2023 IndyCar News / Misc.

Well, they’re sticking with the old engines now and for the foreseeable future, just mated with the electric component in 2024. I guess they’ll still have more power but not available at all times from the ICE. I don’t think they were going to turn them fully loose on Texas and IMS but the rest of the schedule, and it probably would’ve been nice to see big horsepower back on the street and road courses that’s been missing for a while.

I’m not sure what the answer would be if one of the two pulled out but that’s a real consideration the series needs to take account of. Ultimately the failing of getting a third OEM is on the series, and not user the current ownership but many different people.

Unfortunately the available engine builders aren’t coming unless someone throw’s a check at them. Lotus paired with Judd but ultimately had no money, GM works with Ilmor, HPD does all their stuff in house. Would be nice to see what a Cosworth or Gibson could do but without someone paying for it 🤷‍♂️
 
It's really kind of frustrating to see the lack of interest in IndyCar by fans and manufacturers.
There's great racing most of the time, likeable and talented drivers from all over the world, yet TV viewership isn't any better than Xfinity.
For the manufacturers, F1 is where the money is so it's kind of understandable they're not gonna spend money on a national-level open wheel series with such a small following.
 
West said:
It was an actual rival to F1 until the IRL split of 1994 ... the whole thing west south from there on, and never recovered.
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Completely self inflicted. Look at how IMSA and the ACO resolved their supposed "split." The difference in the split years and the result are far, far different because everyone in sportscars wanted to work together all along. I've seen this first hand when Panoz and Edmondson we sharing a laugh about something at the Rolex. Everyone hated the split in sportscars, but not each other, which is what made reconciliation so seamless and easy.

Don Panoz and Roger Edmondson were on each other's speed dial. They made every effort to avoid scheduling conflicts so teams could race both series or interfere with each other's telecasts. It was two series going about different ways to help the sport, and when that didn't work they realized they all had to be together. There were no bankruptcy hearings or trash talk. The sportscar split is an example of what happens when everyone pulls together. IMSA even retained much of the ALMS staff. It was the perfect opportunity to have all the best people forge the way forward.

Of course, there were dumbass fans who spewed a lot of internet crap, but the series, teams and drivers in sportscars managed to avoid that, which cleared the way for the convergence.

Going way back, US sportscar racing split from the FIA because Big Bill saw all the chaos in international sportscar racing, set up, and financed John Bishop to form in IMSA starting in 1973. The two factions stayed apart except for the Group C rules, and IMSA adopted those with the major exception of using BOP (which was not called that then) instead of a fuel consumption formula. There were other differences, but they were so close you could race a 962 here and overseas. Some of the early Aston Martins and other Group C cars like the Mirage made minor changes and raced here. That worked like a charm for everyone, and provided a clue that we all really needed to be all racing the same cars today.

When Group C and GTP failed almost simultaneously, we were treated to GTP cars with the roofs whacked off for a few years, then the Grand American/ALMS split. Meanwhile, LMP1 failed so many times, and IMSA was so lame, and the Daytona Prototypes so unpopular that something had to be done, and I believe they did the right thing.

I'm sure someone will blow it all up, or then again, maybe we will see so much success from everyone that no one will get any big ideas to "improve" things.
 
CW programming is aimed at 14-25 year olds. If that can make a difference in getting young people interested, that would be a good thing.
 
Kiante said:
NASCAR has deals with iRacing and MS Games.

Idk why IndyCar can't do something similar.
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If a Motorsport Games IndyCar console product even DOES release, considering the evergreen financial issues they have…signing an exclusivity deal with a sketchy company, what happens if a year later you’re **** out of luck without a PC sim to fall back on? This has major disaster potential.
 
Shwartzman would be a great replacement in the 10 in 2024, solid junior career.

Seems like Sting Ray Robb has a good chance at getting one of the final two seats at Juncos or Coyne.

 
West said:
“We’re not here to make a racing series,” Salters said. “We’re here to promote through a racing series. But we’re not here to make the racing series. That’s not our job. That’s somebody else’s job. We’re here to support it, but only if it gives us something back. And we have to also show a return on investment, and that needs to be people watching.”
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Doc Austin said:
Manufactures looking to get whatever they can while not really caring if they leave a trail of destruction behind them.
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Sorry, I don't have a problem with the statement. As he says, that's not the manufacturers' job. They've all always had their own motivations. If those line up with the sanctioning bodies, great. If not, the OEMs' job is to look out for Number One.

See also sponsors.
 
This is huge.

Mike Cannon is joining Foyt.
www.foytracing.com

Full Steam Ahead for AJ Foyt Racing

INDIANAPOLIS (January 6, 2023) -- AJ Foyt Racing is pushing full steam ahead into 2023. New faces in new places were capped off by highly respected veteran engineer Michael Cannon joining the team this year. Cannon will lead the team's race engineers Daniele Cucchiaroni and Roberto Garcia along...
www.foytracing.com www.foytracing.com
 
AuzGrams said:
2024 schedule rumors?
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The most likely to be added are probably Milwaukee or the Thermal Club in California, where Spring Training is happening early next month.

The other candidates to be added by 2026, if they add one each from 2024-2026, seem to be a Denver street race and Richmond.
 
FLRacingFan said:
The most likely to be added are probably Milwaukee or the Thermal Club in California, where Spring Training is happening early next month.

The other candidates to be added by 2026, if they add one each from 2024-2026, seem to be a Denver street race and Richmond.
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That means no speedways besides Indy and (hopefully) Texas for years to come?:(
 
FLRacingFan said:
The most likely to be added are probably Milwaukee or the Thermal Club in California, where Spring Training is happening early next month.

The other candidates to be added by 2026, if they add one each from 2024-2026, seem to be a Denver street race and Richmond.
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Seems decent but Thermal Club seems…….. interestingly odd.
 
donthaveanickname said:
That means no speedways besides Indy and (hopefully) Texas for years to come?:(
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I wouldn’t say anything is imminent, Chicagoland was a consideration a few years ago before it more or less got shut down and NASCAR was reported in ‘21 to shoot down a race agreement with Homestead-Miami for ‘22 that would’ve also included Spring Training on both the oval and roval. Things can always change but there’s nothing really in the cards right now.
 
AuzGrams said:
Seems decent but Thermal Club seems…….. interestingly odd.
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Yeah, it’s a private club but the word is that they’ll be prepared to accommodate fans if they wind up with a race eventually. I’d imagine they can comfortably pay the sanctioning fee and everyone involved sees it as a big B2B opportunity.

I’ve never seen much of it myself but I think they’re working on putting together a Peacock stream for Spring Training next month.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Yeah, it’s a private club but the word is that they’ll be prepared to accommodate fans if they wind up with a race eventually. I’d imagine they can comfortably pay the sanctioning fee and everyone involved sees it as a big B2B opportunity.

I’ve never seen much of it myself but I think they’re working on putting together a Peacock stream for Spring Training next month.
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It's interesting depending on layout

Screenshot_20230107_182859_Maps.jpg
 
FLRacingFan said:
Yeah, it’s a private club but the word is that they’ll be prepared to accommodate fans if they wind up with a race eventually. I’d imagine they can comfortably pay the sanctioning fee and everyone involved sees it as a big B2B opportunity.

I’ve never seen much of it myself but I think they’re working on putting together a Peacock stream for Spring Training next month.
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It’s…… interesting at least. Don’t know why I was all mad in the earlier post haha dang but it seems like a strange market (Coachella Valley) that seems to be growing a bit.
 
This place would sell out every year, and have a legit spot with fans from Vancouver/Seattle 👍
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AuzGrams said:
It’s…… interesting at least. Don’t know why I was all mad in the earlier post haha dang but it seems like a strange market (Coachella Valley) that seems to be growing a bit.
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I think part of is worry over future development in Long Beach that may wind up forcing out the GP eventually. Thermal Club is pretty much its own thing out there.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I think part of is worry over future development in Long Beach that may wind up forcing out the GP eventually. Thermal Club is pretty much its own thing out there.
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I couldn't imagine IndyCar without the Long Beach GP. Definitely the race with the most prestige outside of the Indy 500.

Never heard of Thermal Springs until yesterday. It's one of these exclusive club racetracks like Ascari and Bilster Berg but the layout looks far more interesting than most of the Hermann Tilke tracks.
I'd prefer a return to Pikes Peak Raceway over another street race at Denver.
 
Why are tickets to Indy Car so expensive? Or does it just depend on the track. Last year, I thought about going to Iowa Speedway, but ticket prices were outrageous. Looked at going this year, and they aren't any cheaper. The cheapest seat I could find is $231 for Saturday and $239 for Sunday.

Edit: I just look at Texas, and tickets are as low as $35! Perhaps since Iowa Speedway doesn't have near as many seats, they charge much more for tickets? Supply and demand I guess.
 
Brentford said:
Why are tickets to Indy Car so expensive? Or does it just depend on the track. Last year, I thought about going to Iowa Speedway, but ticket prices were outrageous. Looked at going this year, and they aren't any cheaper. The cheapest seat I could find is $231 for Saturday and $239 for Sunday.

Edit: I just look at Texas, and tickets are as low as $35! Perhaps since Iowa Speedway doesn't have near as many seats, they charge much more for tickets? Supply and demand I guess.
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Iowa is the priciest ticket on the schedule because HyVee and Penske are putting up big bucks for all the music acts they’re bringing in. Last year was a great event, but I doubt it will be sustainable unless some drastic changes are made.

racer.com

PRUETT: IndyCar's Iowa price hike is a massive gamble

A diehard IndyCar fan wanted to share his love of the series with his girlfriend, so they set their sights on attending the inaugural Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway last summer. It would…
racer.com racer.com
 
FLRacingFan said:
Iowa is the priciest ticket on the schedule because HyVee and Penske are putting up big bucks for all the music acts they’re bringing in. Last year was a great event, but I doubt it will be sustainable unless some drastic changes are made.

racer.com

PRUETT: IndyCar's Iowa price hike is a massive gamble

A diehard IndyCar fan wanted to share his love of the series with his girlfriend, so they set their sights on attending the inaugural Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway last summer. It would…
racer.com racer.com
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Thanks for the link! I did see that some big music acts were on the schedule, but I guess silly me thought that was going to be more of a bonus rather than a way to apparently charge much more for a ticket. As the article states, it absolutely seems more like a music festival with a bonus race rather than a race with a bonus concert. If their goal is to attract more fans, I wish them the best, but I certainly can't imagine a casual race fan paying those prices.
 
Ticket prices at Portland are very reasonable in my opinion but I don't like the paddock price. $70 for a 3 day pass. Ridiculous but I have to get them as there's so much to see over there.
 
Brentford said:
Thanks for the link! I did see that some big music acts were on the schedule, but I guess silly me thought that was going to be more of a bonus rather than a way to apparently charge much more for a ticket. As the article states, it absolutely seems more like a music festival with a bonus race rather than a race with a bonus concert. If their goal is to attract more fans, I wish them the best, but I certainly can't imagine a casual race fan paying those prices.
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The Indy 500 tickets remaining go for $60-130 for reserved seats, so you could comfortably go to the biggest race (not factoring in travel/accommodations) for less. Gateway would also be a lot more doable ($50-108).
 
Brentford said:
Why are tickets to Indy Car so expensive? Or does it just depend on the track. Last year, I thought about going to Iowa Speedway, but ticket prices were outrageous. Looked at going this year, and they aren't any cheaper. The cheapest seat I could find is $231 for Saturday and $239 for Sunday.

Edit: I just look at Texas, and tickets are as low as $35! Perhaps since Iowa Speedway doesn't have near as many seats, they charge much more for tickets? Supply and demand I guess.
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$230 for an IndyCar race is insane. Only F1 is more expensive than that and AFAIK even NASCAR tickets are often less than $100.
I don't think combining races with concerts is a bad thing but there should be separate tickets for both events.
This is gonna be a desaster .
 
Kiante said:
Augustin Canapino will be the second driver for JHR:

No time in open wheel racing, his transition will be an interesting one.
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Yeah, I’m pretty skeptical of this. He’s bringing good funding but I think when you’re expanding - especially with a young driver like Ilott already in the fold - you gotta go with a proven program builder. I’m hoping for the best, but it’s a big transition from being successful in Argentinian stock/touring cars.

I think a good season would be if he keeps out of everyone’s way (especially on ovals), brings it home every week, and Juncos use that money to build up the second team while searching for sponsorship for 2024. At some point they’re gonna need big external funding to make the next big step.
 
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