Auto Racing Discussion Thread

[heywoodu 13,559]

7 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

 

It’s weird to see Indy on here as the “most important”. It’s maybe in top 5 of most important races in the US. I do agree it definitely is up there though, but I’d still say LeMans is the crown jewel of autosport.

 

I think if we were to rank by type, it would look like this 

Endurance: LeMans 24

Rally: Dakar

Open-Wheel: Monaco/Indy

Stockcar: Daytona 500

Supercar: Bathurst 100

Moto: Isle Man TT

 

It's because outside of the US some non-die hard motorsports fans still like the Indy 500, it's famous and all...some have maybe heard of the Daytona 500 but won't really watch it or ask "isn't that that thing with Earnhardt?". 

 

I think pretty much none of the people who are not hardcore motorsports fans here have never even heard about the Daytona and Sebring 24 hours. I can honestly say I've watched tons and tons and tons of races in my life, but those two 24h races are both not on the list apart from maybe a few minutes and then tuning out.

 

Bathurst 100 seems awfully short  

[Olympian1010 7,477]

9 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

It's because outside of the US some non-die hard motorsports fans still like the Indy 500, it's famous and all...some have maybe heard of the Daytona 500 but won't really watch it or ask "isn't that that thing with Earnhardt?". 

 

I think pretty much none of the people who are not hardcore motorsports fans here have never even heard about the Daytona and Sebring 24 hours. I can honestly say I've watched tons and tons and tons of races in my life, but those two 24h races are both not on the list apart from maybe a few minutes and then tuning out.

 

Bathurst 100 seems awfully short  

Yeah NASCAR overshadows the Indy 500 in the US.

 

Most people have heard of the Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix, and LeMans 24. Sebring 12 and Daytona 24 are a big deal in the US.

 

Sebring 24 seems awfully long 

[heywoodu 13,559]

5 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Yeah NASCAR overshadows the Indy 500 in the US.

 

Most people have heard of the Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix, and LeMans 24. Sebring 12 and Daytona 24 are a big deal in the US.

 

Sebring 24 seems awfully long 

 

Goes to show how interested I've been in the Sebring endurance race  

[Monzanator 3,597]

10 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Yeah NASCAR overshadows the Indy 500 in the US.

 

Most people have heard of the Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix, and LeMans 24. Sebring 12 and Daytona 24 are a big deal in the US.

 

Sebring 24 seems awfully long 

 

You don't remember the pre-split days of American open-wheel which made IndyCar as THE series in America but I do. NASCAR profited from the split but they're heading down lately with the decreasing entry lists and the ridiculous playoff championship system. It's still the hillbilly redneck American series rooted in the Deep South so not exactly a white-collar sport. And Jimmie Johnson just isn't Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr in terms of marketing. Kyle Busch is just a random prick who channels the love/hate reaction from motor racing fans.

 

Meanwhile IndyCar is on the way up again, Tony George's All-American oval idea has collapsed and Roger Penske has purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. The US Grand Prix is back on the F1 schedule and we could have two races soon if the Miami plan goes ahead. American open wheel has recovered from the split civil war and I'm pretty sure they will overcome NASCAR in this decade again.

 

[heywoodu 13,559]

I guess I'm alone in my opinion of liking the NASCAR play-off system?  Not that we should have it in other series as well, but I like different series having different systems, sort of.

[Monzanator 3,597]

1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

I guess I'm alone in my opinion of liking the NASCAR play-off system?  Not that we should have it in other series as well, but I like different series having different systems, sort of.

 

Pretty much. They changed the original Chase system like three times in 10 years anyway. They should call it the Matt Kenseth rule. It didn't help back in 2003 Ryan Newman had most pole and wins and still couldn't score points than Kenseth who had one win all season

[NaBUru38 205]

The Monaco Grand Prix is supposedly the most prestigious race. But few people remember the winners, unlike the Indy 500 whose winners are revered. Also the race itself is often boring.

 

The Daytona 500 is the msot viewed race in the United States. But it has very random winners, unlike the Indy 500 where only the top drivers win.

 

The problem with the Indy 500 is that drivers are little known. Dixon and Power aren't nearly as popular as the Andrettis and Unsers two decades ago. The other IndyCar races have very few viewers.

[Olympian1010 7,477]

14 minutes ago, NaBUru38 said:

The Monaco Grand Prix is supposedly the most prestigious race. But few people remember the winners, unlike the Indy 500 whose winners are revered. Also the race itself is often boring.

 

The Daytona 500 is the msot viewed race in the United States. But it has very random winners, unlike the Indy 500 where only the top drivers win.

 

The problem with the Indy 500 is that drivers are little known. Dixon and Power aren't nearly as popular as the Andrettis and Unsers two decades ago. The other IndyCar races have very few viewers.

Is LeMans the most viewed race worldwide then? 

[NaBUru38 205]

It's definitely not.

[Monzanator 3,597]

4 hours ago, NaBUru38 said:

The Monaco Grand Prix is supposedly the most prestigious race. But few people remember the winners, unlike the Indy 500 whose winners are revered. Also the race itself is often boring.

 

The Daytona 500 is the msot viewed race in the United States. But it has very random winners, unlike the Indy 500 where only the top drivers win.

 

The problem with the Indy 500 is that drivers are little known. Dixon and Power aren't nearly as popular as the Andrettis and Unsers two decades ago. The other IndyCar races have very few viewers.

 

Daytona 500 in 2019 had the fewest TV viewers since 1979 when the race was first broadcasted live start-to-finish. The final number was 9.17 million. Indianapolis 500 had 6.7 million TV viewers in first year on NBC which is actually 11% increase from 2018 when it was last aired on ABC. In fact it was the most-watched sporting event on NBC since the NFL playoff game. IndyCar is going up again and it will soon surpass NASCAR to where it was before the open-wheel split. Moreover the retirements of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon further sinks NASCAR in viewership numbers, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are not Dale Jr and Gordon to cover for the losses.

 

2019 Italian F1 Grand Prix had 112 million viewers, the highest of any F1 race since 2016. Four F1 races in total exceeded 100m viewers worldwide and 14 had over 90m. The average was 91.5 million which is ten times more than Daytona 500.