The Good, the Bad and the Ugly-2010
In memory of Earl Ma, who I think started this somewhere. Happy New Years to everyone!
The Good-
Randy Bernard. Hard working, full of energy and "gets it" better than any OW leader since Tony Hulman. Given the keys in order to fix the mess made by TG, Bernard has a keen sense of what the past was about, and seems to understand the the mistakes that were made, and what needs to be done to correct them.
The series and its members are ready to follow you sir, so lead on!
American Dirvers. As the year came to an end, Graham Rahal, JR Hildebrand and Charlie Kimball secured full time rides for 2011, joining Danica, Marco and RHR. Part-timer Ed Carpenter will compete for SFR. Seven american drivers, six full-time, is a very solid number and bodes well for the series. We can only hope the group can do well, and with Ganassi, Panther and AA, they should.
Dario Franchitti. Dario just keep getting better with time. He can still be the rabbit, fast out of the box, or lay back and wait as he did time and time again. He carries the spirit of lost friend Greg Moore and hero Jim Clark very well.
Will Power. Amazing to think back when Penske chose Will over Justin Wilson, and others to be the teams third "part time" two years ago. From the start, the humble and talented Power is alwasy fast and one has to wonder how far he can go once he gets a bit more comfortable on ovals.
Chip Ganassi. No one could have seen the great year that Ganassi would have this year, save for those who know how hard Chip pushes the team's abilities. First, the key hires over the years, with great people placed in positions of imense responsibilities. While Chip can be at times being Frugal, he is willing to do and spend what it takes to extract the best from man and machines. The cars and teams are always brilliantly prepared and his ability to maintain long time sponsors only help the team and any series in which he takes part. Funding of the Delta Wing shows how much he cares about the future of the sport, while rewarding the past.
AJ Foyt. Always a man of his word, kept Vitor's seat for him for 2010.
The Bad-
The Weather. I do not believe in the global warming myth, since the hottest global temp on record was 1998, and the planet has been in a cooling trend since 2002 but the rain and weather did not help in the build up to the May. Poor ratings tend to be even worse on Monday.
There is not much the series can do, but the frustration for teams is that earlier start times could allow for a race to get under way prior to the bad weather. Just saying....
Versus. Great TV coverage, on a network most are unaware of. While it is easy to blame versus, the ratings (see The Ugly) are not much better on network TV. The good news for 2011, is there will be more races on network TV, with the series promoting the series even more. Was Randy able to sell the series despite the bad ratings, or is it another pay for network time. Either would be a win for the series.
IRL. It is with good reason that Randy Bernard has discarded the IRL name. Poor and unsteady officiating, terrible safety team, and snobby attitude towards OW history made it an easy change to make. The problem is while there has been a name change and a few personnel changes, one constant remains; Brian Barnhart. I actually have nothing personal against Brian, and in fact, I like him. But, there are things and times when you want to bang your head against the wall. Consistant rulings make for a steady series. Make inconsistant rulings, and you have to wonder what factors are being used to make decisions. Indy was a frustration as our team would go to tech, and come back with requested changes for "gray areas" where the part in question offered no performance advantage, and only provided a $$ savings as we had the part in stock. Then we would see car "X" go by with a variety of parts on it that were by the book, not allowed. Not only would team "X" get to keep the parts on (with the promise of removing before the race) other teams could not add the parts. WTF?
The series, any series, needs consistent and steady leadership. In a year of change for Indycar, Randy needs to make one more change. Keep Brian as part as IMS or something, but lets get some new blood in race control.
The Ugly-
TV Ratings. Nothing screams failure more than poor TV ratings. It does not matter if the race is on ABC/ESPN or Versus, the ratings are so low that they do not register. Anyone taking note would get the feeling that the Indycar series does not exist, save for the Indy 500, which recorded its lowest ratings in years.
This would make some sense of the racing were bad, but in fact the racing has been quite good. There have been good stories about drivers (Power, Wilson, HCN, RHR, etc.) and teams.
Promoting the series and doing so in a credible way remains one of the biggest challenges on Randy's plate. Engaging commercials with drivers, cars, owners ala the Target JV/AZ commercials of yore would go a long way to help. Using the talent pool correctly would also help. Seeing Danica described as a NASCAR driver, is pathetic.
Speaking of NASCAR, I know they have had a decline in ratings as well. But their percentage of decline is greater than the Indycar overall ratings.
Milka- I first met Milka at Nazerath, PA years ago when she was in the Barber pro series in the late '90's. Very nice person, well spoken and mired in the back end of the of the field, maybe 18th or worse. She was one of many young drivers I would meet back in the day, and one who did not stand out at all as far as talent. When she decided to race in the IRL, I was shocked not that she tried, but that the series officials did not stop this pending disaster. She will hopefully be the last in a long line of IRL drivers who should not have been allowed to drive, let alone work on a car (Dr. Miller, Roth, Herb, Hattori, Mack and 75% of the '96 Indy 500 Field). She is so bad, and so clueless it is amazing she has not killed anyone.
KV Racing Technology- A wealthy owner who likes racing just enough to show up to each race and mingle, nothing is more embarrassing than this Rent-a-Ride outfit. This Disgusting excuse for team rests on team management, and not the poor but extremely talented crew and engineers that deserve better. The team will annouce its driver line up for 2011 some time before the season though they passed at Rahal, Kanaan, Wilson, and oh by the way, released Will Power a few years back as well. Disgrace.
Even Wheldon has indicated he would drive for free, winnings only, and the team has yet to take him up on the offer. One can only hope JV can get management to change their idiotic ways...or jump ship and form his own team.
While the team's demolition derby prone drivers were responsible for most of their shunts, there were some that were caused by broken parts...not a good sign.
The team slogs into 2011 evaluating the size of the checks they are being offered (Sato, Mutoh, Viso, and more) instead of the talent that could allow the team to compete.
Well, Starter and Gary pretty well covered this topic...
No IRL driver has won a 500 since the top CART teams started running the Indy 500, and (Robby Gordon should have won in 1999...'nuff said.)
I'm guessing you were either not present or had your head stuck in your, er the sand at the mess that was the 1996 Indy 500. I will not mention the mess that was the 1996 Disney race, which was a miracle at all.
Had there not been a 25/8 rule, the race would have been won by one of the Target Ganassi drivers, and dominated by CART. And to be honest I was being quite generous by saying only 75% of the drivers, as the number that did not belong was probably much higher. I think the others here have done a fair job evaluating the hacker, er, drivers in that race. And I do agree with you that save for Della Penna, Walker and Menard there were no strong teams taking part.
But I have to fill in some facts from your IRL induced amnesia, I think those drivers did run into each other with devastating results (check youtube of the last lap crash of the 1996 500) which is something that is missed by most IRL homers, er, devotees.
True, CART had many ride buyers and hacks in the day. Hated it! Speed covered it well with the top ten list of all time worst drivers for both the IRL, CART, Indycar by several diffferent writers. I agree with every one, though they left off Mack.
My post was about this past year, but I will make a comment on the biggest farce of your post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty G.
The handwriting was already on the wall in the early 90's and NASCAR was already pulling way ahead (no matter what lies Robin Miller keeps telling).
Really? NASCAR, pulling away? Interesting spin, er, point. Let me see, the most watched race in 1995 was, the Indy 500 (with I believe a record TV rating). The number one watched race in 1996 or 1997 (after the split), was the Daytona 500. With rating of about half of the 1995 Indy 500 TV rating. Soon, the 500 would fall behind multiple NASCAR races, again, well after the split.
Indy 500, 1995...all tickets offered by the speedway were sold out in June, 1994. Indy 500, 1997.....tickets available the day of the event....which is still the case today.
The most money paid by a TV network to televise a race series? Indycar, in 1995. Surpassed by NASCAR....again, after the split.
Miller has again and again been spot on. He bashed CART back in the day (do a google) and was equally astute at chastising the joke that was the IRL. There is a good reason (and support) that RB is kicking the IRL name to the curb. There is also a good reason why RB hangs out with Robin....and not just for the fine food at the 'mug-n-bun.
Not trying to pick a fight with you, as you have had some very good posts in the past, that I believe were spot on. This one though, was a miss, wide left!
