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!

Indy 500 ... irrelevant?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by spnited, May 12, 2007.

  1. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    For the Ashley Judd fans in the house, lots of shots of her at qualifying. Her hubby's on the pole at the moment.
     
  2. Sxysprtswrtr

    Sxysprtswrtr Active Member

    He's gorgeous.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Like Juan Pablo and his wife, just a gorgeous couple. I hate them.
     
  4. bydesign77

    bydesign77 Active Member

    Having lived just a few miles from the IMS, let me say that it's still a big event in the city. You don't want to live on that side of town on Memorial Day weekend, NASCAR weekend or F-1 weekend. Can't eat, can't drive anywhere. My apartment was on the road that led from the Interstate to the IRP (where the Busch and Trucks race, as well as the dragway).

    I think maybe because it's a month long event that has diluted the event some?

    I got to meet Ashley Judd when her husband and father-in-law played the course I worked at. Made my life.
     
  5. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Towns as far as Terre Haute have their hotels filled to the brim when there are things going on on the Speedway. Anything at that track is a huge deal in Indiana.
     
  6. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    There's a guy in that picture?

    Anyhoo, any sport is only as good as the next generation, and Indy-car racing lost a generation.
     
  7. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Pole day has suffered the most in Tony George's gun-eating destruction of domestic open-wheel racing. Spnited is right, it was once an event almost on par with the race itself. When I moved to Indy in '86, I couldn't believe what a big deal it was. Indy did not move on race day or Pole day. Now its worse than a shadow of its former greatness.

    And Indy practice sessions, which once drew or came close to five-figure crowds daily, are now ghost towns.

    The race itself is still major. A major draw, a major event, and in the last few years, very compelling races. I think America still cares too, along the lines of the Kentucky Derby, etc.

    But in the bigger picture, George fucked up big time with his timing. When NASCAR was rising, the Indy 500 was at its worst -- the 500s from 1996-1999 are utterly forgettable and bastard sons of the great tradition of the race.

    He gave fans a reason not to give a shit, why would they? It was shit. I'm a huge Indy fan, and other than the two I covered in that era, I didn't watch those races either. He had to win me over and I was easy, I've always liked open-wheel racing. The rest of America hasn't -- and won't be -- nearly as easy. I still don't think Indy gets it that they have to win people over anew.

    Other things that have messed up the experience ...

    -- The Indy infield -- once a maelstorm of drinking, nudity and all manner of debauchery -- has been remodeled out of existence. The Snake Pit is no more and Indy has lost its blue-collar soul as a result. There's at least a generation of fans who went to the Indy 500, and never saw a car. It might not have enhanced the racing, but it was certainly part of the experience.

    -- Bump day was once frought with drama. Now bump day is sad ... will 33 cars even qualify?

    -- Some of the Indy traditions have always been -- to be kind -- staid. "Gentlemen, start your engines" and some of the other traditions are priceless. But Jim Nabors isn't going to wow the teenyboppers ... from 1970 much less 2007.

    I'll never forget reading a feature in the 1988 Indy 500 yearbook, a flowery multi-page tribute to one of the guests of the '87 race, one of three sons from My Three Sons (Tim Considine?). It was unintentional hilarity at its finest. I believe another of those books had a similar feature on Pee Wee from Porky's -- apparently a native Hoosier.

    The only Queen visiting IMS in May will probably have -ryche at the end of it and they'll likely be playing across the street at one of the many strip clubs.

    Indy has always done a lot to make itself feel like a museum to the sport, in bad ways as well as good. You never get the feeling you're appreciating the best (domestic) racing technology the sport has to offer. Indy never makes itself as deluxe as open wheel racing really is (unlike the USGP, where it is deluxe in excelsius). That's one thing CART/Champ Car has always beat the shit out of Indy in.

    Instead you get force-fed "celebrities" like Donald Davidson and TV stars of the 60s that grey-haired pre-comeback Elvis fans cream their pants to, but no one else cares about. You get tributes to the long-insiginficant-to-Indy sprint racers of the 60s and 70s, something that has virtually no relevance to the sport anymore, for better or worse. Indy doesn't do itself any favors when it comes to making itself look square.

    Still, the Indy 500 is still a major event. I'll be covering my first in many, many years this year. I'm looking forward to it.

    And to the poster who thinks IFC, XGames and fucking poker are bigger? You need to turn ESPN off and get out more.
     
  8. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    I have absolutely no empirical evidence of NASCAR being more interesting than Indy-car racing. I just know that it is to me, and it isn't even close.

    But I felt this way back when Indy was just as big or bigger. And I have no concrete reason for it. Others must feel the same way.
     
  9. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    I'd like to see her on the pole - the brass pole, wearing nothing but her UK hockey sweater. :eek: ;D
     
  10. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    The last two Indy 500s were perhaps the best two auto races I've ever witnessed.
     
  11. Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell

    Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell Active Member

    on fire.
     
  12. markvid

    markvid Guest

    To be fair, though, there was at least 6 hours of coverage between ESPN/ESPN2 and ABC.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page