Randy says he will quit if Vegas gets a .8

[IndyCarFan]

In general, Bob, I agree with the thrust of your sentiments here, especially the first line. However, I think comparisons with the 1964 crash are slightly erroneous. That came to my mind, too, I confess, but attitudes towards death — and especially seeing death occur live on TV — are somewhat different today, not least in relation to motorsport. In 1964 the likelihood of a death occurring in the field of a major motor race was far higher than it is today.

Regarding 1964, the race was not broadcast live on national TV AND the closed circuit broadcast (remember those?) almost immediately went off the air around the country. Not due to technical difficulty but by choice.

Nowdays, TV stays live, runs replays over and over, speculates, tells people at home not to speculate, misreports, tells people at home not to read too much into what is being said, cuts to commercials, comes back and starts it all over again. And for the record, I'm generalizing here and NOT commenting on ABC's specific coverage of this particular race.

[SoCalPVguy]

It is being reported "The overnight TV rating for the Las Vegas IndyCar finale on ABC Sunday that saw the unfortunate death of Dan Wheldon was a 1.5. That is the highest non-Indy 500 TV rating IndyCar has had in years"

Over 0.8, so now what, Randy ?

[Chris R]

It is being reported "The overnight TV rating for the Las Vegas IndyCar finale on ABC Sunday that saw the unfortunate death of Dan Wheldon was a 1.5. That is the highest non-Indy 500 TV rating IndyCar has had in years"

Over 0.8, so now what, Randy ?

I wonder if they can tell if the rating increased AFTER the crash?? I really hope people had tuned in anyway, but I have a sick feeling it was people tuning in after they heard there was a bad accident.....

[Rex Monaco]

I think that as the officiating body of the series and as the promoter of this race, Indycar has alot of questions to answer for this tragedy. I seem to recall reading that Indycar wanted to run a temporary road course in the parking lot at Las Vegas instead of the oval. What was the leagues reason for not wanting to run the oval? Did the league feel that this oval posed a risk to safety? If they did have reservations about the safety of this track, then why would they attempt to lure more drivers to this track with the 5 million dollar purse? Certainly more cars on the track was one of the main contributing factors to this horrific crash.

The question right now should not be about the future of oval racing. The safety of the cars and the tracks can (and should) be improved. The question that many of us have wanted answered for a long time is does this league have the capablity to rebuild Indycar while being a good steward of American 'Indy Car' racing? The jury might still be out on this question, but this tradgedy does not help the defense.

[Dave B]

I don't know how you guys measure your TV ratings over there, but in the UK ours are compiled by BARB who can break it down (at a cost, and then some!) into 5-minute chunks. You often see a big spike in F1 ratings for the start and the last 20 minutes, followed by an understandable downturn after the chequered flag.

[DBell]

I don't know how you guys measure your TV ratings over there, but in the UK ours are compiled by BARB who can break it down (at a cost, and then some!) into 5-minute chunks. You often see a big spike in F1 ratings for the start and the last 20 minutes, followed by an understandable downturn after the chequered flag.

They do the same type of thing here. Getting access to them is the hard part.