going for about $160, but I think they're sold out. The Baltimore IndyCar race had tickets as low as $55 for the day of the race and $85 for a 3 day pass. But IndyCar races don't usually sell out these days. Just wait til the day of the race and get them from a scalper for probably $20 or less. I didn't go but I heard the Baltimore race wasn't bad (with ALMS there too).

But you're right: F1 is the sheeet!

 

[Jeepers666]

Monaco GP. I am a big fan of f1

 

[GibbsGrad2002]

Both

 

[zeeblofowl_1969]

Love them both but again the actual racing at Monaco is just boring on that tight circuit.