2019 IndyCar Miscellaneous

Quoted from the 2018 discussion:
I think we all assumed one reason Kurt was going to Ganassi is that he'd have shots at the other series Chip participates in.

Go for it, Kurt; both sports would benefit from someone doing the Memorial Day Double again. If McMurray is going to be hanging around CGRWFS anyway, he can practice the Cup #1 car while Kurt's tied up in May. Heck, if Kurt wins, put Jamie in the #1 for the 600.
 
are Road America and Mid Ohio big money races, or are those races that DragonSpeed thinks they are best suited to race I wonder. It looks like they like the twisties looking at the other tracks they are entered in the other series they are part timing it in.
 
are Road America and Mid Ohio big money races, or are those races that DragonSpeed thinks they are best suited to race I wonder. It looks like they like the twisties looking at the other tracks they are entered in the other series they are part timing it in.
Initially they said they were looking at Long Beach, Portland, and Sonoma (now Laguna Seca). I think they opted for Barber instead of Long Beach to get ready one week earlier for the WEC race at Spa in the beginning of May, and then went for Road America and Mid-Ohio over the summer instead of Portland and Laguna because the 2019-2020 WEC season starts at Silverstone a few weeks earlier than first expected (September 1st). Portland and Silverstone are a direct conflict too.
 
"I'm dissapointed in the sport because money talks."

Sounds like that's the most important lesson he's learned.

IMHO I like Kaiser (drives for Juncos), but in the Lights series Carlin, Andretti, and at the time Juncos were the powerhouses in the field. Belardi while a solid team has nowhere near the budget of those teams. I feel if Urritta was given a shot in one of those cars, this story would be completely different from him leaving. To think Ferrucci has a full-time ride with a mediocre track record and his recent troubles...

Its business, but damn he would be a great addition with one of the big name teams. Just a shame he won't be back IMHO.
 
I guess I can't be too surprised, three years in Lights and never won the title...not much point in sticking around any longer. It sucks though, he could be quick even if a little hard on his equipment sometimes, but a good driver overall IMO. If more people cared about Lights they would've made a bigger stink over a new European team coming over (Carlin) and employing team orders to get Jones the championship over Santi. And Santi also had to watch other guys who didn't win Lights make it to IndyCar - like Veach, ZCD, and Leist.

Sucks he's leaving, but there are a lot of good series on this planet and I think he can find one that makes sense for him at this point. Vautier did not have a track record much different from Santi's and he went over to Europe and began building a good career out of sports cars.
 
Hopefully this is not at the expense of Chip's team...would be far from good timing for them.

 
OTA races are Indy GP, Indy 500, Detroit 1, Detroit 2, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Laguna Seca

I always think two races at Detroit broadcast OTA is one more than necessary but I also don't have to answer to Roger Penske...also, only one oval OTA. I would've liked to have seen Pocono and St. Pete on NBC.

INDYCAR announces ‘robust’ TV schedule with exclusive partner NBC Sports Group
https://www.indycar.com/News/2019/01/01-09-TV-schedule-release
 
I guess my main question of this 2019 schedule is why no Road to Indy classes at the Barber Alabama weekend ?
Really enjoyed seeing these young up and coming drivers. Oh well, glad I got to see them so many times
in the past . I will probably scratch that weekend off my " Hope to go " list for this year.
 
I guess my main question of this 2019 schedule is why no Road to Indy classes at the Barber Alabama weekend ?
Really enjoyed seeing these young up and coming drivers. Oh well, glad I got to see them so many times
in the past . I will probably scratch that weekend off my " Hope to go " list for this year.
That...is a good question. I hadn't noticed that before. It looks like they'll have F3 Americas (I think they had 3 full-time drivers in 2018...), Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Mazda MX-5 Cup, and Porsche GT3 Cup USA. https://barberracingevents.com/honda-indy-grand-prix/event-schedule/

I'd have to say it's on the Andersen Promotions side (group that runs Road to Indy) and not on the race's side, because they want all the good content they can get and F3 Americas is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

As I look now it looks like they may have dropped Barber for COTA on the Lights level and Barber for Laguna Seca on the Pro 2000 level.
 
NTT named IndyCar Series title sponsor, official technology partner for INDYCAR, IMS
https://www.indycar.com/News/2019/01/01-15-NTT-entitlement-sponsor-announcement

NTT has a 150-year history in technology and communications, dating to its roots in 1869 when the telegraph was first introduced in Japan. NTT was established in 1952 as a government-owned corporation and privatized in 1985. The company is globally a top-five IT services provider and generates more than $106 billion in annual revenue. NTT DATA, a U.S.-based NTT subsidiary headquartered in Plano, Texas, has been a sponsor with Chip Ganassi Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series since 2013.

Under the new agreement, INDYCAR and NTT will partner to deliver digital innovations for sanctioning body INDYCAR and its events. This includes evolution of the INDYCAR mobile application and integration of NTT’s proprietary Smart Platform to support the most diverse and challenging series in motorsports and its racing venues.

“NTT is proud to be associated with INDYCAR and accelerate the future of smart racing,” said Jun Sawada, president and CEO of NTT. “Technological innovations have the potential to change the sport and fan experience drastically.

“NTT, along with our partners, aims to bring the Smart World to life as we have done for Smart City, Smart Entertainment, Smart Mobility and Smart Manufacturing. Based on our lengthy and successful experience, including work in mobile applications, analytics and user experience, we will help to create the next generation of fans globally who aspire to enjoy racing through a more digital experience with INDYCAR.”
 
I like that new series logo, it's a clean and classic look overall. Mostly I like it because the weird NTT logo is muted and I barely notice it. What is that thing supposed to be?

It is odd to have a title sponsor with little name recognition that is not a consumer brand, but hopefully this can be a beneficial tech and B2B partnership.
 
I like that new series logo, it's a clean and classic look overall. Mostly I like it because the weird NTT logo is muted and I barely notice it. What is that thing supposed to be?

It is odd to have a title sponsor with little name recognition that is not a consumer brand, but hopefully this can be a beneficial tech and B2B partnership.

Maybe NTT is banking on the consistent upswing with IndyCar? Its been a slow, but constant budding interest in IndyCar. The series continue to get better and I hope this leads to more international opportunities for the sport.
 
Maybe NTT is banking on the consistent upswing with IndyCar? Its been a slow, but constant budding interest in IndyCar. The series continue to get better and I hope this leads to more international opportunities for the sport.
I'm interested to see how they improve the digital side of the sport...I never used the app as it was always behind the Verizon paywall I think. Surely their experience in analytics can help from an engagement/marketing perspective as well. Sounds like they really want to be here which is a great thing.
 
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of making it easier to follow in dirty air this year.

IndyCar to offer more rear wing options at superspeedway races
https://racer.com/2019/01/17/indycar-to-offer-more-rear-wing-options-at-superspeedway-races/

ir18_32a.jpg
 
Maybe this is where the Wherlein rumors come into play?
Could certainly be. I think that'd be a great way to measure just where exactly Carlin actually are at the moment as a team - it's hard to take much away from their performance with just Chilton and Kimball in the cars.
 
I'm interested to see how they improve the digital side of the sport...I never used the app as it was always behind the Verizon paywall I think. Surely their experience in analytics can help from an engagement/marketing perspective as well. Sounds like they really want to be here which is a great thing.

I always wondered about how people watch the race on their cell phones. Am I able to watch the race on my Verizon cell phone? How much does it cost to do this? If I'm on the monthly plan and pay monthly, do they just take the payment from the money that I put on the payment plan?

Thanks
 
I always wondered about how people watch the race on their cell phones. Am I able to watch the race on my Verizon cell phone? How much does it cost to do this? If I'm on the monthly plan and pay monthly, do they just take the payment from the money that I put on the payment plan?

Thanks
I never really tried the app because most of the good stuff was behind the Verizon paywall. If you want to watch the normal broadcast on your phone now though it'll just be streamed on the NBC Sports app, which you can use with your usual TV subscription login. I imagine most of the 'enhanced' stuff on the series app will be available for free thanks to NTT now (I hope).

Did you get St. Pete tickets yet? I saw single-day tickets went on sale today and where I sat last year (Turn 1) was already sold out. :eek:
 
I always wondered about how people watch the race on their cell phones. Am I able to watch the race on my Verizon cell phone? How much does it cost to do this? If I'm on the monthly plan and pay monthly, do they just take the payment from the money that I put on the payment plan?

Thanks
On my tablet I use the NBC Sports app. It logs on using my Dish Network account; access is included as part of my Dish subscription.
 
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