Year-End Random Thoughts on IndyCar, NASCAR and F1

 

Butler University grad Ed Carpenter celebrates winning the pole at Indy with Butler mascot Butler Blue III

Some year-end thoughts, one draft, 45-minutes of typing on various forms of racing:

IndyCar -- Insert a Festival of Trepidation here as I talk about IndyCar.

Willy P (Will Power) won the title, which was good to see, because I think finishing P2 in the championship again would have made him a danger to himself and others. I like Will Power. He’s got that volatile streak in him that makes him a threat to go Double Bird and any moment. IndyCar needs more of that. Screw being polite! Flip people off. (Shout out to Sebastian Saavedra for showing the birds to Marco Andretti at Detroit in 2013!)

I’m not saying let’s start barking profanity at each other on semi-national cable TV, but let’s also not be afraid to call an asshole an asshole, without using that exact terminology, and maybe throw some stuff. Passion, emotion … more please.

Others have analyzed the race-by-race results of IndyCar -- and the Big-Fish (Indy 500) has been chewed over many times -- so I won’t get into them, except to say the Indy 500 finish was one of the best in years, with a 0.0600 margin of victory, and a knife fight at the end between the winner, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Helio Castroneves. AND, thank God, it finished under green. Because another yellow finish could have meant Green-White-Checker rule at Indy, and that would have killed scores of people. They’d have been lined up on the new Georgetown landscaping area with buckets of gas and matches.

The story of the year on non-Indy ovals was … tires. (Steve Matchett voice) “Tyre degradation.” The race I attended as a paying customer, at Iowa Speedway, was won on a tire strategy. When Ryan Hunter-Reay and Joe New (Josef Newgarden) pitted with under 10 to go in the race for tires, I was all like “WTF??” in the stands. But with the fresh rubber (cue Jack Arute: “fresh Dr. Feel Goods”) RHR and Joe New CARVED the field and overhauled leader Tony Kanaan, who had been dominating all race. BAM.

So you can either say “entertaining as hell!” which I did, or “faux!” due to tire strategy rather than brute speed winning it. Same deal at Texas, where tires have become the strategy. I know tires are a factor in all racing that involves pit stops, but IndyCar tires seem to fall off DRAMATICALLY on ovals compared to, say, NASCAR. A little less dramatic fall off would be fine with me, but, as I said, I was entertained at Iowa.

Another thing that stands out is the 2015 schedule. The Houston double-header is dead, thanks in part to scheduling the races in 2014 at a time of year when Houston is only slightly hotter than the surface of the sun. Also heat-related: Fontana got moved from the end-o-August slot because it was hot and about 43 people showed up. I know, a gross exaggeration, but that’s what I do. I heard crowd estimates ranging from 6500 to 12,000. Regardless, it seems clear that the management at Fontana was not happy with the date, so IndyCar moved it to June 27. Interesting side note: the late start and later finish at Fontana didn’t appear to impact TV ratings noticeably.

IndyCar is also adding a race at New Orleans (NOLA Motorsports Park) for 2015. I think IndyCar is smart to find venues like NOLA and help develop them. That’s what happened at Belle Isle (although Daddy Warbucks Penske lavished the cash on that one). How well they develop NOLA is TBD, but nobody should expect it to be IMS-epic, facility-wise, in year one. If they make good progress on fan accommodations in year one, then more in year two, that’ll be fun-tastic.

Also on the schedule is a race in Brazil (March 29) but last I heard there was some kind of dispute about who will build the track or something. That may not threaten the event. Hope not. IndyCar doesn’t need another overseas race debacle like China last year. Plus, IndyCar could use the Massive Check they are presumably picking up for racing in Brazil.

Also, I was interested to hear Mark Miles’s comments on the upcoming season. He talked a LOT about building TV audiences and how important that is. (Bruce Willis voice) Welcome to the party, pal. No, seriously, it’s good that Miles is getting on board with the TV ratings focus. Because to have TV ratings you gotta have … you know it's coming ... fans. More fans, more fans, more fans. Everyone from Miles in the front office down to the person who sweeps floors for every team should have “more fans” tattooed on his or her forehead, because that’s what IndyCar’s success comes down to, ultimately.

I also didn’t hear much fixation on Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Miles this year, which is also a welcome development. Hopefully, after the IMS improvements and adding of a race there last year they can move on to trying harder to build the brand and attracting fans outside of Indiana.

Finally … aerokits! OMG. They may actually happen. Hard-cores can remember the holographic animation used to introduce the new Dallara in 2010. The ability for others to develop aerodynamic parts for the base Dallara chassis was one of the selling points for selecting it for use starting in 2012. But the much ballyhooed aerokits were delayed and delayed, until we now hear that they will be available for use sometime after the Indy 500 (at least that’s the last I heard).

That’s a very good thing. I talked to Jack Hawksworth recently and he said he expects the new aerokits to have new winglets and maybe crazy do-dads maybe kind of F1-like Festival of Crazy Aero Parts. I’m still good with it. If some of the kits turn out to be butt-ugly with a giant shlong-like structure on the nose, a la F1, I’m STILL good with it. Anything that encourages people to mess with stuff and try new stuff is good with me.

So, optimism about 2015. Personally, I would like to see more ovals on the schedule. BUT, big-picture I think IndyCar’s best bet is to emphasize the twisties and diversity of tracks as a way to differentiate itself from the oval behemoth. Speaking of …

NASCAR -- Whereas IndyCar is an incremental, go-slow change kind of approach, NASCAR goes for a “take a big swing at it” kind of deal. The big swing this year was the new Chase structure that featured a 16-driver bracket with elimination races that created a four-car, highest-finisher-take-all finale.

Go ahead and piss yourself, but I think it worked well, based on NASCAR’s goals. I thought it was entertaining. Honestly, who wins the championship isn’t real high on my “care about” scale. I don’t think most fans get that knotted up about it either. NASCAR is a very individual driver-driven sport. People cheer for their driver, and care about him or her the most. The Championship is interesting, but it’s not like fans walk around “I WONDER WHO WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR???” for six months. They do walk around saying “I hope Junior (or whoever) wins this week!”

The biggest knock on the Chase was it was faux, or gimmicky, or an abomination to the purity of racing, or a sign of the decline in American morals, or whatever. I can see that argument, but, again, it doesn’t rise high enough on my give-a-shit meter to cause me much angst. I mean, some critics go into a grand mal froth about it, tearing their clothes and putting on sack cloth as if New York City had just been nuked by terrorist. Tip 1: get some medication. Tip 2: watch other forms of racing that don’t do the “gimmicks,” like IndyCar, if you find NASCAR repelenat. Acting like you have to personally work tirelessly to stamp out NASCAR before it spreads, kind of like ebola, is not healthy.

I enjoyed watching it develop, seeing who was eliminated, hoping that Ryan Newman would win the championship without winning a race, just to witness the EXPLOSION OF UMBRAGE it would engender. But, in the end, Kevin Harvick, who had been consistently fast all season and won multiple races, won the final race to win the Championship. Newman finished P2, however. Insert chortle here.

The thing that continually impresses me about NASCAR is how effective they are at marketing in general. I consider public relations part of marketing (because it is), and further it’s the most cost-effective form or marketing. NASCAR is a PR machine. The best public relations is about helping the media cover your sport. Just check out all the stories and coverage that NASCAR generates every week, month and year. NASCAR plans it out and work the plan. They have media days and driver panels and the whole deal to make it easy for the media to cover them. On championship weekend alone there were about 938 stories generated (another exaggeration! But there were a lot). And some of them were focused on “is this too gimmicky or what?” It all sounds like a cash register to NASCAR.

But, a caveat: it all comes back to fan numbers. Sports reporting is driven by fan demand. In other words, the sports with the most fans get the most coverage. I don’t care if you have the greatest PR people, or 283 of them, if you want a lot more media coverage, get more fans. It’s really about that simple ... and difficult.

Gratuitous Danica Patrick photo! Click bait!

No post from me re: NASCAR would be complete without a Danica Patrick mention. I hear your gnashing! Feel free to skip the next three paragraphs. Danica did better this year than last. (Insert all the statistics you want to throw at me here.) When I say she did better, I mean I thought she was more in tune with the car and better able to relate what was going on to the crew chief, Tony Gibson Jr. , and to also discuss some of the changes Tony had in mind, that kind of thing. She was more competitive toward the end of the season, and things were looking good.

Then the crew chief swap came. Tony Gibson went to Kurt Busch’s team and Daniel Knost came from Busch to Danica’s team. In a bunch of stories Danica said the swap was a team call and the reasons for that switch were a bit murky.

The drivers spent the last few races working with the new crew chiefs. Danica’s last race was the best with Knost, but still not stunningly positive. She sounded pretty frustrated on her radio (listen in via NASCAR RaceView Audio every week). It will be interesting to see if Knost, who was announced as sort of an interim or trial CC, and Danica stay together for 2015.

Overall, NASCAR had a NASCAR-like season. Detractors talk about a “ratings dive” but, “dive” is a relative term. Under my definition of “dive” is losing 25% or more and that didn’t happen. I think ratings were relatively flat. Note: to me dropping or gaining five percent is "relatively flat" when you’re talking about numbers in the millions. And average ratings for the Chase part of the schedule were up, per ESPN PR.

Ratings are a funny thing. I used to get SUPER STRESSED about IndyCar ratings because I viewed them as a vital sign, like blood pressure, that indicated the relative health of the sport, which I greatly wanted to survive and thrive, not die. But then came the epiphany: I can’t do jack about ratings, so why stress it? So I don’t.

People also like to use ratings to justify their personal position or belief. So if you hate NASCAR (or IndyCar), you hope and pray the ratings dive so your position will be justified and perhaps the changes you advocate will be made. Again … gigantic waste of energy with a negativity cherry on top. Ratings are what they are. My advice is to look at them, say “Huh. Interesting.” and move on. You’ll be a happier person.

NASCAR is the place to go if you like to watch oval racing. No offense to IndyCar, but just the small number of oval races there makes NASCAR the Oval Source. That, and Danica’s move to NASCAR, have accounted for my increased viewership. I think I watched at least some of every NASCAR race this year. I can’t say that for IndyCar (cue Belle Isle), for the first time in about eight years.

BUT, unlike some (and contrary to what people read into the paragraph above), that doesn’t mean I hate IndyCar or want it to DIE. Quite the contrary. I hope it has whoppin’ big fan number increases in 2015. Nobody would be happier if IndyCar ripped down a 4.0 TV rating for every race (indicating a massive fan base). It’s not an either/or proposition for me (either you like NASCAR or you like IndyCar). And, I can and do enjoy NASCAR without wanting IndyCar to DIE DIE DIE, and vice versa.

Being happy for something is way different than structuring my life around it. If IndyCar succeeds, awesome. If it doesn’t, too bad … but my life will be relatively unaffected either way. Ditto for NASCAR. (Bill Murray voice) It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter!

Formula 1 -- Didn’t watch it. Well, watched a couple laps here and there. Why? Same two cars running for the win every race. Not enough to keep me interested. It IS enough to keep others interested -- because there’s more going on than that, like battles for 10th, etc. I don’t diss that at all, and if you enjoy that, more power to ya.

Plus I find the amount of money in F1 severely off-putting. And Bernie Ecclestone making Crazy Train comments all the time. Water cannons, etc. Every time he opens his mouth, no matter how random or insane what comes out is, he gets 192 stories. I’m starting to think he knows that and just says wackazilla stuff to get the pub. If so … smart man. Play the media like a violin, Bernie!

That’s it. Gotta go earn a living. Feel free to add your comments below. I look forward to reading them.

Comments

[Chiefswon]

Thanks PDOG. Very good read.

[Bill Boldman]

Solid musings Bill. I appreciate and enjoy your writing style and views on all things racing. Keep up the good work and I for one look forward to the start of the new seasons.

[Ken Broadhead]

PDOG - Good Job!

[Dylan]

Loved NASCAR this year, best season in ages. Indycar was boring, to me, outside of Indy and Iowa. A pretty big letdown. F1 was pretty predictable but to their credit they've had some good races. They've had better battles for the lead at times (Bahrain/Hungary) than Indycar did on their overly tight road courses and short street courses. But yeah, I didn't watch most of the F1 races. I was lucky to see the most interesting ones live though.

I worry aero kits may kill the close racing at Indy and that would be... unfortunate.

Danica was just not good. I mean, I want her to succeed and I like her, but you can't really say anything positive about two seasons in a row where she was outright the worst driver in NASCAR. She finished dead least of the drivers in cars which are "reasonably funded" full time. Tony Stewart had an awful season, missed three races, and still was ahead of her. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also missed Talladega and still outran her. Sure she beat Algier, Scott, and such, but their cars are not competitive at all. She's below Dillon, Larson, McMurray, Menard, and even Casey Mears in a single car team beat her! She was behind the entire Hendrick/Penske/Roush/Gibbs/Stewart-Haas/RPM/MWR/RCR and Germain and Furniture Row and JTG! I mean, there's no good way to spin that. My hope for Danica would be some significant time in the Nationwide/ARCA/Truck area to pick up some wins and hopefully improve her racecraft. I do think she showed some improvement in the early Fall, and I really think it was a mistake to change her crew chief. I would hope they give her someone other than Busch's old crew guy for 2015.

[Graves_holly]

Have you heard anything about Simona's return to IndyCar? I hear she has parted ways with her management team, which seems to be a good thing. But is there a seat for her somewhere?

[pressdog]

Simona did part with her manager and I have also heard she'd be open or wants to return to IndyCar. I don't doubt her sincerity on that, but then again, where else would she go? Euro feeder leagues? Sports cars? IndyCar is preferable to those two. The only "open seats" in IndyCar are determined a lot by the size of the check the driver brings. So, like everyone else, if Simona can scare up some money ..

[IndyRaceReviewer]

IndyCar has a problem in that its head is a bean counter and not fan friendly. Hence the lack of ovals, which equals the opposite of fan friendly fun-ness. Danica? ONE win in 198 big league starts. Here's a statistic for ya - that's a .5% winning percentage in more starts that 90% of drivers get. "Better"?! Insert mocking laughter here. NASCAR, like Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Ghengis Khan, has a violence issue. Plus that fact that France is a stooge. And the races and season are interminable, dull and repetitive. F-1's unaffordable & has Bernie. Nuff said.

[Ron Ford]

"Screw being polite. Flip people off"?? Is that what it takes to entertain you? Watch wrestling. I like to see emotion and passion when drivers are racing. I don't recall anyone ever suggesting that Bill Vukovich, Al Unser, Rick Mears, Greg Moore, Dan Wheldon, et al should flip people off to be more entertaining.

I also like Danica, but from what I can tell this is what she had learned so far: Understeer is when the front of your car hits the wall. Oversteer is when the back of your car hits the wall.

[OSCA]

I agree almost 100% with your view, but with a few additional thoughts:

First IndyCar and sports cars racing were built by "innovation", with every team bringing something that they believed would give them an edge, and from that a possible win. Le Mans has continued to do that, and it has prospered.

IndyCar has done away with innovation for the what is a false God....cost control. First it is NOT cost effective, and second the very reason for going to watch their races was every car in some respect was different.

Indy car racing was built by cars that drew fans to see them, and the fans brought money, and money brought drivers, and the best drivers brought sponsors, who brought more money. Then came TV and the sponsors, spent more money to sell product. And everyone was happy...until Tony Hulman died.

Then the team owners formed CART, and when they tried to ignore Tony George, he had his feelings hurt and he took his toy (Speedway)and formed the IRL...bad move on both parties...and we are still being subjected to a "team owners" series, when to succeed we need a "fan" comes first series.

I'd rather have a "junk" formula,(we don't have to have carbon fiber, or leased engines), where we would have 70 entries, with many different looks and sounds, 33 qualifiers, and one winner who if he/she won by 3 laps would be fine with me. How about you??

I am a Danica fan. I know she is not Kyle Larson, but she is the best female driver EVER in both IndyCar and NASCAR.

During my lifetime women have come from not being allowed anywhere near the pits and garages...to today where a girl can compete, not just with other women but on the same stage with men...without handicap.

Danica brings fans, sponsors, money, and attention to a sport (racing) which needs all the promotion it can get. Racing is better for Danica and I can't wait till she wins....and I believe she will!!

Remember you know the song...fans bring money, Danica brings both!!

One last comment.....I understand that to break even IndyCar, (based upon Boston Consulting's advice), raised prices on "500" tickets, has had a concert, another race at the Speedway, and charging for everything except using the toilet, and they are considering having a new tax on beer.....it'll be called "pass-to-pee" tax...a 10% tax which will allow you to pee, but only if you buy a beer!!

[OSCA]

P.S.

Just heard that the Speedway likes the "pass-to-pee" tax so much they are going to expand it to water, but you have to buy two bottles, (children under 16, there are 10 of those attending will only have to buy 1)!

[Johon S]

Great to get a festival of writing from PD!

Still my favorite question, first asked many years ago: Who will win first in Nascar big league, Danica or Sam H. Jr ?

[vern]

Since Iam a fan of Danicas will mention some facts. Don't use the excuse she is with one of the best teams in Nascar--because she is NOT. The only team who might be considered the best is Penske where both drivers are consistenly up front most every race. SHR & its 4 drivers is NOT a consistently competitive team just the #4 car with Harvick is up front every race--NOT Kurt or Stewart her boss as Danica has esp beaten Kurt & Stewart in quite a few races this yr --get a brain and look at their results. Also she is in the CUP series and a more comparable drivers stats IS ex Indycar driver Hornish JR who took 4.5 yrs and 147 races to win his first little NNS race which is far from the Cup series in competition level but no-ne has ever or is criticizing him now are they. Comparing Danicas 2 yrs now in Cup to her teammates or other drivers who grew up in stock cars & how she finishes is as bad as the sexists pigs who criticize her. Also just when she shows progress SHR takes her CC in a swap & gives her Kurts CC who couldnt get it done for him but apparently hes good enough for her anyway as now she is getting SHR leftovers unless SHR finds her another CC--period.

Also there are many drivers in the Cup series who have been there much longer then Danica that have either NO wins or maybe 1 win but no-one criticises them either--think about that. Btw Danica only finished a few points behind her 2 time NNS champ boyfriend Ricky S--think about that.

The fact that Danicas more popular then most their winning drivers & the sexist pig series of Nascar cant handle it just like Indycar couldn't handle it is why most criticize her even though she is still the ONLY driver who has proven she can draw in fans that NO other driver can & increase ratings when she does well. When she won the Daytona 500 pole last yr the media storm & ratings jumped 25% which is a lot for Nascar so when she wins--look out. She can draw attention for Godaddy regardless of her results so will be around long as Godaddy is happy & they LOVE her---period.

Far as Indycar--as said-- just boring crap not worth watching anymore but don't worry theyre used to low ratings by now & F1 not worth watching either really--enough said so where are the real good racing series if there is any--just the dirt tracks.

Nascar ratings overall are dropping & will continue to drop also--watch & see. The boring races of follow the leader parades whereby most the field is waiting to get lapped wont help ratings grow ever again not to mention the garbage low rated NBCSports network next yr--get ready to see Nascar cry about their low ratings & empty seats course tracks are removing seats so not to look so empty but still? Even the main Fox network is putting many Nascar races on its low rated cable shows F1 & F2 next yr also--says it all.

[GeorgeK]

Johon S, the answer to your question: Neither will ever win a Cup race. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.