Triple-H

DOH!

Penforhire

I'm sure Indy is great for access and spectator visibility. But I do not ever need to at a track to tell you I don't like the course from a televised perspective. I saw the USGP last year (on TV) and I can confidently say the track is weak. "Roval" is a kind description for that circular boredom.

I understand your view. I'm surrounded by NASCAR fans at work. When I ask about why they don't dig F1 the typical answer is, "not enough lead changes."

Triple-H

From where I sit I see the cars come down most of the main straight or out of the pits. I then see Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, and then they disapear going out of Turn 7. I can live with that, because in addition there is a huge jumbotron right in front of me so I also get the TV coverage.

dlq04

Roval..... no way. Even without the road course Indy is a very challenging and tough course. It may look like an oval but it's the narrowest and flatest one you'll ever find to carry those speeds. I hate ovals like Michigan International Speedway. I have been to all the major road course events - Glen, RA, Sebring, Mosport, Mid-Ohio, etc. I have also seen the F1 circus in various locations. Bottom line: Be it IRL/Champ racing or GP/road racing - Indy is very good.

I agree with those who say the other permanent road courses could not handle the crowds or teams.

As for the city itself. Very clean. Wide streets. Great volunteers for things like traffic & crowd control. Lots of experience. Lots and lots of motels. Lots of inexpensive places to eat. Friendly people. Is it Vegas or Monaco, hell no - thank goodness.

mikegarrison

Exactly why oval track racing is fun to go to in person.

mikegarrison

Except for the little detal that it is one! The problem with rovals is that they can't have much elevation change except for the banking and they are (usually) constrained to fit all the turns into the infield so the geometry is limited. But they have their advantages too, particularly in the existence of stands that can look over the whole track.

Triple-H

Oval racing is a boar as far as I'm concerned...
I'm all about watching cars dive left and right and do amazing things under hard braking.
Although you can see a lot in oval racing is still makes me want to take a nap.

Triple-H

With Dave, not Mike...

PLYRS 3

tactics? maybe....

but he's probably right when he says the US is not that important to F1.

just for an unscientific snapshot (maybe it applies, maybe it doesn't), this is an auto enthusiast site (generally, even though it is model specific).

you even have a forum dedicated to auto racing....how many people frequent this specific forum?

20, 30, 100?

even 100 is not much when you consider there are some 20,000 (something close to that) registered users.

it's just not that popular in america....dare i say, it may even be more popular in canada on a per capita basis.

karwath

Bernie doesn't care where a US Grand Prix or any Grand Prix is held, and whether it is a good event for any ticket buyers. He has held them in parking lots in Las Vegas and in Detroit. All he cares about is the TV revenue. There is even talk about him holding a GP at Paul Ricard (which he owns as I recall), which has little or no seating, and just broadcasting the thing.

He should care about the F1 presence in the US Market because the sponsors and teams do. I wonder what some of the following companies would think if F1 had no presence in the largest consumer market in the world - Budweiser, Johnie Walker, RayBan, Seiko, Allianz, FedEx, Bridgestone, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW . . . (OK, Renault does not give a sh!t since they don't even sell their cars here). How many people were watching F1 races 10 years ago when Speed started carrying them and now, most likely due to the presence of the USGP, there are enough people watching F1 on Speed in the US that CBS has bought the broadcast rights to some of the races.

Bernie is bluffing, and in the end if he is half as smart as he is supposed to be he will pen a new 2-5 year deal for the USGP to continue at Indy, even if he has to give a little more room to Tony George than he likes to give.