tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post561229880525575011..comments2022-11-04T07:10:04.401-04:00Comments on Drive Hard, Turn Left: It's Not the Month of May Until Ed Hinton Criticizes IndianapolisBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14180618512766542856noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post-89026266176110943232010-05-20T14:45:30.344-04:002010-05-20T14:45:30.344-04:00Scott,
BP didn't say that attendance is on an ...Scott,<br />BP didn't say that attendance is on an upward trend since the '70s, he said that it's on a *recent* upward trend. Don't you think that the fact that attendance was better last year than it was in '07 or '08 (which I could tell with my own eyeballs in the NE Vista) is a good thing? I know your next argument: "the race isn't a sell-out anymore! It's destroyed!" Well, with years of damage, don't you have to stop the downward trend, and then restart the upward trend again? Like riding a wave, you get to the bottom of the wave, dwell near the bottom for a bit, begin a slow upward movement and then ride to the top of the next wave. You can't go from 50,000 empty seats to a sell out in one year. Nor can you go from a 4.0 TV rating to an 8.0 in one year. There's a thing called market momentum to be overcome.<br /><br />And I can tell you, there is a generation of fans who couldn't afford to go to many IndyCar races or the 500 that now can. Every morning when I'm shaving, a member of that generation is looking back at me. I couldn't afford to attend the 500 in the early-'90s because I wasn't even out of high school yet, plus I lived 500+ miles away. Nowadays? I still live 600 miles away, but I can afford a plane ticket, a hotel room and a pair of tickets to the race. That's what BP's talking about.<br /><br />As to Hinton's column, reading this stuff every year is disgusting. You want to shovel some dirt on the Speedway? Maybe you should do it at a time when your parent company isn't running TV ads imploring people to watch the race that you say "isn't the same as it used to be". When you do that, you're adding to the problem, not archiving history or solving anything. Idiot.The Speedgeekhttp://speedgeek.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post-11666334311900439762010-05-19T22:14:41.113-04:002010-05-19T22:14:41.113-04:00Scott -
You're right, I wasn't there in t...Scott -<br /><br />You're right, I wasn't there in the 70's and 80's when the infield was unrestricted. In fact, I wasn't born. <br /><br />There is evidence that attendance is trending upwards, based on written reports from those there in the lean years of the late 90's.<br /><br />Yes, I'll agree that NASCAR attendance trended upwards during the years of the split, but it's no longer trending up. If anything, based on attendance reports from 2010, the IndyCar Series is experiencing a better attendance trend than NASCAR.<br /><br />Look, the fact remains that the same article(s) get rolled out every May by the same author proclaiming the Indy 500 to be a bygone of a different era, when it's not true.BPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14180618512766542856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post-50230816924419297902010-05-19T17:32:53.795-04:002010-05-19T17:32:53.795-04:00"People have stopped watching cars travel in ..."People have stopped watching cars travel in circles non-stop."<br /><br />Really??? Surely why everyone hates NASCAR while the IRL remains wildly popular. <br /><br />Oval racing beats parade cars on road/street courses every time.Bootleggernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post-17411073069973064172010-05-19T17:09:48.956-04:002010-05-19T17:09:48.956-04:00The split was more than just the 25-8 rule and big...The split was more than just the 25-8 rule and big teams boycotting. It was the end of the competition that attracted fans to racing and the beginning of the speedway dictating how to drive, what to drive and when to drive.<br /><br />There is Zero evidence that the 500 is trending upwards in attendance. Zero. Clearly you weren't there in the 70's and 80's when the infield attendance dwarfed the current attendance from the center of the south chute to the center of the north chute. No owner will tell you that sponsorship dollars are trending upwards.<br /><br />Who is this new generation of fan that couldn't afford to attend the 500? How did they exist at the same time as the NFL and NCAA both experienced 10 consecutive years of increased season ticket sales. How does such a generation exist alongside football fans that buy season tickets at a far higher average cost in higher numbers than the speedway could hold? Why could a new generation of IRL fans not afford to attend a race while Nascar was experiencing exponential growth in attendance?<br /><br />I hardly think Ed should be accused of perpetuating falsehoods.Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post-19815284770116645422010-05-19T12:39:06.342-04:002010-05-19T12:39:06.342-04:00Paul -
I'd agree that the article is better t...Paul -<br /><br />I'd agree that the article is better than others written in the past. And in some instances, it's fairly informative.<br /><br />But at this time, what's done is done. I really don't see the point in rehashing the events of 15 years ago, when the series has been together for a 2.5 years. Like you, I would have rather seen it in the offseason, or May of 2008, when the new teams were here for the first time.BPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14180618512766542856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6991748852329956513.post-84105787211362738752010-05-19T12:01:01.315-04:002010-05-19T12:01:01.315-04:00I have to admit that I can't stand Ed Hinton a...I have to admit that I can't stand Ed Hinton as much as any open-wheel racing fan, but I actually found this article a bit enlightening. I didn't necessarily get the sense that Ed was trying to bash Tony George and the Indy Racing League as much as he was trying to put all the facts (or at least as HE sees them) onto the table. I do agree though that it seems counterproductive for ABC/ESPN to run this story NOW when they should be promoting the race, not talking about its "downfall." This would have been an interesting piece to read in the offseason but I could do without it for the time being. Look, the war is over, nobody won, and it's time to make things better again.<br /><br />Isn't it funny, though, how Hinton looks at history. Did he actually say that both sides of the American Civil War were NOT devastated? I would suggest he re-read his 8th-grade history book and look into the effects of the Civil War. He'll quickly note that neither side recovered for a VERY long time - much longer than he has given the 24 months since IndyCar reunification.Paul Dalbeyhttp://planet-irl.comnoreply@blogger.com