Johnson, KK interview

[indycool]

http://www.wheels.ca/newsFeatures/article/29497

[Adam43]

I don't have a problem with the Calendar! Why does it need to be compressed? There is no natural development cycle to follow now that it is a spec. series. There are plenty of breaks for the teams.

Lets have something different, where is the rule that says racing is between March and September?

[billkirbywofb]

Adam, two reasons for compressing the season. Which was only expanded a few years ago. (1) competition with American high school, college and professional football. Even Nascar takes a hit on TV viewing for Saturday evening football games when in competition. In some areas football is almost a religion, specially the deeper into the season you get. (2) Weather. In a lot of areas, you can count on cool temps and rain. A few years ago they had the Sports Car Club of American National Runoffs at Mid-Ohio in September - and it snowed just 2 weeks later. Get into October and your limited to the southern 1/3 of the US for good weather that will bring out the fans. Which is the same area Nascar migrates to that time of the year. Why the past couple of seasons, the last races have been in Australia, Mexico and Southern California. And Arizona this year.

[Adam43]

I should have guessed at the football thing.

However as you say, this is a world series, use the seasons to your advantage. Although taking the race out of its home land matters little to me as I don't live in the US. Maybe for the majority of fans this is an issue and the opening and ending should be in the US.

[billkirbywofb]

Adam, yes, American football is a big thing. When I lived in my previous apartment complex we would have a Sunday football party (the games had a start time of 10am. 1pm and 5pm.) and people would do anything to make the party. And it became almost cult-like to make the game party. Like = "Well I had a hard decission today. "My daughters high school graduation this afternoon or the football party ...... would someone pass me a beer"

As someone who worked in marketing, you want to have the first and last race in North America. You want to start and finish the season in the time zones that people can watch. You need the North American hook to get the media and casual viewer to get their interest in the series in the area where most of the races are. It would be great to have year round CCWS racing. But the money is not there at this time. Plus you need an off-season (not even F-1 is truely year round) for car preperation for the upcoming season. Also there are limited venues I think would work in the Southern Hemispire. It may get there, but I suspect that CCWS will have a March to September/October schedule in the future.

[Adam43]

Well I think F1 should be all year round too! They had (before I was born) GP on new years day. For me it should be alround, but I get why.

American football must be quite big because I watch the Superbowl every year! Normally having the day off afterwards. Coverage over here is quite extensive (considering). It works out well as it is the first six nations Rugby weekend too. Field sports are for winter while I have nothing else to do! What were we saying about seasons? Ah, winter, the time for telly sport!

[mountainstar]

There has been a lot of open debate over the past ten years with motorsport in the USA and it tangling with the NFL in the fall. I really don't know what to think as there are two sides to it.

It's going to be interesting to see how well received the Phoenix race for champcar is considering it will be in december. It could be a dud or a welcome diversion from all the usual stuff at that time of year. At least the weather in Phoenix should be decent instead of the 120 degrees in the summer.

[billiaml]

Since the Phoenix Cardinals generally suck, it wouldn't surprise me to see the race draw more fans than the football game -- especially if the team isn't contending for a playoff position. This is a franchise that has worn out its welcome in 2 other cities -- 1st Chicago & then St Louis -- and who knows how long it'll be before they move again.