http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=12175
what does everyone think?
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http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=12175
what does everyone think?
i think its good, but i wolud have like to have seen, more of a nice mix of tracks befor indy like..
Streets of St. Petersburg
Kansas Speedway
Richmond
Texas Motor Speedway
then the indy 500
for we could see a nice mix of everything short tracks street tracks, superspeedways,and mile oval, a nice mix befor indy
but i still like next year schedule
AWESOME SCHEDULE!!!! I would kiss TG on the mouth ;)
Yes, the consecutive ovals may get a little boring, but it'll be great for the teams to set up the car for the same types of track, instead of having to completely re-work the car for oval-street-oval-road-oval, etc. I would have liked to have seen Cleveland on the list, but I can live without it for now. Losing Australia was a bummer, but I bet they'll keep going with the V8's being the bigger draw the last couple of years.
Overall, I',m pretty please and look forward to 2009!
i found it weird that the last race is homestead? that race has never been great,i dont know why they didnt make it, like you said clevland ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by bblocker68
Personally I always has liked Miami. Great race track with a great spectacle. I've never got bored while watching that race ;) I hope it will be a night race. That would be awesome ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by The IRL fan
I read something about Australia locked in for a few years, and now it's not even on the schedule. that's shocking cause that's great event (I went there a few years ago)
yeah maybe its just me, i kind of got tierd of dan leading every lap the past few years, i like they race at night now the only prob with that its past marco bedtime ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by ChampUSfan
Did Dan win this season ? I guess not.Quote:
Originally Posted by The IRL fan
I think its going to end up on it anyway, but they're trying to figure how they're going to handle the race and when its going to fit on the schedule. It makes no sense to sign a long term deal and then drop the race. If its run in March or October, its going to be an exhibition race. If they can move it to September after Motegi, its going to be a points race.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChampUSfan
na i was kind of talking about other years with him, so when it came to this year homestead, i was like, here we go dan leads every lap again,Quote:
Originally Posted by ChampUSfan
i didnt mind this year homestead race, i like it i was kind of got worry dan wolud lead everything again,
What is involved in the changeover? It would seem, on the surface, that routine maintenance between races would involve as much work. What are the diffferences?Quote:
Originally Posted by bblocker68
It would be a great idea cause it may save a few $$$ for the teams. Cause if they are in USA, then go to Motegi, return to USA, go to Australia...expensive...Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRoethig
Hope they will find an answer to this prob soon, that's sad to see this race gone.
I usually like every race, despite if a driver leads the whole race. I AM INDY! and I don't mind if Dixon wins every races in a single season, I will still be a fan ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by The IRL fan
same way for me, i mean dixon is just winning everything, this year,Quote:
Originally Posted by ChampUSfan
as they say when its your year its your year,
dixon is not my fave driver, but if he was i wolud he going crazy right now with this year hes having,
lol thats right you ARE INDY! :champion:
Hey man be careful, you don't even know who I amQuote:
Originally Posted by The IRL fan
By the way Dixon is a great driver
lol very true on that one,Quote:
Originally Posted by ChampUSfan
but i agree dixon is great, the best part about him is i hear no talk about him going to nascar, hes won the indy 500 soon to be the champ, and no talk about him leaving i think that speaks great about him and hes love for indycar, :up:
lol man ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by The IRL fan
That's the longest gap in the calendar 9/19 (Motegi) - 10/11 (Miami). I'm thinking that's where they'll try to fill the gap.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChampUSfan
Then again, wasn't there interest in Mexico City at one time?
i heard the same in mexico city, but it did go around to surfers paradise andQuote:
Originally Posted by ykiki
laguna seca, but i guess that was just some more Rumors going around,
i agree thats along gap but rember motegi and miami are the last 2 races of the year, they dont need to worry about 10 other races or something,
The homestead date change is good for the most part. the 1st race date always was competing against other major events in town, Doral, The Big tennis Tourney...ect. October is slower.
Only problem is that it is close to the NASCAR Finally in Novemeber.
Why the hell are we STILL starting in April!?!??! > :(
Dropping Surfers is an own goal as it is a proven winner with crowds only surpassed by the 500. It adds depth and markets for Honda and any other engine manufacturers looking at the series and sponsors.
Drop Richmond and add Mexico and a race in Brazil.
Having six 1.5 mile ovals on the schedule is about five too many! The old champ car mix of the one mile ovals and super speedways works so much better for single seaters, 1.5 mile cookie cutter specials are just NASCAR fodder that create a hyper-dangerous environment for single seaters, particulary with the way the aero package is on these tracks. The 5 slots vacated by the under-attended NASCAR tracks could be taken by ex-Champ Car tracks. I was fully behind the merger, it had to be done, but looking at the 2009 schedule its still far too much IRL and not enough Champ Car.
i agree and disagree on stuffQuote:
Originally Posted by philipbain
i dont feel that its to much indycar and not enough champcar, i watch champcar way befor i started with indycar,but i dont feel that champcar is not getting much, i look at the first 2 races of the year its street tracks, and then you have 1.5-mile oval and 2.5-mile oval after that, i feel its a nice mix, i wolud have like to have seen some short tracks in there,
but again indycar was the one, that bought out champcar, they can go to any place they wish, even tho i wolud love to see some more champcar tracks, i think in time we may see some more tracks come out, to be honest i hated half the year cuz i felt it was to boring, but the more i watch my old tapes and think, the more i see this is going to take some time, the racing will get better, more tracks will come, and champcar will have its far share of tracks soon, right now TG is just feeling things out, and wants to get everyone on the same page again befor adding more tracks, and the new car is comming, everything will come it just takes time
I say drop the cookies cutters and have 500 mile races around Michigan / California with Handford wings and 1000BHP engines - sound fanciful? I was exactly what they did in Champ Car just a fews years ago, I will never forget the Michigan race with Juan Montoya and Micheal Andretti constantly swapping the lead at speeds approaching 250mph lap after lap, the currently crop of Indycars are visibly slower by comparison and less spectacular for it yet conversely more dangerous because of the insistence that they must run on 1.5 mile tracks with too much downforce. So I say lets go back to the future!
No Surfer's, Cleveland or Houston? I was hoping they'd drop one of the bull ring ovals (Richmond or Iowa) and Homestead. They should have stuck with 8 ovals max. Not good for open wheel road racing fans.
Well let's see......The most challenging "drivers road courses" are gone (Road America and Mont Tremblant), no Cleveland, no Surfers and.........
Six Oval Races in a Row!!!!!
I don't know.......not what I expected.
It would if these cars were not sensitive to setup changes, but they are anything but that. Put the same setup on the car at two different times of the year and they will run differently. They may be in the same neighborhood, but not the same. If you run many of the same disciplines in a row, you're pretty much just adding to the setup. If you change from a speedway to a street course, you have to start from scratch with different body and suspension parts and throw on the old setup and see "if" it works. If it doesn't, you're working with a clean sheet and many long hours after practice is over. When you get no weekends off, that becomes a ton of extra work in a hurry.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilf
Yeah, well Penske sold his tracks to ISC, so the 1.5 mile cookie cutters are all we can get.Quote:
Originally Posted by philipbain
Perhaps, the 2009 ICS schedule is just another blatent example of why the so-called "merger" was nothing but a mere capitulation by the Amigos. The ICS took the crown jewell, which is Long Beach, and added some Canadian races.
I do not know what the percentage of CC fans was that refused to accept the ICS, but my guess is that with the new schedule, the numbers will increase.
You can call me and the rest of us sore losers, but the fact remains that instead of mending bridges, TG is burning them. Cities/fans that had once been staunch supporters of Champ Car are left hanging out to dry for another year.
Of course, I am not expecting that every CC race be added to the ICS, but a minimal attempt would be best. I am a fan of oval, street and road course racing. A market like Mexico City and Surfers has a lot of potential. If we keep running in NASCAR's backyard, the series will surely struggle for dominance. Fortuantely, the ICS did not fall for Gossage's *****.
It seems to me the main places that new schedule misses the boat in terms of taking advantage of viable CCWs events for 2009 is the race in Mexico City and Surfers. Otherwise, CCWS and the IRL overlapped in many markets - so why should the IRL switch to CCWS venues in order to stay in more or less the same market??
There are a couple of key US venues that would be nice to consider but they all have issues:
Cleveland = not exactly the most alive place economically, building pressure on the course and a pretty full slate of events in the eastern mid-west.
Road America - As much as people like the course - can you really see the current IRL car showing well there?? They can always go back when they have a more suitable car....
Laguna Seca - not really at CCWS mainstay in recent years and too close to Sears Point.
Portland - Financial struggles are well documented...
Denver - already DOA
Houston - Already DOA - could be revived but really not a traditional CCWS market anyway...
Mont Tremblant - not traditional CCWS - just a face saving race after losing Montreal
I know I am missing some - but that's the general idea....
Listening in to the PC, it felt like Terry was a politician...
It's hard to defend not adapting certain CC events. The thing he stressed more than anything is its a business in growth form right now, and there is still some hope of resurrecting the events in the future. Just after going away for one and now two years, that chance is always decreasing. More than likely, most of the events had contracts for 2009 that needed to be honored.
Homestead makes the least sense to me, an obvious loser in fan attendance and then put to the end of the year only a month ahead of NA$CAR?
I don't get it but then again few outside Indycar series circles do.
All of you who wanted the merger to end with Tony George in charge and are complaining about no Michigan, California, the abundance of cookie cutter tracks, leaving Nashville, ending the season at Homestead; stop complaining, you are getting exactly what you wanted, one series under the "Vision" of tony George.
This schedule is completely underwhelming , and shows the ineptness of league management. From the reports I've read they've pissed off SMI, Michigan International Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and the Dover family of tracks. Its unbalanced, has some of the most physically demanding tracks back to back, starts far too late and fails to tap into several key markets.
Leaving off Mexico City and failing to secure races at either MIS or CMS are black eyes for the sport. Personally their are far too many parades on the schedule, Mid-Ohio, Infineon, Watkins Glen, Kansas, Chicago and Homestead.
Hopefully this is only a stop gap schedule to deal with existing contracts but for all you "I Am Indy" Crowd, this is the schedule you wanted from the man you wanted, so stop complaining.
I wanted to send this as a private message, but you have them disabled in your profile. Man, please find the shift key and the period key. This sort of run on message is VERY difficult to read. It looks like a cell phone text message.Quote:
Originally Posted by The IRL fan
Gary
lol sorry, yeah i was posting from my phone thats why,Quote:
Originally Posted by garyshell
Or you could look at it another way. If the IRL hadn't picked up the few CCWS races it did NONE of CC's races would be run in 08 or 09. CCWS was going bankrupt. Be glad that a few of the races made it to the IRL schedule.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogelio
A major positive regarding the 2009 schedule is the diversity of tracks. TG certainly realizes that a diverse venue is the key to the ICS success. The breaks between races is another plus, even though I dislike the entire month off before Indy (oh well).
After watching the ICS video with Terry Angstadt, in which he defends the schedule and the markets, I realize he is contradicting himself. Years ago, TG tried to take Portland and failed. Now that CC no longer exist, it is not on the schedule. Politics aside, Portland is a viable market because NASCAR is not there. And the same can be said for Mexico City and Australia (if added).
I like oval racing but can 3 oval races that are a mile or less be called oval racing for these high powered machines? The other six oval races are a 1 1/2, which in my opinion is suitable for OWR. How about a return to Michigan or California?
CC may be dead, but TG and ICS certainly leave a lot to be desired.
Finally, why in the heck are we even bothering with Homestead? Our season started there before an empty house, yet ICS wants to return there.
Take another look at the middle of that schedule and tell me that deep pockets are subsdizing the IRL at places like Chicago, Kansas, Mid-Ohio and others.Quote:
Originally Posted by Starter
I fail to see where this schedule could be more dull and unimaginative. Getting rid of Nashville for Tornoto was the only good move they made, and Michael Andretti essentially forced their hand on that.
It wouldn't suprise me if there's issues with the V8 Supercars fitting into this slot. The Surfers event has been a double header weekend for a number of years now with both V8 Supercar and Champ Car points races.Quote:
Originally Posted by ykiki
Late September is right between the Phillip Island 500 and the Bathurst 1000, the two biggest races on the calendar for the V8's. Traditionally, there are no sprint rounds between the two endurance races. Therefore, if the IRL is trying to get a late September date (as the hole in the schedule might suggest), I think there are going to be problems.
Considering they announced that the event had been secured for 6 years earlier this year (http://www.indy.com.au/newsroom/article_245/index.htm), it would be very poor form by the IRL to completely drop it. However, I could see it as a late October non-points event again next year if there is a clash between the V8's and the IRL over the date.