Official: No 16th race

[Racing Truth]

Linky-dinky. (http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/06-June/6-25-IICS-2012-schedule-update) I still think the series/Board weren't going to risk running a race at a loss. Potentially short-sighted, though an event put together in 8 wks, even with ALMS there, likely had a high risk, low reward ratio.

Also, Fontana now 500 miles.

[SurfaceUnits]

whaT HAppended to that PLan B he had all figured out in his gourd?

Let's go back and see how eggcited RT was aboot PLan b

Will this be the official 16th Race Futility Thread

[Racing Truth]

Yep, I'll admit RB looks bad in talking about Plan B, then not doing it. Might, might, be the right call, but looks bad.

[SurfaceUnits]

IMS doesn't think the remnants of TOneys' racing league is worth another date

[stroker]

One less date of massive suckage. I'd say that's a pretty good day for humanity.

[Gnam]

It was smart to announce the decision after this weekend's race. Wouldn't want any potential ticket buyers to get the wrong impression of Indycar in a breakout year.

Was there a press conference or did Randy Bernard update his facebook page?

[cameraman]

whaT HAppended to that PLan B he had all figured out in his gourd?

Plan B was 15 races.

[Ed_Severson]

There is no shortage of bad businessmen in the world. Amazingly, they almost all work in motorsports. I'm sure they can find another iceberg hunter after the rodeo clown bombs out.

[SurfaceUnits]

Can one of you jeanyusses explain "entitlement partner" to us. Apparently they are no longer called title sponsors :gomer:

[cameraman]

Can one of you jeanyusses explain "entitlement partner" to us.

I thought that was the self-image of your college-aged children.

[SteveH]

Official: no one will notice

[Methanolandbrats]

There is no shortage of bad businessmen in the world. Amazingly, they almost all work in motorsports. I'm sure they can find another iceberg hunter after the rodeo clown bombs out.

Wall Street.

[Racing Truth]

There is no shortage of bad businessmen in the world. Amazingly, they almost all work in motorsports. I'm sure they can find another iceberg hunter after the rodeo clown bombs out.

And that's the problem. The easy answer is "get a racing guy!" Digging deeper, though, the question is WHO? Who hasn't flamed out running something, been tainted by something over the split, etc already?

The big mistake here was promising a Plan B, then getting nothing. In the end, it might be the right call to not replace it, but a) China was a mistake from the start, IMHO and b) don't seem to promise Plan B.

It was, though, VERY SMART of them to then announce Fontana as a 500-miler at the same time. Took a little sting out of it and provided a distraction of sorts. IMHO.

[SteveH]

The big mistake here was promising a Plan B, then getting nothing.

That was a massive error. Credability is at stake. Good thing he is not representing a publicly owned company.

[Ed_Severson]

The big mistake here was promising a Plan B, then getting nothing. In the end, it might be the right call to not replace it, but a) China was a mistake from the start, IMHO and b) don't seem to promise Plan B.

It was, though, VERY SMART of them to then announce Fontana as a 500-miler at the same time. Took a little sting out of it and provided a distraction of sorts. IMHO.

I respectfully disagree. They should have pulled the plug on Qingdao six months ago and had something lined up to replace it by May. The big mistake was waiting until it was beyond too late to even begin thinking about an alternative, and then being dumb enough to ask the two venues who reached out to help them for money.

Now they have absolutely nothing but a smoldering hole in the schedule, and it doesn't do anybody any good to not race. Adding 100 miles to a race that already existed after this mess is like treating a sunburn with a band-aid. It accomplishes nothing.

[Racing Truth]

I respectfully disagree. They should have pulled the plug on Qingdao six months ago and had something lined up to replace it by May. The big mistake was waiting until it was beyond too late to even begin thinking about an alternative, and then being dumb enough to ask the two venues who reached out to help them for money.

Now they have absolutely nothing but a smoldering hole in the schedule, and it doesn't do anybody any good to not race. Adding 100 miles to a race that already existed after this mess is like treating a sunburn with a band-aid. It accomplishes nothing.

Question, b/c I don't know: When did this new mayor assume office in Qingdao?

Agreed on the rest, though I think breaking the thinking that only Indy will be 500 miles is a bigger deal than it seems. Also think it might, marginally, help the gate.

EDIT: In terms of the silliness of asking for a sanctioning fee, imagine this convo:

RB (to Board): So, look, we need to replace Qingdao.
BOARD: (looking at numbers) We lost, uh, $8 mil. on this, right?
RB: Yes, yes, we did.
BOARD: How much can we make on a replacement?
RB: Wait, what?
BOARD: Well, we're not losing any more on this.
RB: So, it's agreed. 15 it is!

[NismoZ]

Oh, for Pete's SAKE! Just run Fontana as twin 250s and CALL it 16! Always here to help!:gomer:

[Ed_Severson]

February or March, not exactly sure. But this really has very little to do with the new mayor. There was literally zero information shared with the teams by IndyCar throughout the entire process, which is a sure fire indicator that they were nowhere close to being on schedule and should have seen this coming a long time ago. Even if the mayorship hadn't changed, this race was not going to actually happen, and they had more than ample time to figure that out and address it appropriately. Instead, they did nothing.

[DagoFast]

There is no shortage of bad businessmen in the world. Amazingly, they almost all work in motorsports. I'm sure they can find another iceberg hunter after the rodeo clown bombs out.

You're missing the entire point. 98.6% of us are only here to mock and laugh at the last bum standing in AOW. This is perfectly acceptable entertainment! :laugh:

[SurfaceUnits]

Question, b/c I don't know: When did this new mayor assume office in Qingdao?

Agreed on the rest, though I think breaking the thinking that only Indy will be 500 miles is a bigger deal than it seems. Also think it might, marginally, help the gate.

EDIT: In terms of the silliness of asking for a sanctioning fee, imagine this convo:

RB (to Board): So, look, we need to replace Qingdao.
BOARD: (looking at numbers) We lost, uh, $8 mil. on this, right?
RB: Yes, yes, we did.
BOARD: How much can we make on a replacement?
RB: Wait, what? Mari isn't drunked up?
BOARD: Well, we're not losing any more on this.
RB: So, it's agreed. 15 it is!

added for realism

[stroker]

Just run Fontana as twin 250s and CALL it 16!

That's what I was thinking! Invert the finishing positions of the first race for the second race grid. Put up a $1mil to the driver/team with the best combined finishes for the two races. Maybe some of them would actually try to not crash...

Better yet, run a 300 on the oval on Saturday night and then run a 200 mile road course race on Sunday. If you paid for tickets for the race Saturday night you get in free on Sunday. Be there!

[SurfaceUnits]

Maybe some of them would actually try to not crash...

That wood be grate, implement the Danicle rule - "No Racing Allowed" you'd just drive around for two hours and hope for the best finish you can get

[TravelGal]

Oh, for Pete's SAKE! Just run Fontana as twin 250s and CALL it 16! Always here to help!:gomer:

:D That line from Short Circuit popped into my mind, "Oh for Pete of SAKE!" :rofl:

[dando]

:D That line from Short Circuit popped into my mind, "Oh for Pete of SAKE!" :rofl:

The fact that you can quote Short Circuit scares me. :runs: :D :p ;)

-Kevin

[Chief]

This grate news! One less race to not collect a sanction fee from.

Wasn't it Randy Bernard that had the brilliant idea to stop collecting sanction fees at certain tracks? How'd that work out?

First the IRL had races in the same AOW markets as another series, then had reduced price tix, then massive freebies, then no one showed, then promoters said "we ain't paying your sanction, it's too high", then they lost tracks. Fans don't go or watch on TV, now tracks don't want a crap product because they can't sell it. Scorched earth.

THIS ^^^ is why they are in up s**** creek. They short shifted the sport and cut the guts out of it. They deserve everything they get from the tampering they did to this sport. :yuck:

[SurfaceUnits]

HAy CHief do a quick inventory of the teams, dribers, and races and try to esplain to the few fans here what happened to the IRL

[Chief]

Bif sed it so eloquently, just 2.5 years ago...


IF it werent so damed good it woudnt be worht waitin for or somethng liek that
May 14, 2010 – 10:39 am

.....BEEn a wierd year so far with all them damed strret races. BUt I suppose they feel they got to keep them damed CArt strret race loosers happy BUT I aint got no idear why. THey damed neer ruint the sport before. WHy let them do it again? ALl they are is a bunch of rich teams that dint support the real IRl. ONle after TOney GOrge kilt their series TWICE did they come to the IRl. SO why give into them? THat perplexes me. TOney had the oval racing perfected. IT was everthing he said it woud be. ANd then some. We had the TIger WOOds of racing. WE had the little teams. WE had a series sposner. TWICE. ANd we had TV coverage that you dint need to pay for. IT was everthing us oval fans ever wanted. THE best oval racing outside of NASCArs and soemtimes won by an AMERican. THen TONey kilt off CARt and CHAMpCar and all them club racers camed to the IRl. NOW they damed neer control the sport. YOU know damned well PENske and GOnadsi are callin the shots again just liek they did before. ANd stupid MIke to. Addin all them damed strret coasres. NOt hiring no AMericans and makin them all go to NASCAr. DOin the DEltathing. WAHt the hell is that anyway? I took Adrian tot he CHicago AUto SHow and coudnt beleive waht I was lookin at. I htough man this looks like something form the past and the future at the same time. ANd ADrian toled me there was a place for it but it werent at no race track. I aint quite got that one figgered out yet. ANd the new guy from the ROdeo kined of worries me. WHy play up to the NAncy BOys and give them a tropfy for best road racer? HUh? THat aint AMerican INDy racing. THERes only one tropfy in INdy Car racing and thats the BOrk WArmer. THats the only one anyone ever needed then and thats the only one anyone ever needs now.

ANd now RODeo boy wants to change the name of theIRL to somethin else? WAHt the hell does that do? I Gost me a NOrthen LIGhts IRL hat that I wear with pride. WAHt the hell do I do with that? THe IRl is waht this was all about. WHen you think of the IRl you think of TONey GOrge and the series he fomred out of nothing. NOThing I tell you. BUilt on the dreams of oval racing fans ever where. HE starts pulling stunts liek this and next thing you know all those fans that held on while all those ovals were being dropped for strret races is gone to say enough is enough. MAn that guy worries me. HE aint TOney thats for sure.

IT will be a strange day at the track with no TOney GOrge there. NO VIsison, no TOney riding around on his SEqway like a ROMan EMperor on his chariot. I hope TOneys doin fine these days. I aint heard where hes got a new job yet. I suspect geting hired as a captin of industry aint as easy as it sounds. GOod LUCk TOney, if you need a reference you can count on me. I Cant think of no one else that coud of or woud of done waht you did in the past 15 years. YOUll go down in history.

YEArs ago I hummed up a song to the BEAtels YEller SUmmarine and it went soemthin liek this

INt he town where I was borned
LIves a man who ownsatrack
And he toll us long ago
THatt CARt aint never comin back

SO we bought up lots of beers
Got the Gremlen and thrw em in the rear
I picks up Buck and James Robert to
HEAded to the track too drink a few

WE all live for the merry month of MAy
The mery month of MAy, the merry month of may
WE All live for the merry month of MAy
The merry month of may, the mery month of May

AS we watch our heroes go by
Everone of them we no will try
TO keep off the walls at the track
Cause LIttel AL sez they’ll brake your back

ANd then DR JAck came out to try
TO set a track record or least not die
ANd we wached the girls go by
Were all so happy we coud cry

WE all live for the merry month of MAy
The merry month of MAY, the mery month of MAy
We All live forthe merry month of MAy
The mery month of MAy, the merry month of may

[Napoleon]

Wall Street.

I hear someone who most recently worked at JP Morgan is available. His name is The London Whale or something like that.

[Wheel-Nut]

I was hoping Bernie would invite them to Texas to help work the bugs out of the new track.

[cameraman]

There are a few department chairmen at this university that could run damned near anything into the ground...

[Racing Truth]

That's what I was thinking! Invert the finishing positions of the first race for the second race grid. Put up a $1mil to the driver/team with the best combined finishes for the two races. Maybe some of them would actually try to not crash...

Better yet, run a 300 on the oval on Saturday night and then run a 200 mile road course race on Sunday. If you paid for tickets for the race Saturday night you get in free on Sunday. Be there!

Combined, you'd get 5k for both of those, IMHO. Having a brief (10 mins) intermission might be sensible if 16 are truly needed.

[Chief]

Combined, you'd get 5k for both of those, IMHO. Having a brief (10 mins) intermission might be sensible if 16 are truly needed.

Quite lame, even by IRL standards. Those are some very conservative estimates. To think...I used to drive roundtrip 9 hours to see a stinkin 200 miler that lasted 1.5 hrs, and I paid $50 to get in...back in '87, in October. And the joint was jam-packed. That's how up-side-down it is today, thankfully headed in the right direction. Ha.

[stroker]

Combined, you'd get 5k for both of those, IMHO. Having a brief (10 mins) intermission might be sensible if 16 are truly needed.

So if they get less than 10K for the 500 they'd be further ahead with my plan?

[Racing Truth]

So if they get less than 10K for the 500 they'd be further ahead with my plan?

Part of my thinking has to do with this:

The IRL failed miserably there from '02-05, mostly due to a bad product and discerning fans. BUT it didn't help that, after years of a 500-mile race, the IRL comes in w/ a 400-miler. Smacked of "small-time."

Having a 300-miler is too reminiscient of bad USAC ideas.

[stroker]

Part of my thinking has to do with this:

The IRL failed miserably there from '02-05, mostly due to a bad product and discerning fans. BUT it didn't help that, after years of a 500-mile race, the IRL comes in w/ a 400-miler. Smacked of "small-time."

Having a 300-miler is too reminiscient of bad USAC ideas.

Doesn't matter. It's gonna suck regardless.

[SurfaceUnits]

That's what I was thinking! Invert the finishing positions of the first race for the second race grid. Put up a $1mil to the driver/team with the best combined finishes for the two races. Maybe some of them would actually try to not crash...

Better yet, run a 300 on the oval on Saturday night and then run a 200 mile road course race on Sunday. If you paid for tickets for the race Saturday night you get in free on Sunday. Be there!

you forgot the sucker who has to start at the back and split his winninngs with some New Jorsey trailertrash

[stroker]

you forgot the sucker who has to start at the back and split his winninngs with some New Jorsey trailertrash

I thought it was spelled "Joisey"...

:D

[Andrew Longman]

you forgot the sucker who has to start at the back and split his winninngs with some New Jorsey trailertrashTrailer trash maybe. Joisey probably not. More likely Marion Co.

Ask 100 people here who Dan Wheldon is and there is almost zero chance anyone will mention a race driver. Maybe, just maybe, they will know about an all state high school soccer player of the same name.

Indy car racing began sinking off the radar after the Meadowlands races ended. No more Pocono. Trenton track closed. Nazareth, even when it sold out wasn't that big a deal. Flemington, East Windsor, Wall other tracks closing have left very few race fans in general. Even NASCAR fans are relatively few and pretty casual.

[SurfaceUnits]

I thought it was spelled "Joisey"...

:D

Whatever it's called, everthing I know about it I learned watching Bikini Barbershop: Jersey

[chop456]

Whatever it's called, everthing I know about it I learned watching Bikini Barbershop: Jersey


:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::gomer::saywhat:

[Andrew Longman]

Whatever it's called, everthing I know about it I learned watching Bikini Barbershop: JerseyOK.

A self inflicted would I guess I can't ignore.

:laugh: