Futility Thread

[TravelGal]

Rather than junk up the forum with different threads, I thought I'd put one up for the remainder of the season, in the off chance that anyone wants to comment on the various degrees of futility occurring from now until the last race.

I'll start by saying that I thought Saturday was boring with all the crashes in the rain until I saw Sunday with single file in the rain. Thank the good Lord for fast forward.

[Napoleon]

I accidently turned on that race yesterday with something like 10 laps to go, and it is barely inaccurate to say that no one was in the stands.

[Kiwifan]

Funny, I was going to start a similar thread yesterday asking "What has happened to me?"

After watching a rerun of Streets of San Francisco I flicked the sports channels to see if there were and cricket highlights on but found Live Indy car. After watching for about two minutes of them running single file behind the pace car I gave up and went back to Oldies Radio. :D

I remember when I LIVED for CART/Champ Car. Getting up early to watch, spending money on races, magazines, books, Vids/DVDS and the forums...oh how I loved the forums. Sigh.

What did happen? Why don't I care any more? Same drivers mostly, same Team Owners, some of the same tracks. Ed, if you read this it isn't personal against you or any of your work buddies but I'm done with this racing. I'm done.

Rusty.

[Elmo T]

What did happen? Why don't I care any more? Same drivers mostly, same Team Owners, some of the same tracks.
Rusty.

I attended a few IRL events early on. Nazareth and M-O. I said it then and it applies now: the soul is gone. It is a hollow shell of what was - leaving thoughts of what could have been. For all the hoopla and cheering and telling everyone how great it is, "fan" events, theme songs, promos, teaser videos of cars flying in the air, logos, ticket giveaways, double header races, etc - it doesn't make the racing product better. Or, I should say it doesn't make people care. Even having "good" races won't bring back the soul and spirit that was lost. That was organic and telling everyone that Indy racing is back doesn't make it true.

No, we can't live in the past. Nor can we expect the future to be what it was before. But that doesn't mean we have to accept the current situation because its all we have now.

[Chief]

"I think the cars are very ugly," said Foyt, owner of A.J. Foyt Racing and motorsports legend. "They are not open-wheel cars. Hopefully the series will do away with them."

AJ Foyt even hates what it's become. So, you're not the only ones. But don't fret, Hulman Racing knows just what you want. (http://www.freep.com/story/sports/motor/2015/05/31/aj-foyt-new-indycar-very-ugly/28267651/) :p

[indyfan31]

For the first time in years I finally watched an entire race on Sunday (I gave up on Saturday's crashfest). My first thought was: they've got a full field of well sponsored (albeit butt-ugly) cars, a lot of the drivers and teams from the CART era, and an ABC Sports slot in the middle of a Sunday. Why isn't anyone watching this? About 15 minutes in answered my question. Half the field drives they're playing a video game and can just hit RESET when they wipe out. On the bright side, the broadcast team really sucks. It was rather amusing to hear then call Bourdais a 4-time "open wheel" champion; at least they're not bitter. :p

[opinionated ow]

I live in hope that the circle trackers will build it up again when it does die.

[Ed_Severson]

Ed, if you read this it isn't personal against you or any of your work buddies but I'm done with this racing.

Trust me -- no offense taken and no apology necessary.

Most race weekends bring some sort of bizarre drama, and a lot of us find ourselves wondering exactly where it will bottom out for that particular weekend. There are a lot of people in the paddock who feel very similarly to you, but it's what we've got. :irked:

[gerhard911]

What, no jobs in professional sports car or (gasp) stock car racing?

Serious question, do you see the present OW landscape viable for long term employment prospects?

[Chief]

Worry not, former AOW fans. ABC is done broadcasting this year (didn't even make it out of the month of May) so it will be nothing but obscurity until Labor Day anyway. :laugh:

[TKGAngel]

Off track futility time...

Andretti the Promoter Sues NOLA Track for Past-Due Expenses (http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/crime/12676245-172/indy-grand-prix-of-louisiana)

[chop456]

Off track futility time...

Andretti the Promoter Sues NOLA Track for Past-Due Expenses (http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/crime/12676245-172/indy-grand-prix-of-louisiana)


"The lawsuit adds that Andretti had to put up with undue meddling from Chouest and “horrific” weather to successfully pull off this year’s race, which drew several thousand spectators..."

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

[cameraman]

Oh there is a whole lot of stuff flying off the fan over this NOLA race.

This popped up on a different forum...


69LM1
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 1

Hi Guys, new to this forum, it popped up when I was doing some research in my effort to get "paid" from NOLA MS for work my company has done out there.

First, I am a "car guy" and although I am into a different segment of the hobby (Drag, Road Racing) I enjoy all aspects of cars+speed. I have a 2012 Boss302 and an old famous DStock car, the Tin Soldier COPO Camaro.

I also own and run an industrial technology company, and we have been the outside technical support resource for NOLA Motor since before there was an actual track.

To the gentleman who said NOLA MS is built on a swamp, with no amenities, that is pretty far from actual. While it is built on a swamp (practically everything in south LA is), it was an engineered system to take that into consideration. I know I was there. As far as the amenities go, I don't think there are too many other road tracks as close to a major tourist city such as New Orleans. It is a class A track and that is actually part of the problem. Laney (the owner) budgeted around 30MM and spent over 70MM because it is so nice. I know when in 2012 I took my Boss 302 driving courses at Miller MS, that track was an hour from Salt Lake, in the middle of no where and while nice, was far from as nice as NOLA MS as a comparison.

To this issue. I have seen a marked decline based on poor management decisions at this track. The "old" team, whom was over budget mostly due to the owner wanting the luxuries I described above, was terminated and a "new" team brought in last year. The new CEO is a lady whom has no knowledge of, interest in or love of motorsports. She is a bottom dollar kind of gal, and the wife of the CFO for the owners real business, offshore supply vessels.

We met with the "new" track IT several months ago. As an aside, the new director of IT got his job like this. He worked in the mac store fixing phones. The owner of the track, Laney, walked into the mac store with a broken phone. The new CEO has already terminated the entire IT staff as "too expensive". He liked the "kid" that fixed his phone, and vola' a new IT Director was appointed at a fraction of the cost of the old one. I'm sure if there were Mac's running the track that might have been ok. But there are no Mac's running the track IT.

Enter Verizon. Verizon owns the series and had several IT, wireless and fiber optic related "demands" that frankly, the track was not ready to implement. Our warnings went unheeded.

Two weeks before the event, we got a frantic call about these items, and a request for help. We basically shut the company down and worked non stop laying fiber optic cabling, hanging wireless telemetry access points, setting up point to point systems and getting the IT system up to the standards for Verizon.

We achieved the objective and had the track ready, but to a six figure invoice.

The track has now also stiffed us, and the management (the non profit in that article) company is saying they are broke. Luckily for me, we have no agreements with the management company, but directly with the track its self, so filing liens are a way for me to hopefully one day get paid.

Now, what went wrong with the organizers from my POV:

1. The event was held on a horrible weekend. It was the same weekend as JazzFest, and many of the tourists were there instead of the race.
2. The event was held when it was way too hot. 95' in NOLA, with 90% humidity is far worse then 100' in Arizona with no humidity.
3. The event was held when it was known by everyone here that the likely hood of rain was nearly assured.
4. There was no adequate planning on general admission seating (stands) and bathrooms, imo, in an effort to force people to buy into the luxury "suites" where there was adequate bathrooms and seating in AC. However, the price of entry for these seats were way, way overpriced.

Those are just some of my experiences from this race......

Rich

:shakehead:

[TravelGal]

Oh there is a whole lot of stuff flying off the fan over this NOLA race.

This popped up on a different forum...

:shakehead:

:eek::eek: