Indy 500 says no to BLOGS!

[Bob Cook]

http://johpadgett.com/monticello/?p=87#more-87

Frankly, given how things have gone for the Indy 500 the past 10 years, it needs every interested media party it can get. I'm not sure it's in the position to turn down anybody anymore, for any reason.

 

[HejiraHenry]

http://johpadgett.com/monticello/?p=87#more-87

Frankly, given how things have gone for the Indy 500 the past 10 years, it needs every interested media party it can get. I'm not sure it's in the position to turn down anybody anymore, for any reason.

Agreed. Some real back-assward thinking.

 

[Bubbler]

It is too late to apply for credentials though ... by 10 days. If you want to staff the event, do it the right way.

 

[playthrough]

True enough, Bubbler. One way to gain credibility would be to establish contact well in advance, not two weeks before activity begins at a three-week long event.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway media folks are about as helpful as you'll find in sports, and I'd say they are very generous with their credentials. Every hamlet in the state with a paper and every niche motorsport publication gets a chair in their massive press rooms. But you've gotta draw the line somewhere. IMS has its own in-house video production and it is their right to not let every joe with a videocamera inside. As for the BLOG's complaints about the US Grand Prix, that event is out of the Speedway's hands when it comes to media. Getting credentials for F1 is extremely tough, they thumb their noses at darn near everybody.

And no, I don't work for the track. But I'll spend a boatload of time there the next few months...

 

[Bubbler]

As for the BLOG's complaints about the US Grand Prix, that event is out of the Speedway's hands when it comes to media. Getting credentials for F1 is extremely tough, they thumb their noses at darn near everybody.

Not me. Bernie Ecclestone kisses my ass. :D

That was one part of the blog I did find mysterious. To my knowledge, the deadline for the USGP has not passed. But you're right, it's extremely difficult to get approved for that race.

 

[Clerk Typist]

It's May 10 for USGP credential requests to be postmarked. IMS sends them on to the FIA. The U.S. gets 40 print reporter credentials.
I think Sullivan saw this guy as a fan (or a fan's producer), and given the yahoos that populate the track in May, I can't say I blame him. The 500 deadline is passed, but if the NY Times wanted to add a reporter, I don't think there would be a problem, even though the mammoth press room is actually very crowded on race day. And you don't want to know about the smaller press room before that.
IMS has handled Brickyard 400 credentials in the past and will still, unless NASCAR's taken that over, which I doubt. Application time hasn't started yet.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Uh, blog dude, just buy some tix (or get someone to give them to you) and smuggle your little camcorder in there anyway. Film away til someone makes you stop. That's real citizen journalism -- and will show what kind of fun the "average" person in Indy can do.

 

[SoSueMe]

I love it. Another loss for bloggers. Back to the basement and turn on the TV.

 

[JayFarrar]

I think dude applied late on purpose. If he gets credentialed, all is well. If he doesn't, he can create a stink that would generate more publicity for his site than just going to the Indy 500.

 

[crimsonace]

Last year, the Indy 500 told us to cut back our amount of requests because of space (and IMS has a HUGE media center), so methinks they're not hurting too much for interest right now.

The Indy 500 isn't quite what it used to be in terms of attention in the overall world, but as far as racing journos go, it still seems like *everybody* is there.

 

[MGoBlue]

So what. I don't read blogs, anyway. A waste of time.

 

[Prince of Persia]

So what. I don't read blogs, anyway. A waste of time.

I wouldn't say blogs are a waste of time. There are a lot of beat reporters out there who write great blogs that give fresh information and some even use it to post breaking news. Doesn't sounds like a waste of time to me.

 

[johpadgett]

I'd like to clear things up a bit about this since I am the blogger that was denied credentials. First of all, I asked Tim Sullivan what the procedures were for applying for credentials for all 3 races this summer. In my blog posting I stated the first thing out of his mouth was that I was too late to apply for month of May activities, which from prior experience I had kind of figured we were either too late or right on the deadline for applying. I simply wanted the procedures for applying for next year's 500, the 2007 US Grand Prix and 2007 Allstate 400 races.

I think dude applied late on purpose. If he gets credentialed, all is well. If he doesn't, he can create a stink that would generate more publicity for his site than just going to the Indy 500.

I did not apply late on purpose, this project came about because the video blogger I produce the show with is moving to California in July and so we are covering as many Indianapolis based major events for his entertainment news bits that he does and just last weekend discovered in the decade or so he has lived here he has never attended a race at IMS. This was the primary motivation for inquiring about the procedures for applying in the first place.

Things escalated when Sullivan copped a different tone of voice with me on the phone and made it very clear no online journalists will receive credentials by asking him. Now I would have left the whole thing alone, except that I know there are a ton of NASCAR bloggers so I figured I should find out what the IMS online journalist policy is. After much singing and dancing on Sullivan's part over the phone I still don't know what the policy is.

Whether you read blogs or not is irrelevant, millions of sports fans do. Its for the fans that this issue must be addressed. If a sportswriter for ESPN that covers motorsports writes a blog he or she gets credentialed, but if an independent journalist working from a blog asks for the same courtesy IMS will deny the independent journalist. However, and I know this to be true, if a freelance journalist with no affiliation asks for credentials at IMS they will get credentialed.

So tell me how is an unaffiliated freelancer different from a blogger? Why is it when I go to the Indy 500 I can't throw a rock without hitting someone let in on press credentials that isnt even actually a journalist writing a story? How is it fair to credential the drunk in Gasoline Alley who is a fraud but not the entertainment reporter who wants to cover the fun aspects of motorsports?

 

[Ike Broflovski]

Ron Green is the VP of media relations at the Speedway, not Tim Sullivan. Green sets the policy; Sullivan works in his office.

Talk to Green, and stop making Sullivan look like some kind of bad guy in your blog. Using a blog to ***** about how you were denied credentials makes you look petty and sophomoric, especially when you weren't even talking to the right person.

 

[Bubbler]

Name names on the unaffiliated freelancer please. Until you do, your argument carries no weight.

If it's who I think you're referring to based on your anonymous potshot in the last graph, that person is affiliated.

A point that doesn't carry any weight anyway, because the Speedway and any other organization has the right to credential who they want.

 

[PackOfGauchos]

Now I would have left the whole thing alone, except that I know there are a ton of NASCAR bloggers so I figured I should find out what the IMS online journalist policy is.

There are a lot of NASCAR bloggers, but they're not at the racetrack. They're watching it on television and blogging from home. Unlike the IMS facility, press centers at most NASCAR tracks are antiquated and cramped. There's barely enough room all the legitimate journalists, much less bloggers. The blogging done at the track is done by writers from ESPN.com, thatsracin.com, NASCAR.com, etc., who do it to complement their primary coverage.

 

[PackOfGauchos]

From the blog in question: "It's an ongoing YouTube based show Dan does covering events going on in Indianapolis to show what kind of fun can be had here. ... Nevermind that the Internet goes beyond Central Indiana and gives the show a potential global audience, but I digress."

Give me a break. These are the kind of people who make it difficult for motorsports journalists to do their jobs. Buy a ticket. And leave Sullivan alone. He can be prickly, but like everyone else at IMS, he's a pro.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

From the blog in question: "It's an ongoing YouTube based show Dan does covering events going on in Indianapolis to show what kind of fun can be had here. ... Nevermind that the Internet goes beyond Central Indiana and gives the show a potential global audience, but I digress."

Give me a break. These are the kind of people who make it difficult for motorsports journalists to do their jobs. Buy a ticket. And leave Sullivan alone. He can be prickly, but like everyone else at IMS, he's a pro.

Right. The blogger doesn't need a press pass to fulfill his mission. Especially since no one without a press pass can do the "fun" things that he would be blogging about.

Take your camera in and do the same thing you would have done WITHOUT a press pass. Pay your way in, sneak your way in, borrow your way in, whatever. But then start filming the "fun" things that actual people are doing.

 

[ballscribe]

If I read your post right, you asked for credentials because your buddy was moving away and hadn't yet had the privilege of visiting the speedway? That's your reason?

Puh-lease.

The fact that his gig is supposed to show all the "fun" things you can do in Indy and in a decade, he's never even been to the only place the entire universe knows is in Indy, kind of shoots down the whole concept, doesn't it? Or am I missing something?

 

[brettwatson]

Everytime a suspect blogger complains about access, I smile.

Stick it to him IMS.