IndyCar: 2021 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

FLRacingFan said:
Detroit is still around. The Edmonton airport was decommissioned and has some sort of community being developed on top of it now.

One year is too soon to write off an event entirely. 110,000 fans over three days and 50,000+ on race day is a better start than a lot of street course races have had. The Tennessean reported the local NBCSN TV rating was higher than it was for the Cup race at the Superspeedway two months ago. If they can work out the kinks - and there were a lot, including not having one grandstand built until Sunday morning - it has a chance at living beyond this three-year sanctioning agreement.

I thought the Cup race was the best of the weekend too but Cup at The Glen will always be tough to beat.
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Have you ever thought about getting into sports journalism?

You’re a wealth of info, son.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Detroit is still around. The Edmonton airport was decommissioned and has some sort of community being developed on top of it now.

One year is too soon to write off an event entirely. 110,000 fans over three days and 50,000+ on race day is a better start than a lot of street course races have had. The Tennessean reported the local NBCSN TV rating was higher than it was for the Cup race at the Superspeedway two months ago. If they can work out the kinks - and there were a lot, including not having one grandstand built until Sunday morning - it has a chance at living beyond this three-year sanctioning agreement.

I thought the Cup race was the best of the weekend too but Cup at The Glen will always be tough to beat.
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I thought CART raced a year or two on the F1 circuit that went through downtown Detroit and then went to Belle Isle later. I didn’t know that about Edmonton, Lmao your post is awesome I tip my hat. I always learn when we interact.
 
Snappy D said:
I thought CART raced a year or two on the F1 circuit that went through downtown Detroit and then went to Belle Isle later. I didn’t know that about Edmonton, Lmao your post is awesome I tip my hat. I always learn when we interact.
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Ah, yeah, didn't know you meant the old downtown Detroit circuit. They did do that for a few years, but it went bust pretty quick. Belle Isle has been pretty stable for a while since Penske took over as promoter and there's GM involvement both on the Indy and sports car side there. St. Pete had a pretty poor history with racing events until IndyCar came about 15 years ago and it quickly became a staple, I think this group sees a lot of the same untapped potential in a growing market. A lot of heavy hitters are involved in the ownership/promoter group which is more encouraging compared to a lot of the failed events.
 
1628591449406.png

Who remembers?
fixing " The Great Train Track Jump of Baltimore 2012 "

Nashville is such a desireable profitable market that the sanction and promoters
will do everything to make this endeavor successful. This race was 10 times
more entertaing(albiet a caution fest) than running the show at the trioval.
A few things to improve after the Inaugural event but this thing looks
like a winner.
 
Zerkfitting said:
I miss the Cleveland airport, it was probably too bumpy but the wide open corners allowed multiple lines through a corner.
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that place, Milwaukee and Surfer's Paradise are my favorite CART Tracks ever.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Massive cable number for IndyCar, unheard of in the 21st century.

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Clearly the answer is to immediately follow the Cup Series every week. In many ways, such a missed opportunity. I don't think the entirety of the race was as bad as some are stating. However, the first third was a clown show, and that set an impression that was hard to shake.

Debates about the overall makeup of the schedule are a separate issue. IMO nobody who is rooting for the IndyCar Series to succeed should be rooting for the failure of the event. Nor can you look at that crowd and seriously contend that they should have been racing at one of Nashville's ovals instead. Whether they can sustain that level of interest and enthusiasm is unknown, but the main challenge is to get their product in front of interested viewers to start.
 
gnomesayin said:
IMO nobody who is rooting for the IndyCar Series to succeed should be rooting for the failure of the event.
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I don't think anyone here was actively rooting for this to fail. But as far as the racing itself went, how can this be considered anything else?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't think anyone here was actively rooting for this to fail. But as far as the racing itself went, how can this be considered anything else?
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First third was an embarrassment, second third was decent, last third was pretty good and could have been very good if Herta had been able to keep the car underneath him.
 
The race is in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Party time.

That’s the whole point of the exercise.
 
aunty dive said:
The race is in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Party time.

That’s the whole point of the exercise.
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I will never comprehend going to an event you have absolutely no interest in just because other people are, especially if you have to pay to be there. I'm not passing judgement, I just don't get it.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I will never comprehend going to an event you have absolutely no interest in just because other people are, especially if you have to pay to be there. I'm not passing judgement, I just don't get it.
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welp, there are Extroverts and Introverts :idunno: I imagine most of the people that were there could never see themselves sitting in a chair with a pair of binoculars peering excidely at a rare South American Yak
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I will never comprehend going to an event you have absolutely no interest in just because other people are, especially if you have to pay to be there. I'm not passing judgement, I just don't get it.
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I agree 100%. Along the same lines, I don't get people who go to a race just to get drunk. Stay home and drink, it's a LOT cheaper, and safer. At the first Brickyard, the two guys sitting next to us drank so much beer before the race started, and then during it, they spent (I swear to God) 75% of the race in the line for the restroom. What the hell is the point? They paid Tony George $75 to use his bathroom. Back on topic, If it takes a block party to get people to come see a race, maybe we should forget the whole sport. Put out a good product and let it speak for itself. It's like going to Dodger Stadium for the hot dogs.........
 
StandOnIt said:
welp, there are Extroverts and Introverts :idunno: I imagine most of the people that were there could never see themselves sitting in a chair with a pair of binoculars peering excidely at a rare South American Yak
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I couldn't see them doing that either if they had no previous interest.
 
StandOnIt said:
welp, there are Extroverts and Introverts :idunno: I imagine most of the people that were there could never see themselves sitting in a chair with a pair of binoculars peering excidely at a rare South American Yak
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I couldn't see them sitting out there either, if they had no previous interest.

I =assume= most of the people out there Sunday aren't race fans. I say that because it was certainly a larger crowd than attended the NASCAR events at the oval earlier this year. So what's the draw? I'm not saying there's anything right or wrong here, just that I don't get it. Why put up with ticket fees, parking fees, heat, port-a-johns, overpriced food, the hassle of getting there and getting away; all for a form of entertainment you don't already care about (and frankly, can't see much of)?

Is there some attraction I'm missing, something beyond simply "Everyone will be there!"?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I couldn't see them sitting out there either, if they had no previous interest.

I =assume= most of the people out there Sunday aren't race fans. I say that because it was certainly a larger crowd than attended the NASCAR events at the oval earlier this year. So what's the draw? I'm not saying there's anything right or wrong here, just that I don't get it. Why put up with ticket fees, parking fees, heat, port-a-johns, overpriced food, the hassle of getting there and getting away; all for a form of entertainment you don't already care about (and frankly, can't see much of)?

Is there some attraction I'm missing, something beyond simply "Everyone will be there!"?
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Plenty of people go to other sporting events despite having only a casual interest too. Go see some different stuff that only comes to the area once a year - Stadium Super Trucks, GT racing, Indy - go check out the live music stages, cross the pedestrian bridge and go visit downtown for a reprieve if you need. I don’t think it’s super complicated. If it were as easy as sending people 30 miles out into the boonies, opening the gates and having people bake in the stands for two hours and then sending them home, there’d be a lot racing series doing better right now.
 
Then there's all the people who went to the race for free because they got corporate passes. I see it all the time at the Portland race. There's a bunch of people around us with various tickets hanging around their necks for free everything. Parking, food, program, backpack, shirt, hat, you name it. They're usually facing away from the track jabbering about this and that and have no interest in the race after the initial start.

Most likely plenty of people went to Nashville because it was a new thing but I'll bet there were a lot of sponsor and corporate people too. The interesting thing will be how many come back next year.
 
Tony_K said:
Then there's all the people who went to the race for free because they got corporate passes. I see it all the time at the Portland race. There's a bunch of people around us with various tickets hanging around their necks for free everything. Parking, food, program, backpack, shirt, hat, you name it. They're usually facing away from the track jabbering about this and that and have no interest in the race after the initial start.

Most likely plenty of people went to Nashville because it was a new thing but I'll bet there were a lot of sponsor and corporate people too. The interesting thing will be how many come back next year.
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I no longer live in Portland and will miss the GP for the first time, but I'm curious how attendance holds up in the third year for the event. Delta isn't making it easy, but you're right that much of it has to do with corporate support.
 
Formerjackman said:
Everything about that race reminds me why I despise street racing so much. The difference between the REAL road race today at Watkins Glen and this farce is striking.
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Street races can be OK, but Cotman has a record of pickining, or approving crap tracks. Rememeber Houston where the bullet proof Audis were beating gthemselves on the bumps?

Formerjackman said:
I don't even want to try to imagine how bad the Cup cars would suck on a track like this.
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I just hope IMSA doesn't try to race there. We destroy enough cars at Long Beach.

Formerjackman said:
The fact that are there are TWO perfectly good race tracks in Nashville and somebody thought this was a good idea just escapes me.
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Isn't there a 1.5 there we used to race on? I don't see what would be wrong with that except maybe not enough people would go.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I will never comprehend going to an event you have absolutely no interest in just because other people are, especially if you have to pay to be there. I'm not passing judgement, I just don't get it.
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long beach has all ways been this way.not many race fans but allot of people show up
 
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