"A sad pile of p***-on-everything cynicism"

[skypigeon]

http://daringfireball.net/2013/12/the_year_in_apple_and_technology

This article isn't about IndyCar racing, or even racing at all. What fascinates me about it is, change a few key words, just a few, and he might as well be talking about... well, you know.

[Indyknut]

Yep. If you squint your eyes.... close them actually.... change a few words and forget about the fact that the I-phone is growing in popularity and not declining...at a rapid pace... then yes... I know what you're talking about.

[skypigeon]

But you'd never know it, reading the technology press. You'd think it and its maker are doomed, doomed, doooooooooomed, hopelessly behind the curve, on the verge of becoming irrelevant in the face of its rivals, glory days behind it, all current popularity an illusion and flash in the pan... and who among us here knows, really knows, how well financially IndyCar is doing? Not at Apple level, of course, duh; but is it failing nearly as much as the cognoscenti here claim it to be?

Or could it be, could it just be, nay, is it within the realm of possibility, that with the right decisions on matters of which we know not, the thing could rise again, Apple-like? Keep in mind Apple was written off for dead as recently as 1997...

[lkchris]

Technology as being discussed carries lots of expectations of the next great thing and there's always speculation it will come from an unexpected source. A lot of it is about buying low and selling high.

Can't see much similar in auto racing, save perhaps for the interest in the new F1 cars (or NASCAR Gen 6 last year) but this sort of thing isn't expected to be regularly occurring.

No, in racing it's about TV ratings, track attendance, and the state of sponsorship, both for teams and for TV and for series title sponsorship. These are quantifiable and since there's not a research department working on new products, it's a different thing.

Indycar is clearly consolidating and cutting back a bit for 2014 (and doubling the # of races at the home track) and is mostly floating ideas for the out years to test stakeholder interest (teams and sponsors and tracks/governments). A little different form of "research."

[Indyknut]

But you'd never know it, reading the technology press. You'd think it and its maker are doomed, doomed, doooooooooomed, hopelessly behind the curve, on the verge of becoming irrelevant in the face of its rivals, glory days behind it, all current popularity an illusion and flash in the pan... and who among us here knows, really knows, how well financially IndyCar is doing? Not at Apple level, of course, duh; but is it failing nearly as much as the cognoscenti here claim it to be?

Or could it be, could it just be, nay, is it within the realm of possibility, that with the right decisions on matters of which we know not, the thing could rise again, Apple-like? Keep in mind Apple was written off for dead as recently as 1997...

I-pod
I-phone
I-pad

All of those put Apple back on the map. What's Indy car got up their sleeve they haven't revealed and if they did have something... now would be much better than later to introduce it.

[skypigeon]

No argument with that.