Slightly O/T: Overall Health of Open Wheel Oval Racing

[FormerFF]

For those of you who live in areas where open wheel oval track racing is popular, do you have a feeling for how the health of the sport is? I live in the stock car belt, and there's not much in the way of open wheel oval racing around here.

There are two things that are making me ask this: first, the 2012 Indycar schedule being somewhat oval-light, and second, the struggles that our local short tracks are having. Lanier Speedway, which is across the street from Road Atlanta, recently announced that it would not be running its regular schedule next year, and that the track property is up for sale. Lanier is one of the few paved short tracks we have in the state, and about 20 years ago the Busch series was held there for a few years, and it was one of the more successful of the short tracks. The reason given was a lack of attendance by fans and small fields, particularly Late Model. There are lots of dirt ovals, but these seem to open and close at random, with a few long running exceptions. I've read stories that short tracks have been having attendance issues since the mid 2000's.

So, how's the health of short tracks in your area?

[SoCalPVguy]

Re. Overall Health of Open Wheel Oval Racing


Patient is fading fast, losing all signs of life, pulse weakening, breathing labored. Patient was very ill three years ago with a split personality disorder, seemed to temporarily regroup and gain strength only to have viruses from within strike again and weaken body. Patient in "serious" condition, another year of downward trending and could reach "critical". Bleeding green blood more each year, green infusions from donors reducing. However patient just lost a small cancer to another larger more healthy patient so attitude may improve. Patient prefers exposure but is stuck in anonymity through own choice, also weakening spirit.

[anthonyvop]

"Open Wheel" racing is on life support and only has minimal brain activity is certain mid-western parts of the US that refuse to face the inevitable.

Formula Car racing, on the other hand, can be heading to a period of spectacular growth if only the "Open Wheel" people would just go away.

[Chris R]

"Open Wheel" racing is on life support and only has minimal brain activity is certain mid-western parts of the US that refuse to face the inevitable.

Formula Car racing, on the other hand, can be heading to a period of spectacular growth if only the "Open Wheel" people would just go away.

what do you mean? Formula car racing vs. open wheel racing? not arguing - just curious as to your definitions etc.......

[anthonyvop]

what do you mean? Formula car racing vs. open wheel racing? not arguing - just curious as to your definitions etc.......

When Indy people talk "open Wheel" they usually mean Sprint/Midget/WoO racing which has had nothing to do with what has been IndyCar/CART/Champ Car/IRL since the early 1970's!

[Chris R]

When Indy people talk "open Wheel" they usually mean Sprint/Midget/WoO racing which has had nothing to do with what has been IndyCar/CART/Champ Car/IRL since the early 1970's!

got ya, FWIW, since I am one of the people who often says "AOWR" - I am always thinking of Indycar/CART/IRL/Champcar and before that whatever lived at the top rung of the ladder system... However, I think you are right in your assessment.... Although, I think the WoO etc. are actually doing alright are they not?? (although far from "big time" these days)....

[anthonyvop]

got ya, FWIW, since I am one of the people who often says "AOWR" - I am always thinking of Indycar/CART/IRL/Champcar and before that whatever lived at the top rung of the ladder system... However, I think you are right in your assessment.... Although, I think the WoO etc. are actually doing alright are they not?? (although far from "big time" these days)....

NASCAR is doing better. Neither have anything to do with the type of racing that is ICS.

IndyCar has more in common with GP2, F3, GP3 and even F1 than it does with WoO, Sprints, Midgets or anything on Dirt.

[Chris R]

NASCAR is doing better. Neither have anything to do with the type of racing that is ICS.

IndyCar has more in common with GP2, F3, GP3 and even F1 than it does with WoO, Sprints, Midgets or anything on Dirt.

Of course NASCAR is doing better, that goes without saying. I agree with your linking GP2 & 3 etc. more with Indycar than dirt racing....

My point was that as a stand-alone type of racing (and end in and of itself as opposed as a means to an end) WoO and other forms of dirt oval racing are doing ok - although they are no longer the "road to Indy" - if they are a stepping stone for anything, it is NASCAR.....

That being said - I have always preferred paved road course racing......

[beachbum]

Some people forget the "old days" of CART when Champcars ran on only a handful of ovals, often using the same track multiple times. In 1981, they ran Phoenix (twice), Milwaukee (twice), Atlanta (one day, but 2 races - shades of Texas), and Michigan (twice) . Indy wasn't even part of the CART championship that year.

The problem has always been the availability of suitable tracks. With SMI and ISC now controlling almost all of the ovals, they control the future of open wheel oval racing other than Indy. Neither show much interest right now in the future of open wheel. You can't run at a track if the track ownership isn't interested, unless you want to self-promote, which is a slippery slide. In a sense NASCAR self promotes as it owns ISC.

The other problem is economics and a general decline in auto racing popularity. Almost every racing series is seeing serious pressure for sponsorship and find it much harder to get. Even in NASCAR, some teams are closing up (Red Bull, Rusty Wallace Racing, KHI) and others are running start and park. Even the big teams like Hendricks need multiple sponsors to cover one car for a year. Attendance is down everywhere, even stalwarts like NASCAR at Bristol, which used to sell out every race. Now- lots of aluminum hats.

Ovals may put on great racing (at times), but the whole experience has problems. Many of the events have the main event and one or two support races. The track is often in the middle of nowhere and even if it isn't, once a fan is at the track, they are stuck there. As an entertainment event, people have other options.

One advantage of the street race is the street festival, where the fan has more to do around the track. A road race offers more opportunities for support races, as there are more road race series for big events than there are oval series. Other than NASCAR and Lights, what series can support Indy Car on the bigger tracks?

Pundits have predicted the decline in auto racing for decades. As painful as it is to admit, the popularity of the past couple decades may be waning. All racing may be back to niche sport status.

As an aside, exactly when did the "split" start? Open wheel racing has been Indy and "the rest" for a long time, with the other races mostly support for Indy and a place where "specials" could be used more than once. In the 50's, many Indy cars were run at Indy only or maybe Milwaukee or Langhorne.

[Chris R]

Beachbum makes a good point - in the age of the roadster and even into the mid 1960's, those cars were actually not used all that much - most of the championship was run on dirt....

The other thing that occurs to me is that auto racing is not the novelty it once was. Way back when half the people who attended any given race might not even have had a car. Today EVERYONE does and you are going to find more than a few cars in the parking lot that could actually run with the cars on the track (albeit perhaps not safely or reliably) given a decent driver and a little fine tuning....

In short, racing no longer has much of a wow factor in the world of extreme sports.... it is more like baseball - a sport for the purists and statistics people. There is nothing wrong with that - but perhaps it is time to consider that we don't need new speed records as much as we need entertaining racing and a sport that clearly highlights both man(and woman) AND machine with perhaps a little more emphasis on the human aspect than we have seen in recent years. Let F-1 be about the uber-engineered cars with robot drivers - let Indycars be about drivers with personality driving "real" race cars - overpowered, underweight, difficult to handle machines that you or I would be a little scared to drive (as opposed to any of the current top flight series where I am quite sure I could handle the car and drive it reasonably fast if I could squeeze my fat a$$ into it, even if I couldn't drive them like Vettel or Power or Busch or even qualify for the race I have little doubt I wouldn't hurt myself or anyone else.....)