Four oval races total on IndyCar 2021 schedule

[WickerBill]

WeLL i'M GLaD we sTArTeD thE InNY RacINg LeAGue to StOP eVIL CArt rOaD RACiNg


Where's #BiF when you need him

[Hard Driver]

Personally, I like the road courses and good street courses best. The problem with the street courses is they need to be actually good tracks. Long beach and St. Pete do make good racing. Detroit is almost a hybrid, because it isn't really on city streets, more like a road course in a park. Nashvilles worries me it will be like old Houston races or San Jose over RR tracks. Just a bad course racing back and forth over a bridge with a u-turn in a stadium parking lot and an intersection.

That said, I do like there are ovals and if they are short ovals or flatter ovals like Indy, then that is good for Indycars. I think the monster superspeedways like Texas aren't. So even my tastes, I would substitute Nashville for another year at Richmond or add another short oval. Personally I wish there was some way to make Pocono safer and serve the northeast. I would love a Watkins Glen myself.

I think even BiF knows the IRL was the losers. Penske's purchase was the final death of all IRL and all things Tony. Eaten from the inside out into a road course series.

Hopefully they can add some more. 17 Races is really 15 race weekends with the double headers.

[opinionated ow]

I really don't understand why ovals aren't successful. The racing is nearly always close and exciting, you can see everything unfold in front of you and the speed is mindblowing. Why doesn't it work? It's not like Indycar has done all of the nonsense that NASCAR has done that has run off the crowd

[G.]

I really don't understand why ovals aren't successful. The racing is nearly always close and exciting, you can see everything unfold in front of you and the speed is mindblowing. Why doesn't it work? It's not like Indycar has done all of the nonsense that NASCAR has done that has run off the crowd

FTG is why. :tony:


The monster HP CART champcars had to do things like lift the throttle, and sometimes even brake going into oval corners.

FTG turned the specs into NASCAR-like, where the cars went round-and-round, side-by-side, droning on for hours until someone lost a tire or something and put someone into the grater.

I remember Sarah Fisher saying something to the effect of, "We even have to shift gears at this oval, so it makes for tougher racing", or similar.

The pilots had to OUTDRIVE the other guys, rather than just outlast them (with an equivalent setup). Penske will have to do some MAGIC to recreate anything close to that.

Rumor has it that the oval racing seems to be getting better over the last few years. My kid thinks so, and he's a pretty good judge. :thumbup:

[Elmo T]

I always loved CART/Champcar for the track diversity. Even with the ovals, not all were created equally.

Nazareth had 11 turns (or so I heard people joke) and 30ft+ elevation change.

Roval in Brazil

Milwaukee and NH

Gateway

Superspeedways were each a little different

Phoenix

Each one brought something a little different. As G said, I think the dumbing down of the oval track choice and racing packages during the FTG years killed them.

[swift]

Robin Miller's take at Racer.com (https://racer.com/2020/10/05/miller-ovals-are-on-the-ropes-but-thats-not-penskes-fault/)

[BigIrlFan]

WeLL i'M GLaD we sTArTeD thE InNY RacINg LeAGue to StOP eVIL CArt rOaD RACiNg


Where's #BiF when you need him

HOpe you guys are happy with your dammed strret courses. WAtch the sport die.

https://twitter.com/BigIrlFan/status/1311733155431317505?s=20

[WickerBill]

HOpe you guys are happy with your dammed strret courses. WAtch the sport die.

https://twitter.com/BigIrlFan/status/1311733155431317505?s=20

Bargersville. :rofl::D never noticed that before.


We love you #BiF