The Good, the Bad and the Ugly-2010

[EagleEye]

In memory of Earl Ma, who I think started this somewhere. Happy New Years to everyone!

The Good-

Randy Bernard. Hard working, full of energy and "gets it" better than any OW leader since Tony Hulman. Given the keys in order to fix the mess made by TG, Bernard has a keen sense of what the past was about, and seems to understand the the mistakes that were made, and what needs to be done to correct them.

The series and its members are ready to follow you sir, so lead on!

American Dirvers. As the year came to an end, Graham Rahal, JR Hildebrand and Charlie Kimball secured full time rides for 2011, joining Danica, Marco and RHR. Part-timer Ed Carpenter will compete for SFR. Seven american drivers, six full-time, is a very solid number and bodes well for the series. We can only hope the group can do well, and with Ganassi, Panther and AA, they should.

Dario Franchitti. Dario just keep getting better with time. He can still be the rabbit, fast out of the box, or lay back and wait as he did time and time again. He carries the spirit of lost friend Greg Moore and hero Jim Clark very well.

Will Power. Amazing to think back when Penske chose Will over Justin Wilson, and others to be the teams third "part time" two years ago. From the start, the humble and talented Power is alwasy fast and one has to wonder how far he can go once he gets a bit more comfortable on ovals.

Chip Ganassi. No one could have seen the great year that Ganassi would have this year, save for those who know how hard Chip pushes the team's abilities. First, the key hires over the years, with great people placed in positions of imense responsibilities. While Chip can be at times being Frugal, he is willing to do and spend what it takes to extract the best from man and machines. The cars and teams are always brilliantly prepared and his ability to maintain long time sponsors only help the team and any series in which he takes part. Funding of the Delta Wing shows how much he cares about the future of the sport, while rewarding the past.

AJ Foyt. Always a man of his word, kept Vitor's seat for him for 2010.

The Bad-

The Weather. I do not believe in the global warming myth, since the hottest global temp on record was 1998, and the planet has been in a cooling trend since 2002 but the rain and weather did not help in the build up to the May. Poor ratings tend to be even worse on Monday.

There is not much the series can do, but the frustration for teams is that earlier start times could allow for a race to get under way prior to the bad weather. Just saying....

Versus. Great TV coverage, on a network most are unaware of. While it is easy to blame versus, the ratings (see The Ugly) are not much better on network TV. The good news for 2011, is there will be more races on network TV, with the series promoting the series even more. Was Randy able to sell the series despite the bad ratings, or is it another pay for network time. Either would be a win for the series.


IRL. It is with good reason that Randy Bernard has discarded the IRL name. Poor and unsteady officiating, terrible safety team, and snobby attitude towards OW history made it an easy change to make. The problem is while there has been a name change and a few personnel changes, one constant remains; Brian Barnhart. I actually have nothing personal against Brian, and in fact, I like him. But, there are things and times when you want to bang your head against the wall. Consistant rulings make for a steady series. Make inconsistant rulings, and you have to wonder what factors are being used to make decisions. Indy was a frustration as our team would go to tech, and come back with requested changes for "gray areas" where the part in question offered no performance advantage, and only provided a $$ savings as we had the part in stock. Then we would see car "X" go by with a variety of parts on it that were by the book, not allowed. Not only would team "X" get to keep the parts on (with the promise of removing before the race) other teams could not add the parts. WTF?

The series, any series, needs consistent and steady leadership. In a year of change for Indycar, Randy needs to make one more change. Keep Brian as part as IMS or something, but lets get some new blood in race control.

The Ugly-

TV Ratings. Nothing screams failure more than poor TV ratings. It does not matter if the race is on ABC/ESPN or Versus, the ratings are so low that they do not register. Anyone taking note would get the feeling that the Indycar series does not exist, save for the Indy 500, which recorded its lowest ratings in years.

This would make some sense of the racing were bad, but in fact the racing has been quite good. There have been good stories about drivers (Power, Wilson, HCN, RHR, etc.) and teams.

Promoting the series and doing so in a credible way remains one of the biggest challenges on Randy's plate. Engaging commercials with drivers, cars, owners ala the Target JV/AZ commercials of yore would go a long way to help. Using the talent pool correctly would also help. Seeing Danica described as a NASCAR driver, is pathetic.

Speaking of NASCAR, I know they have had a decline in ratings as well. But their percentage of decline is greater than the Indycar overall ratings.

Milka- I first met Milka at Nazerath, PA years ago when she was in the Barber pro series in the late '90's. Very nice person, well spoken and mired in the back end of the of the field, maybe 18th or worse. She was one of many young drivers I would meet back in the day, and one who did not stand out at all as far as talent. When she decided to race in the IRL, I was shocked not that she tried, but that the series officials did not stop this pending disaster. She will hopefully be the last in a long line of IRL drivers who should not have been allowed to drive, let alone work on a car (Dr. Miller, Roth, Herb, Hattori, Mack and 75% of the '96 Indy 500 Field). She is so bad, and so clueless it is amazing she has not killed anyone.

KV Racing Technology- A wealthy owner who likes racing just enough to show up to each race and mingle, nothing is more embarrassing than this Rent-a-Ride outfit. This Disgusting excuse for team rests on team management, and not the poor but extremely talented crew and engineers that deserve better. The team will annouce its driver line up for 2011 some time before the season though they passed at Rahal, Kanaan, Wilson, and oh by the way, released Will Power a few years back as well. Disgrace.

Even Wheldon has indicated he would drive for free, winnings only, and the team has yet to take him up on the offer. One can only hope JV can get management to change their idiotic ways...or jump ship and form his own team.

While the team's demolition derby prone drivers were responsible for most of their shunts, there were some that were caused by broken parts...not a good sign.

The team slogs into 2011 evaluating the size of the checks they are being offered (Sato, Mutoh, Viso, and more) instead of the talent that could allow the team to compete.

[FORMULA-A]

Whew. Great post. Can't argue except MUCH MUCH less like of Barnhart then Eagle Eye if just for that moronic moment at INDY. KV is hard to figure out as well. I thought we would hear more with LOTUS getting involved and they don't even show up at the news conference.

[call_me_andrew]

No mention of Chevy or Lotus?

[EagleEye]

No mention of Chevy or Lotus?

GM will be a solid Good in, 2012. Lotus...will have to wait as there are some pending issues that have yet to be sorted. Think USF1..ish.

[MAX_THRUST]

I've only seen highlights of the season on Youtube, and its been a great year. I hope i can see all races this year on the net, and hopefully be at one.

As for Ugly - I saw the Helio penalty at Edmonton. Still don't get what he did wrong there? That was great racing as was the rest of the season.

[call_me_andrew]

As for Ugly - I saw the Helio penalty at Edmonton. Still don't get what he did wrong there? That was great racing as was the rest of the season.

IndyCar defines blocking as the leader taking the inside line into a corner. The rule is completely useless in a scenario where the outside line can pass, but that didn't occour to anyone when it was written.

[Scotty G.]

Seven american drivers, six full-time, is a very solid number and bodes well for the series.

Sorry, but 6 full-time drivers is still a very poor number.

Has to get back to over half again if Indy Racing is to ever get noticed again in America.

3 lowest numbers of American drivers in the history of the Indy 500 have been in 1995, 2009 and 2010.

From 1950 to 1990, most years at Indy saw over 25 Americans in the race.


This can't be a F1-Lite series. It has to be a destination series again for American road racers and American oval racers.

[Scotty G.]

She will hopefully be the last in a long line of IRL drivers who should not have been allowed to drive, let alone work on a car (Dr. Miller, Roth, Herb, Hattori, Mack and 75% of the '96 Indy 500 Field).

There were PLENTY of hacks in CART and Champ Car too. Still plenty in the sport today. And we aren't the evil "IRL" anymore, are we? So lets put the petty "IRL sucks" stuff to bed, shall we? CART died for good reason. They were badly managed, badly run and had nothing after they lost the Indy 500 (which kept them relevent for years). To think this sport wouldn't have eventually went belly-up, without anything TG did, is being foolish. The handwriting was already on the wall in the early 90's and NASCAR was already pulling way ahead (no matter what lies Robin Miller keeps telling).

75% of the 1996 Indy 500 field? Really? I thought those drivers did a nice job not running into one another in their Memorial Day race.

Could you name the 25 drivers of the following 33 starters in 1996 that you feel were so "Milka-like"?

Tony Stewart (IRL and NASCAR champion)
Davy Jones (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Eliseo Salazar (was in top 5 in 1995 Indy 500)
Eddie Cheever (ran in previous Indy 500's and in F1)
Roberto Guerrero (record at Indy speaks for itself)
Buddy Lazier (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Al Zampedri (ran in 1995 Indy 500)
Michel Jourdain (later raced in CART and Nationwide)
Buzz Calkins (came from CART ladder)
Davey Hamilton (still racing in Indy 500 today and versatile oval racer)
Mike Groff (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Michele Alboreto (F1 veteran)
Stephen Gregoire (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Mark Dismore (came from CART ladder)
Richie Hearn (CART ladder champion)
Johnny Unser (came from CART ladder)
John Paul Jr (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Lyn St. James (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Jim Guthrie
Arie Luyendyk (enough said)
Scott Sharp (ran in previous Indy 500's and Trans Am champion)
Marco Greco (came from CART ladder)
Robbie Buhl (CART ladder champion)
Paul Durant (Super-Modified ace)
Racin Gardner
Brad Murphey
Johnny Parsons Jr (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Fermin Velez (good sportscar racer)
Johnny O'Connell (good American road racer)
Hideshi Matsuda (ran in previous Indy 500's)
Joe Gosek (Super-modified ace)
Scott Harrington (came from CART ladder)
Danny Ongais (was actually Scott Brayton's qualfied entry)



I'll give you Calkins, Johnny Unser, Matsuda, St. James, Murphey, Gardner, Harrington, Greco and Parsons (only because he was way past his prime; in his prime he was a hell of a racer). Half of those, are from the all-powerful CART ladder system that we are now trying to resurrect. A few (Greco, Matsuda and St. James) were "good" enough to enter the race against all the CART cars and stars in Indy 500 races in the 1990's, so they couldn't be all that terrible.

The rest of the 33 car field in 1996? Not even close to the Roth's, Miller's, Duno's and Herb's you have tried to portray them as. The teams? Not up to par in many cases. The drivers? Pretty damn talented in the sport of racing. Some were at the end of their careers (kinda like Paul Tracy is now). But you are being foolish if you think Michele Alboreto or Roberto Guerrero have any comparison with Shiggy Hattori or Milka Duno. Or some of the great CART stars of the past like Alex Yoong, Guido Dacco, Dean Hall, Jeff Wood, Dennis Vitolo, Jean Pierre Frey and Dale Coyne.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Sorry, but 6 full-time drivers is still a very poor number.

Compared to last year, it is certainly a step forward. You can't expect every problem fixed overnight. If things are improving from a very poor state of affairs, one can either cheer on and support the process, or can go on bitterly complaining but that will hardly help things improve.

Has to get back to over half again if Indy Racing is to ever get noticed again in America.

I think around 40 percent would be more realistic. Around 1997-1999 CART had about 10-12 American drivers in a field of 26 to 28 cars. And they were the likes of Andretti, Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Vasser, Herta, Pruett, Hearn and Barron, good drivers who were in the field for merit, not their nationality. That should be the case now. John Edwards should be in the field. Not because he's American but because he's a Star Mazda and Formula Atlantic champion.

[Chris R]

I would add to Starters post the fact that Lazier and Cheever became Indy 500 winners is a testament to how bad the fields were -nationality aside.... Lazier was a nice guy with a great personality and a great story - but be was a mid-field guy at best by talent... Cheever was similar from a talent point of view by the time he was racing in the US - perhaps better in his early days and he was not necessarily a very pleasant fellow most of the time.....

I do not think Sharp, Luyendyk, and even Dismore were not all that bad... and sorry, but probably no more than one or two were Milka bad...... I mean c'mon there is not very good and there is BAD.... none of the past their sell by date folks were really dangerous.....