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

All of the above is true. Don't like it, don't watch. I'll probably do like the Nascar thing........watch the first 10 laps................take a couple hour nap...........check how they are doing...............watch the last ten.

Frank

 

I have been watching the race since 1969. I think IRL is all about how much you spend. Penske or Ganassi will always win because they spend the most. Danica will always be racing for 3rd or 4th because Roger or Chip will never hire a female. Look at the results from the last 4 or 5 years. I have 2 daughters that race quarter midgets and the only time they ever get beat is from diesel pusher motor home & stacker trailer big bucks teams with 4 or 5 guys working on the cars. They have learned, even at their young age that everything in life is political, no matter what sport it is. Even so, we will be watching the race anyway. I guess I love to root for the underdog because I am one !!!

 

Tom Carnegie (his stage name) was never intimidated by A.J. and that is why he got more interviews than anybody. A.J. would always take time to talk with Tom and the respect was mutual.

 

F1 , more fun to watch.

 

Does anyone else remember seeing an INDY history show on TV, that ends with Mel Kenyon and his brother leaving the track with a 1960' era car on a single axle trailer pulled by a pickup? To me, that was the end of INDY, driving hone into the sunset.

 

I just want to see Danica pit & none of her team comes over the wall. I'd pay to see that!

 

I remember being a kid (I'm 30 now) and it still being a big deal, probably up through the '90s. Then the excitement kind of trailed off and has ever since.

 

Agreed

 

I was thinking the same thing, though I usually have to get a bit closer to my television to do that because she's such an itty-bitty little thing.

Oh, and as an iconoclast I would also like to see her win.

 

World of Outlaws is on Speed tomorrow might at 8.

I wouldn't watch Indy if you paid me.

 

On a different note, 5 women have qualified for this year's race!

Danica may have acted like a petulant bitch, but she's partially right, her car should not have been that slow. A professional team like Andretti's should have had her up there with the rest of her teammates (save poor Tony Kanaan - what a May he's having!) not back in 23rd....

DeSilvestre is really showing some chops, and Anna Beatrice is the fastest driver of all the rookies this year. Milka Dunno OTOH, seems to just be there as a fluffer....

Still, it's Helio's race to lose, as Mario says you still have to beat the Penske's.....

Lot's of racing this weekend, from F1 to Nascar to Indy, my DVR will be smokin......

BTW, thanks for those links, that was an interesting article on Tony George and the recent history of Cart and the IRL.

 

Went to see a practice sesion last week. Kinda give ya goose bumps when they go by. Don't know the politics but still thought it was cool.

 

Great ideas, I've felt this way for a long time now.

Indy is a far cry from the way it was when my Dad would sneak in through a hole in the fence in the 30's as a boy. I truly haven't payed much attention to Indy since they legislated the turbine car out of competition. Now that they all use the same engine, if not the same chassis, by mandate, and not by choice, I REALLY don't give a damn.

CanAm was always my favorite and it folded up not too long after they outlawed the 2J of Chevrolet/Jim Hall. Hell, no holds barred innovation was the premise for that series in the first place, easy to see why legislating it away would kill the series.

TransAm is an also ran series and has been since the first generation of pony cars became extinct. What a terrific series it would be with the current pony cars and factory teams, even though there is but one privately owned domestic manufacturer.

NASCAR is all about merchandizing their hero drivers and making BIG MONEY. Except for paint, all the cars are exactly the same by mandate. To get Toyota money, NASCAR even let them blatantly copy the Chevrolet engine, so much for production based. Far cry from the days of rooting for your favorite car brand AND booing your hero driver if he dared to defect to a rival brand. I realize even back in the day the cars were far from stock, but at least they were production based and NASCAR made an attempt to force compliance to production sheet metal and suspension design. There was a time in the not so distant past when a manufacturer had to produce a specific number of vehicles on the assembly line with powerplants as used in the actual races or they couldn't be used.

 

As a race, the 500 is boring. The cars go so damn fast, a spectator can see very little. Lets face it, a race is entertainment. Who say the cars have to be state of the art, going 230 miles per hour? A lot of people were entertained by speeds of 150 and less. I think an Indy race with cars running stock blocks, front engines and no wings or ground effects would be more interesting than the current hybrid car/airplanes.

How hard, or interesting, is it for the driver to put his (or her) foot in it and turn left?

Bill

 

Gimme a slug of 410 sprints on a 1/4 mile bullring for $15 anytime....go danica..remember the legends...check out the vintage sprint thread here...and long live the american racing tradition...support your local nostalgia events...dirt, drag or oval.....fume sniffin" jim

 

i dont know, its still got that splendor, if only during the "leading up to" and that ETERNAL gulp of milk. but I will agree the wonder of the race has been lost in the times. Atleast when they swap to the incar camera and show them cars dicing [literally dicing] at 230, and just railing corners that is still exciting!

 

and yes, there isnt a whole lot that can contend with a sprintcar race. On tv, in person or incar, PERIOD. boy I miss running my sprintcar.

 

They still run the Indy 500?????

 

How true it is!!... I went to a couple Indy car races at M.I.S. some years back. Watching those cars run 32 seconds average per lap on a 2.5 mile track is mind boggling.. Your better off watching it on the tube... That's the best seat in the house!

 

I feel very much the way twofosho does, so many classes of motorsports have become homogenized for entertainment value that it has become rather boring, as innovation has been stifled in the name of costs. It's the times we live in, folks, so accept it.

I agree with the others that the nostalgia events are worthy of support and hopefully these won't become too bureaucratic (the reason I left motorsports many, many years ago) to become unaffordable and/or limited in what can be run.

 

4 women in this year's race. Milka wasn't fast enough. Paul Tracy got bumped, so his whining is thankfully over for the month.

I heard someone say that Danica should marry Dale Earnhardt Jr- they would have well funded, beautiful children that never win anything.

In fact, just let Danica leave the IRL and go full-time in NA$CAR- it would improve BOTH series.

No, Indy isn't anything close to what it used to be. Hell, it's diminished so badly that they cut it down to two weeks, instead of the whole month.

But, if you go to the Speedway, just knowing the history of the place is awe-inspiring.

 

I still love it even though it has changed somewhat over the years. But what hasn't !!
It's still full of great personalities and a history that goes way way back.
Just my 2 cents ................

 

When they took Indy out of the hands of USAC and made them all run "Spec" cars it took all the excitement away for me. It was soooooooo interesting to see the builders massage the rules to get an advantage. Now it is pretty Ho Hum especially when you have egos crashing on the first lap. Old NASCAR say is " You can't win it on the first lap but you sure can lose it"

 

If they hype Danica at Indy as much as they did when she ran Nascar, I think I'd have to be like Elvis and shoot my TV. Fortunately I'll be gone all day so I don't have to worry.

 

uh...... GO KIWI!

 

Lloyd Ruby was a family friend, sure miss seeing him. We watched Indy setting on the edge of our seats. Now days we just set back and fall asleep after a couple of laps.

 

How's this for a fix? Define a max width, height and weight for a new style car. You could run any type of chassis. Use any tire / rim size. Have unlimited fuel to run the race. The engine could be no larger than a 360 small block. Imagine a formula "CANAM" style Indy car - almost no rules - something like an Eagle chassis with a Hendricks SBC and Stewart driving. Use the same car on the short paved ovals and road courses. But wait, didn't they call that a Formula 5000 car a few years back? Or... make them all front engine again and let everyone build East Coast style super modifieds - with almost NO rules at all. Call them the Smokey Yunick class or something. Thrills, spills and death defying skills! Gary

 

indy nasscar sprint and bracket all the same boring. to start to make them interesting take out the computers. take off the wings. let the fastest or quickest car win.

danica she makes a better unwear model the driver. wrecks way too many cars.

 

I'll be there in front of the TV.
Start to finish, with the phone unplugged.
Is it different than it used to be...........yeah.
But that don't make it necessarily bad either.
Two races I watch every year without fail, Indy, and the Daytona 500.
They are both spectacular events, sure plenty of hype, but I still enjoy every minute.
And never seen a race like that in person, but maybe someday.

And my Truck is a 96 Indy Ram Pace Truck, purchased new.

And I would love to see Danica win!
Helio is dominating too much, so I always root for someone else.
He's the one you root against, like rooting against Jeff Gordon or Jimmy Johnson, or going back in time in NASCAR, anyone but Earnhart, or Daryl Waltrip when they dominated.

 

I'll take in some Pass Time by Fast Forward on the DVR then go back to the garage.