Should the IRL run exclusively on Saturdays???

[Brickman]

A long term racing forum member threw this out the other day.

NASCAR owning Sunday racing ratings and attendance no doubt makes open wheel racing exclusively on Saturday an interesting marketing idea.

Should the IRL run exclusively on Saturdays???

[Doc Austin]

Maybe not exclusively, but alot more saturday night races would be cool, especially if they were to air on ABC. So far, all the night races have been buried on espn and the duce.

Might not be a bad idea to stay off the same day as nascar. They have so many long races that people are probably burned out by the time the IRL comes on.

[Doctorindy]

I'm still looking for them to team up with ABC and have one Monday night race...like that "Battle at the Bridges"...formerly the "Battle at Bighorn" golf match they have each July (last night actually)...have ONE race like that each June or July and you might attract a few new fans...

As for Saturday races...not really, unless they are night, which they could do more of in the summer if you ask me...

[AdamM]

Absolutely.

For an oval series to go head to head with Winston Cup is stupid. The best thing the IRL could do to increase ratings, attendance and interest is to run most of their races on Saturday afternoon (night races get awful ratings.) They (the IRL) have to do something different to get noticed. All the good racing everyone saw at Michigan will be wasted because most oval track fans were watching the Cup race.

[BSJracing]

ratings for the nite races are even more dismal than for the day races....
try selling that to a sponsor

[skypigeon]

I think it's time to move the 500 itself back to Saturday, and the start time up to either 12 noon or 1 p.m. GCT.

[IndyIRLman]

Originally posted by BSJracing
ratings for the nite races are even more dismal than for the day races....
try selling that to a sponsor

Absolutely.....The only way I see it working is if it is on ABC.

[MoparsRule]

Saturday night races are great, but it seems as if every Saturday night IRL race somehow ends up head-to-head with a ****** BGN race or a CTS event.

[richie]

Every time NASCAR runs on a Saturday night, the IRL needs to race on that Sunday every time. But on all the other occasions, the IRL should be on Saturday night. And all races should be aired on ABC with pre and post-race shows!

[KimmerluvsIndy]

Saturday night races would do alot for the way I feel Monday mornings after attending a race on Sunday That way you have all day Sunday to get home in time for work on Monday.
Man, do I sound old or what?

[Lucky161]

I think richie is onto something. If the Cup runs something other than Sunday, then the IRL should take the Sunday afternoon slot. But I don't want them to go to all the others at night. Instead have some of them start early or late enough to miss the Cup. True some Cup fans may be tired by then, but when your ratings are as low as the IRL has now, there would be two benefits.
1. Diehard race fans would not have to choose between the two.
2. The earlybirds and stragglers could not hurt the ratings and could actually make a marked improvement.

[pandora]

they don't need to just be at night. saturday afternoon racing would be fine by me, too. that might work for abc, unless that messes up their golf agenda.

[STAND E]

If IRL goes to all Saturdays, I would stay with that, and go head-to-head against NASCAR if they have a Saturday race.

[carl s]

Originally posted by BSJracing
ratings for the nite races are even more dismal than for the day races....
try selling that to a sponsor

BSJ has it right = disaster
If it wasn't for the documented ratings it would be a good idea

I think a base of great racing on ovals with a large % of american drivers the viewers relate to on ABC every other Sunday morning is the way to get popular.

We already have "cars you can barely see, driven by drivers you've never heard of" please don't put us on an "invisible" sports night.

Not quite ready for Sat night!

carl s
Indio, CA

[Mackie]

It has been tried before and Saterday, day or night, just doesn't work, nothing has happened to change that. IndyCar is aligned with the mouse, heavily into college football on Saturday afternoons and evenings beginning in late August, far to soon to end the season.