Indy Cup Race Thread

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29th July 2008, 00:20
DavePI2

who is that ex-basketball player on espn? He is the only one who would tell the truth about the crowd. While everyone else was saying what a huge crowd their was tonight he said there was more like 150. He won't keep his job long with comments like that. Of course although I am sure it has been discussed at length before I still beg to ask, what in the world is a basketball player doing as one of the top analysts for nascar. Still all the hubbub about dropping attendance isn't really much of a subject. The people who get hurt worst in a depression are the blue collar workers. That is who still by and large support nascar. When the economy improves so will the attendance. That is probably one reason the tv ratings are up, people just can't afford to go like they used too.

david
29th July 2008, 01:24
Rex Monaco

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee Roy

Or, find another track. There are lots of tracks that would like a Cup race, or a second Cup race.

That's probably easier than setting the car up properly. And the fans would absolutley love it too.
29th July 2008, 04:22
Sparky1329

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavePI2

who is that ex-basketball player on espn? He is the only one who would tell the truth about the crowd. While everyone else was saying what a huge crowd their was tonight he said there was more like 150. He won't keep his job long with comments like that. Of course although I am sure it has been discussed at length before I still beg to ask, what in the world is a basketball player doing as one of the top analysts for nascar. Still all the hubbub about dropping attendance isn't really much of a subject. The people who get hurt worst in a depression are the blue collar workers. That is who still by and large support nascar. When the economy improves so will the attendance. That is probably one reason the tv ratings are up, people just can't afford to go like they used too.

david

Brad Daugherty owned a CT team in the late 90s and is currently part owner of JTG Racing. I like him because he doesn't try to sugarcoat things like all the other talking heads on race broadcasts.
29th July 2008, 05:43
call_me_andrew

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexamateo

It's funny, I was really frustrated yesterday because my cable and internet had a 4 hour regional outage yesterday 40 laps into the race, my wife was out, and the two year old was napping, so I couldn't leave. (I briefly debated the merits of carrying a two and four year old to a sports bar, but didn't think it would be such a great idea :p : ) Reading the comments here, it was a blessing in disguise, not to have seen that race.

Why not just listen to it on the radio?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rex Monaco

Then why didn't the tires in the Indy 500 experience this problem?

They had a similar problem. See my link to John Andretti's crash.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdalbey

It matters because the diamond grinding is the issue, not the actual asphalt itself. It is the ridges that result from the diamond grinding process that make the track abrasive and those have been there continuously since the 2002 race. Goodyear should have been in no way surprised by this issue.

Just because the track was ground in 2002 doesn't mean that data from that time is relevant.

Dimaond ground Pavement X=/=Diamond ground Pavement Y

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee Roy

I wonder if the Motorcycle folks are having second thoughts about racing at IMS?

They started having second thoughts before they agreed to the race. That's why the snakepit complex was built.
29th July 2008, 06:12
Rex Monaco

Quote:

Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

They had a similar problem. See my link to John Andretti's crash.

The creation of marbles isn't at all similar to exploding tires.

And the Indy 500 wasn't yellow flagged every 10 laps for marbles, nor did the teams come in every 10 laps to change their tires!
29th July 2008, 07:18
ShiftingGears

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee Roy

I wonder if the Motorcycle folks are having second thoughts about racing at IMS?

Doubt it. The MotoGP course doesn't actually use any of the oval turns. It's like the F1 course, but with a chicane at the Snake Pit, and anticlockwise.
29th July 2008, 07:37
AussieV8

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdalbey

I would argue the stands weren't significantly more than half full yesterday - at least not by NASCAR standards.

On the TV it certainly looked emptier than what it has appeared in previous years. I'm guessing people may have known about the tyre issue before the race and stayed away.

Anyway, when Goodyear is the sole tyre supplier for the entire series, why on earth did they stuff up so badly? Surely they should have brought a harder compound. Even when Michelin had the problems in F1 a few years ago, it wasn't a certainty that the tyre would fail after 10 laps (like the Nascar race where everyone was wearing the tyre down to the cords), it was just a possibility depending on the car set up. ie: Goodyear missed it by much more than Michelin.

The only reason Nascar sort of got out of it with the cautions is because everyone was on the same tyre. If they had done that with the F1 race, then it would be an unfair penatly to Bridgestone as they had brought a tyre suitable to the track.
29th July 2008, 10:54
Lee Roy

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavePI2

The people who get hurt worst in a depression are the blue collar workers. That is who still by and large support nascar.

Please leave your stereotyping of people and elitism over on the open-wheel forums where it is welcome.
29th July 2008, 12:58
Alexamateo

Quote:

Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

Why not just listen to it on the radio?

Oh I tried that too. :p : It is usually carried by 105.9 here in Memphis TN, and it was listed as being on in the Sunday Sports section, but for some reason, they weren't carrying the race, I searched around looking for another more distant station, but I guess atmospheric conditions weren't right.
29th July 2008, 16:17
indycool

NASCAR and Goodyear should not have been surprised by the problem that occurred. In the 2007 race at IMS, NASCAR scheduled and threw a "competition yellow" to check tires for wear at Lap 20 because they foresaw a potential problem. Only a couple were bad, and the race continued in "real time."

Now, we go to 2008 and we have the COT. Goodyear ran a three-car test in April in 55-60-degree weather. I have heard that the most laps turned during that test in a row was 12 by Earnhardt Jr. The COT has a higher center of gravity and puts more load on the right rear. I've had two friends who were sitting in the third-turn stands who said they were covered with black tire dust when the race was over.

IMO, the COT didn't fix what wasn't broken in the first place. And ever since Goodyear paid NASCAR for exclusivity as a tire, it's had problems.

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