Originally Posted by bennybigb
Thank you Jag_Warrior. You are correct, I used to be a MAJOR fan. I went to as many races as I could and watched and recorded every race that I could not attend. I am not from Indianapolis and I know nobody in the sport, I was simply a die hard fan. I brought many of my friends to the races and I was constantly trying to sell the sport to anyone who would listen, friends, co-workers, girl friends, family members, it didn’t matter.
I grew up being a fan, Indycar racing was a huge part of my life that is why I still lurk on the forums and still occasionally watch a few laps here and there. I am still waiting for IndyCar to make a comeback, but it won’t under the current rules. The IRL product is bad, this is not an opinion it is a fact. Look at your race attendance, look at your network TV numbers, people don’t care enough about the product to watch anymore.
Almost everything that made Indycar racing great is gone. If Indycar is going to rebuild here is what I think needs to happen, we need to get back to the proven formula that made IndyCar racing great.
The engines need to be turbo charged and they need to scream. Indycars need to sound fast.
The current chassis is terrible, it is ugly and it is slow. An Indycar chassis must be sleek, it must look fast even when it is parked.
We need additional engine choices, even if we don’t have additional manufactures, we need more variety. Be it a Honda, a Cosworth, an Ilmor, a Judd, or a Menard, it doesn’t matter we just need more choices.
We need open chassis rules to allow for competing chassis. Furthermore, we also need new chassis every year. I want to know if it is a Reynard 94 or Reynard 95, it needs to be listed. I want to see a midpack driver push his 2 or 3 year old chassis past a driver with a brand new chassis, even if it’s for 15th place. Even better if that driver can score a top ten finish with an unbadged privateer engine from Judd or Menard.
We need to get ride of pack racing. Pack racing is for Nascar, not Indycar. If you enjoy pack racing you are probably a Nascar fan and wouldn’t bother with an Indycar race anyway.
We need to get back to our traditional race tracks: Michigan, Cleveland, Road America, Laguna Seca, Portland, Milwaukee (the week after Indy!) I am sure I am missing a lot of others.
We need unbiased TV reporting. I hate the IRL cheerleading that goes on in the booth. If the call was bad, then say so. If Danica sucked in qualifying, then say it. If Ed Carpenter is a rent a rider, then say it. Don’t be an IRL cheerleader, I don’t want to watch a 2 hour long infomercial on how great the IRL is, talk about the good things and talk about the bad things. Don’t give Jack Arute or Scott Goodyear a microphone.
Please Please Please include Champ Car and CART and USAC stats in your record book. Why ignore Mario Andretti and Rick Mears and Emerson and Al Unser and Danny Sullivan, these are the guys that made your sport, and now you are going to ignore them????
Finally, please stop using the term IRL. The IRL signifies the complete destruction of the sport that so many people loved. People know what an Indycar is, but they don’t know what an IRL car is, and if they do know what an IRL car is, they are probably not impressed with it.
Feel free to flame away, I am sure many of you don’t agree with me, as you are still fans. But I am speaking for many of the fans that have left your sport. If you want to get some of the old fans back, I’d work on the above shortcomings of the league, otherwise here's to a new Indy 500 ratings record in 2011!
Thank you for your time,
Ben Beckwith
Indy Car fan from 1988 to 2008