Indy Car Series and/or team apps

[Jag_Warrior]

Before the F1 race came on last night, I decided to search for some ICS apps. The only ones I found, that seemed close to what I was looking for, were from Sarah Fisher Racing and Conquest. Both are junk apps that crash as soon as you try to load them. Verizon apparently has some sort of mobile solution, but I'm not clear on what it even is. So if it's just a mobile browser site, I'd pass anyway.

I didn't start this thread to beat on Indy Car or the teams. But we are living in the year 2012. Between the Indy Car main site still not being ready for prime time and there being no worthwhile apps (that I could find), I'm just hoping that they'll get on the stick before the Mayans snuff us out later this year. It's like guys from RIM are running the ICS IT dept. :rolleyes:

I think Ganassi has something, but it's not specific to this series. And I was really surprised that I couldn't find anything from Penske or Andretti. But is anyone aware of a GOOD, functioning Indy Car app for iOS devices???

[garyshell]

Apparently the Verizon app is pretty good, but only available to Verizon users. Which totally sucks.

Gary

[Jag_Warrior]

Apparently the Verizon app is pretty good, but only available to Verizon users. Which totally sucks.

Gary

It took me awhile to even figure this out, but the Verizon app is apparently only available on Android - the app isn't even in the Apple app store (the Verizon NFL Mobile app is though :rolleyes :) . And even on Android, it *appears* that the Indy Car app is not available using WiFi. I'm a Verizon (cell phone) customer, but that account is totally unconnected to my iPod Touch. Since the iPad is the best selling tablet at Verizon and the iPhone is (I believe) the best selling smart phone there, this makes no sense to me.

I don't want to be a broken record, but in this day and age, it's almost unforgivable for a sports business not to have at least a basic, functioning app - especially when you look at the sad state of the ICS website.

IMO, there should be a basic, free app that provides fans with live timing & scoring, track data, a schedule and a way to buy tickets to the next race(s). There could be ads from Hotels.com, Priceline.com, Hertz and whomever else to bring in revenue. And if they really want to doll it up, they could contact someone like Softpauer and have them do an app similar to what they do for Formula One - maybe not quite as fancy (or expensive) though. So maybe for $1.99 or $4.99 (for something fairly snazzy), they could get something that would be useful, fun and interesting for the fans... that would also bring in revenue (or at least help pay for itself).

There are many NASCAR and F1 related apps in the app store. There are WRC and rallying apps. The NHRA has an app ($4.99). Even ALMS has a decent app. Le Mans.org has an app (that also covers ALMS). But the only Indy Car app I could find (besides the junk ones I mentioned earlier) was an Indy 500 news app that is fairly low rated. WTF?! I guess this kind of p!sses me off because 2012 was supposed to be a new beginning for the series... new car, new engines, new drivers, new officials, etc. But some of the things (still!!!) being done suggest that the people in the front office aren't taking this seriously.

Sorry for the rant. The race was pretty good (the last quarter, anyway). So I guess I'll just learn to watch and not worry about whether or not they want to grow the series and/or make the viewing experience more interesting and more fun or not. :dozey:

[Jag_Warrior]

Last night, I finally found an Indy Car related iOS app that seems half decent. It's called Indy Racing Revolution, for anyone who's interested - there may be an Android version too (I'm not sure). It's basically just a news site, and it's not great, but it is a decent effort by what looks like a fan. Good to see fans still trying to do for the series what it continues to be unable/unwilling to do for itself.

[craftygalinstl]

Glad to see this thread!
I am an AT&T customer. This is what I have on my iPhone:

I have the Team Ganassi Racing app. It is really nicely done. Very well designed. It has driver info, bio's and stats for their drivers, as well as event info and some fun other stuff. It's updated frequently, and always has the most accurate info. Free in the iTunes store. The stats from the Toronto race are already there and it's only been 2 hours.

I also have the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing app, which looks sleek, but doesn't have much available. There's a bio of Newgarden, some videos and event calendar, it has links to "buy tickets" to races, but the links don't work, and I have been generally disappointed in it. The last video was from St. Pete. I keep it on my phone in hopes they will pay more attention and start updating it.

Hinch Mobile app is also cool, but lacks a lot of content. It has a link to his You Tube channel. He has had this app since before he went to Andretti Autosport, so maybe it was just something that they lost track of. I keep it on my phone because I like Hinch, but as far as news goes, it's not that great.

I have an app called "Indy Racing Revlolution" which has great content. It doesn't have very good reviews in the iTunes store, probably because it's not fancy or sophisticated, but the content is accurate and current, which is why I like it. So don't let the reviews discourage you. In my opinion, it's probably the best app for Indycar fans that don't have Verizon. It's just news, but it is always timely. There have been plenty of times where this app has given me news that I hadn't heard elsewhere yet. You can set it to give you push notifications if you like.