2023 Indycar Season: Official Discussion Thread

I know that’s your assessment but I want to explain the predictability problem.

It depends what you’re predicting. Every Indy race is won by a Dallara, and that’s set in stone. In the last F1 race we had three completely different cars on the podium. You might have one dominant package, but in terms of predictability, F1 has more intrigue. Just look at Aston this year. I also don’t think predictability is a bad thing, it depends on the context. You need some level of predictability. But there needs to be avenues within that for teams and drivers to improve.

It’s hard to explain. I don’t like spec. It sets something in stone, and that’s bad. The ultimate predictability. You do need tangible performance differences. By that I mean you need something that’s able to create a narrative. Who is fast, who is, and you kinda know why.

IndyCar has worst of both worlds in my view. The car result is too predictable (100% Dallara) but the driver result is too random (drivers can be 1st one week and 15th the next for not real discernible reason).

F1 isn’t perfect by the way, it’s just the only comparison we can make unless we start adding in bikes etc…

With marketing you still need the base product. If Indy, in a perfect world, decided to go bonkers and introduce a new class. 600kg weight limit, open chassis (lets put in a hypothetical price cap for now as a place holder for economic viability) and 3.5 N/A engines (V10s and V12s). the hype pre-season would be off the charts. All the world’s motorsport media would be on it (rather than the odd story that gets buried after a day like now). The game would change over night. Plenty of F1 aero guys who’d make the leap over.

There’s almost zero coverage of IndyCar over the winter because we know what we’re gonna get. With that formula? You wouldn’t need a good marketing team. It’d market itself.

I know I sound like I am criticising IndyCar, but I am just trying to get to the heart of the question about why it isn’t more popular. I think in motorsport there’s a chasm between what people say they want and what they really consume on a daily basis.

I literally live 5 minutes from Rockingham Motorsport Speedway (now officially closed). it’s walkable from where I live. IndyCar/CART has ventured outside of America, but it’s very challenging.

Has anyone else noticed that seems like there might be some kind of behind the scenes bet between some of the drivers to say the weirdest anecdotes in their interviews? I noticed it first with Colton Herta saying at one point that the track was so hot, hens were laying boiled eggs. He’s a bit of an odd duck anyway and it feels like his PR team told him that he had to step up his game in interviews and it came out if funny ways. But then Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin start in on it too and just seem like they have an internal competition going. Whatever’s going on, I’m here for it! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

https://fb.watch/jJaHLFngl2/
at roughly 0:09 for a Herta line

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They had me laughing out loud. I was watching practice on my phone at work. Newgarden’s talking about rascals and putting socks on a rooster.:rofl:

Actually they do! Daly was talking about to Herta on his podcast a couple weeks ago!

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I’ll have to find that! I want to know what the stakes are on this bet.

Talking about viewership. There’s another wrinkle in the discussion. That’s the Indy 500. If the causal viewer watches one race, that’s it. And in person attendance last year was 325,000 – for one day. F1 obviously has weekend attendance numbers, but I would guess that they don’t have that for single day attendance.

The long standing “culture” of IndyCar revolves around that race. Speaking to the “stakes” comment. That one race definitely has that aspect. Your frickin face gets soldered onto the trophy. And IndyCar reinforces it with double points.

The only other comparison I think is LeMans 24 in the WEC season. Monoco has prestige. But compare Monoco to the British GP and then compare the Indy 500 to the HyVee Homefront 250. No offense to HyVee or Iowa Speedway, but it’s hard to not be overshadowed by Indy.

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He didn’t give out all the info. He just said something was up. But Herta is a good listen on that one!

Case in point to Iowa. They have turned it into a music festival with a race as an intermission.

I’m with Alan. I actually care more about following the aero developments, team dynamics, rule changes and everything else that happens between race weekends than I do on race weekend. I usually watch 2 of 3 practice sessions, qualifying, and the race.

Indy I’ll tune in if I happen to be home and bored. With a little more effort when they go to a road course or street course.

Indy doesn’t really have drama. And I’m not talking drive to survive drama. That show has borderline ruined f1 for me. Now everyone thinks they know the sport and want to tell me all about the show. I love the new fans but they think it’s all the contrived drive to survive drama and it’s getting closer to a circus and further from the pinnacle of automotive racing.

That’s just nonsense frankly that it’s not good racing. Racing where the driver is the primary determination in the outcome is far from chance.

F1 is an exercise in driving to expectations and just waiting to see if something or someone else fails to execute to their level of expectation. Otherwise it’s just a flashy, expensive effort in meeting predetermined destinies. Interesting for sure in its own way.

And yes I still watch it as well.

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I prefer Indycar, but I found this really funny. . . .

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Palou certainly had the best tire strategy and was the class of the field.

Been watching practice today. Missed previous days because I was busy painting helmets for the race… Love these few weeks here. So much finessing, so much fine tuning, such little itty-bitty tweaks to get the cars absolutely perfect. So fun to watch them hold on as the tires fall off and as they pull downforce out.

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Who is watching? 500 qualifying is so intense. Awesome to see my guy Pedersen put in such a strong run to land in P9. Let’s see how the track evolves now for the rest of the day. Weather is so important here, so runs can vary a lot at different points during the day.

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I typically skip practice and qualifying and just watch the actual race. :disguised_face:

Qualifying for Indy is a special occasion. It’s a grind and test of the drivers’ bravery. The cars are so on the edge, and it gets dramatic when the battle for the pole and last row starts as the time runs out.

The drivers are just hanging on by the fourth lap.

No other quali session in racing is as intense in my opinion.

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Race weekend here at Pitt Race and had it on all day for Fast Friday and Sat Qual. Got to talk IndyCars with more people this weekend than I get to all year.

Some stellar moments for sure. I think Sato established himself as the CGR favorite - he is just here to full send with absolutely zero pressure. Michael Cannon may be the star of the month engineering Foyt cars to relevance. David Malukus with a monster of a run late in the day - thought it was a signal of some fast times coming but no one could match what he did with what he had. Heads need to roll at Rahal - what an utter embarrassment…

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RLL looked so good last race too. Clearly they just utterly failed at the prep and setup for Indy.

I love watching Sato. I always liked him but I became a big fan after his crash going for the lead against Dario. He just got out of the car and was like “meh, gotta have a go.” His “no attack, no chance” mentality is so fun to see. And he seems like such a nice guy.

McLaren clearly did their homework too. They are really establishing themselves as one of the top teams. I think the Ganassis will be hard to beat though.

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@tjkoyen, Whos in-car cameras should we be focused on to catch a glimpse of awesome Oktane Visuals?

Just curious; now that it’s been a few years, have you noticed any decrease in the number of helmets ordered per driver since the aeroscreen now protects them from the elements, abrasives, etc. when driving?

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