Event Coverage Are you as boored with the Indy 500 as me

I've been listening to and watching the Indy 500 since the late '50s when Offy. ruled. I sat in my 58 Ford in the parking lot of Knotts Berry Farm on my Honeymoon listening to Lloyd Ruby crossing up his roadster in the corners in '65. The Granatelli's. A.J. Foyte, Mickey Thompson.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I hope I am. Now it is one engine, one chassis. No innovation. I will be watching Sunday but It won't have the old zing.
Sorry if I brought you down. Tell me I am full of shit. And why.

 

I would just like to see Tony Stewart win it one day!

 

I am with ya man. I havn't been watching it quite as long as you, but long enough to know the current venue pales in comparison to the history. I enjoy listening to the lore of the race from decades ago, it just aint there now a days.

 

i would rather watch that ,than nascar crap!

 

Come to think of it Nascar is about the same. Boy am I on a downer!

 

I just want to see Danica Patrick!

 

I remember when it was an exciting race. With Offys a few other odd-ball engines, even a Gurney-Weslake thrown in there, and of course Andy Granatelli and his awesome Novi engines. Today it's like watching paint dry.

I might wash my car while the race is on.

 

Roadsters, no aerodynamics, Offys, tire dust raining down on the spectators near the turns, three and a half hours of bone jarring driving. Earned that drink of milk.

 

Yeah I've been saying this for a while. The old racing (be it drag, indy, nascar, whatever) had more ingenuity and creativity...and STYLE!!! Now it seems everyone has the same exact thing with a few different stickers. Its all corporate money based now, not about developing the faster car to win the race. I like the nostalgia stuff. Maybe one day it will start to go back to the way it was, you never know.

 

They all are running basically the same engines and cars now. I remember when you would watch for reliability, see who could finish. Now its just cars running in a row, and only 2 or 3 have a chance to win. May watch the first 10 laps, then come back at the end.

Then again, wrenching on the 31 Chevy makes a bit more sense.

Danica schmanica. Treat me like an equal, then we have Go Daddy commercials. Make up my mind.

This race is like the Kentucky Derby, you get casual fans to watch cause they think its something, or just another reason to have a party and drink.

 

Amen! I would love to see NASCAR come up with some kinda vintage series. Same for the Formula 1 cars. All motorsports nowadays are so corporate up the ass that its sucked the excitement and passion of white knuckle gritty racing!

 

REBEL...whatever flips your trigger, and yes you could be full of it...POP.

 

I don't know exactly when INDY died, CART helped, Hulman kids helped, Honda and whatever the chassis is also nailed the lid on it. I started the same type thread last year, with a title something like, Name 5 current INDY drivers besides Danica Patrick. I love INDY history, mainly the Pre 1942 stuff, but once the Lotus/Ford era ended it just hasn't been the same. Hope Danica wins it!

 

Couldn't agree more! Still watch but the days of seeing a short track sprint or silver crown driver get a chance for glory are long gone. Any interview with A.J. is still the best part. The media wusses are intimidated by him. No corporate B.S. out of that guy.

 

Yeah,Indy car has got boring and Nascar has a speed limit,what kind of racing is that?Indy stuck a hot chich in a car for ratings,lasted about 30 days ,sold a bunch of GO-DADDY crap .

 

Hard to enjoy any form of auto racing, if you need an master's degree in engineering to understand the parts they're using on the cars. While it's amazing to see them driving into turn one at over 230 mph, if you can't understand the technology they used to get there, you wont appreciate that feat of engineering. Also found this this great read on ESPN.com.

Part 1, The Gathering Storm

Part 2, Getting it Wrong

Part 3, Digging In

Part 4, Hell of a Vision

 

It's alot more fun in person. Maybe it is just the large amounts of beer, but it's still a fun race to attend.

I agree it's not got the same feel as it did back in the day though.

 

I wonder if, at the end of the race, their engines will be remotely shut down like the nhra fuel cars? Does their traction control have different selections like the moto gp bikes?

 

NO.I think this is one race I always look forward to.........Maybe now when Paul Tracy wins it they will award him the win..............

 

I will always watch or listen to the race. Sure, it hasn't been the same since rear engined cars, but I like new concepts and cars. Or old ideas improved. Remember when Penske smoked the lot with pushrod engines!?! But I doubt the race could go on these days with multiple engine, tire or chassis mfgs, just too costly. Or... one chassis/tire/engine mfg would be SO good the others would be largely uncompetitive and unable to get sponsors. But in the long run, it's still a 500 mile sprint race - let the best team and driver drink the milk. Gary

 

Here's one of the greatest threads on the H.A.M.B. I'm pretty sure you could spend all day Sunday going through these old photos instead of watch the Indy 500.

History: Auto racing 1894-1944

 

AND it is even more when you live and work across the street.
This years crowd was down to two weeks, the vendors are down in numbers and even the amount of high life being sold is down.

 

The Lotus Ford era was cool because it was innovation.

But maybe its time to stir things up again.

Let the Roadsters come back.

You can't unlearn what you have learned, but a up to date version of a Roadster would be possible.

( as long as the rules are written so people will roll the dice, to give it a go...)

Appearently, Arrows was toying with the idea in the '80s for F1







And here is a pic of a Brit Hillclimb racer, to kinda give an idea of what it could look like.



It's not going to happen, but it would be cool.

I'd watch it...

 

I'll let the DVR do it's thing while I'm snapping a shit load of pictures at the Ford Headquarters car show this Sunday.. I'll probably watch the race when I get home after that... Hope everyone is hoisting their colors this weekend!!!

 

It has had it's day. It is now 1-800-000-0000 send me a racer. All a like, ho hum, boring.. Do away with all the electronics and put the mechanic and driver back in the game. It's not just Indy, it's all of big time racing these days. Boring, boring, boring, and I grew up in racing.

Bring back the roadster with safety improvements.

 

I quit watching NASCAR and Indy racing 10 years ago. BORING. This is from a guy, who as a kid, used to listen to every NASCAR race on the radio. Today's racing is boring. Too little uncertainty in who is going to win, too little passing, too little brand identity and too politically correct. BORING.

Think about how it was with Curtis Turner, The Allisons, Petty, Yarbrough, Yarborough, Jr. Johnson, Buddy Baker, David Pearson, etc. etc. Great racing, a little cheating, the cars didn't roll onto the track "nearly perfect" and they kept adjusting on them until they got them right. Cars got behind, cars moved up, cars blew up. Shit happened. Plus, the cars looked like cars you and your buddies drove. Today, they all look the same. BORING.

Rant over.

 

Back in the early 60's my Dad would take me to watch it on what was called closed circuit. A large screen like a movie theature - but the race was live. It was alot of fun. I can still remember the old guys with their "get your programs..." it was something to look forward to. In years past I would have the picture on the tv but the sound from the radio. WHY? Because the announcers on the radio tend to give alot more information whereas the guys on tv slack off and depend on the tv screen to do the work for them. Then....no more innovation, same chass., same engine, can you say IROC...Anyway - just my 2 cents

 

I still watch both, but I watch PGA Golf on TV too so I guess I'm easy...

Both NASCAR and IRL have gone the way of one design yacht racing or IROC.
To make NASCAR well again they need to go back to pre-Smokey rules and require all car bodies to be EXACT production car sheet metal, right out of a dealer's inventory and be able to bolt or spot weld back onto a stock production car after.
Engines need to be the same block and have all factory bin parts in them and drive the two wheels the stock car drives.

IRL needs to go back to any production engine blocks of any production displacement but get rid of all the wings. Have nothing protruding above the roll bar nothing sticking out the sides of the body past the inside of the tire sidewalls and nothing on the body adjustable during the race. It would be impossible to stop ground effects shapes under the car but all the wings that glue the car down but make it too fragile or act as tire slashers should go.
Make the cars clean like Clark's Lotus again.
Make them have to DRIVE and brake them in and out of the turns instead of just tuning the wings to go full speed through all the turns only because of aerodynamics.

 

It died when Emerson Fittipaldi refused to drink the milk.

 

this is my uninformed opinion but i dont believe it takes as much skill as it used to. with traction control and variable stability control on each car, wheres the thrill?