Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

How to make the Indy 500 relevent again?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    I have been on the infield everyone should go once. Technology does this to every sport. More rules = more money I also think you can blame this one on Smokey trying to kill off the Non USA cars.
    2007 SBN/A Drag Week Winner & First only SBN/A Car in the 9's Till 2012
    First to run in the .90s .80s and .70's in SBN/A
    2012 SSBN/A Drag Week Winner First in the 9.60's/ 9.67 @ 139 1.42 60'
    2013 SSBN/A Drag Week, Lets quit sand bagging, and let it rip!

    Comment


    • #17
      Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
      Bring back Danica and 32 other hotties. Not G-Suits, G-strings! More sex! Sex sells - everyone knows that.

      (Maybe I'm sayin' I don't much care).

      Dan
      LRL

      Lingerie Racing League
      Life is short. Be a do'er and not a shoulda done'er.
      1969 Galaxie 500 https://bangshift.com/forum/forum/ba...ild-it-s-alive
      1998 Mustang GT https://bangshift.com/forum/forum/ba...60-and-a-turbo
      1983 Mustang GT 545/552/302/Turbo302/552 http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...485-bbr-s-83gt
      1973 F-250 BBF Turbo Truck http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...uck-conversion
      1986 Ford Ranger EFI 545/C6 https://bangshift.com/forum/forum/ba...tooth-and-nail

      Comment


      • #18
        Spec cars always ruin a series for me. It happens everywhere, NASCAR, Indy, NHRA, not much of interest there for me any more. Our culture keeps pushing " a level playing field" which = boredom.

        Comment


        • #19
          The ACO should take over the rulemaking, only for open-wheel.

          This event use to be one of the greatest in the world, and innovation was king. Ranked up there with Monaco and LeMans. Now its just another spec racer series, further handicapped by the ugliest open-wheel cars on the planet. Too bad. They're struggling to find 33 starters this year.
          I'm still learning

          Comment


          • #20
            Been 3Xs, cruised that night, im done!
            We would walk thru the "snake pit" and see unbelievable things going on, watch the start of the race and make our way out of Speedway nice and quite like!

            Comment


            • #21
              Make it a race where the little guy with some knowledge can come in there and run, maybe even win the thing. The problem is the same with any racing, it always snowballs into something bigger, faster, and more expensive. Look at fastest street car stuff, started out it was 9 and 10 second cars people actually drove, and now its the beat Larry Larson race. When it gets to the point where money wins, then things start going to spec cars and equal engines so people dont stop coming in an attempt to beat that Nova.

              Its human nature. We should just start over after a certain amount of time, go back to basics and be forced to use things that take some ingenuity instead of cubic dollars. If you want racing to be fun, then people have to identify with it. That is why bracket racing and the Ohio Mile are fun events for the average Joe. Sure it might not be fun to watch every weekend, but they can get out there and join in if they want.

              Nascar is boring, and has been for a long time. Indy is yawn inducing and F1 while being pretty cool for inventiveness and technology is rather stagnant. Nobody can participate unless they have a corporate sponsor, so fewer and fewer people give a damn about it.

              Comment


              • #22
                Originally posted by JeffMcKC View Post
                I have been on the infield everyone should go once. Technology does this to every sport. More rules = more money I also think you can blame this one on Smokey trying to kill off the Non USA cars.
                Actually, and I'll try to keep this short, Tony George is to blame. He wanted control of the whole shebang and used the 500 as a weapon to drive off teams (CART) that didn't want to go to "all ovals with all-American drivers", which was the promise. With the '500' as the final race in the series. Fans argued about this to no avail. Many, many gave up their long-held (it's a seniority system) tickets. Coincidently, Mr. George decided to run the taxicabs at Indy. They begged Indy ticket holders to buy up the NASCAR seats, but that didn't work either. At any rate, the IRL has degenerated into a ho-hum Japanese V-6 bore-athon......I like several of the drivers, but the races suck. Tony George is responsible for the decline of open-wheel racing in the US, including at Indy, IMHO. Another great tradition trashed by a selfishly held 'vision'...........
                Last edited by oletrux4evr; May 17, 2012, 05:57 PM.
                Ed, Mary, & 'Earl'
                HRPT LongHaulers, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.


                Inside every old person is a young person wondering, "what the hell happened?"

                The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there. -Vince Lombardi

                Comment


                • #23
                  I certainly agree about all the spec cars at Indy NASCAR and even the pro classes in NHRA. No innovation, nothing outside the box but it really did it for me when less than half the drivers at Indy were American born. At least in the other big motorsports you can identify with the drivers or root for someone born halfway close to you.
                  I realize the rear engine cars are much faster than the old roadsters but it seemed like when that transition happened Indy cars wanted to copy F1 instead of be American and that started the downward trend for me.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    tony george tried to fix it , but got bought off by the asians

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      My yearly solution: create a set of safety standards every car needs to follow. Get a 15'x15 sheet of plywood made. Announce thensize of the hole you are going to cut in the plywood. Anything that fits through the hole and meets the base safety regs can try to qualify. Hell, we could even sell thE TV rights. "Hole Day" would
                      be Huge!
                      That which you manifest is before you.

                      Comment


                      • #26



                        Offy's. I did like the jump idea. And Dan's ideas have merit.



                        and really, I'd prefer it if I could see the engine.... or the car made me slober. No wings, more crashes, and girls.
                        Last edited by Beagle; May 18, 2012, 05:33 AM.
                        Flying south, with a flock of bird dogs.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by Brian Lohnes View Post
                          My yearly solution: create a set of safety standards every car needs to follow. Get a 15'x15 sheet of plywood made. Announce thensize of the hole you are going to cut in the plywood. Anything that fits through the hole and meets the base safety regs can try to qualify. Hell, we could even sell thE TV rights. "Hole Day" would
                          be Huge!
                          This made me laugh. Especially if you have kids and you've seen the kids game show called, "Hole in the Wall."

                          The losers who can't fit in the hole get pushed into a swimming pool.
                          Powertour off/on since 2002
                          sigpic

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Open rules can turn into a cubic dollars spendfest that eventually only a few manufacturers can afford to play in, and then they decide to spend their money elsewhere and kill the series. But on the other hand, if you want to make the Indy 500 the pinnacle of American racing, that's probably better than the spec series they've got now. I'd go with Brian's 15 foot box proposal. If we want to keep horsepower from getting too out of control, also issue each team a spec amount of fuel and they can't use any more. (Or maybe not; this is BangShift, after all.)

                            But one thing that people often miss about NASCAR is that it is really the only racing series that actually has a good path for an aspiring driver to follow. This helps it build top level drivers - and be perceived as a top level by drivers from other events - in a way other serieses can't. Grassroots Motorsports recently had an article about what it takes to turn pro in certain road racing events. Before one got to the pro level, it could often cost $100,000 - 300,000 a year for racing as an amateur in events you might get spotted by pro scouts. NASCAR is a bit different. You can start out with some POS $500 Cavalier at your local oval track and start winning a small amount of cash money, then work your way up. Indy would be more relevant if it had a similar progression. You can't be the peak of anything impressive without putting a big mountain under yourself.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Anybody remember Art Pollard?
                              He crashed and died at Indy in the early 70's I believeMay 5, 1927 - May 12, 1973

                              Art Pollard in 1973
                              Art Pollard lived in Medford Oregon during the 1960s and early 70s and was killed during the Indianapolis 500 time trials on May 12, 1973.

                              Kind, generous, friendly, outgoing, persistent, honest, gentlemanly, optismistic, competitive, even-tempered, vibrant - these words describe a few of the qualities of this exceptional person who was also a great race driver. He liked and understood people, and he gave of himself to his fans and friends - some of whom called him "Roberto" because of his dark heavy-bearded complexion. He made speeches at schools and churches and visited the troops in Vietnam, but his pet project was the LaRueCarter Memorial Hospital for retarded children in Indianapolis.

                              Pollard raced at Indy seven times, finishing eighth in the 1967 race. The following year, while driving one of the celebrated STP-Turbo cars, he qualified 11th and was running fourth with just a few laps to go when a fuel pump drive shaft broke and forced him from the competition.

                              That same year, 1968, he won the pole position at the Milwaukee 200 and led the race for the first 135 miles, when his brakes failed.


                              Art Pollard 1969
                              Art shook down a pushrod Plymouth V8 in one of last year's wedge-shaped Loutus cars that wears new aero features. The car was uncompetitive and Art switched to a new Lotus Offy. He qualified 12th, but due to mechanical trouble on lap 7, he finished 31st.

                              Art qualified in 6th spot in 1970. Car trouble ends his day early on lap 28.

                              He qualified in 31st spot in 1971. Car trouble ends his day early on lap 45.

                              He didn't get to race in 1972 although he qualfied his STP Lola in 10th spot. During a subsequent practice lap, a wheel came off in the NE corner and he crashed, breaking his leg. Jim Malloy had crashed in this same turn 2 days before and would die 2 days later.

                              For the 1973 race Art Pollard had a new Eagle, two good mechanics, and a new sponsor. All during practice he was saying that this might be his best year. The car was running smoothly. In the Saturday morning practice session on May 12th, Pollard was running 191.4 mph when he lost control of his Dan Gurney Eagle car and smashed into the outside retaining wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The car careened off the wall, burst into flames and spun into the infield, where it rolled several times. He was unconscious until his death an hour later at Methodist Hospital of flame inhalation. He had burns, broken bones, and a severe spinal cord injury.

                              Art was buried in McMinnville Oregon. Survivors were his widow, Patricia; a son Michael; a daughter, Judy Dipple of Speedway; and his mother, Mrs. Artie Pollard of McMinnville.

                              Pollard dominated racing on the super modified circuit on the West Coast in the late '50s and early '60s. During one period in 1961, he won 22 of 28 main events.

                              A race in his name has been held in the Rogue Valley and in Roseburg, where he lived for several years prior to moving to Medford. He graduated from Roseburg High School in 1945.

                              Pollard was born in Dragon, Utah, but spent much of his youth in and around Los Angeles.

                              He was from "the sticks"

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                For all the Tony George haters-he had the idea of turning the clock back where there was a progression of grassroots racers like in the days when USAC sanctioned the series. He failed, for whatever reason I don't want to debate but I like that idea of having drivers with names I can pronounce.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X