2013 Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by HJJ

.

.1 according to trackforum

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/sho...=1#post3408789

That's just gruesome. 195,000 viewers in 315,000,000 people.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I finally got round to watching the highlights and I can't remember seeing a more disjointed and truncated broadcast; just over 5mins.


What a great track but what an ugly car.

[D.R.T.]

Which highlihgts package are you referencing?

Thanks for providing a new perspective and a great discussion topic with your post

I posed the question to my room mate who has no real following of motorsport - what he thought about the current Indycar and whether its design and image turned him off watching etc. His response - it looks no different than an F1 car.

So in terms of new audiences - this example leads me to believe whether its a Lola or DW Dallara, this isnt the barrier to generating new fans and audiences

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Which highlihgts package are you referencing?

Thanks for providing a new perspective and a great discussion topic with your post

I posed the question to my room mate who has no real following of motorsport - what he thought about the current Indycar and whether its design and image turned him off watching etc. His response - it looks no different than an F1 car.

So in terms of new audiences - this example leads me to believe whether its a Lola or DW Dallara, this isnt the barrier to generating new fans and audiences

I'd agree with this.
I don't think the cars, speed, technology or even the non American drivers (Kanaan, Dixon, Franchitti, Briscoe, Power, Castroneves etc) are the real cause of the Indycar loss of public attention.

The real reason is back at the breakup of CART and the IRL movement.

Penske and Ganassi went with the IRL very quickly and that meant that the chances of the Champcar people succeeding was unlikely. Its not the fault of Ganassi and Penske. Its just that their abandonment of the CART movement secured its eventual death. CART was actually in early death throes at the point of the split. The decision by some teams selling their shares or a large percentage of them on the public market. Giving away the shares was a dilution of their control and commitment to the series and the decline simply Chip

The years of feuding did further damage than was expected and then the reunion hasn't led to the recovery expected once the war was over.
And that is simply because the years of infighting have distanced the media and the heart of the public from them.
People didn't really like what was happening. The enthusiasm of the original CART team owners had been lost and people simply voted with their feet.
There is no way Indycar can fix it by looking for simple solutions. What needs to happen is to capture the hearts and minds of the press and the public....
And if that doesn't happen then what Tony George did has reaped its consequences.
He was wrong. His philosophy was wrong (and basically still is). To recover that audience is going to require far more than rules, regulations, getting the 'right' car.

You are going to have to rebuild the relationship with their audience. The audience you had has been lost. Now you are going to have to get a new one and that is not going to be easy, at all.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Which highlihgts package are you referencing?

Thanks for providing a new perspective and a great discussion topic with your post

No probs dude, it's an absolute pleasure.

There is only one highlights package and it's on YouTube. Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/user/indycars and here's the link for the highlights of the race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-u0j6FB5aU.

However, I have since seen the whole race, thanks to someone called TheIndySnake who posted it on YouTube and it was excellent. This sort of highlights, no pun intended, what's wrong with IndyCar. Why does it take an individual to post the whole race, yet IndyCar can only be bothered to show 5mins of highlights? IndyCar should be archiving the whole race, for fans who missed it and for those fans who wish to watch it again.

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

I posed the question to my room mate who has no real following of motorsport - what he thought about the current Indycar and whether its design and image turned him off watching etc. His response - it looks no different than an F1 car.

So in terms of new audiences - this example leads me to believe whether its a Lola or DW Dallara, this isnt the barrier to generating new fans and audiences

You should ask someone who does follow motorsport the same question and see what their response is. So if you believe the problem with generating new fans and audiences isn't down to the car, what is the problem?

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

You should ask someone who does follow motorsport the same question and see what their response is. So if you believe the problem with generating new fans and audiences isn't down to the car, what is the problem?

Haven't we done that in this forum with mixed feedback on the car but they still watch.

As discussed, theres no one major problem or solution but a combination of a poor television deal, lack of identified name drivers and a non stable schedule year to year that are hurting the series.

No one is not watching to due to their feelings towards to the attractiveness of the chassis

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Haven't we done that in this forum with mixed feedback on the car but they still watch.

It would appear from the Mid-Ohio TV ratings, fewer people are watching.

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

As discussed, theres no one major problem or solution but a combination of a poor television deal, lack of identified name drivers and a non stable schedule year to year that are hurting the series.

No one is not watching to due to their feelings towards to the attractiveness of the chassis

I agree, the TV deal certainly doesn't help but I don't buy the lack of identified name drivers as part of the problem. Castroneves, Franchitti and Kanaan have been round since CART. Both Dixon and RHR started out in CART/Champcar and all have been a real presence since they switched to the IRL. These guys have been around for a while now and the two series merged in 2008, so there's been plenty of time for drivers to make names for themselves. Partly it is the TV deal but a lot has to with how interesting the product itself is and that ugly car does not help. I see it go round the track and I remember a time when I saw better.

You say, "No one is not watching to due to their feelings towards to the attractiveness of the chassis", how do you know that? I read loads of complaints when they opted for this version of the DW12, on this forum and other forums and how people said they didn't like the car and it wasn't going to help the sport. Looks like those people were right.

[ptclaus98]

I wish people would quit blaming the TV deal. 77 million households get NBCSN.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

I wish people would quit blaming the TV deal. 77 million households get NBCSN.

And how many of them watch IndyCar?

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I agree, the TV deal certainly doesn't help but I don't buy the lack of identified name drivers as part of the problem. Castroneves, Franchitti and Kanaan have been round since CART. Both Dixon and RHR started out in CART/Champcar and all have been a real presence since they switched to the IRL.

You dont think fan or public identification has anything to do with television audience or crowd attendance?

Those drivers have been around a while but have never been household names in the mainstream. The example of Dixon and RHR I dont get as they were both anonymous with the mainstream public during CART as well.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Partly it is the TV deal but a lot has to with how interesting the product itself is and that ugly car does not help. I see it go round the track and I remember a time when I saw better.

Using the Panoz Champcar as an example - assuming you thought it was an attractive car. How did that help Champcar's tackling of the same issues Indycar has now?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

You dont think fan or public identification has anything to do with television audience or crowd attendance?

Those drivers have been around a while but have never been household names in the mainstream. The example of Dixon and RHR I dont get as they were both anonymous with the mainstream public during CART as well.



Using the Panoz Champcar as an example - assuming you thought it was an attractive car. How did that help Champcar's tackling of the same issues Indycar has now?

You raise some good points but I'd like you to redirect your comments to this thread I've started http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138839 The Current State of IndyCar

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

I wish people would quit blaming the TV deal. 77 million households get NBCSN.

And that is pretty much 80% of all households in the USA, so they can't complain too much.

[David A Scott]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

CART was actually in early death throes at the point of the split.

Typical IRL-ista revisionist history. Care to back that up with some facts?

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by David A Scott

Typical IRL-ista revisionist history. Care to back that up with some facts?

I have always been pro-CART anti IRL.
Your assumptions are totally incorrect. I know what I am talking about. I know far more about the history of CART than you realise

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

I have always been pro-CART anti IRL.
Your assumptions are totally incorrect. I know what I am talking about. I know far more about the history of CART than you realise

I started a thread called The Current State of IndyCar, where discussions like the above can take place, rather than the existing thread go off topic and turn into a CART v IRL argument, as so often happens on the IndyCar section of Ten-Tenths. Cheers.

[Marcus666]

Speaking of the Champ Car situation back in 2007, It looked IMO better on "paper" than what Indycar actually is today. What was the final straw to the series, the departure of Allmendinger and Bourdais? Did the cost of the Panoz chassis escalate through the roof?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Marcus666

Speaking of the Champ Car situation back in 2007, It looked IMO better on "paper" than what Indycar actually is today. What was the final straw to the series, the departure of Allmendinger and Bourdais? Did the cost of the Panoz chassis escalate through the roof?

Interesting questions but you'd be better off re-posting them on this thread The Current State of IndyCar