1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by crimsonace, Feb 19, 2007.

  1. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Kentucky Derby TV ratings have been on an uptick the last few years, and double Indy's ratings. It's an apples-to-oranges comparison in some ways, obviously, but on the other hand they're both century-long traditions with huge local followings in niche sports that are virtually ignored the rest of the year. So why does the Derby do so much better nationally? Like you said -- it's two minutes. And simple to understand.

    IndyCar hasn't seemed to grasp that car culture is dying. They're already touting next year's car, which is fine and all, but who cares? All the emphasis on aero kits a couple years ago was a complete waste of time and dollars that should have instead been used on marketing the drivers. Thanks to the ABC affiliation they've placed drivers on "Dancing With the Stars" twice, but that's been about it for national promotion. Nascar does such a better job of marketing its personalities, it's not even funny. But a lot of that is dollars and sponsor activation, of which IndyCar has none. Target had Scott Dixon all those years but did you ever see him in a store display or on a national commercial? And he's on the short list of the best drivers in the world.
     
    maumann likes this.
  2. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    They were also on "American Ninja Warrior." And I'll give them credit for vastly improving merchandise quality. Driver, IMS, and series gear is easily available now, and no longer tries to ape NASCAR's garish white trash-aimed stuff.

    Like every sport, they need to somehow infiltrate kids. Kids should know who Will Power and Scott Dixon are. Put out a video game. It doesn't even have to be realistic - "IndyCar Jam." Get a cartoon Alexander Rossi into an episode of fucking "Paw Patrol." If the plan is to get 9-year-olds to watch cars turn left on TV for three hours, good luck.

    You also have to distinguish yourself from NASCAR: We are not a redneck sport. We are a sophisticated U.S. version of F1. Seems you might have an "in" with millennials and hipsters going that route.
     
  3. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    James Hinchcliffe does a lot of ads for Honda up here and you see him on talk shows because he is really good in front of the camera but as far as athletes here in Canuckistan he doesn't have the name recognition of the biggest hockey players or guys like Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista. In other words, my mother doesn't know who he is which is always my barometer for an athlete's popularity. But she knows Subban, Crosby and the big guys from the Jays.
     
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    It maybe we're just trying to save newspapers here, all over again.
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    That's true, forgot about Ninja. That was a fun night in Indy when they filmed on the Circle.

    Kids are tough for sure. IMS does a great job but I don't know how the series overall is trying to reach kids. Having another full-time female driver would certainly help.
     
  6. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Hey now ... I don't think my #3 ascot was aimed at white trash.
     
  7. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

    Sorry, but you and I must have different ideas of household names. I would grant you Castroneves, but that's probably as much (likely more) due to winning Dancing With The Stars as winning Indy three times. Maybe Marco Andretti, but solely because of his last name. I seriously doubt John Q. Sports fan would recognize Dixon, Power, Kanaan, etc. In the day, Andretti, Foyt and Unser were household names. Maybe Mears. Guys like Rahal, Fittipaldi, Sullivan probably in the second tier. Sullivan was helped by TV appearances like Miami Vice, his looks and dating big name models. Back then, when you mentioned auto racing in the U.S. people assumed you meant Indy stars, not NASCAR like today.
     
  8. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

    My apologies if I've ranted about this before, but I'm not a fan of the current Month of May schedule at Indy. I understand why a weekend of qualifying was chopped off, but the compressed schedule takes away a lot of the excitement and drama. Plus there is often rain in May, so the already limited practice time becomes even tighter. If you have rain on the only qualifying weekend like this year, there's no way to make up for it. Then having 10-33 requalify from scratch on the second day makes no sense to me. I also don't get the lack of practice to work purely on race setups. After qualifying you have the Monday practice, then no more track time until Carb Day on Friday. Would it be too difficult to add at least one more day of practice?
    Separate note: I'm watching the Monaco second practice on the DVR. That new curb is going to be a disaster if it doesn't get fixed.
     
  9. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    You are responding to an imaginary post. My point was that they are names to me because I follow the series.

    Other than Dale Jr. and maybe Jimmie Johnson, I'm not sure many NASCAR drivers are widely recognized these days, either.
     
  10. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    The qualifying format is made-for-TV awfulness and especially when there's only 33 cars. The $100,000 pole award doesn't sound like much when you realize how these guys are laying it all out there. And I read that last place in the Fast Nine picked up $3,000. That's embarrassing.

    As for the schedule, from a media standpoint, if you're around for the entire month it's nice because you can chase so many stories and soak it all in (sometimes literally with the fickle weather). But I can tell you as having lived it as a Speedway employee, it's an insane grind. Everyone's got a sniffle and a cough by the end from lack of sleep and mediocre track food.
     
    maumann likes this.
  11. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    The Kentucky Derby comparison is quite apt, actually. The casual fan has no idea who the horses or jockeys are. Oh look, there's Bob Baffert. They tune in to hear "My Old Kentucky Home," see the weird hats and pick a winner based on its name, color or spots on its forehead. The race is over in two minutes, and everyone conveniently forgets about horse racing (with the exception of a possible Triple Crown winner) until the next May. But you can wager on it, which makes it unique among niche sports.

    Indianapolis is shiny cars that go fast, Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and a bunch of guys with funny names. Casual fans tune in to hear "On The Banks of the Wabash," wonder if Mary Hulman will forget the words to "Gentlemen, start your engines" again and watch for crashes. Five hundred miles? Good God, why would anyone without more than a casual interest in the sport sit through three hours of bad ABC broadcasts?

    But that's today's sports "experience" (ugh) in a nutshell. The team for which my grandfather had season tickets now has a ferris wheel, because the attention span of the casual fan is comparable to an amoeba. Even the major sports are trying to figure out how to lure younger fans, because the landscape is radically different than it was 25 or 50 years ago.

    Yeah, there used to be 150,000 people at 500 qualifying. But that was before Indianapolis had the Pacers or the Colts. Nothing's the same. And if you don't offer something more than the basic product, you're in for a tough sell nowadays. Which is why there's a concert in the middle of the infield on Sunday.

    I couldn't name one MLS player, but the idea of chanting songs and waving banners -- like in Europe -- appeals to certain people. You could say the same thing for any niche sport. You can't name any IndyCar drivers? I live 30 miles from Dawsonville and am willing to bet 2 out of 100 people at the supermarket today couldn't pick Chase Elliott out of a police lineup.

    NASCAR is still using V-8s descended from the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 and a chassis based on the 1960 Ford Fairlane. They finally scrapped carburetors just a few years ago and finally added 15 percent methanol to their racing gasoline. Junior is retiring at the end of the season. Danica is about to be unemployed, unless Lesa France Kennedy ponies up some ISC cash. Jimmie Johnson is 41. Matt Kenseth is 45. They're about to rely on Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Richard Childress' grandsons and the Busch brothers to revive fan interest. And the Daytona 500 will be stock car racing's version of the Kentucky Derby.

    What may save IndyCar? One, Indianapolis is still the biggest race in the world. It's survived two world wars and the open-wheel split. Two, street and road course racing is an experience, which attracts people who don't care about the cars but want to be part of the action. Three, open wheel can adapt much more quickly to developing technology, with whatever alternative energy eventually replaces piston-powered gasoline engines.

    Three weeks ago, Jenna Fryer's daughter hadn't heard of Fernando Alonso. Yesterday, Fryer wrote about how Alonso-mania is all anybody's talking about this month. That's how fast things can change.
     
  12. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Well, Jenna needs to keep working to wash out the horrible stench of that column a few weeks ago.

    Indy did still have huge qualifying crowds after the Pacers and Colts arrived, when there was still drama in the speeds and 40-50 cars going for the 33 spots. In 1995, when Penske's cars failed to make the race (still incredible to think about), there were probably 75-80,000 fans. But then came the Split and, poof.

    And it's "Back Home Again in Indiana" ... but we'll give you a pass on that :)
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page