I assume the last race of 2016 is around the 1st of August?? :)
bad crowds didn't help but I assume Milwaukee was a victim of collateral damage from the Andretti Sports Marketing collapse.
No question. Bad crowds came from bad racing. During USAC/CART era....the place was packed. People want real racing. Some small teams made a name at Milwaukee. Proved that the little guy could compete with the big teams. That is what made racing so attractive. Not everyone want to see Penske. Some prefer the small teams and drivers they know on a personal level. Gary B and Pancho Carter come to mind. Local favorites bring local fans.
Which is what the France family wanted all along. Mary Hulman-George and her boneheaded son Tony were hypnotized by the Pied Piper, listened to their advice and crapped all over the best racing series in the US, possibly the world. You reap what you sow. I hope it's purchased and put down like a horse with a broken leg.
Just saw the newly released 2016 Indy Car schedule. They're moved St. Petersburg up two weeks. That ain't going to go down to well in Sebring. BHW
it's the weekend before Sebring. marketed well this could be a good thing for both to gain an out of town/out of state audience...come to St Pete, hang out at the beach for a few days, go to Sebring Thurs-Sat, fly home Sunday.
NOLA didn't last long. Wonder what will become of that track. I might try to attend RA, Mid-Ohio, or Belle Isle. Gotta see how things go with the family.
Sonoma closes out the season on September 18th...guess they decided it's ok to "compete" with football season for a couple of weeks
The upcoming schedule is better than the one it replaces. Hope Boston actually takes place.....that should have a very good gate ala St. Pete and LB. RA add is fabulous (not sure of the gate and how close the schedule this race is with sports car and vintage events there) and Phoenix should be a much better draw than Fontana has been turning out. No comment about TV ratings......a number of other things need to happen beyond schedule improvement to move that needle. Glad to see they dropped the idea that the series needed to shut down before summer was over. Mexico City, COTA, I suppose they are locked via the Bernie?
They should be fine. NOLA was built first and foremost as a private/club track. I don't believe spectator events were ever counted on as being a big part of their business. It's a fun track to drive and an amazing facility from a private use standpoint with a great karting facility, on site race prep shop/dyno, private garages, and nice meeting and corporate event space. It was definitely not built with crowds of spectators in mind, and that showed at the Indy race. In the southeast, Barber is a MUCH nicer and better place to watch a race. They really do a fantastic job there with their Indy weekend.
I tend to agree with that NOLA assessment, but the real problem was weather. Stage a race during the wettest months (April & May) of the year at a track with no drainage in the middle of a swamp and wait for the mayhem. NOLA should have been scheduled in March or October. Even then it's not a track you can walk all the way around which is really the best part about spectating at a road race. The result was unfortunate but almost inevitable.
Yes, am familiar, none the less the run up to Sebring has had little to no competition for a good long while now. It won't be a popular move in Sebring. But, hey, who am I to say anything, we've got he Miami Beach Concours on the same weekend as Sebring, ha! Don't go home Sunday, come to SoBe! BHW
Jan-March is "prime time" in Florida, there's always been competition for Sebring on the calendar...other IndyCar races, Gator Nationals, not to mention any other outdoor event that is crammed in to the calendar late spring before the weather gets humid and the bugs get violent I don't think it will be an issue for the 12 hours, and could be a plus.
IndyCar and Gateway getting more serious IndyCar on a short oval in my home town. be still my heart. Gateway takes important step toward getting IndyCar race : Sports
I like NOLA also - fun track. I didn't get to do any karting there, but the facility looked amazing. It did rain one day which was fun, until it started to flood. Not sure there is a real solution to that given the elevation.
I attended the French Quarter Classic which used No Problem Raceway as their track at the time. It was the same thing. Very limited as to where spectators and photographers could go. Started venturing out to get some images and started hearing squish-squish under my feet and the next thing I knew I was ankle deep in water. No much room for drainage when a track is built in the middle of the Bayou. Do we know if Andretti Sports Marketing (or whatever its called) is still operational? Seems as though some of the partners broke away and they were going to start their own deal. BHW
This kills me to say this.......but I agree with Chas. This could be a big help for Sebring. Watching the boredom that is Indy Car could mean fans go to Sebring and see a much more diverse field with greater competition. Upon seeing such a display, it could help sports car's market appeal. Lots of neat stuff and ground level access to teams, drivers, etc could just bring the "causal" fan into a "real" fan of endurance racing.
Okay, so gotta admit, I don't get this whole aero kit thing. Originally, I thought this was intended to streamline the IR12s to make them look cooler. Nothing could have been further from reality though. These aero kits made the cars look like Spaceman Spiff's dream of what a racing car should look like (minus the gun and rocket turrets). Now, Indy Car is granting Honda the right to make their cars even uglier and Chevrolet has got their nose out of joint about it. It seems as though this aero kit debacle has backfired in so many ways that only Indy Car would double down on them. Seems a good way to lose a manufacturer and get back to those great days single manufacturer spec racing once again. Time to hit the reset button. Chevrolet 'disappointed' by Honda's IndyCar development concessions - IndyCar news - AUTOSPORT.com BHW Image Unavailable, Please Login
Seems that the current level of focus in Indy Car is whining. Whine about this, whine about that......what a bunch of wimps. As for hitting the "reset button"? How many times can you hit it and expect the thing to work again? It's time to admit that it is a major league failure and simply start over all together. Chevy is right, they did a better job. Honda needs to grow up and either step it up or get out!!! Wonder if the sport can re-visit Formula Atlantic? One engine, one chassis, one gearbox and one tire should really make for even more exciting boredom.