Comments on: Are All Racing Gimmicks Bad?

By: Oilpressure

Oilpressure — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:32:27 +0000

First of all – I’m not a reporter or a journalist, so good or bad reporting is not what I do. Second, this comment didn’t come from the post-race press conference. It was during the ABC broadcast immediately following the race and I quoted him practically verbatim. As I said, I am “assuming” he was talking GWC just as you are assuming he was talking track sweeping or single file re-starts.

I make no money from this site, so traffic generation is not really a concern of mine. I do this out of the love of the sport. I never try to pass myself off as a reporter or journalist. I offer my opinions, and that’s what I was doing here. Thanks for reading – GP

By: Peter T.

Peter T. — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:08:59 +0000

“I could have sworn that I heard him say … I can only assume…” Good blog work (traffic generation) – bad reporting.

Charlie was talking track sweeping or single file restarts, not GWC. You can read the post race press conference transcript for his exacts words. Pressdog has it if you can’t find it on Indycar.com:

http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/2012/07/notes-taken-during-the-2012-indycar-race-at-toronto.html#tp

By: John S.

John S. — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:47:25 +0000

Right. And, I think the safety of the drivers is the biggest reason not to go GWC. You have seen how some of these maniacs drive near the end of a race. Can you imagine the carnage and possible injuries, or worse?

From an owners’ perspective, I think they’d tell you the car parts are too expensive to risk it.

By: Mike Rice

Mike Rice — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:33:08 +0000

Savage Henry points out something that everyone should be thinking long and hard about re: GWC. Cup cars can beat and bang each other around without the complete likelihood of someone being pretty seriously injured. End of day and bottom line, we all love to see good hard racing but we all grieve when someone gets seriously injured or worse. Indy cars (as everyone here knows) can’t ‘beat and bang’ like fendered cars, and having any form of GWC in open wheel cars lends itself to having a lot of questions raised when it all turns very ugly for the sake of racing to the finish. The race is set at X number of miles. Keep it that way.

By: james t suel

james t suel — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:38:16 +0000

NOTHING SHOULD ARTIFICIALITY EFFECT THE OUTCOME OF A RACE!! I DO NOT WANT A GAME, A SHOW I WANT A PURE AUTO RACE .NO GIMMICKS THEY ARE B/S.

By: Ron Ford

Ron Ford — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:38:01 +0000

I can’t help but beiieve that the NASCAR decision to go to GWC finishes originated in some TV marketing meeting.

Not much different than mud wrestling.

By: Ron Ford

Ron Ford — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:19:27 +0000

GWC is gratuitous entertainment and does nothing for the sport. It is kind of like the difference between Olympic hockey and the NHL. The NHL fights drag on forever, give the fans a cheap thrill, but degrade the sport.

By: The Lapper

The Lapper — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:53:28 +0000

The teams have set the cars up to go 500 miles. Period. To extend that is ridiculous. Sometimes the driver is driving on fumes at the end and that is all a part of the race strategy. GWC is not a part of the race strategy nor should it ever be considered. By the way, 500 miles is THE number.

By: Savage Henry

Savage Henry — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:23:46 +0000

I think that Indycar racing should be a test of skill, not a test of luck. I think that the GWC finish brings a lot of luck into the picture, especially when someone who was running in 10th and totally out of it ends up winning because of a late yellow and carnage on the first GWC restart. That is great for NASCAR, because they’ve made it into a glorified demolition derby anyway. I don’t think it is right for Indycar. I’d like to see the winner achieve his/her result as an accomplishment of the entire race, not the last 2 laps.

I’m opinionated about the gimmicks. Part of me wants to be the purist and say “if someone wins by 3 laps and earns it, so be it” but I’m not sure I would want to watch a race like that. Anyway, here’s a quick rundown of my opinions: GWC finishes – no; push to pass – no, DRS (F1) – no, alternate tires – yes, double-file restarts – yes, depending on if the track layout is appropriate; twin races/qualifying races – yes, but improve the format (didn’t they already perfect that in sprint car racing 50 years ago?), competition cautions – HELL NO, randomly wetting down the racetrack – HELL NO.

By: Donald McElvain

Donald McElvain — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:06:54 +0000

Forget P2P, just give these guys 900hp.