Ever read my screen name guy? I stated Indy Cars. Porsche 917/30 is an entirely different matter. How can you not love 1200hp and having a 1600hp one in the trailer!!!!
Side-by-side works best in NASCAR and the lower ranks of dirt track, etc. It's not my thing, but I agree that it's not as bad as with IRL. A heck of a lot safer in a full body. That being said, when I used to watch NASCAR is the 70's / 80's, it wasn't anywhere the procession it is today. Yes, that's what I meant - not entire laps. I watched the very first MotoGP race and it was fantastic - plenty of passing and lead changes, strategy to set up passing, etc. If there are 3-5 bikes in a side-by-side, that's cool, but it usually breaks up. That - to me - is racing. I'm more a fan of the late 80's / 90's CART cars. They looked awesome, sounded great, and had boatloads of power. With sequential gearboxes, and steel brakes, they were a handful to drive. No traction aids, and aero not quite the factor it is now. You rarely saw a CART race with side-by-side for 100 laps.
Just chiming in with my $0.02. Watched the Barber race last weekend after not watching St. Pete, only watched Barber because nothing else was on. Before the race they had Indy Lights on and it kind of clicked for me, the reason I can't get into Indy anymore is that they are just soooo slow looking. The Lights cars looked great in comparison, just looked faster and more exciting. Clearly I know that isn't the case when you get down to #'s but from an appearance standpoint, the Lights looked better.
Isn't it interesting that the "pro" opinion of "crapwagons' isn't being offered. I just love the "we have to buy into this" theory, yet when chance to voice that opinion arises.......we get silence. Most of you have offered valid point as to why no one is watching and I totally agree that any of the racing from the late 70's- 96 (USAC- CART) was absolutely excellent! Don't see that being said about the current offering. Sad to think what once was not only a job for me, but a true love and passion got railroaded for this parity crap. I wonder how much longer this charade can last before someone has the courtesy to pull the plug on this mess called "Indy Car"?
to me it would be sad to see the death of open wheel racing in the united states but i agree that it could very well be going that direction.
Indy sure is not what it used to be but I would actually miss it - I hope it some how gets better and does not disappear - I don't need to be flamed for this opinion please
Flamed?? Hardly. Bring any opinion you care to express. Just keep in mind we as hard core, old timers will listen to what you offer, but challenge any thoughts based upon the current ratings and following of this latest edition of Indy Car. It simply lacks in every category. Welcome to this thread.
I also am an old timer - in actual age and experience on the track and watching the different series as a spectator - including watching INDY from the pits when I had friends driving and Nascar etc for 40 years at least. The nostalgia aspect of it makes me want the series to stay around not the actual product today - thanks for the no flame - I am just getting real mellow in my older age
There are those of us who are old timers who actually like the Indy Racing Series. It has problems for sure, but so does F1 and right now the main reason F1 is better is because the teams spend 50x more than the Indy Car teams do so the cars are cooler. The racing however isn't better, it just carries more cache'. It took years to ruin Indy Car racing and it will take years to get it back to any type of reasonable respect. The other issue Indy Car has that it didn't have when it was ruined is that the Gen X kids want to see Travis Pastrano (sp?) do 3 backflips off a ramp. They could give a rats arse about open wheel racing. They don't like F1 either but just like the rest of the world (see: Soccer) F1 will survive even after it fails in the USA again like it always does. MB
So....does this mean that they want to see more "spectacular" stuff and not racing? Daredevils come and go (remember Evel Knievel?) but true racing has endured. My real question is.....Where did competition go? We have "spec" based upon fairness and equality from society. (like that ever really happens; If it did I would be Warren Buffet) To me the lack of diversity in cars, engines gearbox, etc seems to have diluted not only car counts, but lack of interest in drivers simply because......pretty much anyone can drive these crates. So when do people recognize that the element of danger that comes with speed (and more the better imho) brings both the technology and driver skill and that brings the interest with it?
Who wants to see 20 ugly ass cars --all identical --racing around with drivers they don't even know? Now you know what's wrong with the IRL
One guy dies ( RIP Dan ) and the over reaction is an ugly, slow car. Fixed the wrong problem with the wrong tool. The problem was they shouldn't have been on that Vegas track with that many cars. I was going to take a nap and wake up halfway through that race and 5 laps in I sat up on the couch and knew this would not end well.
I must be the only one who likes the look of IRL cars, then. I think these fairing make them stand apart from other single seater series. I have to be honest here, I cannot see much difference between a F1, a GP2, a AutoGP, or a Renault 3.5 car; they look the same to me! At least, an IRL car cannot be mistaken for anything else. But if you don't like the present cars, think that it would have been much worse if the Delta car had been adopted! Now, that I call ugly...
The cars were ugly before Wheldon's unfortunate death. The issue is that big aero, low power engines on superspeedways = side by side racing. If you go side-by-side in a Formula Ford - and heaven forbid you touch wheels - YOU WILL GO FLYING!!!. Now try that at 200+ MPH and you are talking pure Russian roulette - no other way to describe it. When pros like Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti express their fear, you know there's a problem. You need FAR LESS aero and FAR MORE power so that the cars lose traction and the drivers have to drive them!!! The Hulman / George family that rules the roost got bamboozled into running superspeedways because it mimics Indy. They need to drop those NOW. If you look at the drivers that have been killed, there are many that happened on ovals (not that it can't or didn't happen on road or street courses, but the ovals are higher risk). It's not rocket science...everyone knows this. To the comment about F1 racing not being good - I vehemently disagree. It's much better than it was and it blows side-by-side away.
I could not agree more - I believe poor driving ability helped cause that crash - some drivers were driving 100% of their ability all the time and when something went wrong they had nothing left to get out of trouble. A driver like Dan Weldon or other very good drivers would drive @ 70% of their ability and would have the chance to get out of trouble. So I really think there were drivers that should not have been on that track - not saying that is the whole story but I believe it is part of it
I don't know exactly what they like about the "X" games - I can't stand them but the amount of love shown by sponsors and fans and networks like ESPN are amazing to me. Spec series show driver skills way more than non-spec series. I raced in Club level spec series' and also did many track days with a variety of cars on track. Guys who were running in 500hp corvettes thought they were "faster" than guys in 240hp BMW's....seriously they believed that - it was hilarious. I don't know if drivers in Ferrari's and Red Bull's know that the reason they are faster is because the cars or actually faster or if they are crazy enough to believe that the reason they are faster in a Ferrari than in a Williams is because they are better drivers, but I hope (and I believe) they are not that stupid... MB
People care. A great many people care. It's just that Ferrari Chat is not a place for an IndyCar fan because you have a bunch of bitter old men that still have their knickers in a wad over the split. Blah...Blah...Blah...Blah...Blah It's sad and pathetic so fans go elsewhere to discuss how fantastic the racing has been this year and last year. Barber was a great race, with lots of passing and tons of competitive racing. However, the posters on Ferrari Chat will tell you how they can't be bothered to watch IndyCar races and yet they want to give you their opinion. If they would step away from their keyboards, stop spewing their hate and actually watch a race, they might see that we have some darn good racing. Good post, no...great post. Although I think NBCSports Network did a great job of covering St. Pete and Barber this year. Leigh Diffey is a great addition to the broadcast team. And I agree with you that the IndyCar series provides better racing than you will see in F1..even the F1 announcers joked during the Malaysia race that F1 was "supposedly the pinnacle of open wheel racing".
Ryan was my driving instructor back in 2005 at a Ferrari event. Really, really, cool guy. People who know racing talent a lot better than I, told me back then that he is the real deal. The only thing holding him back was money and some political issues. I know, I know, that's professional racing. It is almost never about the talent. It is aways about the money. It just pains me to see a guy who finally gets on top of the game to end up being thought of as just another woulda, coulda, shoulda. Dale
When you say Ryan I assume that you are referring to Ryan Hunter-Reay? When, where and how did RHR become another woulda, coulda, shoulda? The guy won the championship last year and just won the second race of the season.
Yep, the same. I'm not saying he is washed up. I'm really proud of what he has done, particularly seeing how he has had to generally race as second or third fiddle. I'm just disappointed that no one seems to car about IRL anymore. Dale
Same here on the "x" games. I can't see anything in them. I also raced SCCA and to say spec racing shows more driver skill than not is a bit of a stretch. I shows talent yes but you still need a well prepped car and the best of everthing. Some people spend obscene amounts of money to race in many open wheeled classes but still get beat by a guy in a 3 year old car with a solid setup and some talent. Point to me is that a top tier series should be about the best. Best car, drivers, engines and innovative ideas. If I want to watch pack racing I will watch stock cars. F1 is a good show and they still find ways to make things faster. I do miss the 70-80's F1 where every week you had something new to look at and it sure did keep the racing interesting. As for the F1 drivers.....that one you had better discuss with them. If you asked that question to them....they all would tell you it's them that makes the difference. Its never the car it's always them!!
First. This is obviously a single marque forum and Ferrari doesn't participate in IndyCar. Just curious IF attitudes toward IndyCar would be different around here IF they did enter into the engine competition? Second. If you hate the sport so much and don't follow it, watch it, or give two cents about it, why do you devote so much energy to spewing hatred and negativity? Why not just put your energy into something you actually enjoy? Step into the light child, step into the light. It is safer there than lost in the dark den of negativity. Anywho... Barber showed an all time high attendance for the last race. TV ratings were up. I don't recall specifics, but I believe that IndyCar beat out NASCAR for the same weekend while NASCAR was running at Martinsville and had the whole Lagano storyline going into the race.
