As I watched my first IndyCar series race of the year, today’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, lots of thoughts came to mind. Will Power crossed the finish line first, followed by Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves.
The series continues to battle with a weakening product. The interest level is no longer what it once was and the ratings are indicative of that. Last year’s Indianapolis 500 ratings received just a 4.3 overnight rating.
There are problems all around for IndyCar. For example, I went to IndyCar.com during the race and once I clicked on ‘schedule,’ I got an error. Umm, that’s kind of important. Not good.
And after the race, the website wouldn’t even load. Either there was heavy interest today after a positive race or they are in desperate need of a server upgrade. (I am told that they recently updated their website a few weeks ago and there have many problems since.)
They can’t let that happen. All the little things must go their way.
New cars
This year, IndyCar has moved to a new chassis that is supposed to be a slicker, faster and safer design. I’m sure most of the die-hard fans don’t like it because it’s different. But you have to hope it’ll make a difference all around.
The main problem I see with it is that drivers are having trouble getting new engines for the car. Sarah Fisher, the former driver and now owner, thought she may be without a car this year because she was unable to acquire one for her team. Finally and rightfully so, she did.
26 drivers have raced in the first two races and many teams are scrambling to get additional cars and engines, especially with May and the Indy 500 a month away.
Less road, more ovals — please!
This season, the IndyCar series dropped five races from the schedule and they were all ovals.
There’s something about road courses that loses my interest. With just four oval races on the 15-race schedule, I’ll be sure to catch each of those races. Cars going three and four wide, going over 200 miles per hour, and plenty of passing is something I look forward to. They are enjoyable and enticing to watch. Road courses just don’t do it for me and I know I’m not alone.
Mr. Versatility – Kevin Lee
Those in Indianapolis know the name because he’s all over local broadcasts. Kevin Lee is an Indiana guy — both a Ben Davis High School and Ball State University alum.
You have seen or heard him in Indiana on the Colts radio, Pacers radio and television, Fever radio and IHSAA game broadcasts. In addition to being on the IMS Radio Network, he hosts a weekly racing show, “Trackside with (Curt) Cavin and Kevin” on ESPN 1070 The Fan. And now with the emergence of the NBC Sports Network, formally Versus, Lee is on more than ever.
Does he ever have free time?
Lee is great because he is a well-rounded, no ego personality. He is very smooth and well-prepared for every show or broadcast and it’s obvious. Indy should be proud to call him one of their own. And hopefully, he stays around because it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets bigger offers.
No more Danica
Self-explanatory here. Although she was never a real contender, losing her to NASCAR will take away some casual fans in the seats and eyes on the television.
[Photo via Shawn Gritzmacher/IMS Media]
I’m not sure how you can say that there is dwindling interest. Today’s crowd at Barber was a record crowd. Last week at St. Pete, the attendance was up from last year. The ratings and attendance for last year were both up. IndyCar.com is having issues keeping up with demand. Today there were over 8000 people watching live scoring at times (averaged over 7000 during the race). You talk about ratings for last years 500…weren’t they up from 3.5 the year before? And wasn’t attendance up by 25-30,000 at Indy?
Not sure exactly why you say interest is dwindling…seems to me that it is increasing.
Easy. The interest is down. You can debate all you want ratings, 4.3 up from 3.5 — for IndyCars BIGGEST race (And last year’s Indy 500 got beat by the Daytona 500.) That’s awful. This is their biggest spectacle, one that hopefully attracts in fans for the rest of the season.
I’m not just talking one race, I’m talking the series as a whole. The series needs more American representation. There were so many races last year I flipped on and the stands were very, very empty.
I like the series, don’t get me wrong. But it is in the back of the minds of the average sports fans. Very questionable for the series to open the year opposite Sweet Sixteen games.
Clearly, by your numbers, you work for IndyCar which is great. And I did note above that it was a revamped website. The problem is that you need a reliable, accessible website when fans log on. It was down for a good hour and it wasn’t just me.
Actually, no, I do not work for IndyCar (I’d LOVE to however…hint hint Randy if you are reading!). I’m just the biggest IndyCar fan around. I read every article about IndyCar, go to usually 4-5 races a year, and make sure I watch everything else.
Hey, this is an opinion piece, correct? Well I happen to disagree with your opinion on this matter, simply because the numbers show otherwise.
This sport was torn apart in the mid 90’s, that’s a fact that I’m sure no one will ever forget. It takes baby steps at this point to get it back to where it was. Any growth right now is positive. Unfortunately, articles such as these can cause more damage to a sport that you claim to like.
Clearly this author has generated an opinion without much research. If so, Scott would understand that he’s about a week behind on his article. Indycar DID revamp the website, but I have had no trouble with it. Scott might also understand that it’s not as simple as “just add ovals.” The road courses, like today’s race are better financially for the series. Until the promotors at the ovals get their heads out of the sand (sans Indy), Indycar would be stupid to add them. Also – today’s race was as entertaining as I can recall. Race fans will appreciate it. Misinformed writers on the other hand…
As I noted in my response above, the website was down and that’s never good.
I wasn’t saying add ovals. I questioned the decision to remove them, because at least in my opinion, they provide the most excitement and drama. Today was good, but still didn’t measure up to an oval.
I think your title, using the word “dwindling” suggests a downward trend in IndyCar. I’m sure the most die-hard fan would totally agree with you that IndyCar still has a LONG way to go to recapture the interest lost in the split. As you state, the ratings for the 500 are not good, but if you’re saying that the trend is down, you clearly ignore that the ratings grew. Additionally, you state the problems about engines – which clearly is a critical issue in IndyCar and puts the Lotus cars in a precarious position, not to mention the classic 33-car field at Indy! I would contend, however, that the engine problems actually increase interest in the sport as a dramatic story line. Again, clearly a problem for IndyCar, but not a factor of “dwindling” interest.
Finally, for the website, I couldn’t agree more – a 1000% disaster even with the recent “update/upgrade
– the LAST place I go for IndyCar news! That’s one problem that WILL turn-off the casual fan and that IndyCar can’t afford to continue to screw-up (and it’s SO EASY to fix!!!!)
The race at St. Pete was no great show (probably in part due to the coverage), but yesterday’s race was exceedingly good because of really great, aggressive racing and coverage of that racing.
The problems and challenges are clear and numerous. The market share still needs intensive care. I would completely disagree, however, on the conclusion of the trend…it’s slowly growing, not “dwindling”.