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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 3.6
It's time for SPEED.com's weekly IndyCar Q&A with Robin Miller's Mailbag.
With so much history to fall back on, which direction will IMS and IndyCar be taken in the future after the latest round of suggestions from a consulting firm? (Photo: IMS Photo)
Hello open-wheel types and thanks for all your questions. I intend to answer your questions every week during the season, so just email me at . Don’t feel left out if I didn’t directly respond. I appreciate your interest and passion.
~Robin Miller
Q: I think you make a few good points in your article about the BCG's finding on the IndyCar. However, I disagree with the point you make about IndyCar shortening the season to 15 races over 19 weeks. We are in the right ballpark. And, the NFL and college football are only six-seven month seasons, too. The difference? Football has events throughout the off season. In college football, you have spring football. In the NFL, you have combine, OTAs, etc. So, there are ways for IndyCar to work a similar structure. America doesn't care much about IndyCar right now, so 15 races in the season (no playoffs, please) is good. Once the season ends, run some off-season support races and broadcast them during good times. Maybe the winner gets automatically qualifies for the Indy 500 (or gets to pick his/her time of day to qualify on pole day) and gets 3 championship points if they run the entire IndyCar season. I know, you don't want to mess with tradition and the Indy 500, but what are the odds that someone wins Surfers Paradise and wouldn't be fast enough to qualify for the 500? Plus, with this set-up, you can have international and/or local stars run the races and help generate buzz for the 500. Rubens, Massa or Marcos Ambrose in an offseason tune-up vs. Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay? Yes, please! So many drivers run things like the Gold Coast 600, I think this would draw a lot of attention. And ... what if say Rubens wins a race in Sao Paulo to get a spot in the 500. ... I'd love for him to come back, even if it is for 1 race only. Of course, this is the outside of the box thinking that got Randy Bernard fired, so fans would probably love it and IndyCar would hate it.
KK
RM: If shortening the season drove up TV ratings, increased interest and attendance then, sure, I think everyone would be on board. But it didn’t work when the IRL tried it and having a foreign non-points series would be predicated on acquiring additional sponsorship from those countries. IndyCar needs to find a way back on the map in North America before it worries about off-season racing.
Q: Anyone who recommends ABC/ESPN to carry all races has absolutely no historical perspective on IndyCar racing. We all suffered through years of CART being pre-empted or interrupted by golf or some other such boredom. My local ABC affiliate would not carry any IndyCar race for years (apart from the Indy 500). The program director there insisted they would have more viewers showing a repeat of 'On Golden Pond' in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Like I said, whoever came up with that bit of genius should be sent packing, and that very argument makes the validity of the entire report questionable, at best.
Keith Younce
RM: I think most people agree that NBC Sports Network does a better job of covering IndyCar than ABC but let’s be realistic: a poor ABC audience is 800,000 to 1 million while the average NBC Sports race was somewhere around 350,000 last year. Whether it’s fair or not, TV ratings rule and network television is king.
Q: I don't know what BCG Consulting got in the way of compensation from the sisters for the report they were hired to produced but after reading it I'm convinced they should have gotten life! I mean finding a legal out in order for ICS to wangle out of its TV contract with NBC? What will IndyCar do then, go running back to ESPN ? The same network that held up the start of two races to allow airing of minor league sports events that ran over time to proceed? Did BCG know that Comcast was the only network that was willing to pay money to air IndyCar races beyond the six granted to ABC? Then BCG resurrects the topic of a race on the IMS road course. Haven't we beaten that horse to death? To compound the absurdity they suggest that such a race take place as a finale. Hello? ICS added Fontana to the schedule last year for this purpose and despite some atrocious weather conditions put on a very entertaining show. This year the series is adding Pocono to the schedule. A sizable contingent of fans have clamored for years for a "Triple Crown," now they have one and BCG wants to usurp its luster by replacing the finale with an IMS road course race? Absurdities like these makes me question the credentials of BCG. To my way of thinking if BCG had done their homework they would have talked about how the instability stemming from poor leadership or lack of leadership of the series and how it has eroded the series fan base and sent its sponsors fleeing to other events. It would have talked about the ethos at 16th and Georgetown guaranteeing the supremacy of the Indy 500 has worked far more effectively to destroy the integrity of open wheel in the eyes of the public than to build up the image of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It would talk about the petulant attitude toward scheduling that has the series shuffling in and out of venues at the drop of a hat. It's pretty clear to me that BCG was concerned about one thing when they submitted their report, picking up their fee. Were it not BCG would have dropped some very unpleasant realities on Mary Hulman, the sisters, Jeff Belkus, Mark Miles and the other IMS board members. Realities that would be very hard to swallow!
Bob Marsten
RM: First off, I believe the report was ordered by Jeff Belskus, not the Hulman/George family and these are suggestions which may or may not be acted upon. As I said in the letter above, you have a much better chance of getting an audience on ABC/ESPN and one television partner is probably preferred if it’s the right one and includes network. I’m told we also haven’t seen the final BCG report so maybe some things were tweaked.
Q: Stop bashing Atlanta and saying we don't want open wheel, do you really think all those people are Barber are from the state of Alabama? Go watch a race at Road Atlanta — ANY race, bikes, sports cars, historics. Non-NASCAR Atlantans just love road racing and not ovals. I'd be the first one in line to get a RV pass and weekend tickets if IndyCar would race at Road Atlanta.
Zack Strayer
RM: USAC, CART and IRL all staged good races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and more people showed up for the Charlie Daniels concert than any of those races. Atlanta fans don’t like Indy cars on the oval but I’d love to see a race at Road Atlanta – maybe a doubleheader with sports cars.
Q: Why isn't Ryan Hunter-Reay flaunted as a poster boy for IndyCar? Wasn't he driving a car emblazoned with IZOD before they became the series sponsor? Isn't he the first American IndyCar champion in God knows how long? I fondly remember the ads that Target did with Zanardi and Vasser that escalated the visibility of Champ Car and in a way legitimized it to the average sports fan. If I were IZOD, I'd be pushing the hell out of this guy and his Cinderella story.
Todd Telford, Cotati, Ca.
RM: You make a good point; RHR hasn’t been promoted very well since becoming the first American champ of a united series since Al Unser Jr. in 1994. But with IZOD backing way off after its CEO retired and RHR not having a big hitter like Target, it’s up to IndyCar to do something (watch NASCAR’s series commercial) but it’s in a money-saving mode.
Q: I can hardly find a single sentence of your latest commentary that I disagree with but I really want to weigh in with a few suggestions. When I was 11, my dad took me to my first 500 (1991) and what (to this very day) really drew me in was the speed & technology, also the fact that so many road car innovations came straight from Indianapolis. In my opinion IndyCar has gone to great lengths to make the series a "spec series," which is something I've been against since day 1. You can say that I am stuck in a different time period, but it was a great time. Speeds every year were faster, cars just kept getting sleeker and sexier, sounds of all different engines etc. THAT'S what they lack now. They don't need a consulting group who know next to nothing about our sport to see what they lack as a series (or better yetbeen lacking). Even with the new turbocharged V6s from Chevy and Honda. There is really no difference. Sure the racing has been pretty damn good, and I'm so happy to see pack racing wiped off the map, but IndyCar fans have always been attracted to the machine, more so than what the driver eats for dinner, or who they're currently in bed with. We need serious change here, and sometimes looking backwards can propel you forward. Please pass it along. I'm a Connecticut native recently moved to Indy (west side speedway) there's a reason I chose to move here, and it’s my undying love of this sport, and that track! But I want serious change as a fan, before I end up being 1 of 20,000 in the stands if nothing changes.
John Keefe (Indianapolis newbie and avid karter)
RM: All I can tell you is that Mark Miles feels a lot like you do about certain things and I believe he’ll share his thoughts with SPEED in a few days. But I think you’ll like what he’s thinking.
Q: I could have saved IMS the fee to get a ridiculous report from a consulting firm that appears to have few (if any) good ideas. It's very simple: more short-track drivers need to get a chance. I don't know how many times this point has to be said and I don't know how many times those in charge are going to miss that point. Think about it, from '60-'95 there would be about 20-25 500 wins that would have gone to other drivers ...basically due to those guys being in NASCAR when you look at current conditions. Think about all the names that would not be on the Borg Warner if things then, were as they are now. Absolutely sad. The series needs to be a good mix of drivers ... this is not an American vs. foreign debate. They are several good Americans right now. The IRL started as giving the short track racer a chance, but this needs to happen with a unified series (if that means they just run the ovals, then fine). It didn't work then because half the open-wheel fan base was pissed at the other half. There are a lot of fans out there that would get behind a driver they have seen race over and over coming up. People have no idea who Hildebrand and Newgarden are (again talking about those that pay zero attention to IndyCar now not those already in the fan base) until they get to IndyCar. You can't go on a Saturday night and watch a Pro Mazda at places across the U.S. The point is to build a fan base BEFORE a driver gets to IndyCar. The current ladder prepares drivers to race, but it does zero to build interest for those that aren't already fans...none of those people care one bit about a driver they have never heard of. ... They also aren't going to take the time to pay attention and care. You're missing a big population of race fans by not serving them. The point is to broaden the fan base to include more people. Why do fans follow Stewart, Gordon, Kahne, Newman, Boyer, Edwards, Stenhouse, Blaney ... and others? They can relate to them because they used to see them all the time "around home." The top level of open wheel racing in the US needs to serve ALL forms of open-wheel racing as a way to get there... Until that's solved, the powers that be can try whatever they want. … the needle won't move. … I think the point is to serve as many types of fans as you can. ... That's not being done currently. This seems rather simple to me...and a consulting firm isn't really needed to understand it.
KT, Noblesville, IN
RM: When I took Randy Bernard to Bloomington and Kokomo to see his first USAC sprint shows he was instantly a fan and wanted to reconnect with those people. He promised to get a USAC champion back at Indy and he delivered by bringing Bryan Clauson last May. But as much as I love USAC racing and guys like Levi Jones, Dave Darland, Tracy Hines and Clauson, it would take a major change in philosophy in rules, cars and tracks to get them in IndyCar. And I don’t see it happening so maybe a one-off at Indy is the best hope. But I really wonder how many short track fans came to IMS last year to cheer on Clauson.
~Robin Miller
Q: I think you make a few good points in your article about the BCG's finding on the IndyCar. However, I disagree with the point you make about IndyCar shortening the season to 15 races over 19 weeks. We are in the right ballpark. And, the NFL and college football are only six-seven month seasons, too. The difference? Football has events throughout the off season. In college football, you have spring football. In the NFL, you have combine, OTAs, etc. So, there are ways for IndyCar to work a similar structure. America doesn't care much about IndyCar right now, so 15 races in the season (no playoffs, please) is good. Once the season ends, run some off-season support races and broadcast them during good times. Maybe the winner gets automatically qualifies for the Indy 500 (or gets to pick his/her time of day to qualify on pole day) and gets 3 championship points if they run the entire IndyCar season. I know, you don't want to mess with tradition and the Indy 500, but what are the odds that someone wins Surfers Paradise and wouldn't be fast enough to qualify for the 500? Plus, with this set-up, you can have international and/or local stars run the races and help generate buzz for the 500. Rubens, Massa or Marcos Ambrose in an offseason tune-up vs. Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay? Yes, please! So many drivers run things like the Gold Coast 600, I think this would draw a lot of attention. And ... what if say Rubens wins a race in Sao Paulo to get a spot in the 500. ... I'd love for him to come back, even if it is for 1 race only. Of course, this is the outside of the box thinking that got Randy Bernard fired, so fans would probably love it and IndyCar would hate it.
KK
RM: If shortening the season drove up TV ratings, increased interest and attendance then, sure, I think everyone would be on board. But it didn’t work when the IRL tried it and having a foreign non-points series would be predicated on acquiring additional sponsorship from those countries. IndyCar needs to find a way back on the map in North America before it worries about off-season racing.
Q: Anyone who recommends ABC/ESPN to carry all races has absolutely no historical perspective on IndyCar racing. We all suffered through years of CART being pre-empted or interrupted by golf or some other such boredom. My local ABC affiliate would not carry any IndyCar race for years (apart from the Indy 500). The program director there insisted they would have more viewers showing a repeat of 'On Golden Pond' in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Like I said, whoever came up with that bit of genius should be sent packing, and that very argument makes the validity of the entire report questionable, at best.
Keith Younce
RM: I think most people agree that NBC Sports Network does a better job of covering IndyCar than ABC but let’s be realistic: a poor ABC audience is 800,000 to 1 million while the average NBC Sports race was somewhere around 350,000 last year. Whether it’s fair or not, TV ratings rule and network television is king.
Q: I don't know what BCG Consulting got in the way of compensation from the sisters for the report they were hired to produced but after reading it I'm convinced they should have gotten life! I mean finding a legal out in order for ICS to wangle out of its TV contract with NBC? What will IndyCar do then, go running back to ESPN ? The same network that held up the start of two races to allow airing of minor league sports events that ran over time to proceed? Did BCG know that Comcast was the only network that was willing to pay money to air IndyCar races beyond the six granted to ABC? Then BCG resurrects the topic of a race on the IMS road course. Haven't we beaten that horse to death? To compound the absurdity they suggest that such a race take place as a finale. Hello? ICS added Fontana to the schedule last year for this purpose and despite some atrocious weather conditions put on a very entertaining show. This year the series is adding Pocono to the schedule. A sizable contingent of fans have clamored for years for a "Triple Crown," now they have one and BCG wants to usurp its luster by replacing the finale with an IMS road course race? Absurdities like these makes me question the credentials of BCG. To my way of thinking if BCG had done their homework they would have talked about how the instability stemming from poor leadership or lack of leadership of the series and how it has eroded the series fan base and sent its sponsors fleeing to other events. It would have talked about the ethos at 16th and Georgetown guaranteeing the supremacy of the Indy 500 has worked far more effectively to destroy the integrity of open wheel in the eyes of the public than to build up the image of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It would talk about the petulant attitude toward scheduling that has the series shuffling in and out of venues at the drop of a hat. It's pretty clear to me that BCG was concerned about one thing when they submitted their report, picking up their fee. Were it not BCG would have dropped some very unpleasant realities on Mary Hulman, the sisters, Jeff Belkus, Mark Miles and the other IMS board members. Realities that would be very hard to swallow!
Bob Marsten
RM: First off, I believe the report was ordered by Jeff Belskus, not the Hulman/George family and these are suggestions which may or may not be acted upon. As I said in the letter above, you have a much better chance of getting an audience on ABC/ESPN and one television partner is probably preferred if it’s the right one and includes network. I’m told we also haven’t seen the final BCG report so maybe some things were tweaked.
Q: Stop bashing Atlanta and saying we don't want open wheel, do you really think all those people are Barber are from the state of Alabama? Go watch a race at Road Atlanta — ANY race, bikes, sports cars, historics. Non-NASCAR Atlantans just love road racing and not ovals. I'd be the first one in line to get a RV pass and weekend tickets if IndyCar would race at Road Atlanta.
Zack Strayer
RM: USAC, CART and IRL all staged good races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and more people showed up for the Charlie Daniels concert than any of those races. Atlanta fans don’t like Indy cars on the oval but I’d love to see a race at Road Atlanta – maybe a doubleheader with sports cars.
Q: Why isn't Ryan Hunter-Reay flaunted as a poster boy for IndyCar? Wasn't he driving a car emblazoned with IZOD before they became the series sponsor? Isn't he the first American IndyCar champion in God knows how long? I fondly remember the ads that Target did with Zanardi and Vasser that escalated the visibility of Champ Car and in a way legitimized it to the average sports fan. If I were IZOD, I'd be pushing the hell out of this guy and his Cinderella story.
Todd Telford, Cotati, Ca.
RM: You make a good point; RHR hasn’t been promoted very well since becoming the first American champ of a united series since Al Unser Jr. in 1994. But with IZOD backing way off after its CEO retired and RHR not having a big hitter like Target, it’s up to IndyCar to do something (watch NASCAR’s series commercial) but it’s in a money-saving mode.
Q: I can hardly find a single sentence of your latest commentary that I disagree with but I really want to weigh in with a few suggestions. When I was 11, my dad took me to my first 500 (1991) and what (to this very day) really drew me in was the speed & technology, also the fact that so many road car innovations came straight from Indianapolis. In my opinion IndyCar has gone to great lengths to make the series a "spec series," which is something I've been against since day 1. You can say that I am stuck in a different time period, but it was a great time. Speeds every year were faster, cars just kept getting sleeker and sexier, sounds of all different engines etc. THAT'S what they lack now. They don't need a consulting group who know next to nothing about our sport to see what they lack as a series (or better yetbeen lacking). Even with the new turbocharged V6s from Chevy and Honda. There is really no difference. Sure the racing has been pretty damn good, and I'm so happy to see pack racing wiped off the map, but IndyCar fans have always been attracted to the machine, more so than what the driver eats for dinner, or who they're currently in bed with. We need serious change here, and sometimes looking backwards can propel you forward. Please pass it along. I'm a Connecticut native recently moved to Indy (west side speedway) there's a reason I chose to move here, and it’s my undying love of this sport, and that track! But I want serious change as a fan, before I end up being 1 of 20,000 in the stands if nothing changes.
John Keefe (Indianapolis newbie and avid karter)
RM: All I can tell you is that Mark Miles feels a lot like you do about certain things and I believe he’ll share his thoughts with SPEED in a few days. But I think you’ll like what he’s thinking.
Q: I could have saved IMS the fee to get a ridiculous report from a consulting firm that appears to have few (if any) good ideas. It's very simple: more short-track drivers need to get a chance. I don't know how many times this point has to be said and I don't know how many times those in charge are going to miss that point. Think about it, from '60-'95 there would be about 20-25 500 wins that would have gone to other drivers ...basically due to those guys being in NASCAR when you look at current conditions. Think about all the names that would not be on the Borg Warner if things then, were as they are now. Absolutely sad. The series needs to be a good mix of drivers ... this is not an American vs. foreign debate. They are several good Americans right now. The IRL started as giving the short track racer a chance, but this needs to happen with a unified series (if that means they just run the ovals, then fine). It didn't work then because half the open-wheel fan base was pissed at the other half. There are a lot of fans out there that would get behind a driver they have seen race over and over coming up. People have no idea who Hildebrand and Newgarden are (again talking about those that pay zero attention to IndyCar now not those already in the fan base) until they get to IndyCar. You can't go on a Saturday night and watch a Pro Mazda at places across the U.S. The point is to build a fan base BEFORE a driver gets to IndyCar. The current ladder prepares drivers to race, but it does zero to build interest for those that aren't already fans...none of those people care one bit about a driver they have never heard of. ... They also aren't going to take the time to pay attention and care. You're missing a big population of race fans by not serving them. The point is to broaden the fan base to include more people. Why do fans follow Stewart, Gordon, Kahne, Newman, Boyer, Edwards, Stenhouse, Blaney ... and others? They can relate to them because they used to see them all the time "around home." The top level of open wheel racing in the US needs to serve ALL forms of open-wheel racing as a way to get there... Until that's solved, the powers that be can try whatever they want. … the needle won't move. … I think the point is to serve as many types of fans as you can. ... That's not being done currently. This seems rather simple to me...and a consulting firm isn't really needed to understand it.
KT, Noblesville, IN
RM: When I took Randy Bernard to Bloomington and Kokomo to see his first USAC sprint shows he was instantly a fan and wanted to reconnect with those people. He promised to get a USAC champion back at Indy and he delivered by bringing Bryan Clauson last May. But as much as I love USAC racing and guys like Levi Jones, Dave Darland, Tracy Hines and Clauson, it would take a major change in philosophy in rules, cars and tracks to get them in IndyCar. And I don’t see it happening so maybe a one-off at Indy is the best hope. But I really wonder how many short track fans came to IMS last year to cheer on Clauson.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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