Month of May and a loss of Momentum.

[Vegasguy]

I think we already have seen more coverage of practice and qualifying on ABC/ESPN as is. Last year I don't remember anywhere near as much.

I see it only getting better each year. You need to remember that long term contracts were in place before unification and ol twinkle toes and Danicamania along with good racing is going to make the negotiating position stronger when those contracts are up.

[courageous]

A de-facto spec series
Drivers are on the limit 100% of the time
Rain, rain and more rain
Cars/Engines that have run Indy many times that a set up is already known

For these reasons, a full month can drag; but at the same time I like the tradition and would like to see them make the month interesting rather than cut it down.

Cut down the practice time for indycars & run more support races, my wet dream version of the schedule would be sometime like:

Fri 2nd - Atlantics on the road circuit
Sat 3rd - Indycar race on the road circuit
Sun 4th - ROP
Mon 5th - ROP
Tue-Thur Indycar Practice
Fri 9th - Trucks on the oval
Sat 10th - Pole Qual
Sun 11th - Nationwide/ARCA on the oval
Mon 12th - 2nd Qual
Tue-Thur Indycar Practice
Fri 16th - 3rd Qual
Sat 17th - Grand Am on road circuit
Sun 18th - Bump Day
Mon 19th - Historic Indycars
Tue-Thur Indycar Practice
Fri 23rd - Carb Day
Sat 24th - Indy Lights on the oval
Sun 25th - Indy 500
Mon 26th - Victory Celebrations
Fri 30th - Indy Lights on the road circuit
Sat 31st - F1 Qual / Porsche cup
Sun 1st June - F1 Grand Prix

[BenRoethig]

Sorry, but without the best oval driver in either series in the mix it just doesn't hold any interest for me. It's just another IRL race.

Don't worry Sam will be back when he's sick of being a mid-pack stock car driver.

[indycool]

Those who expect "microwave" growth from "blendification" will be disappointed. But, I expect if they actually GOT ballistically and so visibly improved instantly that the world would notice, those people would still REFUSE to notice.

Those who expect realistic development over the long term probably will notice differences here and there. Another well-sponsored team here, another new race there, a better-attended Carb Day at Indy, maybe a better-attended qualifying day at a Kansas or a Kentucky partly because of the ICS and/or partly because of some other feature a track has put on the weekend schedule.

Simply, those who desire to dislike it will find things wrong with it. The ones who don't want to dislike it might have a different preference in procedure here and there, but it doesn't affect their view of it much.

[spiritone]

Is this a forum where you can express your opinion or not?


Just because i don't agree with the party line, to bad. Microwave growth, thats not what i see in the stands at indy. Its simple people, the present formula is not working at indy. Condense the program down to 2 weeks and get on with it.


Did you listen to your god, Robin Miller, he says the format *****.
Davey Hamiton makes the field and he says it *****. This is not about the irl vs champcar, this is about the format at indy not working. My Opinion.

[nigelred5]

the 11/11/11 doesn't work and isn't necessary, but the month should stay the same as it is for the sake of the additional 9-10 cars that aren't series regulars having hte time and practice t omake quality additions to the field.

[indycool]

Spiritone, things change and some change faster than others.

Robin Miller is NOT my god.

Other changes have already taken place regarding bolstering the three-week schedule with different attractions, concerts, and the like. Those things happened DURING the split.

Now, there are more cars and the Bump Day was dramatic. With that in mind, the 11-11-11-BUMP may or may not change in the future. But it would surprise me if they ever diminish the magnitude of the race by going to a two-week format again.

Hamilton? Davey's always seemed to be an honest guy. He would've started 13th under the old system and he's starting 18th now. And because Sunday qualifying was rained out, he expressed that the first 11 got to work more on race setups.

He has a point. He was at a disadvantage in those respects. It could work to his advantage the next time. But I don't think they're going to try to make decisions on format based on when it might rain. That's insane.

[grantb4]

Ok, don't know what it is like where you live, but in the UK, the Month of May and Indy is a mystery to Mr & Mrs Joe Public.

It's certainly a waste of a good month to race the same cars on another oval, but drag it out so long. I can see how it made sense in the days long before the 500 became (largely) a spec series race. Bring back Andy Granetelli (sp?) and building special purpose machines for the race... or else knock it back to a weekend.

[MAX_THRUST]

I like what courageous said about making the month bigger! Why not envolve other races throughout the month at the circuit. In a way copy Daytona speed week. Make the 500 the big race, and have various other series in supporting roles as the month builds.

Bump day has happened and we have seen anything. Qualifying happened and I didn't understand it because I didn';t see it. But a tleast this year we had cars being bumped. Sorry to see some of them being bumped though. Dont understand the 11,11,11 qualify. Be better having three qualiy sessions where only in the very last one does the grid get set, but I digress.

[BenRoethig]

I like what courageous said about making the month bigger! Why not envolve other races throughout the month at the circuit. In a way copy Daytona speed week. Make the 500 the big race, and have various other series in supporting roles as the month builds.

Bump day has happened and we have seen anything. Qualifying happened and I didn't understand it because I didn';t see it. But a tleast this year we had cars being bumped. Sorry to see some of them being bumped though. Dont understand the 11,11,11 qualify. Be better having three qualiy sessions where only in the very last one does the grid get set, but I digress.

As it supposed to work the fastest 11 qualify on pole day. Then another 11 qualify on day 2 for positions 12-22 and third day for positions 23-33. Even if second and third day qualifiers are faster than pole days speeds, they cannot advance past 12th or 23rd. Then there is dump day. Cars are bumped depending on speed. So, in theory if a car in second round qualifying was slowest, the 22nd place car would be bumped, the new car would be 33rd and everyone else would be dumped up a spot.