Notes Taken During the 2013 IndyCar Race at Long Beach

Tacuma Sato celebrates with some of the Japanese media who shadow him at every
IndyCar event.

Notes taken during the NBC Sports Network broadcast of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 21, 2013.

Welcome to Long Beach. Have some lovely Chablis and chill. pressdog® DRINK, ye BASTARDS® Beer of the Race is Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA proudly brewed in Chico, California.

Cue the HAT (running order at the top of the screen). Word up to my posse in the B Unit (creates the on-screen graphics and runs the hat). I picture them in the truck wearing huge surfer shorts and flip-flops all like “dude, tasty race.”

Starting lineup brought to you by Trackside Online, a reader-supported subscription news service that sends actual humans to get actual original content from every IndyCar race and most major tests. Big boss Patrick was on duty in Long Beach this weekend. Be like the pdog and subscribe today.

SP Car Driver Name C/E/T Tire

1 10 Franchitti, Dario D/H/F Alternate
2 1 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/C/F Alternate
3 12 Power, Will D/C/F Alternate
4 14 Sato, Takuma D/H/F Primary
5 17 Conway, Mike D/H/F Primary
6 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/F Alternate
7 27 Hinchcliffe, James D/C/F Primary
8 11 Kanaan, Tony D/C/F Alternate
9 83 Kimball, Charlie D/H/F Alternate
10 5 Viso, EJ D/C/F Alternate
11 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F Alternate
12 4 Hildebrand, JR D/C/F Alternate
13 16 Jakes, James D/H/F Primary
14 2 Allmendinger, AJ D/C/F Primary
15 7 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F Alternate
16 67 Newgarden, Josef D/H/F Alternate
17 77 Pagenaud, Simon D/H/F Primary
18 22 Servia, Oriol D/C/F Primary
19 78 de Silvestro, Simona D/C/F Primary
20 6 Saavedra, Sebastian D/C/F Alternate
21 98 Tagliani, Alex D/H/F Primary
22 18 Beatriz, Ana D/H/F Primary
23 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F Primary
24 19 Wilson, Justin D/H/F Primary
25 25 Andretti, Marco D/C/F Primary
26 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F Primary
27 55 Vautier, Tristan (R) D/H/F Primary

(R) Rookie (C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone

Pursuant to Rule 15.6.1 (unapproved engine change), Car 55 starting in position 27.

Brian Till is in the booth for Leigh Diffey who worked the F1 booth earlier Sunday, along with Wally Dallenbach Jr. and Townsend Bell. Kevin Lee, Marty Snider and Jon Beekhuis are the pit infantry.

Replays of last year when Dario speared JoeNew (Joseph Newgarden) into the tires on Lap 1, Turn 1. Dario claimed one of them racing deals. Ahhh, I’m not convinced, hence my use of the word SPEAR.

Let’s light this candle … we’re GREEN.

Clowns in amazement! Everyone is through turn 1 without any of them racing deals, and then Vautier spears Dixon’s car in the ass and send him ass around in a subsequent corner. Dixon keeps it going and continues. Wing damage for Vautier ... and a penalty for advoidable conteact for his trouble (drive through). 

Lap 3 -- Cue the circus music! Yellow yellow yellow … Saavedra biffs it in Turn 9. The tire mound in Turn 9 has a fearsome appetite for cars, especially those whose drivers are wildly optimistic about maximum corner speed. Saavedra drove under Simona, into the corner way to fast and RAM, right into the tires. Maybe Simona waved as she drove by the crunched Saavedra. (Kidding.) A tiny fish taco truck pulls up and 19 clowns get up to draw geometric corning diagrams for Saavedra.

Marco pits for a new nose courtesy of opening lap mayhem. Back of the pack pits for a top off. If “top off” or “nothing to lose” is your drinking term, DRINK, ye BASTARDS.

After a four-lap yellow to haul off the Saavedra car carcass, on Lap 7 we’re GREEN.

RHR … sling shot, engaged … CLEAR. RHR leads. Dario says “the eff you say” and re-inhales RHR into the fountain turn. Holy Myron Floren … it’s the dreaded ACCORDION EFFECT at the fountain.

Cue the Italian Waltz …

We got people bashing people going into the one-wide fountain exit. Even the bronze dolphins on top of the fountain are like “WFT?” (Dolpins apaprently speak like Yoda. Make that "WTF?" and see helpful comment below!)

Lap 18 -- Marty “Get off the” Snider says the festive words we all long to hear on street races ... “fuel saving mode.” (DRINK, ye BASTARDS.) Our hearts leap with unbridled joy … we also drink a little more heavily.

Lap 10 -- Dario, RHR, Sato, Power, Hinch, Kimball, Rahal, Kanaan, Viso, Conweezy.

Lap 20 -- (insert lockstep here) Dario, RHR, Sato, Power, Hinch, Kimball, Rahal, TK, Viso, Conweezy.

Lap 23 -- Sato says “don’t mind if I do” and inhales RHR for P2. Theorizing that RHR’s red tires are going to shit and Sato on the blacks has more grip at this juncture.

Lap 27 -- Pit stops commence.

Cue the circus music! Lap 30 -- Tags and Kimball are into the tires. Kimball got all optimistic and dove under Tags for the corner, cooked it, nosed into the tires and Tagliani (now behind Chuck) had no place to go. Biff.

A tiny motorbike pulls up and 19 clowns get off and sell fish tacos to the crowd while the four-lap cleanup commences.

Sato pitted on Lap 28. Yellow out on Lap 30. Power and Wilson (P1 & 2 at the time) pit under yellow. Sato leads. Sato can address his festive thank you notes to Tagliani and Kimball for that yellow. Rahal pitted on Lap 26 and similarly benefited.

Lap 34 -- GREEN. Restarts are putrid-looking at Long Beach. First three or four rows are two wide, the rest just stay single file and gun it when the green comes out. The result is some four-wide coming to the line. Cue the circus music! Hinch bashes the inside wall in Turn 1. Ran out of room. TK outside him, Hinch inside … tears. And we’re yellow yellow yellow.

Dario and Rahal passed Power on the last restart.

Lap 38 -- Green. Standard unsightly restart. Power gets overtaken by about five cars.

Lap 40 -- Wilson overtakes someone. Not sure who it was. Might have been NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Checking ye ole lap chart … it was Servia. Running order: Sato, Rahal, Dario, Vautier, TK, Pagenaud, Power, Wilson, Servia, Simona.

Bell reports Power threw a block party for Wilson … insert chorus of angry “not blocking, DEFENDING!” corrections here … But, no matter, because Wilson passes Power, who’s car has to be crap or something given his stone-like drop in the order.

Lap 42 -- Sato stretching out. 4 seconds ahead. Wilson around TK. Bell makes the MAJOR NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT that the Indy 500 is 80% of the reason Honda is in IndyCar. They he says it’s pretty much the reason anyone is in IndyCar at all. I couldn’t have been more shocked if my I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet!* (*Denotes extreme sarcasm.) Idea: IndyCar should make signs for all the non-Indy tracks that say “WELCOME TO THE UNDERCARD.” Please, Townsend, continue to remind those of us out here in the sticks that our races aren’t really that important. Promoters of races outside Indy love to hear such things. Thanks much! But get your tickets to the non-Indy 500 races today!!

Lap 50 -- Cue the circus music! RHR is nosed first into the tires. Dreaded Turn 8. Replay. Dove under Bia and BOOM, into the tires. IndyCar announces that Saavedra, RHR and Kimball will have to retake geometry class next term.

Sato drives into the open pits to get his last stop under yellow. Dashes off another festive thank-you note, this time to RHR. Sato out on sticker reds. Gonna take a brain fade for him to lose this now.

Cue the circus music! Speaking of brain fade. Vautier’s crew waves him out of the pit RIGHT into the side of Power who was coming in to pit in front of him. Vautier’s nose is trashed and Power’s rear bumper/tire guard device is mangled. Now Allmendinger is toast in the run off. Not sure why. It’s NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Appears to be a mechanical though because no damage etc.

Power back into the pit to get the pod cut off with a sawzall. It looked like Power either stuck a fist up in the air going by Vautier’s pit OR gave them the finger. The hand was definitely way up there, but I couldn’t tell if the finger was extended. Power is fond of the bird, as we know.

Marty with RHR who said he was just starting to get desperate in the back of the field and made an ill-advised move. Kevin says “fuel savings.” DRINK, ye BASTARDS.

Lap 55 -- GREEN. Kimball goes nose first into the tires but is back underway. Marco under Simona for P8. Clear. Kimball pits for a new nose. Pags is like Iceman in Top Gun … TOTALLY DEFENSIVE.” Marco pops Pags in the rear with his nose wing. The rear wheel guards that Bell finds “silly” probably saved Pags from a cut tire there. Some discussion in here as to if the red tires will last to the end or maybe Tony Kanaan, first car on blacks, will pick off a few people. Jon says the reds should last longer this stint than they did earlier in in the race because the track is well rubbered now, making it less abrasive. Jon is always right.

Bourdais into the runoff in Turn 1. Bourdais has had brain lock late this year. Had an off late at Barber too.

Lap 56 through 70 -- Running order remains Sato, Rahal, Wilson, Dario, TK, Servia. Lock step at front with some “can Rahal catch Sato?” and tire speculation in here. During that time Hildebrand passed Simona, Pagenaud, and Marco on the track (no pit stop parlor tricks) get to P7.

Lap 75 -- Sato, Rahal, Wilson, Dario, TK, Servia, Hildebrand, Marco, Pagenaud, Simona.

Sato will win barring air strike. Last win for AJ Foyt racing was Kansas 2002. Last road race win for AJ Foyt racing was 1978 per Mr. Till. Sato will be the first Japanese driver to win in IndyCar (barring air strike or brain fade, both of which are possible on street courses).

Speaking of brain fade, TK into the tires in T1. But wait, who had the fade? Looks like a racin' deal with Servia. Local yellow? Seriously? TK’s is seriously exposed here. I don’t agree with this local yellow. Festival of Not Wanting to Finish Under Yellow. Sato’s pit posse is all up on his radio (and we were allowed to hear it!) about where TK is and how he needs to stay right coming through there. Good work there.

Sato gets by the wounded TK car and THEN we go yellow. Larry Foyt frothing on the radio “you’re the champion!” Sato frothing back “that’s really nice" (among other frothing). Larry with Marty: “happy for this group. Worked so hard. Too bad dad (AJ) isn’t there to share it. (AJ Foyt in the hospital getting ready for some surgery). Larry said Sato drove the perfect race today." Hard to argue.

Sato out. One of the Japanese photogs runs to the car in victory lane I think to deliver a Japanese flag. There is always a group of Japanese photos following the Japanese drivers in IndyCar around. They’re clearly ON FIRE about this. Sato out. Gets hoisted up by pretty much every crew member one at a time.

A few notes kicked out by IndyCar PR --

TAKUMA SATO – AJ FOYT RACING – WINNER OF THE TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH

• This is Takuma Sato’s first career Indy car win. His previous best finish was second at Edmonton 2012.
• Sato’s win comes in his 52nd IZOD IndyCar Series start. He is the first Japanese driver to win in Indy car.
• Sato’s previous best finish at Long Beach was eight in 2012.
• This the 44th Indy car win for AJ Foyt Racing. The team’s last win came with Airton Dare at Kansas 2002.

GRAHAM RAHAL – RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING – SECOND

• This is Graham Rahal’s first podium finish of the 2013 season. 
• This is a career best finish for Rahal at Long Beach. His previous best finish was 8th in 2007
• Team owner and father Bobby Rahal finished second as a driver at Long Beach four times (1988, 1991-1993).
• This is Rahal’s best finish since Texas 2012, where he also finished second.

JUSTIN WILSON – DALE COYNE RACING – THIRD

• This is Justin Wilson’s third podium finish at Long Beach. He finished second twice (2006, ’10)
• This is Wilson’s best finish since he won at Texas in June 2012 and his second podium finish since 2010.

Administrative Law Judge Beauxford T. Justice (steward Beaux Barfield) initially gave Servia a 30-second penalty for avoidable contact with Kanaan, but then after contemplation and further review, rescinded said penalty and declared Servia NOT GUILTY. Court adjourned. Here endeth the record. Court adjourned.

That’s it from Long Beach. Trackside online finishing order …

OFFICIAL BOX SCORE IZOD IndyCar Series Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 21, 2013

1. 14 Takuma Sato ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda 80 Running
2. 15 Graham Rahal Midas/Big O Tires Honda 80 Running
3. 19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda 80 Running
4. 10 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 Running
5. 4 JR Hildebrand National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet 80 Running
6. 22 Oriol Servia Panther DRR Chevrolet 80 Running
7. 25 Marco Andretti RC Cola Chevrolet 80 Running
8. 77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda 80 Running
9. 78 Simona de Silvestro Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet 80 Running
10. 3 Helio Castroneves Auto Club Team Penske Chevrolet 80 Running
11. 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 Running
12. James Jakes Acorn Stairlifts Honda 80 Running
13. 67 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda 80 Running
14. 18 Ana Beatriz Ipiranga Honda 80 Running
15. 7 Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Racing Chevrolet 80 Running
16. 12 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Honda 80 Running
17. 55 Tristan Vautier (R) Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 80 Running
18. 20 Ed Carpenter Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 80 Running
19. 98 Alex Tagliani Barracuda Racing Honda 79 Running
20. 11 Tony Kanaan Hydroxycut KV Racing Technology-SH Racing 78 Contact
21. 83 Charlie Kimball NovoLog FlexPen Honda 78 Running
22. 5 EJ Viso Team Venezuela-Andretti Autosport-HVM Chevrolet 53 Running
23. 2 AJ Allmendinger Penske Automotive Chevrolet 51 Mechanical
24. 1 Ryan Hunter-Reay DHL Chevrolet 49 Contact
25. 17 Mike Conway blu eCigs Honda 38 Electrical
26. 27 James Hinchcliffe GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 34 Contact
27. 6 Sebastian Saavedra Dragon Racing Chevrolet 1 Contact

Time of Race: 01:50:08.7155 Avg Speed: 85.763
Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Lead Changes: 4
Caution Laps: 16
Fastest Lap: 102.619 mph ( 69.0401 sec) on lap 45 by 5 - EJ Viso Fastest Leader Lap: 102.404 mph ( 69.1851 sec) on lap 70 by 14 - Takuma Sato
Verizon P1 Award: Dario Franchitti (1:07.2379; 105.369 mph)
Bonus Awards: Takuma Sato ($35,000), Graham Rahal ($25,000), Justin Wilson ($20,000), Dario Franchitti ($15,000), JR Hildebrand ($10,000)

Legend: R = Rookie All Cars use fourth-generation Dallara chassis (IR12) and Firestone Tires

Penalties: 55 Avoidable Contact Lap 2 Drive-Through, 55 Pit Safety Infraction 56 Drive-Through.

Driver points: Helio 99, Sato 93, Dixon 89, Marco 87, Wilson 81, Rahal 66, Power 62, de Silvestro 62, Hinchcliffe 61.

How about Justin Wilson? Classic road course schwerve here:

Started P 24, pitted during yellow on P3, passed people on the track up to P17 by Lap 17, gained two more spots when people pitted in front of him on Laps 18 & 19, another spot via pit stop on Lap 22, then advanced to P2 during the festival of pitting that started on Lap 27 (that Lap 3 top off at work here), pitted and came out in P13.

Passed people on the track from Lap 41 to 50 to advance to P6, got another spot via pit stop, pitted with virtually the entire field from P3 under yellow on lap 51 (Merry Christmas! You’re back on pit sequence!) and came out in P4, then overtook Dario under green on P56 (Dario gave a jab at a daft backmarker for causing this overtake)and lock stepped it home in P3.

So it was a combo of him inhaling people on the track under green and and going off sequence early to get some yellow magic. Just like you draw it up.

More thoughts on the IndyCar race later. Catch my thoughts on the F1 race from Bahrain earlier in the day here.

Lap Chart, starting and finishing order courtesy of IndyCar PR.

Next up, Brazil, 11 a.m. Eastern May 5, NBC Sports Network.

Related articles

Takuma Sato captures Grand Prix of Long Beach to become first Japanese driver to win in IndyCar

VIDEO: Takuma Sato the first Japanese driver to win IndyCar race, Long Beach Grand Prix 2013

Sato 1st Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race

Comments

[Rob]

My favorite moment was them showing 2 cars side by side talking about how much bravery they'd have to have coming into the corner... then cut to watch Franchitti sitting in the pits... then cut back to two cars crashed. Nice bit of directing there...

[ramblinman]

Team AJ Foyt and Takuma Sato win! This is HUGE news for IndyCar. At Long Beach no less. Congrats to the little guys who never give up!

[Concerned Fan]

Apparently TK got out of his car shortly before the full course yellow came out... that's probably the reason they did it.

[ramblinman]

...and congrats to the BIG guy too! Hardly fitting to call a legend a "little guy". My bad.

[billytheskink]

Was very surprised that TK climbed out of his car under a local yellow.

It was quite the entertaining street race, though I think one day we will discover a series of memos proving that the Indycar schedule became so street course-heavy as a part of their deal with Dallara. The guy who sells front wings for them was watching Long Beach with $$ in his eyes.

[Tom G.]

Probably the worst NBC broadcast in their 3+ years of showing races. I don't know what they need to do, but the Bell & Dallenbach festival of speculation on tire strategies while passes are happening on track has got to stop.

Major beer spew when Bell said Indy was 80% of the reason for Honda being in the series. Lord knows they aren't there for the NBC ratings...

and as Rob pointed out, who the hell was directing?

otherwise entertaining race. 3 little fish on the podium is sweet. Death Star BLOWN UP SIR!

[John S]

WTF ? Love your work 'Dog, but please review, the bronze dolphins were saying what?

[John S]

Picture gives me a giggle. Japanese driver and press in a Honda powered car in front of the Toyota billboard. Good Time Fun. Might be nice if the race cars go fast (ie oval)

[Chris Lukens]

Great recap P-dawg. As an avowed ovalista, I have to give this race an 8.5 out of 10 rating. As the laps wound down I thought it would be great if Sato won, a great win for AJ. And also I thought it would be great if Graham won, a great win for... well, for Graham.

My thoughts on the broadcast team. Yes, the director missed a couple of important incidents, but I think Brian Till did an excellent job. In an effort to get away from ABC’s Scott “is this a golf match” Goodyear’s monotone NBCSP went to Leigh “my hair is on fire” Diffey’s screaming. I think Till is a nice compromise. Although I think Jon Beekhuis in the pits is a waste of talent, I would like to see him back in the booth.

I had to laugh when one of the booth guys remarked about “those silly rear bumpers”. I noticed that several cars were without them by the end of the race.

[Chiefswon]

I look forward to reading your notes after every race. So fun to read! Thanks Bill!

[Jeremy from Harrisburg]

@Chris: That description of Goodyear and Diffey is the best spew inducing line I've seen in a comment post in a long time.

@Pressdog: I believe the rear tire guard thingys are called "Kardashians".

[Ron Ford]

With all due respect to those fans who are always clamoring for more American drivers, I wonder what they must think about a Japanese driver winning for that legendary American driver A.J. Foyt.

[vern]

Nice to see Sato win instead of a big team, although it would have benefitted Indycar much more if Graham could have won, but that's probably not a guarantee either as doesn't seem to matter whoever wins?? No one knows what the fans or viewing fans want to see anyway except as I say you cant make people watch and its tough to market a dead horse? No I didn't see the race, just checked the results etc online and from forums, as I don't get the network. Nice to see Dario somewhat back although it wasn't a win, but he didn't have the black cloud and bad luck over him apparently given his finish? Looks like some AA drivers got carried away being reckless--that'll teach em--well--maybe not??

[The Speedgeek]

"Please, Townsend, continue to remind those of us out here in the sticks that our races aren’t really that important. Promoters of races outside Indy love to hear such things. Thanks much!"

Well, 'Dog, I guess I just don't understand your continuing hypersensitivity to when somebody points out that the Indy 500 is the biggest race of the INDY Car (extra caps are mine for emphasis) Series. Acknowledging that doesn't mean "buy tickets for the 500 instead of going to the track that's just 1-2 hours away from your house!" It can just as easily be taken as "check out the race that takes place just 1-2 hours from your house, where you can see all the drivers that race in the World Famous Indianapolis 500 Mile Sweepstakes!" Have local track promoters not been using that exact rationale as a carrot to get people out to their track since, like, the 1920s? Or even earlier? Do you really think that the promoters at Iowa or Toronto or St. Pete or wherever think that their event is exactly the same as Indy in the eyes of the drivers, teams and fans when every other race carries a fraction of the history, attendance and TV ratings as the big dog does?

I'm not saying that the Series shouldn't bother doing promos for all the other races. Not at all. Quite the contrary. There are more gains to be made in attendance and overall eyeballs at every race outside the 500 (which, after all, does reach probably a 90-95% sell out level every year). I just don't think there is any harm done in mentioning what the biggest race is. Do the Martinsville guys get snippy when DW and Larry Mac wax rhapsodical about Daytona?

[pressdog]

As a I pay attention to NASCAR, Geek, I rarely if ever hear anyone wax rhapsodical about Daytona or any other race over another. Ford,Chevy and Toyota aren't in NASCAR just for one race. It's a big advantage, in my view, for NASCAR that they don't have one dominant race. Second, you don't sit at Bob and Sally's dinner table and go on and on about how awesome dinner is at Jeff and Susan's, or you're likely not to get invited back to Bob and Sally's any time soon. I ranted at length about this recently: http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/2013/04/uncle-pressdogs-222.html

[The Speedgeek]

I...almost don't know where to start with that. I think the reason we (or, you, I suppose, since I've only watched about 10 total minutes of NASCAR since mid-February) might not hear as much about Daytona at this point of the season is because it's in the past at this point. If it were anywhere in mid-season, it would most certainly loom larger than, say, a March race at Phoenix or an April race at Martinsville. Why? Ratings, attendance and prestige. If Greg Sacks and Derrike Cope were to walk into a room, would they get the same amount of attention? Career wins: Sacks - 1, Cope - 2, but one of those Cope wins came in the NASCAR version of the Super Bowl (not my phrase, just the phrase that you'll hear in reference to Daytona about 2,500 times between December and February), so more people know who Cope is (or maybe they know who Cope is because of his nieces...you'd have to ask The Orange Cone).

Like them, hate them or feel indifferently to them (I've got a mixture of all three), these are the facts: in IndyCar, one race has an attendance well in excess of double (probably closer to triple or quadruple) the second highest attended race. That same race gets a TV rating of triple or quadruple the next highest race, and in the region of 10x higher than basically every race that is shown on premium cable. That same race has existed nearly three times longer than the third longest running race on the schedule (that's Long Beach; Milwaukee has been around longer than Indy but obviously is not as big for all the same reasons I'm talking about), and has existed for 5 to 20 times longer than every race outside of the two I just mentioned in that last parenthetical. These are the reasons Indy gets so much attention. Even though not every American watches it, I'd bet that 80-90% of the population of America has heard of the Indy 500, and I'd bet more than half know what weekend it happens on. Outside of the existence of that race, my in-laws, for instance, wouldn't know what an IndyCar was if James Hinchcliffe were doing donuts in their front yard in one. They don't typically channel surf past NBCSN, so they'll never come across IndyCar outside of Memorial Day or unless they stumble across one of the ABC races. Unfortunate, but true.

The problem here (where you and I have common ground) is that there is such a stark difference between the biggest race in IndyCar vs. the rest of the schedule, compared to the same comparison in NASCAR. IndyCar: Indy gets (probably) on average, 10x the amount of ratings and attention as each individual race on the rest of the schedule. NASCAR: the Daytona 500 probably gets about 3-5x the amount of ratings and attention as each individual race on the rest of the schedule. That's why Indy feels so much bigger...it is that much bigger. The issue is not "we can't admit that the 500 is the biggest race because that points out the fact that the other 16 events are smaller because admitting that fact might hurt some peoples' feelings", it's "we need to try to make the other races more of a big deal by drawing more eyeballs to them". If the path to that is by telling America that those zoomy cars that race on Memorial Day (there's that race again) also race at a track just an hour from their house or that they appear on TV every couple of weeks, great. I don't know if the #Indy500OrBust thing is going to work to bring more eyeballs to the Series (I figure it probably won't...I'm not sure what they're really trying to do there), but if it does, great. If not, I hardly think that it's ticking off vast thousands of people who attend other races and wish that their local race were bigger than Indy. Sorry, but that's the reality of the situation.

[vern]

Since most still consider the Indy500 the biggest race of the yr in auto sports, facts are if Indycar has to rely on 1 big race to carry the season then its in trouble--but wait--we knew that? Truth is the Indy500 is not the best ratings race as the Nascar Coke 600 on the same day always beats it in ratings--link to prove it below, although the article is discussing the 08 race being good, but still was beat by the Coke600 but the article mentions all the races for the last decades or so with a graph as well. Link:
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2012/05/indy-500-final-rating-highest-since-08-race-still-loses-to-nascar/

The ONLY yr that the Indy500 beat the Coke600 in ratings was in 2005 when a young driver drew in mainstream GP & Media attention drawing in millions to watch the race with over 10 million viewers. She shocked the racing world almost winning the race making history in open wheel and that driver just made history at the Daytona 500 this yr as well. Still she couldn't carry Indycar on her back for all the 7 yrs and finally left, and now Indycar has no face to draw in the mainstream GP's interest as it once was? Simona wont get it done nor will Hinch much as Indycar is pushing him with PR as he isn't the driver who made or makes that green car famous and the GP isn't stupid as they know this. They like who they like and no amount of PR or Marketing will force them to support a driver or a series--its just happens to some?

Just saying--discussing the Indy500-- when a race is considered the greatest race of the yr but gets beat by a Nascar race far as viewers are concerned, that's pretty bad. Also cover your eyes as Nascars biggest race the Daytona500 clearly burys the Indy500 in ratings as well--just saying? In comparison the Indy500 just isn't what it once was although that's all the Indycar series has to rely on drawing in millions of the fans, even for one race to carry the entire series, so it is what it is?

Indycar's problems are many, too many foreign drivers, hardly any ovals left and considered a lessor version of F1, and as mentioned the fact Indycar has no face and while they say they don't want ONE driver to be the face, without even that, they have no one to draw in the mainstream GP & media as they once did? Facts are, they can promote a dead horse, but no one is going to buy it except for those who want a dead horse and those are FEW. Also as great or good Indycar or the IRL once was, its lost its main fanbase and its tough to get new ones as once the mainstream GP get tired of a series and lose interest its tough to recover from that. Add to that some great young drivers are going to nascar instead where the $$ are as we know and that doesn't help Indycar either, although more young talent is in the wings, like a Shannon McIntosh etc, so we'll see where they choose to go--whether it helps or not?

Oh well Indycar fans miracles do happen so cross your fingers and toes and keep looking at the empty glass and seeing it full if it makes you happy, then that's all that matters--well--as I said before-- until sponsors start to see wasted $$$'s--then???