IndyCar Thread - Discussion on IndyCar races and its drivers

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Was at both Milwaukee races this weekend.

It was great seeing something go really right for the series for once. Place was perhaps not 100% packed but it was a good crowd. And the shows were great. Multi-lap battles for position, side by side running, lappers able to be played tactically but not really getting in the way. Big drama on the championship front and two winners I don't mind.

And finally Mark Miles maybe said something stupid enough to get fired. That'd be really great.
 
So, after a pretty great season end (I was also there) that went off pretty well, the huge motorsports-loving sponsor and promoter of the event, Scott Borchetta of Big Machine, has departed as promoter, and Penske is taking over directly.

While this sounds on the surface like another massive self-dick-stepping by Indycar, word on the street indicates otherwise. Apparently Borchetta demanded that for 'muh spectacle end of season' purposes that Indycar go to a NASCAR-style 'playoff', and Penske told him to get fucked. If true, massive respect.
 
So, after a pretty great season end (I was also there) that went off pretty well, the huge motorsports-loving sponsor and promoter of the event, Scott Borchetta of Big Machine, has departed as promoter, and Penske is taking over directly.

While this sounds on the surface like another massive self-dick-stepping by Indycar, word on the street indicates otherwise. Apparently Borchetta demanded that for 'muh spectacle end of season' purposes that Indycar go to a NASCAR-style 'playoff', and Penske told him to get fucked. If true, massive respect.
I was at Nashville, pretty good attendance for a track in a cow pasture 40 minutes from town. I just can't see it sticking around, though, no matter how well Penske promotes it.
 
I was at Nashville, pretty good attendance for a track in a cow pasture 40 minutes from town. I just can't see it sticking around, though, no matter how well Penske promotes it.
I just wish they'd do it at night. I don't know if you were one of the 5 other people who stuck around for the one ultra late practice session after the rain but it was great.
 
I just wish they'd do it at night. I don't know if you were one of the 5 other people who stuck around for the one ultra late practice session after the rain but it was great.
Sadly, no. My party had given up and gone back to the hotel when we started getting news that they were running practice.
 
Lungaard cooked Pato in qualifying
Ya love to see it. Qualifying in general was full of surprises, which is great.

And Fox isn't doing bad. They have to make some fixes to the graphics but it's okay for the first week. Harvey's shaky on delivery but he's doing all the right stuff, he'll grow into it.
 
/Lundgaard Armstrong rosenquest rossi in top 5

/fox: PATO PATO PATO HERTA HERTA HERTA HERTA

Edit- also forcing your drivers onto certain tires is the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard of
 
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Well that was okay I suppose.

And it's no different from F1 demanding two different compounds, it's just we only have two in Indycar.
 
I’m not a fan of these shitty soft tyres that can’t hold together for more than a few laps. It feels too much like a video game where you have something patched in to make a certain aspect of the game more ‘competitive’ again. Is there even any point to running them in any race if there wasn’t a requirement to run them?

A bunch of people on Reddit were complaining about lack of info like current tyre, push-to-pass, laps from last pit, etc. Maybe it’s just me but I actually prefer to have less info on-screen. The commentators can inform the audience of anything important like a driver running out of P2P. I don’t need to see all this fucking info in real time when it really doesn’t matter that much to enjoying the action on-screen.
 
I’m not a fan of these shitty soft tyres that can’t hold together for more than a few laps. It feels too much like a video game where you have something patched in to make a certain aspect of the game more ‘competitive’ again. Is there even any point to running them in any race if there wasn’t a requirement to run them?

A bunch of people on Reddit were complaining about lack of info like current tyre, push-to-pass, laps from last pit, etc. Maybe it’s just me but I actually prefer to have less info on-screen. The commentators can inform the audience of anything important like a driver running out of P2P. I don’t need to see all this fucking info in real time when it really doesn’t matter that much to enjoying the action on-screen.
Rossi shed some light on this. Apparently they wanted to force a 3-stop with softer tires and went back to an older softer spec but with the added weight of the hybrid it ended up just being too much.

Seriously, if Honda's going anyway just take the fucking things off and blow them up in the IMS infield with an eagle screech on the PA. Sell tickets for Hybrid Demolition Night.

Or just make the Honda teams run them for the rest of the time they're in the sport. Serve them right.
 
Fox had technical difficulties when the entire broadcast went down, including scoring and on-site broadcasts. They had to switch to NASCAR for about ten minutes.

ETA: It is clear to me that Palou has the mandate of heaven and McLaren is doomed.
 
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Fox had technical difficulties when the entire broadcast went down, including scoring and on-site broadcasts. They had to switch to NASCAR for about ten minutes.

ETA: It is clear to me that Palou has the mandate of heaven and McLaren is doomed.
Palou looks unstoppable (except by maybe ovals).

This race was at least okay - those late battles were great. The general reaction to the venue and price will probably doom it though.

There should be hell to pay for the broadcast. IMSP done fucked up. And lost in it all is multiple hybrid failures, maybe now that it's happened to a Penske car he'll take action. I just want us to have an event where we take them all off the cars and blow the pile of hybrid units up at IMS complete with bald eagles on the screens and engines revving all around the track.
 
This is supposed to be America's premier open wheel series and yet they're racing at a goddamn country club that can't even support a broadcast for two hours. This track needs to be dropped immediately as soon as Arlington gets on the schedule.
 
This is supposed to be America's premier open wheel series and yet they're racing at a goddamn country club that can't even support a broadcast for two hours.
NASCAR will have 36 Cup Series races this year with nearly as many in their two lower series. Practically every race in all three series has been on television for the last few decades (though Amazon is now ruining that). They promote all three racing series together often. This last weekend had three days of racing all televised and well attended. There are top level Cup drivers that race in the two lower series for money, fun, and for the fans many weekends. You can find information on races including start times easily on NASCAR's websites and social media.

Indycar has a paltry 17 races this year at its top level. Its lower series might as well not even exist as they are almost never promoted, no one attends them, and they barely get a minute on television (or streaming). The series has a terrible website and social media presence. The series does not have a modern video game and struggles with its relationship with iRacing.
This track needs to be dropped immediately as soon as Arlington gets on the schedule.
It's literally there because the people who own the Thermal Club are financing it all. It's owned by some gas company billionaire who built a private racing club that costs $7 million to join as part of the membership is building a $5 million mansion somewhere on the grounds as well as a garage and owning some sports cars. These type of people are who Roger Penske wants as fans of Indycar. Not average men and women that want to attend a race or two, play a video game, and follow the series on television.
 
It's literally there because the people who own the Thermal Club are financing it all. It's owned by some gas company billionaire who built a private racing club that costs $7 million to join as part of the membership is building a $5 million mansion somewhere on the grounds as well as a garage and owning some sports cars. These type of people are who Roger Penske wants as fans of Indycar. Not average men and women that want to attend a race or two, play a video game, and follow the series on television.
I broadly agree with this as much as I also think:
  • The state of affairs where the only new road racing tracks going in are these bullshit country clubs is dangerous for American racing
  • It's not the best look for Indycar at all
  • It would be better to be elsewhere.
At the same time, they want Indycar, they pay for it, and that's rare these days. I'm not sure they can choose not to currently.
 
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