2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel

[Dotini]

At one time, the Indy 500 had an estimated attendance of 400,000, making it the biggest one-day sporting event on Earth.

 

[mustafur]

At one time, the Indy 500 had an estimated attendance of 400,000, making it the biggest one-day sporting event on Earth.

Must of been before they put most of the stands in and allowed people to just stand in the park, I think a sell out now is around 250k.

 

[Eva]

Must of been before they put most of the stands in and allowed people to just stand in the park, I think a sell out now is around 250k.

The 2014 race had the most attend it since 1994.

 

[Furinkazen]

The 2014 race had the most attend it since 1994.

But other than that one event, attendances are poor.

 

[Eva]

But other than that one event, attendances are poor.

I don't think so. I'll have to look at the attendance figures, but I'm pretty sure the Indy 500 itself is consistently gaining.

 

[Furinkazen]

I don't think so. I'll have to look at the attendance figures, but I'm pretty sure the Indy 500 itself is consistently gaining.

Yes, other than the 500..

 

[GTPorsche]

In actual news: Bryan Herta Autosport has just announced Gabby Chaves as the driver of the #98.

http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e0b13375bcdbc406d160b74c7&id=ea7f504481 The url might look odd, but it's their press release for the announcement.

 

[mustafur]

But other than that one event, attendances are poor.

Been the story since the split.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Indycar hasn't been a Rival For F1

That much I agree with. IndyCar has never been a rival to Formula 1, except perhaps domestically - and then only because Formula 1 was absent from the United States for a decade. It lacks the broad international appeal of being a "World" championship, and while it's the FIA that controls that designation, a series needs to meet certain requirements before it can be considered as a "World" championship, and IndyCar has never come close.

That's the problem with your assumption that the FIA is trying to hold IndyCar back to stop it from competing with Formula 1 - you're overlooking the flaws within the series that would stop it from competing with Formula 1 if it was given the equality that you think has been denied.

Why do you think that races like Baltimore and Sao Paulo and Brasilia are collapsing? It's not because of FIA interference.

 

[GTPorsche]

The Brasilia race was due to Brazilian government not budgeting properly, and that even goes back to the World Cup stadiums they built.

 

[TDZdave]

Id think the biggest issue with NASCAR is that they go to the same tracks twice, and if you include the champions race Charlotte gets 3 races, referring to the financial climate again, can people in those areas afford tickets to two events? And would you pay to see the same thing twice in the space of three months? Its doubtful I would,

And Indycar going to Indianapolis twice is the first wrong move they are doing, given its lack of popularity, then going to the same tracks as NASCAR is the second big mistake they are making,

For Indycars survival they are going to have to do the research and go to places NASCAR just wont, that may mean trying for more street circuits in less populated cities, but if its in the right location the masses will come and support a premier event as that region doesn't have one,

The other issue that motorsport has globally is that it is constantly compared to the national football leagues of their countries, you cant compare two totally different sports and expect to have the same results in attendance and viewers, specially when 90% of big name drivers in all series aren't recognised outside of their car in a standard cafe,

 

[RACECAR]

Id think the biggest issue with NASCAR is that they go to the same tracks twice, and if you include the champions race Charlotte gets 3 races, referring to the financial climate again, can people in those areas afford tickets to two events? And would you pay to see the same thing twice in the space of three months? Its doubtful I would,

And Indycar going to Indianapolis twice is the first wrong move they are doing, given its lack of popularity, then going to the same tracks as NASCAR is the second big mistake they are making,

For Indycars survival they are going to have to do the research and go to places NASCAR just wont, that may mean trying for more street circuits in less populated cities, but if its in the right location the masses will come and support a premier event as that region doesn't have one,

The other issue that motorsport has globally is that it is constantly compared to the national football leagues of their countries, you cant compare two totally different sports and expect to have the same results in attendance and viewers, specially when 90% of big name drivers in all series aren't recognised outside of their car in a standard cafe,

Please tell me you're joking.

 

[TDZdave]

Please tell me you're joking.

The thread speaks for itself, thread was opened late October and has only grown 8 pages, compare that to the 2015 nascar thread or the TUSC thread from a month before Daytona and you'll find this is the least discussed subject in north American road racing,

 

[GTPorsche]

TUSC has had a race, the NASCAR thread gets a lot of unnecessary postings.

Indycar has a fairly quiet off-season where not much gets reported.

 

[TDZdave]

TUSC has had a race, the NASCAR thread gets a lot of unnecessary postings.

Indycar has a fairly quiet off-season where not much gets reported.

So Indycar has the same amount of race hungry fans that nascar has??? Right.......

 

[GTPorsche]

So Indycar has the same amount of race hungry fans that nascar has??? Right.......

I'm not saying Indycar is just as popular because it's not nearly as popular as NASCAR, I'm just explaining why different threads have different activity.

 

[mustafur]

That much I agree with. IndyCar has never been a rival to Formula 1, except perhaps domestically - and then only because Formula 1 was absent from the United States for a decade. It lacks the broad international appeal of being a "World" championship, and while it's the FIA that controls that designation, a series needs to meet certain requirements before it can be considered as a "World" championship, and IndyCar has never come close.

That's the problem with your assumption that the FIA is trying to hold IndyCar back to stop it from competing with Formula 1 - you're overlooking the flaws within the series that would stop it from competing with Formula 1 if it was given the equality that you think has been denied.

Why do you think that races like Baltimore and Sao Paulo and Brasilia are collapsing? It's not because of FIA interference.

When did I say Indycar is being held back to not compete with F1, I said the Fia Superlicense ranking has no real reflection on the quality of each series.

Indycar as of right now has bigger budgets and arguably more quality drivers then GP2 yet is ranked lower, both series are even ranked lower then a series that doesn't even exist yet because that series has FIA in the name, it's not a feeder for F1 but the ranking should reflect the quality of the series. DTM which is run by ITR and not FIA isn't even on the list.

All the Superlicense Regulations are trying to do is kill off some European feeder series so that what is left is their own FIA Series, its obvious as hell.

 

[Northstar]

For Indycars survival they are going to have to do the research and go to places NASCAR just wont, that may mean trying for more street circuits in less populated cities, but if its in the right location the masses will come and support a premier event as that region doesn't have one,,

They are already doing this though, currently all the tracks both run at were either Open Wheel first or both have been running there since the track opened.

Indianapolis - Obviously this was an Indy first track.
Auto Club,Texas & Iowa - Both series have had events at these tracks since they opened.
Mid-Ohio - Until recently this was an IndyCar only track and the only NASCAR series that runs here is the Xfinity series.
Pocono - This one is kind of a gray area as both raced here when it first opened but open wheel was absent after 1989.
Sonoma - This is the only one where NASCAR was actually first, but given it's reputation in the road course world I don't see it as a problem.

The problem isn't with what tracks they are running, the problem is how they are being promoted along with scheduling and the financial costs of attending the races not aligning with the size of the series.

 

[GTPorsche]

Looks like Conor Daly might have put a good impression on SPM in his testing today.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2015/02/2-3-Notes-Daly-puts-forth-strong-effort-in-test

The article also features this...

It's most likely only for testing.

 

[spacecowboy73]

Why do you think that races like Baltimore and Sao Paulo and Brasilia are collapsing? It's not because of FIA interference.

Just wondering why you keep mentioning Baltimore as a failed race? The track wasn't great but I went to the race all three years and it was very well attended. The issues had to do with the first promoter then the city already had some convention scheduled for last year. I don't see how this race reflects on the series as a whole unless you have different information.

 

[Eva]

Just wondering why you keep mentioning Baltimore as a failed race? The track wasn't great but I went to the race all three years and it was very well attended. The issues had to do with the first promoter then the city already had some convention scheduled for last year. I don't see how this race reflects on the series as a whole unless you have different information.

None of the three races he mentioned were failures. It's the fact that when IndyCar made the stupid move to go March to August, Baltimore and São Paulo were cut because they were left with no room to budge. It is IndyCar's fault becausethey failed to make wise business decisions which ultimately have killed almost every event. Live attendance has never been an issue outside of Pocono. Lack of brain cells and proper promoting is the issue and unless the leadership is overhauled, we'll keep losing great races and have 7 months to wonder what if...

 

[spacecowboy73]

None of the three races he mentioned were failures. It's the fact that when IndyCar made the stupid move to go March to August, Baltimore and São Paulo were cut because they were left with no room to budge. It is IndyCar's fault becausethey failed to make wise business decisions which ultimately have killed almost every event. Live attendance has never been an issue outside of Pocono. Lack of brain cells and proper promoting is the issue and unless the leadership is overhauled, we'll keep losing great races and have 7 months to wonder what if...

Thanks for clarifying. I figured I wasn't understanding something.
I completely agree with what you said. This situation sucks.
Oh, and I hope to go to Pocono this year so I can at least help with attendance there.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It is IndyCar's fault becausethey failed to make wise business decisions which ultimately have killed almost every event.

Which is what makes those events failures. They had the potential for long-term viability, but collapsed because of mismanagement. If that's not a failure, then I am very interested to know what your definition is. Especially since the mismanagement of the series has downgraded it in the eyes of the FIA, which is in turn reflected in the lack of value under the new superlicence structure.

After all, why would the FIA conspire to undermine IndyCar and deter drivers from entering the series when they don't have to do anything but wait for the organisers to inevitably shoot themselves in the foot?

 

[mustafur]

After all, why would the FIA conspire to undermine IndyCar and deter drivers from entering the series when they don't have to do anything but wait for the organisers to inevitably shoot themselves in the foot?

The Super license nonsense doesn't undermine Indycar because the amount of drivers coming from Indycar into F1 can be counted on one hand from the last 20 years, Indycar isn't a feeder series unlike Euro F3 or GP2.

Like I said before the ranking goes more on what is fully FIA controlled rather then the actual Quality of the series which is completely wrong in soo many levels.

F2 a Series which doesn't even exist yet is ranked higher then GP2, not to mention the last time it existed had argubly less Driver Quality then British F3 had at the time.

 

[spacecowboy73]

Which is what makes those events failures. They had the potential for long-term viability, but collapsed because of mismanagement. If that's not a failure, then I am very interested to know what your definition is. Especially since the mismanagement of the series has downgraded it in the eyes of the FIA, which is in turn reflected in the lack of value under the new superlicence structure.

It makes Indycar the failure here, not the event.

After all, why would the FIA conspire to undermine IndyCar and deter drivers from entering the series when they don't have to do anything but wait for the organizers to inevitably shoot themselves in the foot?

I think the superlicense structure has some minor issues that have been pointed out, (I can't believe DTM wasn't on the list at all) but I don't see it as a deterrent for Indycar drivers since the champion can still go right to F1 and as far as I can remember, that's been the only drivers in the past that have gone, unless they were pay drivers.

 

[ukfan758]

None of the three races he mentioned were failures. It's the fact that when IndyCar made the stupid move to go March to August, Baltimore and São Paulo were cut because they were left with no room to budge. It is IndyCar's fault becausethey failed to make wise business decisions which ultimately have killed almost every event. Live attendance has never been an issue outside of Pocono. Lack of brain cells and proper promoting is the issue and unless the leadership is overhauled, we'll keep losing great races and have 7 months to wonder what if...

I would add Fontana to that....
http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/opinion/article_58a94e2e-3453-11e4-baad-001a4bcf887a.html

Only 20,000 people seems disastrous to me.

I really hope that Indycar will be able to have attendance increases as it's really disappointing to see those stands empty. It's not just Fontana, the stands are not full at any of the ovals bar IMS.

 

[Northstar]

The problem with ovals is the lack of entertainment over the weekend. Why go to an oval and see IndyCar and Indy Lights when you can go to one of the road courses and get Indy, Lights, and sports car racing as well.

Why they haven't cued onto what fans have been saying and make ovals a 1 day event is something I've been wondering. Maybe they only take advice from someone they are paying ridiculous amounts to?

 

[spacecowboy73]

There's definitely an attendance problem at ovals, but why doesn't this problem exist in Sprint Cup? Nationwide and trucks aren't support for every race they have.

 

[Northstar]

There's definitely an attendance problem at ovals, but why doesn't this problem exist in Sprint Cup?

They also have that problem, but since they had a bigger fanbase in the first place it's not as big of a deal when attendance drops a little.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

The Brasilia race was due to Brazilian government not budgeting properly, and that even goes back to the World Cup stadiums they built.

Not exactly. As a brazilian, I can explain the issue. The Distrito Federal government (our DC) was in the hands of a moron. He basically signed a deal with TV Bandeirantes, the promoter of the event, that was so absurd and irregular that the prossecusion office forbid the state to put any more cent into the works that were needed to make the Nelson Piquet Circuit able to held the event.

The moron's term of office ended is last dezember. So, the crisis fell in the hands of his successor.

The whole thing goes down to Bandeirantes trying to promote the race without spending any cent. They tried the same move last year, which led to a cancellation of that idiotic race in the ugliest bit of São Paulo.

The only relation with this mess and the World Cup is the fact that the track is situated alongside the stadium, which was used on the Cup.