2014 Indy 500

What a great race! Three wide into T1 was crazy and it was so close to working. Needless to say I was disappointed as Hinchcliffe was putting in a decent run.

Great run by Karam and not bad at all for KB and his first attempt at the Indy. He didn't appear to do much from what I saw besides just run the race but he was clearly on pace.

The finish, as exciting as it was, made me sad. I was rooting for Helio or Marco to take the overall win. RHR took the win but that was a hell of a race. Did anyone else see that pass in the last few laps where it looked like he dropped a wheel on the grass?

 

He had a good foot of space. I didn't see it properly that is why I was asking, the booze from the previous night was still kicking.

 

I know what you mean and do agree on that. They gotta do something to try spicing it up for the average person.

Who saw the crash with Hinch/Ed/Bell near the end? I'm a little disappointed as Hinch looks like he was holding the inside line well. Not sure how delayed the spotter voice is but it looked like he never said anything about the guy on the inside.

It looked to me like EC, even though was furious, was the one who cut down after rubbing up to Bell. Am I on the right track on this one?

 

Yeah, this from a guy who's spinning doughnuts in swamps, fighting gorillas, etc. while slugging down endless Mountain Dews.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNh18bRw_0k]Dale Earnhardt Jr. Call | Diet Mountain Dew Commercial - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=045N_1nvGrw]Dale Earnhardt Jr. Amp and Gorilla Commercial - YouTube[/ame]

Pot please let me introduce you to kettle.

BHW

 

My gf really wondered wtf was gong on at this point.

 

Yeah, I saw the video but was probably only half paying attention to it until it was
raised on Jalopnik on Monday.

The ratings are in and the Indy 500 garnered a 4 share, up slightly from last year.

BHW

 

I thought it was a little dumb at first but I watched the clips and if you look at HC on board you could see that Hinch was fairly blatant about the move. It was not a last second divebomb inside like we see on some road courses. If you watch him track he was fully committed onto the inside of the track, by the white line, until EC turned into him.

EC was a threat as well so it was to bad to see him smash the wall, especially being a smaller team.

 

The rest of the items put up a good fight for her to join me next year. If not next year I will be attending the 100th running no doubt.

 

I blame EC's spotter, who kept saying "Outside, outside" without mentioning "Inside" until it was too late. How could EC have known Hinch was there? With his spotter's info, he had to concentrate on Bell on his outside, and realizing that Townsend was not backing down, had to move down to give him some room. Poor Ed was the victim of a lack of information.

 

I was wondering why he said nothing and thought maybe a delay was implemented. That is the point I was referring to noting the Hinch clearly was going for the inside line not a late dive that would have stunned the spotter.

 

Kurt Busch named Indy 500 Rookie of the Year:

Andretti Autosport driver Kurt Busch has been named the winner of the prestigious 2014 Sunoco Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Award for his performance during the 98th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on Sunday, May 25 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the first Verizon IndyCar Series race of his career, Busch, in his #26 Andretti Autosport Suretone Honda, was the fastest qualifier (12th) and highest finisher (6th) among the seven rookies in this year's Indianapolis 500. In addition to the prestige of being named Sunoco Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, Busch also earned a $25,000 bonus from Sunoco as part of his total race winnings of $423,889. Busch was presented with his award Monday night at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Indianapolis 500 Victory Awards Celebration.(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)(5-28-2014)

 

The ratings are also in for NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 and it beat everyone including the Indy 500.

The Indy 500 is such an iconic race. An American institution and I think its a shame that Indycars biggest race of the year couldn't out draw just another Sunday NASCAR race. I wonder how many of those that watched the Indy 500 were actually NASCAR fans that tuned in to watch Kurt Bush.


Charlotte TV Ratings: Saturday (5/24) night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway posted a 4.1/9 household rating/share and 7.0 million viewers on FOX according to national figures released by Nielsen. It was the most-watched sports telecast of the weekend, out-distancing such high-profile events as Pacers-Heat on ESPN (6.8 million) and the Indianapolis 500 on ABC (5.9 million, according to Nielsen fast nationals). The Coca-Cola 600 led FOX to be the No. 1 network in rating and audience in prime time among all broadcast and cable competition. The audience for the Coca-Cola 600 peaked at 9.3 million viewers at 10:30 pm/et.(FOX).(5-28-2014)

 

Hard to believe.

Having caught portions of the 600, it was a borefest.

It would be interesting to know how many of those people actually watched the 600 all
the way through vs. those who just tuned in for a few minutes.

Being in prime time likely helps them but after the Monaco GP in the morning, Indy in
the afternoon, I was just about raced out by the time the roundy-round boys came on.

BHW

 

my position as well. after watching Monaco (ho hum) then indy (really great race), I was just bored w/ the 600 and did not make it much beyond the half way mark.

I think the timing had some to do with the viewership.

 

With it being a Holiday weekend I bet a lot of people were out during the day doing a BBQ or the beach or whatever so watching any TV midday wasn't a high priority. It says the peak viewing for the Coke 600 was 10:30 pm which is about the time everyone is settled in and with nothing else on they tuned into the race.

I watched the F1 race, the pre race and start of the Indy 500 before going out to enjoy my Sunday at the beach. After dinner with some friends I got home to see the second half of the Coke 600 so I can see how they got the ratings.

Certainly racing in prime time is a big advantage and NASCAR tries hard to be there. Perhaps its time for Indycar to ditch tradition, plug in a few lights and run the Indy 500 into prime time.