IRL fans seem to think that if Champ Car goes away, the IRL will grow.

Well lets just take an unscientific poll.

Are you a Champ Car fan or IRL fan?

If the series you currently favor were to disappear, would you become a fan
of the competing series or become an ex fan?

My answer Champ Car and ex fan.

Mark B wrote:


I'm a race fan and a Champ Car fan. Without Champ Car, I would not
become an IRL fan.

Why?

There is no coherence to the IRL racing program. They seem to race
where they can instead of creating a racing series. They just have no
identity or niche they can effectively fill. Their only objective seems
to be to defeat Champ Car. So if I'm a Champ Car fan, why would I be an
IRL fan?

Mark B wrote:
While I tend to favor Champ Car more, I wouldn't describe myself as
committed to either camp. There are some races I like from each series,
and some that I dislike from each series. Same with teams and drivers.

If one were to fail I probably wouldn't change much of my view of the
other. Neither series is healthy, and neither completely provides what
I'd really like to see in American Open Wheel racing.

--
forty

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and
mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” - Ernest Hemingway

Mark B wrote:
Champ Car fan

I would not follow the IRL. Even if they were to race at Road America
(hallowed ground for me), I would not go

I am a racing fan, so I'd continue to watch F1, ALMS, sports
cars...etc..

Would not watch Nascar either.

If CC did not exist, maybe 10% of the fan base might follow the IRL,
but who really knows..

If Champ car were to go away (which I doubt will happen), I'm an
ex-fan.
Already had to do that with the
Indy 500, which I went to for many years until the birth of the IRL.

Thanks to the IRL, the Indy 500 has lost prestige and intensity,
crowd interest, TV ratings, and any formula for unique engine entries
(heck, the last one was all Hondas). The IRL disconnected Indy from
what had been well attended races at Long Beach, Phoenix, Mid Ohio,
Toronto, etc., causing some to disappear or struggle for attendance.
None of the new venues the IRL put out there has come close to
the kind of consistent attendance that, for example, Phoenix had in
the CART years.

No IRL for me, thanks.

-Sterling
---------------------------------


Mark B wrote:

Mark B wrote:

I am a CC fan.

Having said that, while I am certainly no fan of boy George and his
kool-aide chugging minions, I am first and foremost a motor sports fan.
I watch nearly all of the IRL races. I may watch some of them at Tivo
x2 speed, but I do watch them. I even look forward to the road courses.
While I don't enjoy ovals as much as road courses, I still get a big
thrill from Indy, but wish the two series could just agree once a year.


Like I stated earlier, I would watch them race, but would miss CC very
much.

Your question smacks of when Earnhardt died and many fans said they
would quit watching racing or when Toyota starts next year and many
have vowed to flee. I am a motor sports fan and enjoy racing and don't
enjoy the political slant of racing.

I am very much on your side of the split and wish it had never
happened, but in the end when a race is on the tube, I tune in and
enjoy most forms of motor sport.

"Lenny" <haysooce (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Oh I will watch racing, but not the IRL. Alms, Swamp buggies, the
occasional sprint car race, ARCA, and now I actually perfer the trucks to
cup. Yet I will be an EX OPEN wheel fan at least at the top level.

The speedway has always counted on people following the series over when he
force CC out of business. Well there is another choice and its to turn off
the tv and keep the dollars you spent on race tickets in your pocket.

Mark B wrote:


What? No F1 -- The Peril of Motorsports ;-)

I haven't been to the Speedway since '91, except for the F1 races, so I
am with you there.

"Mark B" <none (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote

IRL fan and Champ Car fan.

"Lenny" <haysooce (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

F1 I MIGHT start watching again, but honestly not too likely. It ain't
racing, but politics. I quit when Michael S took out JV in attempt to get a
title he didn't earn, (wouldn't have been the first time either) and to see
the FIA do nothing to him. Leaving his wins and taking the points was no
punishment.

Nothing in the years since have given me any cause to change my opinion.
Comentators joke about to check if something is legal, go see if Ferrrari is
running it. If so its ok, if not it likely either is illegal or will be.
The only thing is they aren't really joking. The US grand prix mess could
have been avoided race day but for one team that got a pass. This years
attempt to skew the results involve the mass aero damper as a moveable
aerodynamic device, even though its buried inside the carbon fiber of the
car.

Its a shame in that a series could be far better. The talent is there. The
money is there. The technology is there. The FIA is so messed up that it
has no creditability and its so bad that even Vegas won't take a bet on an
F1 race. When I hear through the news that other teams are greeted with a
win the same as a Ferrari win, then I might watch again, but then again
that's not likely to happen.