How important is 33 Cars in the Indy 500 to you?

[BadazzZ06]

Hey man I've got news for some of you people

People Care about the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race

The same can't be said for the rest of the races on the schedule anymore

My crew has 15 hard core Indy 500 fans who are focus intense on IMS during the Month of May

None of us would miss it for the world

We have all missed family functions, weddings, friends parties, and even our kids baseball games all so we could be at IMS memorial day

We are the hardcore of the Indy 500 fans

Of this group only my brother and myself could even tell you that the series is racing in Brazil this weekend...those are the facts

There are many more thousands just like us

The Love affair that People have with The Indy 500 is the only real thing Indycar has going for it...you don't want to screw that up by trying do de-emphasize Indy for the sake of the series which only has the small intrest it does because the same men race in it also race in The 500

Its a terrible strategy to try and sell people that Indy is just another race in the series...besides its not..its way more important than the rest of the series combined and that's the way the people want it...all the goofy marketing gimmicks y'all could ever come up with wont change that

And this is a perfect example of why the Indycar series is dieing ... "People" don't give a rats azz about the race (look at the steady decline in TV ratings for the race), maybe some Hoosier's care about it, but here on the Left Coast the race has completely dropped off the radar of even most race enthusiasts. The turnout at Infineon is pathetic. Unless the series gets serious about promoting the other races in the series, and linking them to the 500, the series will die, and the 500 will cease to have any meaning because how will you attract top class drivers to a one off event that will be down to TV ratings as seen for the other races on NBCSN today.

As I said in my previous post, I believe the series is risking serious trouble in trying to fill a 33 car field this year. The talent pool isn't there, the cars and engines are untested in an oval race, and trying to "push the envelope" to get 33 cars to start is begging for a replay of the Vegas fiasco .... hopefully without the same tragic outcome, but a "race" that has high attrition and a large number of cautions.

[dwaldrep51]

As I said in my previous post, I believe the series is risking serious trouble in trying to fill a 33 car field this year. The talent pool isn't there, the cars and engines are untested in an oval race, and trying to "push the envelope" to get 33 cars to start is begging for a replay of the Vegas fiasco .... hopefully without the same tragic outcome, but a "race" that has high attrition and a large number of cautions.

I really don't understand how anyone can say the talent pool for the 500 is down for this year. Sure the rookies are question marks, they always are, but there are more than enough talented and experienced IndyCar drivers around to fill 33 spots.

As far as engines blowing, I'm not sure how Illmor working an extra night to build 16 Chevy engines for the race instead of 15 will greatly increase the chance of a massive number of engine failures during the race. Sure there might be a few issues with the new engines going 500 miles for the first time but I don't see any unnecessary risk being taken by any parties involved by trying to get 33 cars in the Indy field (which will happen).

[Miguel]

You're correct on Sebring and there is a 6hrs of Spa, but the race at Zhuhai is not part of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship

Well fine, 6 Hours of Shanghai than, or Silverstone or Bahrain or Fuji or São Paulo. Take your pick At any rate, people do care about the other races on the WEC calendar, only not as much as the 24LM, but still a whole lot.

[since 1981]

I once had a boss who's favorite business maxum was "perception is reality"; meaning that if your client thinks that you have a problem, then you have a problem - if only because you let things get to a point where your client could get that impression.

As many here have already pointed out, Indy is the one & only race that most folks can be bothered with, and they have gotten used to the idea that there will always be 33 cars each year (whether the drivers at the back are worth a d@mn or not). If they turn on their TVs and see 32, 31, 30, etc... they are going to say "IndyCar is dying".

... And among those folks are the ones that hold the potential sponsorship purse strings that IndyCar desperately needs to survive.

[ACCP]

My choice first choice doesn't mention the strength of the rest of the races that make up the series, the choices are having a race that's more important than the others or having all of the races equal.

NASCAR falls under option #1 - everyone involved in NASCAR makes it clear that the Daytona 500 is their supreme race and when it comes to prize money and TV ratings it is by far their undisputed crown jewel of the series. I believe that the way they promote Daytona as one of the crown jewels of motorsport helps make the rest of their series successful.

I would say today's Formula 1 falls under option #2 - even though there is still a ton of history with the Monaco GP it's really just another race on the schedule.

So does INDYCAR continue to put efforts into keeping the Indy 500 the undisputed crown jewel of the series or do they need to make their primary focus on making all of the races the same? Should so much emphasis be put on winning Indy over Milwaukee or Toronto? Why waste all of the time and money to practice and qualify for just Indy, why not just qualify on Saturday and race on Sunday at Indy just like all of the other races? I believe keeping Indy a 2 or 3 week event and build on the hype that goes around "the spectacle" is what's best for IndyCar; others believe that the extra effort that is currently put into Indy would be better placed in going towards different races.

Reading this train of thought makes me realize why the tenuous IMS-CART peace in the 80's and early 90's worked so well to make both the series and the race strong. IMS looked over the 500, CART looked over the series, and it allowed the Speedway to write rules that were inclusive of the CART teams but also allowed other options at an even level. This may be what IndyCar needs to get back to - a rulebook for the series, and a separate one for the 500 that includes the series spec but also is open to other engine combos, etc.

[marcostraz]

Indy is 33 and there will be 33 cars this year...

[Doc Austin]

I really enjoyed bump day last year. That's why a lot of entries are important to me.

[hdolan]

"Hell, the 500 itself damn near did after the war."

Actually the crowd was quite large in 1946 and subsequent years...


" Do we really need to see drivers who haven't been in an Indycar all season try their first run in the car at Indy ??? There are, IMHO, serious potential consequences when
trying to reach 33 by putting in drivers who really shouldn't be out there."

That's been done every year throughout my life of 70 years...often times drivers ran only Indy and never has the field of 33 been the 33 best available...

[autoracingfan2]

Does is really matter? Indianapolis should just be as important as every other race in the series. I know that hurts a lot of people on here, but you can't run a series on one race alone. If there's less than 33, it's just a sign of the times.

You can't run an Amereican open wheel series without it...

[lizardfolk]

I think "I think its important but I wont get bent out of shape if there isnt 33"

I want 33 cars and I cannot help but feel disappointed if we get less than 33 cars. However, a part of life is to understand that life doesnt always (and to be honest, doesn't usually) go your way and we do not live in your own perfect fantasy dream world.

No one is purposefully reducing the car count and Bernard isn't lowering the grid. To be honest, as a fan, I believe that's the best we can accept without seeming like we're throwing tantrums because we didn't get our candy.

I want 33. But no one is actively trying to reduce the 33 and if life situations means that we'll get less than 33 then we'll just have to deal with it. Like the (supposed) adults we are

[slompappy]

I think series officials settled the little which race is most important argument we had in this thread with today's announcement about the engine chenge rules