Promoters deal with low attendance in '11??

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Originally Posted by Steve-o

They are. But they (rally cars) are not filling stadiums with race fans, either. My opinion is the thing has to be star driven. Like it or not, we live in a TMZ world, where people are interested in celebrity. IndyCar/IRL has hitched thier wagons to Danica, but there is no other driver poised to have the level of off track success that she has enjoyed. She has not lived up to the hype machine, for whatever reason, onthe track. I think they'll come to see 'the pretty girl kick the boy's asses', as long as she does that. At that point, it becomes about product, keeping the people hooked on the sport.

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If the IRL had taken that initial phase of Danicamania and built off of it to build the popularity of the sport, then that would have been great. But that didn't happen. Danica has been on the slide for the past couple of seasons. And now she's pushing 30. Danica has made no secret that her primary mission is to build up "the brand"... not build up the IRL. As you mentioned TMZ, Danica is no different than Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton in that respect: people who are basically famous for being famous.

IMO, as long as the IRL continues to hitch its wagon to a person who is basically famous for being famous, it will continue to lose "real" fans of the sport... and it will continue to sink into the mire. The TMZ contingent doesn't know a wheel nut from a walnut. They'll come and go as the popularity of the sport (or their favorite faux star) rises and falls. There are those companies which (successfully) market their products to the least common denominators among us (represented by "loyal" TMZ viewers). But if that's how the IRL wants to market itself, we should not expect Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Maserati, or any other premium automotive brand in the consumer space, to come on board. Mercedes was even upset that Paris Hilton was seen driving (or laying across) its premium SLR McLaren a few years ago. Not every company and not every viewer wants to be connected with the LCD. I know I don't want to be.

But even if she was a worthy, capable racer, the problem with hitching your wagon to one person is that you have to count on that one person to CONSISTENTLY perform at some higher/acceptable level... and you have to count on them to stick around. Danica does not and has not performed at a (consistently) higher level and she doesn't seem to have much of a desire to stick around for much longer... unless she has to (and I think she might have to). When Schumacher was the biggest star in F1, there were still other major supporting players right on his tail. When Michael Jordan was the biggest star in the NBA, there were still other major supporting players right on his tail. NASCAR had Petty, then they got Waltrip and Earnhardt, then Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart et al and now they have Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch et al. And although the situation that the PGA has with Tiger Woods is more similar to the situation that the IRL has with Danica, others have stepped up and the PGA has not dropped like a stone as Tiger has gone through his trials and tribulations. Plus, it's not like Tiger is trying to break into the NBA or the NFL and might be set to leave golf behind anytime soon. Businesses, including sports businesses, that prosper over the long term are more than just one-trick ponies. Apple Computer made its name (and first fortune) on the Macintosh computer line: the one-trick pony. And that's as far as they went. The company almost went under. THEN they came up with the iPhone, iPod, iTunes and now the iPad. Apple is now the second richest company in the entire world in terms of market cap and they're not done yet. They've now left their old rival Microsoft in the dust. It can be done, but it can't be done by continuing to do the same things tomorrow that didn't work yesterday... and that appears to be the rut that the IRL is caught in. If/when Danica retires or goes NASCAR full time, what Plan B does the IRL have??? Other than blaming promoters for not spending what little profit they make on massive promotion and blaming sponsors for not making donations to the cause and networks for not giving them free airtime for the privilege of getting a .7 rating, do they even have a Plan A right now? :confused:

With Dario Franchitti's rather amazing charge from behind to win the championship, the IRL now has an international champion that (according to my girl :rolleyes :) is easy on the eyes (now that he's grown his hair back) and he's married to an A-/B+ Hollywood actress from a well known entertainment family. So there is something of a TMZ connection, without going totally trashy (Coke Ho Central: Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan). Chip Ganassi reportedly PAID Joe Montana to be his "date" on the pit stand years ago.... just so he'd have a major personality as a "part owner" of his team. You mean to tell me the IRL can't make some hay with Ashley Judd and whatever Hollyweird friends she has??? If they can't market pretty boy Dario (who is truly a world class driver) with his Hollywood wife by his side, I would question whether or not these people could sell discounted lemonade to rich children on a hot summer day.

OK, draw that out and connect the dots.

Get Dario enough face time in enough media outlets to make him recognized and admired.

Then you have to feed people racing clips and hope they are interested;

Tell them when and where the race is on;

Pump them with reminders, hope they have Versus, and decide to tune in. Or hope they have a race close by to attend;

Hope the first race they watch isn't a snoozer, or you probably won't get them to come back.

That works? What am I missing?

Edit: If it works, why didn't the following work:

Bringing in Kim Kardashian and her following, or
Nicholson
Wahlberg
Shaq
T.O.
any of the other dozens of public "icons" to attach their celebrity to the races.

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Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior

If the IRL had taken that initial phase of Danicamania and built off of it to build the popularity of the sport, then that would have been great. But that didn't happen. Danica has been on the slide for the past couple of seasons. And now she's pushing 30. Danica has made no secret that her primary mission is to build up "the brand"... not build up the IRL. As you mentioned TMZ, Danica is no different than Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton in that respect: people who are basically famous for being famous. ....

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Good stuff !!!! BUT we need to get this over to the "All Danica All The Time" thread and keep it alive to 1,000 !!!!!

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Originally Posted by Enjun Pullr

OK, draw that out and connect the dots.

Get Dario enough face time in enough media outlets to make him recognized and admired.

Then you have to feed people racing clips and hope they are interested;

Tell them when and where the race is on;

Pump them with reminders, hope they have Versus, and decide to tune in. Or hope they have a race close by to attend;

Hope the first race they watch isn't a snoozer, or you probably won't get them to come back.

That works? What am I missing?

Edit: If it works, why didn't the following work:

Bringing in Kim Kardashian and her following, or
Nicholson
Wahlberg
Shaq
T.O.
any of the other dozens of public "icons" to attach their celebrity to the races.

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Did any of those people really attach their celebrity to races or did they just show up and do a photo op or two? And of the ones on that list, how many races did they attend? One? And outside of that particular race, what sort of promotion was done to let the TMZ/Twitter lemmings know that they were going to the race? Kim Kardashian gets paid to appear at different functions. For enough money, I could probably get her to appear at one of our parties down at the lake. Same with Paris Hilton. Whatever this fat burner outfit is that sponsored young Rahal, I'm sure that Kim made sure their check cleared before she got on the plane to Indy. She has no genuine interest in racing or the IRL. I'm not aware that she's said anything to the contrary, so that has to be my assumption. I'm not aware that she's shown up at any other races, so that kind of nails it for me in regard to her.

In what now seems to be a far-away land, in a time long ago, we used to be considered the kewl kids. Christie Brinkley showed up at not just one CART race, but multiple CART races. This was back when she was still an A-list "super model". We'll leave the Danny Sullivan rumors alone. Long Beach always had some A-listers, but some of them were actually interested in what was going on. When Eddie Lawson gave auto racing a go, his gal-pal Crystal Bernard (the little cutie from the hit TV show Wings) was at the races, just like Ashley is now... only she wasn't as shy around the cameras as Ashley is. Before she got to be better known, Sofia Vergara was the grand marshall for the CART race in Miami. And being a darling of Latin TV, when she went on & on about how much she loved racing and how sexy she thought race cars were, that did not hurt the cause one bit. Joe Montana was on the pit stand with Cheep Ganassi race after race (although his arrangement was reportedly more of a pay-date scheme). And before the nasty divorce, THE race to attend wasn't the Coke 600 or the Daytona 500, it was the Indy 500. We used to have a story to tell and it was an interesting story. Now it seems that no one can even find the book. And my main point is, these people talked about their interest in or their love for racing on talk shows and what not. They got the word out. That's not the magic bullet, but it helps. Every little bit helps.

With each passing year, the To-Do list gets longer and longer. I'm simply pointing out that in Dario the IRL has a potentially marketable driver - that's just ONE area that needs to be addressed. Are they going to market him? Probably not. Will they just sit around in a delusional fog, and just hope that The Danica wins three or four races and brings the ratings and fans back? Probably. Whatever they do to rebuild this series, this sport, it's going to take proper planning, mucho $ and hard work... more & more with each passing, pathetic season. And because AOWR is now closer to being like GP2 than the old CART series, or even the previous iteration of the Indy Racing League, they've got to (re)learn blocking and tackling. I don't care which drivers they choose to market. But they've GOT to market somebody, or really, three or four "somebodys".

Years ago, CART was battling NASCAR Winston Cup for ratings/viewership. Then it and the IRL were battling the Busch Series for ratings/viewership. Then the IRL began battling the Truck series for ratings/viewership. From what I can see now, Grand Am is the next rung down the ladder. After that, it's the IRL vs. reruns of Pinks All Out on Speed Channel. The future doesn't look bright, so I don't think we'll need shades. :dozey:

Perhaps that was my fault for the addendum, since the rest of my post was lost in the fog.

I have spent a solid year reading rants from people about what they think is wrong with Indycar, and what they think needs to be changed. Most discussions devolve into irrelevant constructions of history.

The notion of missing Star Power, or even a bigger roster of American drivers, are perspectives I do not believe in as root causes.

No biggie, I could be wrong...so I ask how to modify the single factor of Star Power to improve it. It is one factor of a hundred.

Don't take this personally, but there is no answer buried in what you have written. There is no certainty that people will be attracted to buy tickets or watch races, even if the impossible could be done to create an interesting personna for some of the drivers we have been watching for years.

The competition is what makes the stars. All of the drivers (or other athletes) you can name became legends for what they achieved in battle. When one of them emerges as an interesting personality, or is hyped beyond belief as a corporate spokesman, maybe they transcend into the public eye.

A roster of "stars" in a predictable series is IROC. Conversely, great racing filled with variables is what makes a show with enough entertainment value to keep people watching, and create enough buzz to attract new eyeballs.

That's when the race makes the star: the opposite will not have a lasting effect. Hyped stars who do not produce are a short-lived novelty. That was the point I was trying to make about a recognized Nascar driver coming to Indycar, where his chances for success would be slim and none.

Patrick is an exception: the gender gap, her looks, early opportunities in good equipment, and enough talent to keep it interesting all enabled her novelty to hang for a while. It is a combination of factors that cannot be reproduced as IndyCar stands today.

Sato appears to be an exception in Japan...at least his appearance moved the needle. I think his status was the result of being the sole national representative on the grand stage of Formula One. His exploits made for interesting news, and the benefits of corporate sponsorship made him a widely recognized character. For now.

Thanks to his performance in competition, Kobayashi will soon make Sato a memory. Why? Because he was a young nobody who drove the wheels off his car last year, earning himself a better ride, and is making the most of it.

That's what we need, and the big missing factor is variables in the equipment. Simona got the most out of her car and some attention as a result, but she has no shot at winning. Mike Conway started a similar rise in 2009, although enough people were not instructed by the media to keep an eye on him.

IndyCar needs to concentrate on improving the quality of the racing, and then on promotion of the events. There are a hundred single factors to improve in both cases. Contriving Star Power is very far down the list of priorities.

You all make very good, passionate points. It seems to me we have more than one problem. Mind you, I am much more of a NASCAR guy than a IRL guy, and I joined this forum to try and figure this thing out. (My theory; more than one set of eyes on a problem...)

I see it as a star power/rivalry problem. Dario needs a foil someone of equal driving ability, good marketing skills/looks, and attractive enough to sponsors. Danica is marketable off the track due to her good looks, but she hasn't gotten it done on the track. That fact reduces her to a 'flavor of the month', and we already see her star dimming. There needs to be more than one driver of merit off the track that can go out and win every week. Which brings me too...

There's a product problem. There is a perception among the casual fan (as opposed to the hardcore) that as one of you stated, "the red cars always win." There has to be competition throughout the field. It's a major coup if a non Penske/Ganassi car wins, never mind battles for a championship. We see it in NASCAR, with Hendrick/Roush, but not to this level. Penske can win Stewart/Haas, DEI, RCR, Gibbs all offer competitive racing throughout the season. there has to be a way to bring that type of 'even playing field' to IRL.

There's a venue problem. There are many historic tracks here in north america. There should be no reason to run an airports. ISC is a problem, as they control some pretty attractive facilities, like Watkins Glen. That has to be fixed. And, while I am at it, SMI has offered up NHMS as a venue for 2011. While I am very excited to have the IRL back here at Loudon, they did not draw well here 13 years go when the Bahre's owned it. How will they come close to filling up that track? And, I have to admit, Loudon is not a track with a great history.

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Originally Posted by Enjun Pullr

Boastful IndyCar fans alienate the newcomers, even though nobody else has a shot in a D&R car either. By season's end, Kyle Bush = Paul Tracy.

The entertainment value is unpredictable competition. That requires variables in equipment, to challenge the skill levels of the drivers and teams. Drivers like Bush are recognized for their success in competition, and perhaps they become stars.

It doesn't work the other way around, not for long. I think Sammy would agree, and Danica will continue to learn.

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you hit the nail on the head. Star power is only a precieved reason why Indycar is not "as big as NASCAR". If the racing sucks, who cares? do you want to be a sport where the on track action is exciting and thrilling to watch? or do you want to be all about the "entertainment", such as F1 is, where the racing is second to the overall show? because those are two very different things.

Cheers mate. To me, stars are Mears, Foyt, Rutherford, Mario Andretti, Bobby and Al Sr. and Junior, E. Fittipaldi, Zanardi and a few others not in my brain at the moment.

They got they way by hammering at each other on the racetrack, most often in cars that demonstrated a variety in performance and a challenge to their abilities.

Always with a handful of guys who could beat them on any given day.

Hammering me with promos about their wives or hobbies wouldn't have had quite the same effect.

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Originally Posted by Enjun Pullr

Cheers mate. To me, stars are Mears, Foyt, Rutherford, Mario Andretti, Bobby and Al Sr. and Junior, E. Fittipaldi, Zanardi and a few others not in my brain at the moment.

They got they way by hammering at each other on the racetrack, most often in cars that demonstrated a variety in performance and a challenge to their abilities.

Always with a handful of guys who could beat them on any given day.

Hammering me with promos about their wives or hobbies wouldn't have had quite the same effect.

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I couldn't agree more. They have to become stars on the track first!! I could care less about who's WAG is hottest, what she wears, or what she says. I don't spend my money to see the "action" on pitroad. For instance, I am sure Ashley's a lovely lady, and she's easy on the eyes, but I don't watch the race to see her. I could care less what her 'post race analysis' is. Give me some breakdown from the owner or crew chief. I am quite sure I am not in the minority on that.

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Originally Posted by Otto-Matic

you hit the nail on the head. Star power is only a precieved reason why Indycar is not "as big as NASCAR". If the racing sucks, who cares? do you want to be a sport where the on track action is exciting and thrilling to watch? or do you want to be all about the "entertainment", such as F1 is, where the racing is second to the overall show? because those are two very different things.

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I'm not really talking about being or becoming as big as NASCAR or Formula One though. That ship sailed about 15 years ago and it's not returning to port anytime soon, if ever. I'm talking about not losing $20 million a year (or whatever) because the series can't attract enough viewers and sponsors to be able to survive, independent of IMS subsidies. Right now this series (many/most of the teams) only answers the bell at the beginning of the season because of those subsidies and the checks brought by ride-buyers.

And one has to remember that whether or not the racing is "good" or "bad" is a purely subjective measure, generally determined by each individual viewer from race to race... or maybe minute to minute/hour to hour. And also, we shouldn't get caught up in an either/or trap, where the series has to choose to either market itself as "purely entertainment" or "purely racing". If given a choice, I'd take a day off from work just to watch F1 qualifying at Montreal before I'd use a free weekend to attend an IRL race. Given my history, maybe some would attribute that to my prior negative feelings about the IRL. But that's not it. F1 has pretty much everything that I'm looking for in an open wheel formula car series right now and the IRL has very little of it. Ask someone else and you may get a different answer or feeling. But in F1 I can see a variety of chassis, engines and drivers who I have followed for many years, and for whom I have great respect. And now, with Kamui Kobayashi (bad haircut and all) on the track, I know there's a guy out there that will go for it, no matter who he's dicing with. Unlike some of the hack ride buyers in the IRL right now (who will also try banzai moves), Kamui tends to get it right more often than not. He's an explosive mixture of excitement and lightning in a bottle. Someone on the F1 forum compared him to a younger Juan Pablo Montoya. I had to agree. Plus, F1 races do tend to have a "buzz" about them, whether it's partly from past racing stars in attendance or entertainment types who are attracted to the sexy cars or just the ultra professional way that F1 conducts itself in presentation form. CART used to have that mystical "buzz" too. The Indy 500 used to have that mystical buzz. Then it went away... or it was chased away due to lack of thought and care. That's part of what Steve Horne was talking about when he went to the last CCWS race at Cleveland, and he said it reminded him of a GP2 race, rather than the old CART races he used to attend and participate in.

What I am suggesting above is that they work to get back to a situation where a wide(r) variety of fans can find some factor (or set of factors) that attracts them to watching or attending races. As I've said many times in many threads, there is no (single) magic bullet that is going to cure the current ills of this series. Once the IRL gets off its haunches and determines who the current fans are and who the prospective fans are (and what they want/need/expect), they can then begin a plan to develop those deliverables... those metrics and "drivers" that will/should lead to increased viewership and attendance = greater sponsorships (as the sponsor exposure value will thereby be increased).

So all I'm saying is they now have a champion who is marketable; the ingredients are there. I fully agree with the points made by you and Enjun Pullr that having a whole gaggle of A-list Hollywood people in attendance isn't going to fix things (by itself). Neither is having a whole gaggle of (unknown) American drivers or a "cool" car with a whistling turbo engine. Again, there's an increasingly long laundry list of things to be addressed. But you have to work with what you have. And IMO, if they're unable to market their current champion, or any of the other drivers (besides a bikini model who MIGHT get lucky and trip over a win on some foot-to-the-floor oval once every decade), that will be confirmation to me that this thing is going nowhere fast.

The IRL has been living by a "build it and they will come" philosophy for the past decade +. So far, that's been a disaster. Why not go back to what used to work and mix that with what is working for other (successful) series?