Running 2023 Motorsports thread

I still don't understand why IndyCar starts its season and then waits about a month to run its second race. If it was a one-time thing that would be one thing, but this has become a regular.
Also in IndyCar, how can a rookie with the name Sting Ray be driving a Honda instead of a Chevy?

 

It really is. And the cars have only run on one track — testing and the first race were both in Bahrain. You’d expect them to say “let’s see how we run at a different kind of circuit”… but no. That car must really be a mess.

 

Seems like, just like last year, it doesn’t have nearly enough straight-line speed, so even if they’re able to stick close through the technical portions of a circuit, they can’t reliably overtake. They seem to have solved the porpoising, but it just isn’t very fast. And, apparently, it isn’t even nimble enough to take advantage at some of the slower tracks.

I feel like it has improved enough that Mercedes may fall into a couple race wins because of strategy, mechanical failures or crashes, but they definitely look like they have to worry more about Aston than Red Bull.

 

You'd think it'd be the perfect period for a Florida swing (St. Pete/Homestead) while Cup is out on the West Coast.

 

Perhaps this is a big reason why Camping World dropped out of the truck series. Can't imagine it'll be plowing much money into SRX anymore.

Camping World (CWH) Reports Q4 Loss, Tops Revenue Estimates

Pretty sure I read somewhere that revenue was down 2,000% in 2022 YoY.

 

Not to work Ragu's corners but I would think if there's any business highly susceptible to interest rates hikes and consumer credit worries, it's Camping World.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much with you on that. Negligible TV money and about three races that actually draw a crowd.

 

One of them draws a crowd because of the spectacle.

One of them draws a crowd because tradition.

I don't think the last one (guessing you mean Texas?) draws anymore. Perhaps you meant Iowa, which I read was a bunch of free tickets given away by Hy-Vee.

Penske obv has the pockets to play the long game. Getting as many races as they have on broadcast TV was a good move.

 

I'm thinking Indy, Long Beach and Nashville.

I don't know that any oval outside of Indianapolis draws much of a crowd these days. It's harder to tell on a road or street circuit, but St. Pete looks like there are very few grandstands and places like Laguna Seca look deserted on a race weekend,.

 

Other than just a general drop in motorsports fans, I don't understand why Indy doesn't do better. The racing product is better than F1, in my opinion.

 

Toronto used to be a very successful, multi-day event with parties and other ancillary stuff around the race in the CART days, I went for a number of years and if you didn't renew your seats as soon as they went on sale you were out of luck. But now it's just a shell of those days, Fridays are free, which is cool, but there are far fewer grandstands outside the start/finish/pit straight and you always hear how Honda and other sponsors have papered the place. You'll see more news coverage of the road closures around the event than the actual race.