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NASCAR, INDYCAR … Attendance, Schmattendance

I used to be all about attendance for races in both IndyCar and NASCAR. But I no longer care. Not that I don’t care-don’t care, just that I don’t care.

Let me explain.

Admission: in the old days (five-ish years ago) I used to hope for poor attendance at the races I didn’t personally enjoy. Even worse, I would revel in what I perceived as crappy attendance in races I didn’t personally like, because I thought it was The Market coming to my rescue to rid me (us!) of these unworthy venues.

Thoughts on IndyCar in Toronto 2014

A couple thoughts on last weekend’s IndyCar doubleheader in Toronto. (Story with results here)

First, the decision to not race on Saturday. At first I thought it was bullshit, or horseshit or some kind of shit. You got rain tires, put them on and drive with your brain engaged. But, then again, I’m no race car driver, and it’s usually folly to try to judge such matters based on TV images.

So here I give credit to IndyCar for hustling out president of competition and operations Derrick Walker to explain what the official thinking was. Walker was on TV twice, as best I can recollect, including a good little Q & A with host Bob Varsha who, rather than lob in the softballs (“IndyCar really does put driver safety first, doesn’t it?”) he asked the simple questions about why they were not racing. Not the leading questions, just the questions viewers were all wondering about.

IndyCar’s Encouraging Trend Toward More Umbrage

Cue the anger! James Hinchcliffe and Ed Carpenter crash during the 2014 Indy 500.

An encouraging trend in IndyCar lately: A little less class, a little more umbrage.

Several examples: James Hinchcliffe goes all BANZAI on Ed Carpenter in the Indy 500. Ed says right on TV it’s a good thing that Hinch was still recovering from a concussion or he would have gone up side his head. (!) UMBRAGE TAKEN.

Thoughts on IndyCar from Iowa Speedway 2014

L to R: Josef Newgarden P2, Ryan Hunter-Reay P1 and Tony Kanaan P3 at Iowa Speedway

Sooooo, what think ye of Iowa Speedway?

Of course you know I love it, and I’m a relentless shill for it, but I got just a few thoughts in the aftermath of the Iowa Corn 300 last night, both good and bad (successes and “opportunities”).

IndyCar Needs More Transparency on Rule Violations

At least the days of double-secret penalties are behind us in IndyCar (as far as we know). So we should be grateful for that.

Unfortunately, we still get minimal information about penalties, such as this news release kicked out re: “Dale Coyne Racing for a pair of technical violations on its No. 18 Verizon IndyCar Series entry driven by Carlos Huertas,” presented in its entirety: