Miller's article about NASCAR @ Indy

[silva2]

Miller seems to imply that it's the fault of open wheel racing that the BY 400 is "bigger" than the Indy 500.

But I think that this would be the case no matter what. Remember the buzz back when stock cars first tested at Indy? Indy is a track steeped in history and the stock car drivers love the opportunity to run there.

Right now NASCAR is auto racing in this country. Any track with a Winston Cup date and an OW date sees the Cup date as a much more popular race. I am not sure we should expect anything different at Indy.

This isn't the fault of Indy (Miller also seems to imply that stock cars shouldn't have been allowed to race at Indy) or the fault of open wheel racing or a concequence of the split.

Instead this is just a funtion fo the popularity of NASCAR.

Miller indicates how far behind NASCAR open wheel racing is in terms of driver recognition (by citing the number trailers during the BY 400 weekend vs month of May). Well duh! NASCAR keeps it's popular drivers for 20+ years. Only Mario, AJ, and Al Sr had such long careers. Open wheel racing is a young man's sport and the turn over is to be expected.

I suspect Miller understands this and is just taking the opportunity to take shots at Tony George.

[Dick Ralstin]

Hey Silva 2,

Personally I don't care which is the "bigger" event, the Indianapolis 500 or the Brickyard 400, they are both huge.

But I always remember it is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that is deeply steeped in the traditions of it's 93 year history.

I have heard Foyt say a hundred times, "Drivers didn't make the Speedway famous, the Speedway made the drivers famous."

I don't care if you held a goat race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it would be the biggest goat race in the World.

[Grover]

Under what criteria is the BY 400 bigger than the Indy 500?

There is way more buzz about Kobe Bryant's adventures in Colorado in Indy today than the race this weekend.

I have up to 4 available tickets in double letter rows of the 3rd turn and can't get a sniff for them. It is less sold out than Indy (even without offering the GA tickets).

The crapwagoneers were procliming this last May without attribution (although a bunch of them glommed onto Howard's assertion that a big event can only be defined by domestic TV ratings), but it is just NOT true.

[mnkywrch]

IMO.

It's a crummy NASCAR event.

They need banks.

Once you've seen it a few times, it gets old.

Your mileage may vary.

I think it, generally, makes a ticket to any Indy event less valuable.

Folks who, at one time, would have gone to an Indy 500 - because it was their only chance to see a race there - can choose from three events.

IMO.

[DaveL]

There is a perception that NASCAR was a small, provincial little series cared for only by those in the Southeast. Then along came CART or the Split (one as a specious as the other) and Kaboom, NASCAR runs away from the pack.

The fact is that NASCAR passed OW back in the 1950s when France Sr. was putting all of his efforts into building a viable sport and series, and created an infrastructure that allowed for sustained growth and a steady stream of talent in every form to come up through the lower ranks. OW never did this. It was only worried about one race. France built race tracks and otherwise promoted the **** out of his sport and didn't just create one big race, he created a season of them. Go to Concord N.C. and they'll tell you the 600 is and always was the biggest race of the year. The folks in Darlington would tell you the Labor Day Southern 500 is the biggest. Go to Florida and Daytona is the Super Bowl.

OW never had this. Ever. It only had one race and a bunch of satellites.

The success of the Brickyard is just an example of the culmination of NASCAR's decades long effort to build a series and sport.

And as for AJ's line, if ARCA ran at IMS, the drivers wouldn't become the best there is simply because of the track they ran on. It has always been my assertion that events are made by the participants, not the venue. Put two Division III teams in the Rose Bowl, and they're still DIII. The stadium doesn't not elevate them to the elite in college football.

[carl s]

Nothing to fret about.
Everything remains at Indy; tradition, history, popularity with the masses, drivers from the little tracks around the country.
It's only the vehicles that have changed - back to cars that resemble stock-cars-they are the new "Indy-Cars".

carl s
Indio, CA

[Racewriter]

Originally posted by DaveL
And as for AJ's line, if ARCA ran at IMS, the drivers wouldn't become the best there is simply because of the track they ran on.

And if ARCA ran at IMS....


Larry would still have to take a provisional.

[rev-ed]

Originally posted by Dick Ralstin
Hey Silva 2,

Personally I don't care which is the "bigger" event, the Indianapolis 500 or the Brickyard 400, they are both huge.

But I always remember it is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that is deeply steeped in the traditions of it's 93 year history.

I have heard Foyt say a hundred times, "Drivers didn't make the Speedway famous, the Speedway made the drivers famous."

I don't care if you held a goat race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it would be the biggest goat race in the World.

Thought this was worth repeating. . .

[silva2]

I guess the idea that the BY 400 is bigger comes from TV ratings. What other factors should be considered? Attendance? Sure, that's a good one but both events have huge attendance so it's splitting hairs. Profile? Probably the 500 still has a bigger profile but that may be due to the way OW was/is promoted (spoken to above by DaveL). NASCAR has the name drivers and that has to be given some consideration.

I have seen the BY 400, Indy 500 and F1 race at the Speedway. But I don't think I will go back for any race other than the 500. I can see plenty of NASCAR in my neck of the woods, and that track doesn't suit those cars anyway (IMO).

So what which race is "bigger"? It doesn't much matter to me, I just don't like Miller's tone.

[autoracingfan2]

Miller has **** for brains. He writes this crapolla to get a rise out of us. Just leave it alone and he will go away when CART does. Why does ESPN continue to write this idiot checks? I don't understand it.

[jandj]

Originally posted by mnkywrch

It's a crummy NASCAR event.

They need banks.

Once you've seen it a few times, it gets old.

Agree with #1 and #3.

It's crummy and it gets old because you've got to have enough brute HP to haul the mail down the straight and your set-up has to be perfect to get through all 4 turns without losing too much speed. You also have to be able to get back on it through the chutes and still be fast through 2 and 4 . Hitting the perfect set-up is something few cars do which leads to boring races.

As for #2 , "it needs more banking" is the standard complaint when you can't set-up for a flat track .

[KevMcNJ]

Originally posted by DaveL
The folks in Darlington would tell you the Labor Day Southern 500 is the biggest.

oh......WAS it?

[jandj]

To me , "the biggest" is the one everyone in the series wants to win.

In Indycars it's The 500.

NASCAR's is probably Daytona , although daveL is correct - many consider the "old" configuration of Darlington for the Southern 500 ( especially when it was run on Labor Day ) as big or bigger.

Trying to pick a single "biggest" among all forms of racing would be a never ending arguement as there wouldn't be set of standards to go by that everyone would agree on . My personal choices would be The 500 , Lemans , Monaco , and Daytona based on history if nothing else . Picking one as "the biggest" would probably depend on your taste in racing .

[Belanger99]

Where do people comeup with some of this stuff?

OW racing is a young man's sport? Tell you what, I'll still take Mario over most of the young men running in the IRL today. He was still going strong when he quit.

Big Al won Indy at 47, so did Bobby. And AJ put cars in the show with more age and weight than two of your young men combined. Drop the attitude, there isn't any reason a guy over 40 couldnt and shouldnt be competitive in the IRL.

I have to agree with DaveL on one point, champ car racing's focus has always been the 500. So what, boo hoo. Instead of one semi big event and a fairly well known championship, we had/have the grandaddy of all auto racing events. the Indianapolis 500. The one everyone knows. I'll take it.

France didn't do all that great a job of promotion, that's revisionist history at best. He built a strong regional series in the south, and was able to expand a little in the north during the 70's. The CART-USAC split and a blizzard in 1979 helped fuel NASCAR, along with a ton of money from RJR.

USAC at one time had a decent corporate partner in Marlboro, but they never came through like RJR. And, admittedly, many of USAC's ways became antiquated and static.

I don't see that CART, about to run out of money, with a stock price less than what my 4 year old carries in her purse, did any better.

As far as flat tracks go, well, I've seen a number of really good USAC stock car races on the Milwaukee Mile, and there are a number of NASCAR banked tracks I wouldn't pay ten cents to see.

NASCAR's own rules are hurting the racing, and it's just like many other series. You lower the cornering speeds, take the aero away, and I think it gets better. These guys can run at nearly 170 in the corners at IMS in qualifying trim. Slow that to 160 without the downforce and different tires, you might get the two wide racing.

Maybe not, then you'd have Bodines crashing all over the place.

[hdolan]

"France didn't do all that great a job of promotion, that's revisionist history at best. He built a strong regional series in the south, and was able to expand a little in the north during the 70's. "

Read any history of NASCAR that gives races and winners fron=m the beginning and you might be surprised...