2012 Indy Lites 500

[Dare]

Two things ,one is where are the fans?Maybe NBC should computer
generate some and dos,I hate races that end on a yellow flag!At
least NASCAR gets that right

[cosworth151]

Why not have 25% fewer fans? The cars had 25% fewer cylinders! 

Seriously, I wonder how many fans were ducking under the stands to find some shade.

[lkjohnson1950]

Despite the empty seats, the attendance was given as around 300,000. How many GPs have that many? Given the heat and the fact that Tony did everything in his power to kill the 500 for years, I don't think that's too bad.

[cosworth151]

I don't think Tony had anything to do with the turbo stifled minivan engines, the screwed up quali procedure, the graffiti on the track walls, the NASCAR style start-&-park cars to fill out the field.....

[lkjohnson1950]

Sure he did. His determination to destroy CART and it's subsequent IDs nearly killed off Open Wheel racing in the US. When the fans stopped coming to practice and qualifying to watch drivers they never heard of go flat out around the track and not even get close to the walls, Tony shortened up the racing month. The minivan engines have more power, speeds were up. The cars provided interesting, close racing. Was the move to new equipment well planned? No. Will it be good for IndyCar in the long run, I think so. I don't car how many cylinders the engines have. I didn't care in F1 when they went from 4s to 6s to 8s to 12s to turbos to 12s, to 10s and back to 8s. I just want them to have enough power to make the driver think about when he puts his foot down, which they don't seem to have in F1 any more.

[cosworth151]

CART had long since lost to NASCAR with its elitist attitude. Tony saved what was left. I remember being in the L.A. area in 1996. I stayed in the same hotel with the Penske and Green teams. Team Kool Green, as it was called then, held a reception in the hotel bar one night. Most of the patrons, including me, were in a corner of the room watching a 60's NASCAR race on ESPN Classic.

NASCAR found out years ago that the number of cylinders matter very much here in America. They tried to the Nationwide (then called Busch) Series V6 based. Attendance and viewership plummeted.

Formula 1 is apparently learning this. It looks like the mandated V6 turbos will be put back even further.

[Jericoke]

CART had long since lost to NASCAR with its elitist attitude. Tony saved what was left. I remember being in the L.A. area in 1996. I stayed in the same hotel with the Penske and Green teams. Team Kool Green, as it was called then, held a reception in the hotel bar one night. Most of the patrons, including me, were in a corner of the room watching a 60's NASCAR race on ESPN Classic.

I know we disagree on CART vs IRL.  (As a non-American, IRL was very insulting, 'nuff said.)  But I LOVE 60's NASCAR.  I don't watch very much of it, I just don't have the time, but they were driving real cars on the race track.  Not some computer generated hyper regulated V8 tucked into a space age billboard.  Just a Mercury, or Pontiac or Dodge off the show room fitted with the biggest engine and tires they could find.

I can appreciate the need for 'safety', but damn if they can't find a way to bring that spirit back to motor racing.  I guess that's what I love about F1.  There are 12 unique cars out there.  I suppose that's why people love WRC... it's about as close to 60s NASCAR as you can get in the 'big time'.

[Dare]

I can't believe no one called me out on the thread Indy Lites 500,it's
Indy Lights 100   

[lkjohnson1950]

Cos, you are the only one in the world who thinks Tony "saved" anything. Even his family finally recognized that he didn't have a clue and showed him the door. If he had unbent a little and really tried to find a compromise when the owners realized they needed to be at Indy a lot of grief might have been avoided. But he was determined to "win" and prove that they were all wrong and he was right, and nearly killed the whole thing. The V8s were the slowest cars at Indy in 20 years. They may have sounded pretty, but they were boring. This year with the minivan motors was the most interesting race in years. I wish they would open up the rules and allow all kinds of engines and chassis, but they are set on cost saving so we're stuck with what we got. They're ugly and they sound funny, but they're fast. So be it.

[cosworth151]

Actually, many of the team owners are backing Tony. They, like most Indy fans, want Bernard and his econo-boxes gone.

[Scott]

From a Canadian perspective, the IRL-CART war and then merge only meant that we lost races (although they have been returned), and until then Canadian fans really felt that CART was a North American series, with a decent showing of Canadian drivers and Canadian races (unlike NASCAR which Canadians have never felt part of). 

The feeling we got from the IRL camp was that they wanted to return it to a US only series on almost only ovals (since there are no oval tracks capable of holding an IRL race in Canada).  Combine that with the way Forsythe Racing and Team Green (the former a Canadian based team, the latter was our adopted team led by Paul Tracy) were being treated by Tony...well, it wasn't hard to figure out that the IRL couldn't care a less about the Canadian fan. 

Even if it was easy for me to watch over here (which it is not), I don't bother.

Tony fan?  Not me... 

[Dare]

Actually, many of the team owners are backing Tony. They, like most Indy fans, want Bernard and his econo-boxes gone.

I can't recall any teams discussing how much they
miss Tony.You have any links?I'd like to hear both sides
of the story

[cosworth151]

Sorry, Dare. I thought I had put this link in the original post:

http://blog.masslive.com/racinwithjason/2012/05/rumors_and_reports_of_strife_within_izod_indycar_series_spoil_indianapolis_500_boost.html

[Dare]

Thanks Cos.Seems like Michael Andretti has really pitched in
to keep IRL going as much as anyone.

I like the idea of the different engines but really hate to
see Indy become a spec series.Some times the good old
days were indeed the good old days.

[John S]

Sorry, Dare. I thought I had put this link in the original post:

http://blog.masslive.com/racinwithjason/2012/05/rumors_and_reports_of_strife_within_izod_indycar_series_spoil_indianapolis_500_boost.html

As far as I can make out this is just Chevrolet powered teams hacked off about the turbo row that saw Indycar allow a change to Honda's single turbo boost to bring some parity amongst the engine outputs.

If the Chevy teams are allowed to bully the Indycar authorities then they'll end up with a spec series by default, when rule makers can't enforce it's the end of competition.