You're listening to the back home network, presented by home
field, apparel. Welcome back to Crimson gasp.
Kalin clavius cot Caulfield here.
I hope you're all doing well. It's a beautiful day outside
here in Central Indiana. It's about 82 degrees exactly
what you want. For the middle of may feel like
we had a long dark period there, where the weather just wasn't
great. But we're back Scott.
It feels like it feels like late spring early summer, which is
what I like, you know. It's whether we both like, we
have a lot of weather. Talk you hate, you hate the
fall. But this is a spot we can all we
can all join hands and be happy with this.
Yes. If you don't like late May reach
out so that we can blow down. Yeah, we will you know, we don't
really want you associating with this anymore.
But anyway, we're not doing anything about it.
You Athletics on this podcast. So if you tuned in this one, as
they say, unlike the rewatchable, this one for us,
one for us, one for you and me, it's one of our favorite hot
first of all, even though they won't be iOS Leduc specifically
on this podcast, we are still brought to you by home-field
apparel as part of the back home network and they have been in
this space actually that we're about to talk about because in
addition to some of the finest Collegiate apparel, some great
professional apparel, they also have IndyCar stuff.
I am the Our donor of a Dreyer & Reinbold t-shirt.
That was said to be last year by the the crew, and I am always
excited when there's anything any related or little five
related that comes out of the home field.
Laboratories they're super secret facility and in the
Indianapolis area. So be sure to check out home
field apparel, use the code home.
H ome get 15% off your first order again that's home-field
apparel.com proud sponsor of that crime Network.
Yes. He's listening which I'm sure he
is. I'm sure he should just turn
over all marketing apparel to home field because home feels
good and as we will mention many times and get into his podcast
like Indy car sucks and their marketing and their apparel has
been awful for years but handed over to home field like let home
field do everything. So here's a here's a question
for you. Roger Penske is 86 years old?
Yes. What do you think the over-under
on total number of podcast episodes?
Roger Penske has ever listened to is Well, there's always the
possibility, he's listened to one and not known.
It was a podcast consciously. How many has he, how many has he
consciously listened to in his lifetime?
What's the overrun? I mean, you know, I think the
numbers said it like half fuck happened was, as Roger, Waters,
Roger list and purposely to one podcast episode in his life.
I don't think so. Probably not.
And I don't blame him. That's fine.
I mean he's 86 when podcasts became a thing.
It was what 2017, I would say, 2016.
So he would have been for you and me.
It was 2009. Well, that's for the rest of us.
Went out for you and me, it was 2007.
Remember? Yeah.
So, but but point it like, even if he had been listening from
them, he would have been in his late 60s.
I think our early 70s and so, probably not.
No. So, I'm guessing he won't listen
to this one either, but if he does Scott's right hand all of
the marketing and the materials over to home-field apparel, they
do a great job though. We wanted to talk about the 500
and about, you know, the fact that race is coming up and as
something you and I both watches as natives of Indiana, we both
go to the race every year. We both watch all the IndyCar
races outside of it. It's been an interesting fandom
over the course of time. It's like a slightly more
successful IU football fandom I would argue in that like yeah
there's you know the Indy 500 happens every year and it's we
enjoy it but it's also kind of like this.
There's this constant feeling that a lot has been missed in
the process and we wanted to talk about that because after a
couple of years of coming to their senses, kind of by
accident, the Indy 500 announced that they would actually be
leaving their senses and would be going back to the local
blackout rule that they have had essentially since time and
Memorial and they are doing it because they claim they haven't.
Old enough tickets, I guess to the race, but we both think that
that presents the problems. We've got some other things we
want to talk about with the 500 as well, so we're going to dive
into all of that Scott, you know, first and foremost.
Let's just, let's hit the big ticket item.
Let's go ahead and say goodbye to all of our listeners, right,
right. For those of you looking for,
like, if you want, if you want like it, you want some
recruiting news, please wait till June, okay, give us, give
us the next couple of, unless something major happens give us
the next couple of weeks here but no If you want to stick
around, we'd love to have you obviously.
But by the way, Ryan sticky. Speaking of Yale College stuff.
Ryan hunter-reay. Need some n IL money because
this car is blank this year. 3 grunting a black, a black car
right now. This is yeah, this is an il-4
not good. This is it's it's like what was
it like stand Fox? I think qualified in the car.
That I like no sponsorships on it.
It's like oh they're Wheeling this one in from the garage.
This is like from four years ago.
Somebody's chassis that though they found on an abandoned lot
somewhere. No, so let's talk a little bit
about this. Blackout situation, so just to
recap because I think it's important that we get the
history out there first and foremost because a lot of people
are not familiar with the history of the 500 and even the
broadcast, and this was actually a shock.
Even I have a friend of mine who is very, very plugged into the
sports scene, who was sending me texts, kind of like laughing at
the announcement that the blackout would be returning in
full force and then he did some research and came back and he's
like, I can't believe that the Race wasn't broadcast live
anywhere until 1986 and the and he's right.
And this is one of those things that I don't think people are
fully conscious of, is that the Indy 500 was not broadcast
nationally until 1986? It was always, let's not live.
It was always recorded. And then essentially slightly
edited or majorly edited as some of the cases, maybe, and then
shown the evening of the race on ABC's Wide World of Sports and
Scott. And I have been delighted at
this era of media because a lot of those race recordings are on
YouTube. So we go back and watch them and
there's a whole other podcast. We may even touch on a little
bit here of how just off the wall.
Some of those broadcasts are but can we please call it Thoughts
with Chris economy Maki? Like who Caught that my God.
But you know what we end up with is a situation where, you know,
the Indy 500 obviously starts in 1911 and it becomes, you know,
it kind of almost dies off around World War Two and then
Tony hulman buys the track and it goes through this Golden Age,
the kind of lasts from the end of World War Two until the split
in 1995. So you're talking about they're
about to 40-year period, we're anticipating Ation and marketing
around the race. Gradually grows like there's a
movie made about it. There's you know, becomes it
gets mentioned in Apocalypse Now it's, you know, it's it becomes
part of the cultural currency kind of like, you know, the
Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, if you want to look at another auto
race or their, the America's Cup, which was a big thing in
the 80s. Like these athletic institutions
that were events singularly under themselves now on the
national stage. A lot of television sports got
treated that way. There were NBA finals games that
were not shown live but we're instead tape delayed as late as
like 1982 which people are. You know, imagine imagine an NBA
Finals game today being delayed until 11:00 start because we
want to get Dallas, not that not the team but the the drama into
in and its entirety like that would never happen today but
that was the attitude at the time.
So it took a while for the Indy 500 to be broadcast live, it
starts to get brown. Cast live nationally in 1986 it
ends up being I think another like seven or eight years before
they say hey we're going to broadcast the race in its
entirety locally in the evening on WRTV, the ABC station in
Indianapolis and so they start doing that and that becomes kind
of part of the thing, then the split happens and you know,
whereas before you had regularly crowds 350, 375 400 thousand
people because of how popular the race.
Had become because of how much of a singular cultural event.
It was, when the split occurs, a lot of that, goes away, the
Mystique around the circuit disappears.
The, you know, there's drivers that have nobody's heard of that
are racing in the Indy 500 and you end up with this weird
situation where the Indy 500 still blacked out locally and it
is no longer that important of a cultural item and it takes
literally 20 years for it to build back up to a point where
it really regains some level of the problem.
That it had before the split. Now, there were still crowds
coming in there, you know. There were still Grand stands,
getting gradually more and more filled.
They reconfigure, what goes on in the infield?
They add the, you know, they reconfigure the snake pit as in
his old form, where you were likely to get stabbed by a pool
cue. You know, it's now it's an EDM
Festival. I mean, there's all these things
that get changed the pandemic happens and they show the race
live because there's nobody there, they have two and then
the next Race after that or the two races after that, they
stream on peacock. Because peacock somehow has
never heard of geofencing where they can you know, take certain
zip codes and say you can't access this So now, they finally
figure out the geofencing, and now they're putting the blackout
back in Scott. I know why?
I think this is a bad idea. I want you to elucidate from
your perspective. Why putting the blackout back in
is a bad idea. I'll also throw in, I think in
2016, they also showed the race live, that was the hundred
haunting correct. And it's because that was sold
out. And so to IMS, his credit,
they've always said if we sell the place out, you know, we will
do the, it's funny that like, that's the bear.
I'll get to your question a sec. That's the barrier to, which has
to be done and as you and I love to go back and watch old races.
It's talked about in this case, like, as I'm watching all these
old race on watching like the 79 race and like I've been in the
70s this time. It's it's almost talked about
this weird Mystique like God to 300,000.
We don't know the number of people and it's like this isn't
hard. Like you sell it.
Like I'm not talking to even today, but it's just like, why
the IMs is made this this weird Mystique of like, Even Kirk
cabin with the Indy star at the time.
Like he had an article in the 2001 where he, like literally
walked around every grandstanding counted.
And then I think I AMS got pissed that he released it, but
it was like there's no other venue worth like assembly Halls
like seventeen thousand five hundred and seventy-four,
whatever. Like I don't know why, it's just
it's weird going back and hearing them talk about it.
Like we don't know how many people are here, it's like well
you do by like a. So anyway somebody call is
17,000 222. But that's a great, it's a great
example. And this was always part of the
way. I would look a sconce at when I
would hear that. Well, that we gotta block the
race out because the attendance is always just kind of been a
general idea. Even though there's clearly
people taking tickets at the gate.
You know, how many tickets were sold, but it's always been like
this vague number. They never come out and say, we
have this many people, as you said, it's always been an
estimate and that what that that makes it looks sketchy a little
bit. You know, it says this IMS is A
frat party where it's like, I don't know man.
We saw for the doors and the grantor agency.
I'm like you know, it's weird. I guess there's some people here
we'll figure it out, right? It's but when everything on the
TV is tied to the sellout like it's weird that like they're not
telling the number anyway, it's bizarre.
Because I don't know if you've heard Gala, I don't want to
break news here. On this podcast streaming is
kind of a big deal. No, there's, there's big
companies out there that are doing things.
You Disney is in the streaming from what I've heard, like this
is The last three years, everyone's been trying to do is
trying to get subject trying to get subscribers.
Now it's, you know, we're going to see some consolidation that
business. I was listening to.
I listen Trackside is a podcast with Kurt cabin.
Kevin Lee, which I'm assuming Roger Penske is also not listen
to they were discussing this about a week ago and you know,
they said that you know, about the last year when the race was
on peacock, they saw a like a 600% increase in the number of
use active users. Jean peacock that day, which is
that's good. You know, it's like what's Wild
was like every other Media company is trying to get this to
happen and in a weird way. Like you said they kind of
backed into this, what it's like, all right, you can still
blackout the TV race, which is also stupid.
But it's like now you're driving people to go to Peacock, which
is kind of what, like Netflix Disney Paramount, like, all
these other large media companies are trying to find
this. And again, it's not like, you
know, this is a huge number but like This is a way to get more
people there and I also thought The dichotomy was interesting
that I took my son last week to the Grand Prix and we can talk
about the other problem. IndyCar has like, that was an
absolute snooze Fest and it goes to how in a weird way were in
the exact same spot we were before the split for a lot of
the same reasons. But, you know, going on the
radio, they're talking about how this is a great event.
The Grand Prix is because people can bring their kids that
wouldn't normally bring to the 500, which I'm in the I'm in the
boat. My son James is 10.
He absolutely loves IndyCar racing.
He likes the history and like reading the books and seeing the
the memorizing, the names, and the ears and stuff.
I take him to the Grand Prix because if you haven't been to
the 500, like that's a 9 10 hour day and I've joke, it's not like
if he wants to leave, there are times where it's like, if the
race is over, it's like we're not getting home for three
hours, whether you have to poop or do like, there's just there
like so, but it's like, he's like, why can't I watch the race
on TV, like I watched on peacock.
I'm like no, and no, and no. And The Grand Prix is a great
thing to get kids, excited for the race and then there's no way
to then have them watch the race.
Anyway, it's stupid on so many levels, but it's just odd that,
you know, every other company is trying to get people on their
app and this is a great way to get people using the app in the
market, that's going to have the largest TV number.
It's stupid all across the board, all for what I've heard
is like 11,000 unsold seats which I don't get me like At
$125 a ticket. You're talking over a million
dollars so it is real money. But I mean you look at like
Netflix is burning hundreds of millions of dollars a quarter to
just get an extra 200 subscribers like, Disney paid a
trillion dollars for Cricket in India so they can get
subscribers. Like the idea of giving up a
million dollars in ticket revenue for subscribers, is what
I think most companies would do today.
Well, that's to me the heart of the issue and And maybe, there's
even a more fundamental issue. I mean, James is lucky, I just
in general. Okay, agree.
But but he's lucky to have you as a dad because you are
actively trying to get him interested in IndyCar and making
a bad day, maybe it does no car. No, no, this goes back to my IU,
football thing, actually. It's, this is the same boat.
But, but no, I mean, the fact that you've taken him to a more
CPS Might hear this and be like, we gotta pull this, get away,
the fact that you've taken him to, to erase the fact that you
watch races with him at home. The fact that you essentially
are trying to culture him in IndyCar, specifically is great.
I think, because as someone whose dad did that with him at a
time when the race was not on TV it and look we didn't go to the
race now, my dad would we would listen to the race on the radio
and you know in the 80s that made sense because there were a
lot of things. Is that weren't on television.
People forget there were like three stations.
It'll eat for a large portion of the 80s.
Really all the way up to about 1993 where you would regularly
see sports for, I guess in Indiana.
Because we were lucky because we had T TV for and that would have
IU basketball and Purdue basketball.
But if it wasn't on ABC, CBS or NBC either, in prime time, when
it was too late for kids to watch ordering a, an 8 Hour,
span on the weekends, you probably had to listen to It on
the radio so it made sense back then.
So now Flash Forward 40 years thereabouts and I would ask
IndyCar and the eye and IMS in particular like okay you've got
people coming to the race, that's great.
You've got this thing in the infield.
The snake pit that you've talked yourself into, that's how we're
going to get young people excited about the Indy 500 yet.
If you've been in the snake pit, during and our seats for the 500
or literally, Cross turn three from where it's located.
Those people have no clue that there's a race going on around
them. None, there's no queues.
There's no, I mean you can't see the TV screens, you are focused
on whatever is going on on stage and probably may be focused on
not passing out from the Heat or whatever other substances are
out there at the time and that's not a great way to build a youth
demographic. So you've had over the course of
the last 35 years. Let's say it's go back to 1988
you've had Add all of the drivers that everybody knew
Exodus from the sport. You had like seven or eight
years in the wilderness where most people like, we're actively
making fun of your event weren't watching your, your circuit, in
any great numbers. You've gotten the event back to
the point where it's something that people want to come.
See, but you've got a lot of people who have been acclimated
through it to through generations.
How many new fans are you actually generating you're Not
putting for the series, the most popular event of the season on
television in the market where it is the most popular in the
country. So you go through all the
different markets that are watching IndyCar.
Now, you know, and I was looking at the ratings from, like the
first weekend this year, what was the the highest rate of
there was? All three series had events that
weekend that weekend in February?
What was the series that had the highest rating by far?
NASCAR still NASCAR. Absolutely.
They had they had three point. Nine million people.
Watch the the Nascar Cup Race at the Las Vegas Motor.
Speedway F1 was s F1 was s F1 a 10:00 a.m. start for the Bahrain
Grand. Prix had 1.3 million viewers.
What's third, IndyCar, 1.18 million, with the st.
Petersburg race. And you know, that's to me,
that's a concern. Earn.
Because if you're looking at that, it's like, gosh, we need
to continue to build this number because that is the currency as
you were making. The point earlier, the currency
is not gate, receipt, gay, receipts nice.
But you look at college football, you look at college
basketball. You look at the NFL, where is
all the growth is the growth in the numbers of the people that
are walking through and buying tickets know the numbers on
television are what's driving? Not just knowledge of the sport
but The sport and most importantly interest by
advertisers in the sport because ultimately, they're looking for
concrete numbers that they can get advertisements in front of
those people on a regular basis. So you're both forsaking that
for as you said apparently, like 11,000 unsold grandstand tickets
but you're also forsaking the development of fans who don't
have a dad, like Scott or don't have a family member.
Or a grandfather, or an uncle, or whoever who is saying, you
need to come to the race. You know, and you've got people
arguing right now, they were arguing with me on social media
like, well, they can just listen to the radio and it's like it's
2023. What, what, like, what eight
there was a. I just saw an article about how
there's a whole bunch of car manufacturers.
Then this next line of cars that they're putting out, which I'm a
big names, like, you know, the a lot of the European
manufacturers Volkswagen what not, there's not going to have
am on the dial at all. It's He just gone no more am
well, what person under the age of 35 thinks I'm gonna go turn
the radio on and listen to a sporting event unless it's also
on television. I mean it's best and you can say
baseball or you could say you know, NFL those things are on
every week. This is a once a year event and
you're going to tell people sorry you got to listen to it on
the radio. That's the only way that you're
going to get media access, 12, other things that I want to go
large scale on the series to with other Concerns.
But you know, the thing too is like the whole idea with these
blackouts in the NFL, did it for years and he gets to drive
people to the event which makes sense in an era where there's
not, you know, VPN and stream and that's the thing.
If somebody wants to watch it, you can still VPN and then get
around the geofence. Like, there's always ways around
this stuff, but but why make people do that?
Do not know. But the difference is like,
let's just say next year, they lift the blackout, like I'm
still taking James like, that's what doesn't Any sense here is
like, for this specific event, it is about the event.
Like, this is one of those few things where I personally think
NFL games are probably better on TV.
Like, you know, having gone to a lot of IU football games or kind
of better on TV because you can partially flip around.
But like the Indy 500, if you haven't gone, you should go and
everybody who goes says that because it's an event, and like,
that's the thing, if they lifted the blackout, you're still
going. I'm still going like, you know,
200 300 thousand, people get, we don't know the number, they're
all. Still going because they go for
the event. I mean they decimated the sport
and you go back to the split like it's what mind-boggling the
series had one race in a calendar year, like it had the
500 and then it didn't race again till the next February.
As you mentioned, the crowds were down but they weren't down.
Like astronomically like it was still relatively full.
So like the idea that this is driving people, there just isn't
true because the majority of people that are there and I've
gone for 30 plus years, Years. They are race fans and their
fans of being at the track on race day.
Like they wouldn't care if it was broadcast on 30 channels and
the last thing I'll say with the the broadcast that's also very
frustrating is you take another event that is also kind of like
a one-off for. I think most of the country in
the Kentucky Derby and you look at the way that that and it's it
has been promoted on TV. I mean, the Derby's at like
6:00, I turned on NBC at like 10:00 a.m. and it's like dirt.
We live for the next 12 hours, I mean, they do nothing, but
promote that for the entire day understand this is partially the
TV and partially the event. But it's like, it does feel like
living in Indy. All the stations are doing kind
of pre-race stuff and then it just shuts off.
It is like in commercial time. Hey, let's look at Starbucks
sharks and it's like they've lost.
That is kind of like the cool race.
Event in Spring, I mean, that's as you're right, it's kind of a
separate argument and and part of it is, I mean the Derby.
It's funny. People think the Derby is really
fancy yet the the Derby infield been there is maybe worse than
the 500 infield. I mean and that's saying a lot I
do think it's funny though and kind of sad in that.
Okay, you know, what is on television in Columbus Ohio
every week of the Fall. I have state of Ohio State
football, both the home games, okay?
And the road games and somehow they 6080, they have 102,000
seat Stadium, Michigan home games approximately.
Michigan, home games are on television.
In the Detroit marketplace where Ann Arbor is located name that
Penn State. I mean there is there's ample
evidence that if if the in-person experience is
interesting to people that they will go and I agree with you the
idea that this is one of the best in person. 100%.
I, you know, I've sat in Row 3, with my wife's family for four
years. Now, the people surrounding me
are not casuals who were like, well, gosh, I really was going
to watch the game on the race on television, but but it wasn't.
So I bought tickets here. No, these are in many cases
tickets that have been in the old fencing.
I'm here, these are tickets to the minute families for
Generations now. And, you know, are you could,
you potentially lose a little bit of the infield crowd
potentially, but most of those people are there To tailgate
they're there to drink and they kind of have a vague
understanding of what's going. I remember very clearly.
I spent the 2011 race in the infield and you know remember
when Hildebrand crashed I had no clue what was going on, none?
What's like? I knew that he had gone by
because I saw him go by and turn three.
And I'm like, okay, I guess he's winning and then I kept waiting
for the screens to pop up, nothing's there.
That's the experience in the infield, it's not.
I mean, you're there for Reasons others specifically than
watching the race and I guess that's what irritates me the
most about this. And this comes from a place of
love. It really does.
Like you and me. We'd like the race to be more
popular. We'd like IndyCar and the
drivers to be more popular. We like the series to be more
popular. You have to acknowledge that
Indiana is the Wellspring of interest in IndyCar.
And the speedway this is this is this is home base, the idea That
you just cut home base off from being able to watch the most
interesting and popular race because you're worried about
gate, receipts in 2023, when across all of sport gate,
receipts are less important than cultivating.
The Next Generation. I would submit to everybody on
the same network that Indy car is on the Premier League, which
was a nonentity. I'm not entity 20 years ago in
America. Like you, you, you had to Go
into the dark recesses of like one bar that was open at 7 a.m.
on Saturdays to see people watching Arsenal or watching
Manchester United play and you maybe once in a blue moon, you'd
see a game on ESPN, and he and NBC went and got the Premier
League rights and put that on television.
Every Saturday and Sunday morning.
We had more Premier League games available here than they had in
England to watch and guess what popularity of the Premier League
has Is shot through the roof. And this is for people who never
get to go to games. There is no it.
There's no in-person attendance there.
If there was, I don't think that you'd suddenly have this huge
fall off of Interest. This is how you grow Sports in
the 21st century. And it is just my biggest hope
with Penske taking over both the track, and the circuit was that
we have someone in place, who understood that, that's what
matters growing. The sport and putting it in
front of people like F1 has done over the last Under 8 years is
far more important than counting pennies walking through the
great, the gates, you know, and in a larger sense that's where
I'm again, this comes from a place of place of love, I'm
worried for Indy car because they're in a really tough spot
because if you want to watch, you know, exciting open-wheel
racing, you're probably going to water.
Sorry exciting oval racing. You're probably going to watch
Nascar. There's just there's way more
oval racing. And for the most part it's
better oval racing if you want to watch kind of bad street and
Road. Or series you're going to watch
F1 because they you that series. Really the series on Netflix,
got a lot of people into it you and I are kind of like I'm still
in the IndyCar but there's times like I don't I don't know who
this is for like I'm not sure who's into this and what what's
I was thinking more about this? Knowing we're going to talk
about this, like the premier event is the 500 and part of
that Golden Age, I'll take a minute here to see how it's like
from 85 to 90, 83 to 86, 295 you Had a lot of good personalities.
We also a lot of great races, you know, a lot of good finishes
and guys who but most importantly guys who wanted to
be there. I mean like Alastair jr.
Wanted to win a Indy 500. You Emerson fittipaldi came over
from Europe but he can, but he really wanted to do this.
Like first year he's there he's into it and then you have the
split which that's a different pod to but they do that to get
more ovals and more American drivers but you know that you're
there they kind of look into this.
Like they get a couple of guys Who are you know Vamp Tony
Stewart they piss that away but then they have Elio,
Castroneves, Tony kanaan, come in early.
They're not America but they're super energetic.
They want to be here to have this nice run of guys who like
again you kind of built it back, you had a lot of ovals now
they're in the spot. Like I said, I'm not sure who
they're for but they boxed themselves in this corner where
their key event is the Indy 500. They've shaved all the days off
in practice, I'm a guy who listens I'm watching practice
right now. I love to watch it.
It's three days like they should almost mine.
Is get rid of the Grand Prix, just open up another month of
practice, but the other trouble is outside of like Ed Carpenter
and, you know, Conor Daly, I don't know who really loves to
ride the 500, like a lot of Dario Franchitti was like I hate
it until I won it. Then I kind of got it, you know,
in a lot of these guys kind of have that feeling willpower was
a similar case. Yeah.
Well you're feeding that with guys like you Alex below and
like that you so it's like well and I think fans feel that
because it's like most of these guys are just like, well I can't
get an f 1. And I'm not going to do NASCAR.
And so I guess if I have to go 200 miles an hour around ND to
get a to get a ride, the rest of the year, I'll do it.
But I'll be really pissed. Well, this and you and I have
talked about this and it is a tough spot because ultimately
the development of Open Wheel racing in the United States.
If you follow it through all its twists and turns from really
post WWII up until really the split, it was it was a
laboratory that was a Proving Ground, not just for drivers but
So for cars and four engines, and you know this if you go back
and watch old races or if you were around then you know that
like it was always like, oh wow, someone did a 200-mile lap.
Then it was, someone did four laps at 200 miles, then it was
someone won the race with, you know, a top speed of an average
speed of 180, or something like that.
It was always this itinerary session and I will always wonder
on a real cul-de-sac aside. I will always wonder, like, what
would the endpoint of been? Because the cars have gotten too
fast. By the time.
At the split happened and and we had to have some ratcheting back
in. I mean, you had who was it?
That was it AA real? Ian, dyke doing like 240 miles
an hour. Like it was like, it was like
some really like dangerous stuff at that level but that's just
the point where the race the 500 over, like, 10 minutes.
But but it's but it's kind of beside the point because the
larger point to me is Open Wheel racing.
What made it popular was this weird amalgamation of all these
different types of tracks oval racing as The best determinant
of how fast a car and driver could go in tandem with each
other rather than relying on the you know the ability of a car to
corner or the ability of a team to put the best mechanical
package under a driver, which is essentially kind of what F1 is I
mean and you see like Lewis Hamilton's on the wrong side of
that. Right now, the guy might retire
potentially so in the car does have a tough spot where the Indy
500 looks legitimately dangerous and feels legitimately
dangerous. If the fastest you've ever gone
is 175 miles an hour, down a straight away somewhere.
And now that said it is essentially still the reason
it's the greatest spectacle in racing is that it puts the
highest level of demand for the longest amount of time on Car
and Driver simultaneously. And there is value in that and
you do see guys from Europe or from Australia and New Zealand,
you know, from you know, from sports, car backgrounds.
Once they get it in their blood, it becomes a really hard thing
to give up and it's been, it is fun watching a lot of those
drivers go through it. But what it means is if the
drivers themselves are acclimating themselves to the
idea of doing it, the series has to do a better job of marketing,
it themselves, and what it means and I appreciate.
And I want to make clear on this, I appreciate IndyCar,
making some efforts, whether it's this hundred days, 2nd
series or whether it's, you know, try the social.
Teams been much better this year.
I think, than in previous years like, they've made some
incremental changes that are helping with the marketing.
But when when as I mentioned, when the Premier League which
did not exist in the United States and any meaningful form,
20 years ago is pulling down a higher, average, per game
ratings. Number then the average IndyCar
race which has been around in some form for essentially, 70
years. That's a real problem.
And that's something that when you know, you're basically I
don't know. Why you would make the
determination that in the place where you're likely to gain the
most fans. But because it's around all the
time, the Indianapolis Marketplace, specifically
Central Indiana, when you're willing to forsake that for an
extra million dollars, in your pocket, that isn't a guarantee
that you'll get that million dollars.
The next year, that is incredibly short-sighted and
that to me is it's a real shame because it's a huge missed
opportunity. I completely agree.
Yeah. And you know, they're doing that
hundred days, it's also weird. They're doing on the CW, not on
Peacock, Throne streaming Network and it's, yeah, it's
very odd. I don't know.
I mean, I constantly find myself with IndyCar, wanting the best
for the series and for the drivers and wanting them to get
more more popular, be more present in the culture and it's
just, it always seems like they Alt to what they're comfortable
with which is we don't want to be the ones that killed a golden
egg laying goose and the golden egg laying Goose keeps giving
us, you know, whatever the gate is that we get on a, you know,
an IndyCar race at home. But what we end up with as a
result is down the road diminishing returns in terms of
who's interested in the circuit to begin with and at some point
you Have permanently banish yourself to, you know,
diminishing returns where you either have to put the race on
TV, at some point later or you're relying on trying to
develop interest in places where that interest just doesn't
exist. And I don't know if that's a
sound long-term strategy. We've seen it.
I mean, you know, there's been good races and Texas on the
herbal like in that, you know, people tried to get him back on
Pocono and the races were an awesome.
But it's like nobody shows up like this is where and I don't
know what the answer is for Indy car, but people are clamoring or
Always feels like people are pushing we want more ovals on
the schedule, and then an oval will pop up and say, hey, we got
Phoenix on there and then they're there for three years.
Nobody shows up, and they have to leave.
And I understand why, because, like no one's there, and there's
a sanctioning fee, and then it's like that's why they end up
defaulting to these, you know, Road and Street courses.
But especially Street courses, like in, you know, St, Pete and
Fort Lauderdale which are kind of bad races.
But it's like you can get 100,000 people.
They're just people kind of looking at cars and having a
cocktail. And the last thing I'll say on
this because we had to wrap up This is not a plea or a
statement coming. From two guys who are like,
well, you know, we just want to watch the race on television,
like both of us, go into the right.
Both of us are going to the race regardless like we're not, we're
not like, well, you know, we're just going to not pay attention
to the series. I just, I want it so that I'm
going to go to the race. I'll see, you know, I'll watch
the race in person. I'll do that.
Probably the rest of my life. You will too.
There's people that will never be exposed to it in central.
Indiana because they aren't given the opportunity to watch
it and they're not interested in watching a race where they've
already got the outcome. They already know who won by
8:00 when it's on, you know, Channel 6 or Channel 13, I guess
it is. Now like that's that's not a
reasonable thing to ask of somebody again in 2023.
Like would you say to somebody where you can't watch that
football game at home? But you can watch a tape delay.
Version of it eight hours later even though you already know who
won and who scored. And the thing that I'll say to
that you're missing here is like not you, but just like they're
missing is a part of what makes the race.
Great. At least for me is I love that
our Before the Race. Like the pageantry is unreal in
person. Like just, you know, I'm getting
Goosebumps thinking about like when they, when you have, you
know, again we don't know the number three hundred thousand
people talking milling, and then they come out and they play Taps
and the place just gets silent. Like I get goosebumps every
year. Amazing.
Like last year they used to the balloon release back home again
in Indiana. They now had the Firebirds
coming did like a. It's like there's so many pieces
set that are awesome. And I have a few friends in my
neighborhood of just are not from here and don't want, no,
they just pick out who won the race.
It's like, if it was on they might have it on.
They might see that because it's cool.
Kind of like I with the Derby, right?
Not, you know, I would watch it back.
That looks kind of cool to come out.
Blow the horn is like, I want to go do that.
Like same thing with like Clemson football, like I see him
run down, Howard's, rock it. Like I would like to go see that
sometime this, because I've seen it on TV, but no, but you're
perfectly, right? Like for an IndyCar race.
If you're not a race fan, you're not going to make well, I'm
gonna sit down and watch a for our race, very know the results
of like I barely do that. And I'm a huge fan of.
I go to the race that no one seemed like I want to see if you
know I want to see how Marcus Ericsson a guy who I'm not sure
if he talks like he's Ivan Drago.
Like I want to see how he won a race that no, it's, they're
missing that even just put the pageantry on to know because
anyway it's a bummer. I wish them.
Well, Um, I wish them a lot of luck too.
I just, yeah, I just, I don't know.
I, this is one of those where there this is a simple solution
and in 2023 that you're still making the decision that the
television audience is an adjunct to the in-person
audience. Yeah.
Just don't deal. Fence the app.
Like, it's right. Yeah.
You don't have to put it on broadcast, television, but stop
making it hard for people to find your stuff because as you
said that can turn them into To being attendees far more than
rumors that they haven't seen would make them go to the race.
That's, that's essentially the end-all be-all of itself.
Anyway, we'll probably gonna win.
Who do? I don't know.
I need to see qualifying first, so we'll it is what like side
note this year. It is wild that these issues are
still happening penske's the helmets.
Like he the place looks great. He's power coated all.
Yeah. Fences.
But it's like, but there isn't like the series seal We'll still
seems to be on an even footing and his team Team Penske is
like, fallen off the radar at the 5 I get it is like I wonder
what's going on there because it does feel like Rogers lost his
hand on the steering wheel. Well it kind of had to but look
I mean the there's up and down Cycles.
I mean you know 10 12 years ago Penske had kind of fallen off a
bit and it was it was either Andretti organ a c and and then
you know there was kind of a Resurgence, I mean these things
come and go in waves But how would, you know?
Because you watch the race here locally, anyway.
So that's that's going to wrap it up for us.
Well, I might do another Indy 500 podcast.
Some point here 8,500 recap for Roger Penske forever Penske.
Absolutely any way for Scott. I'm Galen thanks for joining us
here in Crimson cast. Thanks to our sponsors at home
field apparel. We'll be back, we'll catch you
folks on the flip side. So everybody