Anyone headed to St Pete this year? My first race ever attending. Hopefully it is a good time!
This track is one of my all time favorites, other than dedicated road courses, and should be fun. Have a great time and stay safe.
I didn't watch the whole race but it seems every time I tuned it that there was a SC due to some bits from the new aero kits flying off. Got kind of annoying after a while. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the race- it looked like great weather!
WOW… Not a single in-race post… What are the ratings for these races? Does anyone even care? Are the team owners making money,… or just spending it?
It's on abc channel 7 on a primetime Sunday spot so it should garner some watchers. The stands looked full and so did the rooms overlooking the track. It's just not news on this forum because ferrari finally won a gp. I thought it was an ok race too many safety cars but overall not bad. If it drives and its not an oval ill watch it.
+1 I watched a good part of it (live of course) and was happy to see Montoya win as I was a big fan when he was at BMW Williams. I didn't watch but more than 1 lap of the F1 race replay. The IndyCars sound a lot better on TV than the F1 cars and there's more passing going on. I'm really looking forward to going to the Alabama IndyGP in a month. I had a blast at the Baltimore GP a few years back.
Is anyone going to NOLA? I had planned to go to Barber but unfortunately sister's wedding that weekend take priority... Considering NOLA though. Grew up nearby on the MS gulf coast so could also visit some friends while I'm there.
Firstly, a crap shoot as to what network was carrying the St. Petersburg Indy Car race live. Qualifying was not shown at all and only after scrolling through the various networks that carry Indy Car racing live do we find that it was broadcast on ABC where we had the same stale ensemble of commentators Alan Bestwick (isn't he a NASCAR guy?), Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear. Racer points out, "As the cynics predicted, there were countless yellow-flag periods to clear debris from splintered aero kit pieces". Well, yeah. If the start wasn't enough of an indication as to how the 2015 Indy Car season will go when at least a dozen pieces of these absurd aero kits went flying in different directions on the front straight who knows what will? As covered when the introductions of the aero kits came out, the cars look ridiculous. Maybe they are better under braking (of course they are with all the added downforce on them) but from a purely aesthetic view, they're butt-ugly and as the parade of cautions wore on and the commentary team tried to paint things in the most positive light, interest waned. How did Indy Car not see this coming? Put on all these additional winglets, tabs and foils in every spare available spot from nose to tail and let them loose on a tight street course, the result is inevitable which Kanaan compared to a NASCAR race. Dunno how this season is going to hold interest if all the races will be are two-hour caution debacles. That seems to work for NASCAR but Indy Car fans won't abide. BHW
Well said. Part of the appeal of Indy was the toughness of the cars. They bang into each other and walls and keep going. Take that element away and like you said, a 2 hour parade of yellows. But however it was the first race of the season on a tight street course with some learning to do so lets not jump the gun. Next is NOLA so lets see how that works out.
Looking at the Indy Car schedule, it isn't very inspired. We may expect more debris cautions at Long Beach, a long time U.S. open wheeled venue with knowledgable fans who'll no doubt bring pitch forks to race control if two thirds of the race is run under caution. We know that NASCAR prides itself on breaking records for the amounts of cautions they have per race as yesterday's debacle at Martinsville indicates. But, this is reducing racing to the lowest common denominator and a parade of cars stuck behind the pace car isn't what fans pay to see. Wish there was something positive to point to with Indy Cars. But, as has been discussed, they've made virtually no buzz during the off-season, strictly limited testing which keeps them out of the news, a continual revolving door with their race directors and then the advent of these aero kits which make the cars look like a fifth grader's idea of what racing cars should look like. BHW
Race boring, cars ugly, TV presenters awful........this is the recipe for success that IndyCar came up with?? Wow.
These are the best minds in American racing today (emphasis on the today part). As has been the problem in all the various forms of racing in the U.S., marketing positions are filled with brand new college graduates with shiny marketing degrees who think they're going to make their fortunes in racing. Whether they know anything about racing at all is another story altogether. But, as has been the case since the CART days, they keep making the same mistakes over and over, it has become beyond embarrassing. BHW
Yeah, that race was a disaster. Watching the cars leave the pits with the noses flopping all over the place was sad and hilarious all at once. What the hell were they thinking? As much as I'm rooting for Indy to succeed, it's hard to see how it's going to happen. The cars look stupid, fall apart if a car is within 10 feet of them, and the increased aero just made the race a follow the leader fest.
2019 could change that if the powers that be remove ones head from ones @ss and turn the rules back to that that will permit innovation again. But......the last 18 years indicate otherwise.
