2012 IndyCar schedule

[Yannick]

From the reactions in this thread, it seems like there is still lots of disillusion amongst the fans of the former CART series with the current IndyCar Series being an outgrowth of the IRL, the former rival series which introduction caused the "split".

I feel people should get over it because the current IndyCar series is the only chance us US open wheel racing fans have to get back good and safe racing in single seaters on all types of racetracks.

Of course, Brian Barnhart (IRL) who took away the 2002 Indy 500 victory from Paul Tracy (ChampCar) by making a decision, is still race director today. And Gerry Forsythe (ChampCar) has not become a team owner in the unified series.
But wasn't it Penske (CART) and Ganassi (CART) and Andretti/Green (CART) whose jumping ship from one series to the other moved the balance in favour of the current series and thus had a big early influence on re-unification in the way we have it today?

In the first year after reunification, it was an unequal race on track between the teams used to the Dallara and those who were not, yet ChampCar powerhouse Newman/Haas won 2 races (Rahal at St.Pete and Wilson at Detroit). I tended to root for the ChampCar teams then because I did not like the split.

But already in the next season, the lines had blurred so much. ChampCar drivers had rides in IRL teams and vice versa, new teams formed who have their roots in both series (FAZZT/Schmidt). And the appeal of underdogs running up front is so big that it does not matter anymore in which series a team or a driver ran in like 2000.

Maybe I have the benefit of not being interested in US motorsport at all from the end of 1999 until Dario Franchitti's first Indy 500 victory got me interested again but despite being a CART fan during the early days of the split and not caring about the IRL at all, I cannot help but feel happy about little teams scoring big now, even when both driver and team are IRL regulars (like Ryan Hunter-Reay's P2 at St.Pete for Vision Racing one day after signing the contract, or Dan Wheldon's Indy 500 victory for Bryan Herta, and recently Ed Carpenter's win for Sarah Fisher Racing.)

Yes, it was embarrassing to see the 2003 Dallara being slower than Formula Nippon cars on the roadcourse of Motegi, but what do you expect of a car that's 8 years old?

I must say I can only hope this upgrade in chassis and engines works out well and that all teams will get their engines at an affordable price. Group Lotus should put their money where their mouth is and bring on their Judd engine rather sooner than later. But wait, isn't it their bank's money after all?

The big question remaining is where have the fans, who visited races like Milwaukee and Michigan and Chicagoland and Road America in the 90s, where have they moved on to? Or are they still alive even? What kind of motorsport do they enjoy these days - if any? Do they even know IndyCar is back re-unified? Or are they cringing at the bad news about Al Unser Jr., quietly ashamed that they used to be a fan of the guy at one point? Or at Jacques Villeneuve dabbling in NASCAR? Or at Paul Tracy having become an IndyCar midfielder? If one of their old heroes achieved something great, it may be possible to win over some of those old CART fans who have long abandoned the sport.

But basically, Randy Bernard is doing a good thing at trying to win the series new fans, not old fans. Baltimore was a success and it surprised me how great a race it was. Loudon New Hampshire was a great race, too, despite the blunder by race control, as was the comeback of Milwaukee, but the race promoters somehow could not make a profit from them. That's nothing to do with the on-track action, though, but with marketing.

NASCAR goes to its core markets twice a year. Why not try that at Texas Motor Speedway, for example?

[bjohnsonsmith]

It's not surprising there's disillusion. The IndyCar series since unification has slowly gone from bad to worse, with declining TV audiences and declining race attendances. It's not a about getting over it, it's about getting US open wheel racing back to where it was and unfortunately this is not happening.

The current spec Dallara, was never designed to race on road/street courses, hence it being slower than the Formula Nippon Swifts and it has had virtually no development work done to it. So when it was announced there woud be a new car, with turbo engines, there was eager anticipation; a return to something that resembled the cars that raced when US open wheel racing was great. However the car was delayed for a year and when it was finally revealed, no one liked it because of the airbox and then we were told aero-kits would be delayed and it is now rumored that the turbo engines will be delayed.

Full credit to Randy Bernard he's done an excellent job, in what can only be described as difficult circumstances and as far as the old CART fans are concerned, they haven't gone away, they are just waiting until the sport can turn itself around and they'll be back. It's all very well Randy Bernard cultivating new fans but he's got to bring the old fans, the CART fans back into the fold. Look at F1, it doesn't just rely on a new fan base and is made up of fans who've followed the sport for years. Despite Bernie expanding F1 globaly, he has still kept the core of European races and it's from Europe the vast majority of fans come from. Randy could do well by taking a leaf out of Bernie's book and build up the series round a core of well established, traditional circuits. Take Milwaukee for example, it should have been run the week after Indy, which used to work so well and the promoters wouldn't have lost out, well maybe not as badly considering the poor attendances. Which brings it down to marketing.

As it is the IRL/IndyCar, whatever you want to call it, is a bad product and has been from the outset. It's never attracted big promoters or the big multi-national sponsors that CART commanded and that's down to marketing. The potential is there but the direction isn't. It's basically a rudderless ship going in ever decreasing circles but as someone pointed out in the IndyCar section of Ten-Tenths, the blue-print exists to get things back on track, no pun intended.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by marcostraz

I think that IndyCar product is good...ok, some races could have been boring, but it's impossible to have every finish like Kentucky or 200 laps of side-by-side (that, among other things, for some people it's boring)...we have new cars an new engines coming, more diversification and more techonology....I think that the product is good...in my opinion, the most important thing that IndyCar need is promotion...IndyCar needs to be known...to be know it, to be know its drivers, to be know its stories, to be know its technology...yes, there are some things about racing itself that could be improved (some rules for example, or race control decisions, and the schedule too), but the first thing is promotion...promotion of the series and promotion of the single races...

The problem, though, is that for all the people on Internet forums who like the product, the television audience and race-goers are saying they don't by not watching and not attending. It's not that they don't know about IndyCar. The Indy 500 gets around a 4.0 rating. That's the best advertisement for IndyCar there is. And yet those millions don't tune in again. The broadcast mentions the IndyCar Series and the next race more than enough, and all the media coverage following that mentions it (even if Wheldon wasn't full-time, they made a story about how he wasn't full-time...which implies there are more races to be run). A half-intelligent person could figure out the other races and watch them. But they don't. There's so much information and so much access to it, it's hard to not know about IndyCar or any other sport. But knowing isn't caring, and .1 ratings and 15k in the stands shows that.

We all want Indy racing to succeed, and while we all have different ideas about that, I just can't see how someone could say the current model would get that. Even if people enjoy the present racing personally, the ratings and attendance are so poor it indicates a lot more than promotion issues. I live near New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Trust me - the promotion for that race in the Greater Boston Area was huge. And no one went. They had Dario Franchitti and his car in Boston; they had Simona de Silvestro, Will Power, Justin Wilson, and a few others make appearances here; TV ads like crazy all over the local network affiliates; promotions at various supermarkets here with Dr. Pepper and Marco Andretti; all sorts of stuff. I even heard people talking about it on the streets in Boston, which is bizarre. But they didn't go. Something made them not go. I can only assume they 1) watched an Indy race prior to NHMS after hearing about it and decided it was boring, 2) couldn't justify the cost, 3) decided they'd rather go to the Modifieds on Saturday, 4) went to Pocono that weekend for NASCAR instead since plenty of New Englanders go there (myself included), 5) went to NHMS' website to buy tickets and saw the Sylvania 300 and decided they'd rather go to that, 6) went to TF or Crapwagon and got scared. Maybe a combination of many of those things. Either way, they didn't go, and the effort was made.

But we sure as hell turned out in droves to see the NASCAR races. I don't think they've ever not sold one of those out, even if a NASCAR sell-out isn't quite "honest." Still fuller grandstands than most races in Cup. New Englanders just love their stock cars. Why? Because the product's better for them, and for the majority of racing fans, as reflected in their decisions to watch it.

[fasteric]

Indy Car racing has always had a basic built-in split in their fanbase and was aggrevated by the great split.
...the oval track fan (blue collar,Mid-Western, worked in auto and related industries except in Calf where alot were machinists in aero industry) went to the short tracks to watch USAC on dirt and asphalt. when the big cars came to town they watched Rutherford and Foyt..stars they knew since they were kids. they tolerated foreign drivers at Indy in 70's mostly because they were getting whupped most of the time. Later they followed Stewart and Gordon coming up through USAC but when Indy (and other races) becames a bit too brazilian and full of ride buyers they never heard of, some like Stewart and Gordon moved to NASCAR , the rest disappered along with the US manufacturing base.
...the road racing fan migrated to Indy Cars from SCCA when their racing programs imploded in the 80's. they liked exoctic machinery and were used to european drivers coming over and racing here. This wine and cheese crowd couldn't handle sitting next to the guy with dirty finger nails ,a Goodyear cap on spilling beer on their pressed jeans. And a subset is the street racing crowdwho like fast cars noise, festivals downtown but wouldn't know the difference between a Lola and a Penske.
so basically the oval track crowd is gone except for Iowa and Indy where they will watch anything with wheels on it for the right price.
maybe Mountainstar is right..another split where Indy 500 and a few oval races in one corner (aligned with NASCAR) and another roadracing based
series in another. It say something when a non racer but expert promoter like Ropin Randy can hash together a decent series where the worst problems are caused by the so called pros...team owners, officials, track owners.

[mitchbr]

So, Belle Isle is a go. Though I'm not a fan of the layout, I'm content with the return of this race. Especially since it's Detroit, a race and city that have open wheel history, and not China, which the only history is a failed history. I think that if turn 8 can be sharpened, it could make for a nice place to pass. If I had it my way though, we'd use the 98-01 layout, that continued on past where the current layout breaks off to turn 3. That had a real nice passing zone.
But hey, Chevy's putting money down, the city (or at least the mayor), support and are excited, and it's a revival event, no new track with tons of questions (don't get me wrong Baltimore was a hit).

I also think the oval situation can be fixed with time. As long as RB keeps it straight that ovals are a vital part of AOWR, then I could see more ovals in 2013, and be back to even by 2014 or 15 at the absolute latest. I just wish our dreams schedules could work out sometime (Cleveland,Road America, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Pocono, Laguna Seca, Surfers, etc). Hopefully we can get there someday.

And to any IndyCar fans thinking "this is the last straw", you've stayed loyal thus far, and with RB, things will get better. Sure there are excuses, just stay with it. As fans, we're at fault for not showing up to oval races as well (not all on us, but with crowds like MIL and KY, every extra individual counts). Come out to races, and get your friends to come.

[Carsandmotorracing]

Knew Chevy would sponser the race. Good to see it back

[marcostraz]

But isn't the 2012 official schedule already released, right?

[Carsandmotorracing]

Originally Posted by marcostraz

But isn't the 2012 official schedule already released, right?

Only Robin Miller's guess.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

The problem, though, is that for all the people on Internet forums who like the product, the television audience and race-goers are saying they don't by not watching and not attending. It's not that they don't know about IndyCar. The Indy 500 gets around a 4.0 rating. That's the best advertisement for IndyCar there is. And yet those millions don't tune in again. The broadcast mentions the IndyCar Series and the next race more than enough, and all the media coverage following that mentions it (even if Wheldon wasn't full-time, they made a story about how he wasn't full-time...which implies there are more races to be run). A half-intelligent person could figure out the other races and watch them. But they don't. There's so much information and so much access to it, it's hard to not know about IndyCar or any other sport. But knowing isn't caring, and .1 ratings and 15k in the stands shows that.

We all want Indy racing to succeed, and while we all have different ideas about that, I just can't see how someone could say the current model would get that. Even if people enjoy the present racing personally, the ratings and attendance are so poor it indicates a lot more than promotion issues. I live near New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Trust me - the promotion for that race in the Greater Boston Area was huge. And no one went. They had Dario Franchitti and his car in Boston; they had Simona de Silvestro, Will Power, Justin Wilson, and a few others make appearances here; TV ads like crazy all over the local network affiliates; promotions at various supermarkets here with Dr. Pepper and Marco Andretti; all sorts of stuff. I even heard people talking about it on the streets in Boston, which is bizarre. But they didn't go. Something made them not go. I can only assume they 1) watched an Indy race prior to NHMS after hearing about it and decided it was boring, 2) couldn't justify the cost, 3) decided they'd rather go to the Modifieds on Saturday, 4) went to Pocono that weekend for NASCAR instead since plenty of New Englanders go there (myself included), 5) went to NHMS' website to buy tickets and saw the Sylvania 300 and decided they'd rather go to that, 6) went to TF or Crapwagon and got scared. Maybe a combination of many of those things. Either way, they didn't go, and the effort was made.

But we sure as hell turned out in droves to see the NASCAR races. I don't think they've ever not sold one of those out, even if a NASCAR sell-out isn't quite "honest." Still fuller grandstands than most races in Cup. New Englanders just love their stock cars. Why? Because the product's better for them, and for the majority of racing fans, as reflected in their decisions to watch it.

The indy 500 is like an old, previously successful bar or restaurant that has been passed down to the 3rd generation of heirs, who know little or care little about the business and it reflects in the product. Some people still go there because they always have or for allegiance to the old times, but most people have moved on.

It's a race that has a lot of history, but jumped the shark years ago and the only people that really care are locals in indy, which most Americans don't really care about an Indiana state institution or consider indy the center of the universe. And maybe perhaps some that always watched indy in the past.

I think the Indiana aspect is the biggest problem. Locals, I believe, think the rest of the 49 states care just as much about their historical institution than they do and we don't.

Until you get professional ownership that is committed to "real" formula cars and a strong national series with professional management, I think we are all wasting our time investing all of this thought into it.

[Jacques Rabbit]

I don't know if there's a lot of thought to "just make the racing better and it'll sort itself to the extent they can at least break even and go from there," but that's the stance I take personally.

[skells22]

I think this might have to wait until the dust setted on the Las Vegas sad race before any new dates are said about

[bjohnsonsmith]

I don't see Las Vegas returning for the forseeable future, if ever.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I don't see Las Vegas returning for the forseeable future, if ever.

In the wake of the tragedy, they are having second thoughts about racing there next year. They announced over the weekend (before the race started) that there would be a race there next year as the season finale, but given the circumstances that ensued, they would be wise to think again before running there next year.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

In the wake of the tragedy, they are having second thoughts about racing there next year. They announced over the weekend (before the race started) that there would be a race there next year as the season finale, but given the circumstances that ensued, they would be wise to think again before running there next year.

I would certainly hope so.

[ujoint]

INDY 500: The race in and of itself at the annual INDY 500 is not what the INDY 500 is about. It is an event, a spectacle if you will. That is why it is called the greatest spectacle in racing. Stop the hating on the INDY 500. See it live and in person once and you will definitely have a new perspective on the thing. By the way, take this away and you take the whole series down with it.

[Down F0rce]

They better run at Indy next year, I just bought a ticket for it!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

They better run at Indy next year, I just bought a ticket for it!

Of course they will.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I don't see Las Vegas returning for the forseeable future, if ever.

220 mph average is too tempting for some. Randy Bernard can't claim to have the fastest drivers of the world filling the calendar with 100mph races. Even karts go faster than that.

[Carsandmotorracing]

If we stopped racing at a track where a driver died, there would be no more tracks to race on.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by Carsandmotorracing

If we stopped racing at a track where a driver died, there would be no more tracks to race on.

And if we continued to race on unsuitable tracks, we wouldn't have any drivers left.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Simple, take off all the extra downforce for the ovals and let the cars lift or even *gasp* brake in the corners. Not only will it most likely spread the cars out and lower the speeds, but it will also seperate the men from the boys and women from the girls, especially at Indianapolis going into turn 1.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Simple, take off all the extra downforce for the ovals and let the cars lift or even *gasp* brake in the corners. Not only will it most likely spread the cars out and lower the speeds, but it will also seperate the men from the boys and women from the girls, especially at Indianapolis going into turn 1.

The 2012 car supposedly is ground effect and most of the down force will come from the car, rather than loading the wings. This will have the desired effect and racing will be more like it was in the CART era.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Randy Bernard floated on Twitter the idea of a street race in Las Vegas.

You'll notice that Bernard only floats ideas he's already decided on. It's just to make him seem like he's taking fan feedback, and maybe he would back down if he got resounding "HELL NO" replies, but it can be concluded there is already a plan in place for a street race in Las Vegas for 2012.

Which means no more LVMS. And to further that, Bernard voiced anger at the LVMS PR director for quotes about Indy making a mess on the track and leaving LVMS to clean it up, so there's really no chance they're returning.

I personally don't think they should, anyway. Would rather see the street race.

I guess Indy's in a **** position. The drivers don't want the 1.5-mile ovals, and neither do the fans, since none show up to those races or watch them on TV. Safety-wise, it's a bad idea...business-wise, it's worse.

And while the safety proposals of less downforce, more horsepower solve the pack racing problem, there are many drivers out there who would not brake even if they had to. So then you go from fifteen-car fatal wrecks to single-car fatal wrecks. Not a trade they should be making...

But that's all irrelevant. Outside of Indy and Iowa, the oval races have been economic failures, whether the track promoted them or Randy Bernard did.

The demographics for street races are better, too, in terms of a younger crowd and a higher income, from what I've heard (cannot verify at this time, maybe someone else knows).

I guess my point: in fantasy land, I wish we could run shorter, flatter ovals like Milwaukee, Loudon, Gateway, Richmond, etc. From a safety perspective, it's a better way to go, and from a racing perspective, it's a lot more fun at those tracks.

But from a business perspective, they shouldn't be doing more than the 500 and Iowa. And you know what? It's looking like they might actually not, with Fontana being the wildcard (they'll have pack racing issues there, though), and Texas being less of one (if the drivers truly won't go back to 1.5s).

[Jonerz]

Hopefully with a car and engine that is not fully developed, there is time to make the necessary changes to allow it to race at Fontana with all of the fans', drivers', and owners' safety concerns wiped out.

For 2013 I would like to see this schedule:

1. St. Petersburg, Florida (Streets of St. Pete)
2. Barber Motorsports Park (Birmingham, Alabama)
3. Long Beach (Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach)
4. Houston (JagFLO Speedway at Reliant Park)
5. Brazil (try to convince the current sponsors and promoters to move the race to Autódromo de Jacarepaguá)
6. Richmond (Suntrust Indy Challenge at RIR)
7. Indianapolis 500
8. Milwaukee (Title Sponsor 225)
9. Detroit (Title Sponsor Grand Prix at Belle Isle)
10. Cleveland (Title Sponsor Grand Prix of Cleveland)
11. Edmonton (Edmonton City Center Airport)
12. Toronto (Exhibition Place)
13. Michigan (Michigan 500)
14. Iowa (Iowa Corn Indy 225)
15. Mid-Ohio (Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by Westfield Insurance)
16. Road America (Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase w/ ALMS)
17. New Hampshire (Presumably there will be a new Title Sponsor 225)
18. Gateway (Chicago-Area Title Sponsor 225)
19. Infineon (Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma)
20. Fontana (California 500)

Each event should feature the entire Mazda Road to Indy Ladder series, as well as invite a couple of USAC series to the short ovals. The oval races should be turned into festivals the way street races and road courses are executed. There should always be something on track, and the infield should have a carnival atmosphere.

Chevrolet will likely pick up sponsorship for Detroit and perhaps other events. Lotus may even chose to sponsor an event. I imagine, as yiu can see above, Honda will at the very least keep Mid-Ohio. May take others they find have strategic marketing value. GM Canada and Honda Canada will likely want to split Edmonton and Toronto.

Key things Bernard needs to do is take Gateway, Milwaukee, New Hampshire and Michigan and promote those races through the IRL. Stick to those events on the same weekend year-in, year-out and as the formula improves the fans will come back.

Start finding a title sponsor for the "Triple Crown" right NOW (Crown Royal perhaps?). Michigan, Indy and Fontana 500s will be the Triple Crown of 500 mile races. Eliminate the Road/Street Champion trophies and award only two trophies on the season, one for overall champion, and one for the Triple Crown Champion. Triple Crown races should be broadcast on ABC. $5 million to the driver who can win all three, or is that a tasteless reminder of our recent loss? I'm honestly not sure.

Hopefully as the cars get their balls back the fans will start respecting the series once more. That is when the series will return to being relevant to sponsors once more.

Also, in my dreams RP would get a band together to buy the Speedway and the IRL from the HG clan. Further, there would be a ceremonial burning of every IRL logo ever over the yard of bricks at Indy opening day in May, the new IndyCar logo will be revealed and it will look nothing like anything that resembles something from the IRL. Unlike in TG's reign where CART was a bad word and couldn't be openly discussed, the IRL will not be. God's light will be shed on the dark time in AOWR and it will be discussed for what it is, good and bad. Mainly bad... exclusively bad, barring the final years of CART. TG and Brian Brainfart will be welcomed back to roles they can handle, financier of a team, and truck driver for Penske.

Chris

[Paradise City]

In a few years we'll wind up with Indy, one other oval [Iowa if it keeps making something] and a bunch of cash cow street tracks. I suppose the series continuing at all rests on whether the car is a turkey or it actually can race.

Randy seems a lot more careful with his ideas since the tragedy. He seems to be moving towards acquiring a clutch of potentially profitable, well attended street events in order to whip the series into better commercial shape. I don't think this is good news for anyone wishing for track variety.