2010 Indy 500

3 drivers passed Andretti after the yellow and got scored as such. They protested, won their appeal, and re-shuffled the positions a couple of hours after the race. Andretti went to 3rd, and the 3 drivers that passed him moved down a spot.

They also swapped 13th & 14th, which was significant because the one in 13th was highest rookie (Mario Romancini, in front of Simona di Silvestro).

 

I can't be thankful enough that my seats were shaded yesterday. The track proudly announced it was the hottest race ever -- air temp 95. Those frontstretch inside seats looked empty mostly because they were unbearably hot. I could see people streaming out as the day went on, from the relative comfort of my shaded seat.

 

I know the trendy post-split thing to do has been to bag the Indy 500 as "irrelevant."

When I think of Indy being "irrelevant," I think of 1997-2000, the dark days of the split. When Penske, AGR, all of the top ex-CART teams returned to Indy, the atmosphere around the place completely changed.

Indianapolis 500 ratings typically rival those of an average network-televised NASCAR race -- WITHOUT the Indianapolis market added in (Indy does not see the race live), which would provide a significant boost. Indianapolis also draws a huge single-day crowd, even with the empty seats in less-desirable viewing areas yesterday (short chutes, inside of the track on the back of the main straightaway).

Motorsports has always had a niche following -- much like hockey. It was NASCAR that made racing cultural in the last 20 years right at the time "country culture" became chic -- and now that the redneck fad is passing, NASCAR is taking a big ratings/attendance hit. However, the perceived "relevance" of Indy has dropped with the growth of the number of TV channels. It's still a major event, but the sports universe is a whole lot more clogged than it had been.

What has happened is that NASCAR (and team sports) have put the emphasis on the "series" or the "season." Indy has always basically been a stand-alone event with the rest of the accompanying series being largely anonymous. That hasn't changed.

 

Those frontstretch inside seats face the sun directly with no shade (the Turn 3/north short chute seats also do).

The infield/GA/party crowd was as large as I've seen it in my 13 years of attending the race. That might either have to do with more people needing a good excuse to go find a party, or people leaving their seats.

The empty seats were generally in bad viewing locations -- the short chutes, the inside straightaway close to T4, the first 15 rows on the outside of the straightaway close to T4 -- where you can see very little and pay $80-90 for the privilege.

 

Per the Indy Star, Conway out three months with compression fracture of back. He'll have two surgeries this week to try to fix it. Also has lowe leg injury. Ryan Hunter-Reay will race next week in Texas, with a carbon-fiber cast on a torn thumb -- suffered earlier in the race, not in the Conway incident.

 

We were in the Tower Terrace....just the seats Bob was talking about. It was toasty....but really not all that bad. Lower humidity REALLY helped. Our section was packed.....until about 1:30. A ton of folks ducking in & out after that. Had to be the best crowd I'd seen in a number of years. Crimson, our friends sitting in turn 3 noted the same thing re: the infield crowd.

Could be just me (and I admit being a fanboi) but the "vibe" around the speedway was the best we'd felt in a very long time. As always, just a fun, fun day.

 

South Terrace wasn't too bad either. Went for the first time yesterday and it was well worth the $40. You could see the entire short chute and both Turns 1 and 2 ... about 30 feet away from the photographers shooting the race. I didn't find it bad at all.

Irrelevant? Tell that to the 350,000-plus people who showed up and baked in the 96-degree heat for 3-plus hours.

As far as ratings... I believe the blackout actually includes much of central Indiana, not just Indy. That's a pretty big chunk of people who would boost the ratings if they could watch.

The IndyCar Series looks to be trying to create more of a buzz around the rest of the series, but I'm not sure how well that's going to go.

 

Just saw this photo of Conway's crash at the Indy Star website. Great shot.

 

It must have really been hot yesterday because I remember 1988 (my first 500) as being absolutely hotter than fuck.

Sitting in the sun at the Brickyard, however, is Gitmo torture in comparison. Nothing like Indy in the dead of summer.

 

What's more torture is having to watch NASCAR for three and a half hours in that heat ... and listening to the fans b*tch about not being able to see all the way around the track.

Me (who is used to people going 230+ down the straightaway) at the Brickyard: "When will these guys start moving?"

 

They need to move the NASCAR race in Indy out to I-465. And don't call off the other traffic, either. Just let 'em deal with it for about 100 laps.