Reds and Blacks

I grabbed a cold drink and some chips Sunday and sat down to watch the IndyCar opener from Florida. I figure it's a new year, things have changed... I'll give it a try and see what to expect in 2009. I mean... how bad could things be?

It's bad.

Real bad.

Worse than a Robin Miller column.

The first thing I noticed is that the starting lineup only sported twenty-two drivers.  Twenty-two!  After all the hype about how reunification was going to save the IndyCar world and increase field sizes and all that, they came up with 22 starters -- for the season-opener.  Not to mention, I didn't even recognize an easy third of the drivers starting, and I sometimes fancy myself as being a reasonably interested fan of auto racing.

After the race started and the field bombed into the obligatory turn 1, lap 1 crash to bring out a full-course yellow I noticed the next travesty:  of all the amazing, first-class racing facilities that are readily available in this great country, they decided to throw some temporary barriers up on the public roads of St. Petersburg to race on a narrow, single-lane street course with virtually no passing opportunities.  Ummm... why?

But the thing that most intrigued me was the new tire gimmick.  For 2009, Firestone will be bringing two tire compounds to the street and road races.  A softer compound -- called "reds" since they're identifiable by a red sidewall -- to provide extra grip, and the traditional black slick tires that have the durability.  Well, okay... having a couple of tire options for the teams isn't such a bad idea I guess.  But then the sanctioning body decided to get in on the idea by writing a new rule requiring each team to run at least two green flag laps on the "red" tires.

And so there it is... now they have a new "element" to add to the racing story and something for the television folks to talk about.  Because heaven knows there's nothing going on on the race track to talk about. Now we have to keep track of who's on what tires.  So Firestone brought a soft tire for better passing to a street course... where there's no passing?  Holy smokes -- I haven't seen this much of a circus since A.J. Foyt slapped Arie Luyendyk in Victory Lane at Texas.

Tony George... what happened, man?

Here's the deal:  IndyCar racing has turned into a "club sport".  It has virtually no fan appeal and has essentially become irrelevant in the American motorsports psyche.  Take out the 500 and it is irrelevant.  Broaden the audience to the "casual sports fan" and nobody has a damn clue who those guys are racing out there.

Sometimes I get crazy ideas, so here's one to share:  How about concentrating on building fan interest by racing real cars on real race tracks with drivers that race fans know and can connect with?  And maybe leave the gimmicks to... oh I dunno... Monster Truck racing.

(PS:  I was just kidding about the Robin Miller thing... Come on -- who doesn't love Robin Miller?)