PRUETT: Triple Stint, 1.16

IndyCar

PRUETT: Triple Stint, 1.16

Tapping Out IndyCar’s TV Rating Problems, The Boy Scouts of America Need Captain America, Paging Dr. Melvin and Dr. Hubbard, and plenty more in this week's Triple Stint

Marshall Pruett | Posted January 16, 2010 Oakland, CA

The NFL can learn a lot -- and in quick order -- from what the IndyCar Series has found in extensive tests to safeguard their drivers. The cockpit head surround piece, and the external foam used to adsorb impact energy, is a great starting place. (LAT)

First, our prayers are with everyone affected by the earthquake in Haiti. IndyCar set up an eBay page filled with cool items that will have all of their proceeds go directly to the Red Cross. I bid on the signed Castroneves milk bottle at 1:39 p.m. on Friday – it was at $30. 20 minutes later I got an email from eBay saying my bid of $75 had been topped! I did the same thing on another item, and my max bid was soon beaten, doubling the price. It’s great to see us getting behind a disaster that needs our collective support.

On that note, let’s get into some open-wheel and sportscar topics:

Tapping Out IndyCar’s TV Ratings Problem

Could the Ultimate Fighting Championship play the role of savior to IndyCar’s dismal ratings on Versus? Absolutely, but only if the folks at 16th and Georgetown seize the opportunity within the next few weeks.

So how exactly does a mixed martial arts fight between Junior dos Santos and Gabriel Gonzaga, two young heavyweights from Brazil, aired on March 21st, help the beleaguered IndyCar Series?

With the UFC’s announcement that two live events will be broadcast on Versus in 2010, the UFC will bring with them a massive, loyal audience they’ve build on the SPIKE cable network over the past five years. (The UFC also owns the lesser known WEC, World Extreme Cagefighting, a staple on Versus.)

The UFC-to-Versus signing gives IndyCar a narrow window to connect with a massive audience of young males that know nothing about our sport. For a once proud series that has been withering on a vine buried amongst cable channels no one even explores on their TV, the IndyCar Series has been thrown a lifeline they’ve desperately needed.

Although most people would agree that Versus did a great job with IndyCar in 2009, the series continues to act like a solicitor standing out on the Vegas Strip, handing out fliers to an unknown show and hoping the passers by come inside to fill the empty auditorium. Thanks to the UFC, Versus and IndyCar could have their first packed house, and now all they need to do is come up with a plan to get those MMA viewers to come back and watch IndyCars.

Rather than spending a fortune on trying to educate people that Versus exists, why not allocate a solid chunk of funding to pull over the big new UFC audience that is already planning to visit? The UFC stampede is coming, but will the IndyCar Series try to corral them?

Live UFC events on SPIKE deliver some the biggest ratings figures the channel has ever seen, with 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 viewers tuning in on a regular basis. Compare that to the 300,000 diehards that watch IndyCar on Versus, and the need for the series to go after the UFC audience is critical for its survival.

The UFC viewing audience is filled with millions of young men that love to watch action and mayhem take place in a ring surrounded by fences. Change the setting to the Kansas oval or the streets of Long Beach, and I’m convinced IndyCar’s action and mayhem inside their own version of the “Octagon” would be an easy sell to MMA fans.

“The ratings are further proof that the tide in American sports is changing,” said Kevin Kay, General Manager, Spike TV, in an interview on UFC.com. “Young men, who constitute the Spike TV core audience, prefer the incredible action and athleticism of the UFC to more traditional sports.” Compared to the stick-and-ball crowd, I’d say IndyCars are anything but traditional. These two sports are a perfect match.

As an MMA junkie, I can tell you that the March 21st fight card is solid; people love to watch heavyweights, there are a lot of dynamic fighters at other weight levels and… it’s free! Rather than fork out the $49.99 for the UFC’s monthly pay-per-view fight, you can spend three hours on Versus watching at no charge.

(Seriously, has the IndyCar Series ever stumbled upon such a jewel – one that fell into their lap – to help reverse their problems with generating a TV audience?)

While the UFC makes it home on SPIKE, and some of SPIKE’s viewers might recall when ChampCar tanked horribly in 2004, that took place during the pre-UFC era on the channel. For the throngs of new SPIKE viewers, the regular live fights and The Ultimate Fighter reality show have made it something akin to ‘UFC TV.’ They will follow the UFC to Versus, the Oxygen Network or TruTV if that’s where the events are.

Granted, there’s a bit of a scheduling issue to overcome – the IndyCar opener in Brazil airs on Versus on March 14th, one week before the UFC’s bout on the 21st – so the fight can’t be used as a tool to grow viewership from the first race of 2010, but I’d guess that if IndyCar worked with Versus to promote the UFC fight during the Brazil race, a similar package could be created to promote the next IndyCar race on Versus -- April 11th at Barber -- during the UFC broadcast. A little bit of mutual back scratching can go a long way here.

Here’s my suggestion for the folks at IndyCar: Work with Versus and the UFC to create crossover interviews and features to run during the Brazil race, and do the same crossover IndyCar pieces for the fight. Buy commercials and even small blocks of airtime between bouts, if necessary. I’d guess it won’t be too expensive.

The UFC skews younger; IndyCar skews older. Using Versus as the intermediary (and Versus has a huge stake in the success of the IndyCar Series) the two sports can help each other to attract a new demographic.

As Frank Caliendo says while doing his George W. Bush impression, “This ain’t rocket surgery.”

Guest spots and short video segments can go a long way to bringing these two worlds together. Get Graham Rahal in the UFC commentary box for 60 seconds to promote Barber and the rest of the IndyCar events on Versus. I know of a few IndyCar drivers that train in at least one martial arts discipline – get them on the mat to take some advanced lessons from one of the UFC fighters. Have Ryan Hunter-Reay give a few UFC fighters some driving lessons at Barber. Get Tony Kanaan in the Octagon to interview Dos Santos and Gonzaga – TK isn’t a heavyweight, but I still wouldn’t want to pick a fight with that little pit bull. He’s perfect – funny, fit, a champion, and a natural to interact with his fellow Brazilians in the ring.

Again, this ain’t rocket surgery.

The IndyCar Series has a great chance to throw their TV ratings a lifeline, which will only drive up the value of sponsorships and add new eyeballs to a series that is considered old and forgotten. But as Robin Miller tells me on a regular basis, an idea like the using-Versus-as-a-conduit-to-draw-in-millions-of-UFC-fans-to-watch-us-on-an-unknown-channel “makes too much sense to ever happen.”

Let’s hope the IndyCar Series proves us wrong.

The Boy Scouts of America Need Captain America

Dale Coyne Racing announced an exciting new partnership with the Boy Scouts of America on Monday. DCR says that their alliance with the Boy Scouts over the next three years is meant to use the IndyCar Series and cars as an educational tool to teach mathematics and engineering to the youth. Everyone that follows the sport should thank Dale and his wife Gail for their commitment to making a positive, life-changing impact through IndyCar racing.

Tony Kanaan would be a perfect driver to help bridge the worlds of Ultimate Fighting fans and IndyCar racing, provided the series acts quickly to try and capture the millions of fight fans headed to watch live UFC events on Versus. (LAT)

Dale and Gail will provide financial support for the #19 IndyCar until they can find backers to assume the funding, which also means they have a lot of influence when it comes to selecting a driver.

The Boy Scouts of America partnership represents a possible solution to one of the biggest problem the IndyCar Series faces: Adding new fans. For everything the UFC angle can do to help attract new fans via TV, the Boy Scouts angle can help grow the next generation of fans from an early age. While Coyne’s partnership with the Boy Scouts wasn’t sought to solve this problem, he told me that he knows it can only benefit the sport in the short- and long-term.

“It’s amazing to me to think that there are more active Boy Scouts in this country than all of our Armed Forces combined. It’s such a large, wide-reaching organization. I talk to so many people that are involved today. I had a PR guy that used to work for me that is still an active troop leader, and I had no idea at the time. It seems like everyone has a connection with the Scouts. A huge number of America’s youth go through the Boy Scouts. If we can get even a small portion of them involved and following IndyCars, that’s a huge deal for the series.”

It all makes perfect sense. Now all they need is the right driver that will connect with the kids and parents involved in the Boy Scouts of America. Hmmn…I wonder who that could be?

I’ll go ahead and state my bias by saying that the 2009 Indy Lights winner, J.R. “Captain America” Hildebrand, is the natural fit to represent the Boy Scouts of America.

No one even comes close.

Let’s look at the scenario: You tell your kids to eat right, to study hard, to be respectful and that a strong work ethic will lead them to success in life. J.R. Hildebrand’s parents tell him the same things so he listens to their advice, becomes a scholastic wiz, gets accepted to M.I.T. with a 4.12 GPA, plays and excels in sports all throughout school, eats properly, becomes a fitness fanatic, maintains a clean-cut image, speaks with interest and charm, and in addition to his pursuit of excellence in the classroom, adds Formula Russell, FF2000 and Indy Lights championships to his life achievements by the age of 21.

Sounds like every single thing a mother or father might dream of their little Boy Scout achieving, doesn’t it?

The benevolence of Dale and Gail Coyne is remarkable; at a time when budgets are shrinking, these IndyCar owners are spending their own money to help create an educational program involving our sport for BSA members. (DCR)

Coyne shared that having an American driver is a high priority, but not one that rules his search criteria.

“[Our desire to have an American driver] is somewhat of a correct path to follow, but I’ll also mention that the boys Scouts of America was founded by an Englishman, so there’s a tie to England. It would be nice to have a young American talent, but it’s a confusing playing field right now. Who’s the best talent? Who can do the job right? We want to come out as quick as we can and as strong as we can; there’s a lot of things to consider here. We’ll announce both drivers in the next two weeks. In fact, a lot of things will be announced in the next two weeks.”

I’m not sure I agree with Dale on that one. Are people really confused about the talent and readiness of Hildebrand, John Edwards and Alexander Rossi to pedal an IndyCar? Whatever, Coyne says he plans to keep his cell phone charged between now and then. “The #19 car announcement was a surprise to a lot of people, I think. I expect every young American driver will have my phone ringing off the hook!”

That’s probably just what will happen, and I hope he responds to them with a sincere interest. Would it be rude to suggest that rather than wait for J.R.’s call, maybe Dale should give “Captain America” a ring?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Boy Scouts of America had an articulate, successful young American driver to help provide the education the program was designed for, and then back it up with serious speed on the race track?

What do you think? Would J.R. be the best fit for the Boy Scouts and for Dale Coyne?

Good On PD

And in the continued spirit of benevolence, let's hope the Coynes do the right thing and put the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion behind the wheel of the #19 Boy Scouts of America IndyCar. (LAT)

While we’re patting people on the back, it was nice to see Patrick Dempsey put Atlantic Championship winner John Edwards and series standout Simona De Silvestro in his GRAND-AM Rolex GT Mazda RX-8 last Sunday.

The two open-wheel stars, both 2010 IndyCar hopefuls, logged some quality mileage in the #40 RX-8, but their testing time was simply about getting laps under their belts. Based on how quickly they adapted, someone would be smart to snap these two hotshoes up for the Rolex 24.

Welcome To Another Episode Of ‘Actual Conversations From The Pruett Household’

My wife had me crying with laughter during a commercial break for the Arizona Cardinals vs. Green Bay Packers game on Sunday night.

Mrs. P: Oh my GOD!
Me: What?
Mrs. P: Are you serious?
Me: What?
Mrs. P: Danica!
Me: Oh, you haven’t seen this one before?
Mrs. P: No! Does she have any self respect left?
Me: Well, (gets cut off)
Mrs. P: I mean, seriously. I had respect for what she did when she first started driving, but now? It’s below the gutter. It’s below the sewer, actually. She’s doing semi-nude shower scenes on national television. She’s selling herself…not how good she can drive…selling her body on TV to make money. How far away is a stripper pole from being in the next commercial? What’s next, walking the streets for Go Daddy?”
Me: (Laughs hysterically for a good 5 minutes.)

Grave Digger, Meet Shabral

While we’re on the topic of things my wife said last weekend, she caught her third or fourth glimpse of Monster Jam action on SPEED during the live broadcast from Atlanta Saturday night. She promptly insisted that I take her to see the monster trucks when they come to the Oakland Arena.

Patrick Dempsey recognizes the need to groom new sportscar talent, and gave Atlantic Championship drivers John Edwards and Simona de Silvestro seat time in his Mazda RX-8 last weekend. (GRAND-AM)

My fate was sealed when she said, “They look like real-life Transformers. We’re going.”

Cue an entire Sunday of me walking around in a daze.

This is the woman that worships Michael Schumacher. This is the woman that runs to the TV every time she hears Bob Varsha or David Hobbs commentating. She’s been to the Indy 500. She’s been to ALMS and Grand-Am races. She’s met some of the greatest open-wheel and sportscar drivers in the world. She’s seen ChampCars at Long Beach, been to CART Spring Training, and she's even stayed up until the early morning at the track making lasagna for me and the rest of my 25 Hours of Thunderhill team. I thought I had her pegged for an open-wheel and sportscar fan, exclusively.

But, apparently, and with all of the wine-and-cheese racing series aside, she wants to see Grave Digger, Bigfoot, Maxximum Destruction and the rest of the monster trucks crush school buses and do big burnouts in the dirt.

I’m not sure how to react, gang. I’m still in shock. Somebody hold me.

Paging Dr. Melvin and Dr. Hubbard

The missus and I watched some of the NFL Wildcard Playoffs last weekend and it didn’t take long to see a few different players leave the game after nasty impacts between their heads and something solid like the turf or another player’s helmet.

Concussions have been a serious problem for as long as football has been played, but it has been especially bad this season. Enough so that the Center for Disease Control has been running advertisements during games to create awareness for the problem by inviting viewers to visit http://www.cdc.gov/concussion.

Welcome to my future -- a Saturday night spent at Monster Jam. (Monster Jam)

NFL players expect to receive bone-jarring hits that cause physical pain, but the sheer volume of brain-rattling helmet impacts makes me think the National Football League needs to reach out to the Indy Racing League and a few of auto racing’s acknowledged experts to help find a solution to this increasing problem.

I can think of few others in all of sports that know more about properly absorbing or deflecting the energy from an impact than Dr. John Melvin. Melvin, also a safety consultant to NASCAR on the Car of Tomorrow, has spent more time researching and testing how helmets (and the brains inside of those helmets) accelerate and decelerate when they hit something solid.

From the foam within an IndyCar headrest to the crash attenuators attached to the gearbox of every Dallara-Honda, Melvin has amassed an incredible database of the best methods to manage the forces involved in a crash, and the NFL needs that expertise. If you watch just a few downs in an NFL game, you’ll come away with a clear understanding that the sport is like a miniature auto race comprised of continual head-to-head crashes.

While it is like an auto race, its athletes don’t have a SAFER barrier to cushion the big blows, nor do they have a HANS device or adequate helmet padding to properly dissipate the forces from being driven into the ground by a 275lb defensive player capable of running at 20 mph.

Take a driver out of a car, take away all of the cockpit safety devices, stand him up, replace his helmet and HANS with what the NFL players wear, and launch a 275lb block at his head at 20 mph. Stripped of the head protection, the thought of what the damage would cause ain’t pretty, friends.

Melvin and research partner Tom Gideon did some amazing work at General Motors in the 1990s, helping to develop impact crash recorders to measure the real effects of every accident in the IRL, along with spending countless hours in their crash lab evolving the latest solutions to protect IndyCar drivers during those crashes. Later, accelerometers were added to the ear buds for every driver to allow the doctors to record the exact speed and forces a driver’s head experiences in a crash. Brilliant stuff.

On a personal note, the two were incredibly helping during my time in the IRL time in the late 1990s – the era when concussions were commonplace: From ’97 to’98, a rearward crash in a GForce or Dallara almost always resulted in the driver being knocked out.

The solid gearboxes didn’t crumple, turning the cars into knockout machines like
Mike Tyson in The Hangover. With the epidemic growing in the IRL, GM Racing, whose Oldsmobile engine dominated the series, kicked Melvin and Gideon into high gear to devise solutions to de-Tyson the cars.

On a personal level, they sent a number of different foams and materials for our team to try out during this period. They were also instrumental in the removal of the once popular ‘Confor’ foam that had become the defacto headrest material. Through the use of temperature probes, we helped to generate data for them and the results were disturbing.

The blue Confor foam, usually wrapped in a black Nomex covering and attached either directly to the cockpit sides or to the removable head surround, had the density of a marshmallow once the ambient temperature reached 75 degrees. If the sun was out, as it is for most IndyCar events, drivers from Atlantics to the IRL and CART had two soft pillows separating their helmet from a hard carbon fiber cockpit. If it temperatures crept up into the 90s, they went from marshmallows to whipped cream.

Once the sun disappeared and things started to cool down, the Confor padding went in the opposite direction, hardening into a brick. Based on the ambient during an impact, drivers had their choice of a soft pillow or a brick to decelerate their heads, but all of that changed with the good work of Gideon and Dr. Melvin. Foam that wasn’t heat sensitive was sent out, and the science continues to be developed by IndyCar’s Jeff Horton.

A rearward impact in an IRL car used to bring the guarantee of a concussion, if not a knockout. Thanks to the work of many open-wheel researchers, doctors, and scientists, IndyCar safety is higher than ever. (LAT)

While I don’t know exactly what the NFL is doing to try and improve helmet safety, they have announced they are actively looking into the problem. I’m sure the NFL has a lot of experts on hand that know a lot about 20 mph crashes on a football field, but sometimes the knowledge of those that deal with bigger, faster crashes can help shed new light on how to minimize the slower ones.

Contacting Dr. Melvin, Jeff Horton and the IRL to look over their impact data, and also the good folks from HANS would be a great step for them to make. I can already see the value of having players in key positions use a modified version of the ear bud accelerometers and a smaller data recorder.

Whether it is adding foam to the outside of their helmets, changing the foam inside, or a new solution that hasn’t been thought of, there’s a lot of trial and error that has been done to bring IndyCar safety to its highest level ever.

I’m a firm believer that with help from the open-wheel community, a solution to aid the players in the NFL can be found quickly.