I'd rather not. "Shooting someone to the moon", in my language, is another word for "sending someone to hell". IndyCar is completely irrelevant to us Europeans, I would like to see it become relevant over here, now that Formula 1 - which has more or less vanished from free TV - has left a huge gap that could be filled by other open wheel racing.
25 minutes of truth being said. And I think you and Conor could do a segment together with this name “State of IndyCar” from time to time, it would be great because we would have this inside insight more times.
Great to see Conor on your show... I met him in Indianapolis for the 100th - He actually took me and introduced me to Paul Page. I had attended 18 Vancouver races and all the Edmonton races. Good conversation between you two. Thanks;
UK person here - I didn't get into Indycar until a few years ago, but I love it! We have Sky TV here - they have a dedicated Sky Sports F1 channel, and in 2021 started live broadcasting all Indycar races, which was my way into the sport. Anyway, I've watched a good amount of your videos, and wanted to offer some thoughts on things they could do better; More super speedway / oval races. Never watched oval racing beforehand, but find these some of the most interesting! I wish the calendar had some more races in general. Maybe F1 has spoilt me a bit, but the Indycar schedule seems to end before I'm ready! I wish Indycar could extend outside of US a bit more. Maybe the core of the schedule remains to US and its roots, but a few International events (outside of Toronto) would be cool. New chassis desperately needed IMO. The hybrid engine may help mix it up, but having watched replays of the aero-kit years which stopped after 2017 - I don't know - kind of think that could be cool coming back! Anyway, this post is long enough already! But thank you for the content you put out - your passion really comes across! I've watched F1 for decades at this point, but I have to admit, Indycar has SO SO much potential for expansion! I want more of it ❤
I went to Texas last year, my first year living in Texas and absolutely loved it. Went to Barber too, tougher to go to, but was a phenomenal race to watch. Been to Portland 2 times before moving to Texas, just adore watching those cars zip around turns 10,11, and 12. I can say, it was sad to see the one race that was going to be around me leave but I understand the history. I do wish it will come back but I hope, HOPE, to make it to Nashville but no promises, it's hard to get Monday's off to drive back.
Also went to Texas in 2019. Drove all the way from Idaho. It was so awesome. Cars flying by at 220 mph is beyond belief. Hopefully the series can get back there next year!
We need more crossovers and big names going between different series. Part of what makes races like the Rolex and Le Mans great is you have Indycar champions, F1, NASCAR, GT Legends, V8 Supercars champions, DTM, IGTC, etc. NASCAR this weekend has a previous Champ Car winner (Dinger), V8 champ (SVG), 24 hours of Le Mans winner (Kamui), Rolex 24 winner (Larson), an Andretti, superstar in the making Zilisch, IMSA GTD champion Hawksworth, among others
whats also understated about the CART era is the sheer level of talent behind the presentation. everything is so visually loud and in your face it didnt let you look away. i submitted like a 20 page pitch deck to penske when they were hiring for a marketing director about the entire ordeal and i hope someone read it cause they need something people will love in the age of adblocking and cynicism towards advertisements.
Excellent interview. We really need more and more people talking about IndyCar. We need more exposure and some encouragement. We will be in Toronto paying for everything out of our own pockets. The exchange rate between real and dollar is very unfavorable for us in Brazil. What don't we do for the love of IndyCar?!?
You two need to do more things together in the future! Conor also had some great points about what this weekend is all about. Appreciate the work that both of you are doing even though Conor would rather be driving!
Ive just got back into Indycar about 3 years ago and I'm so happy I did. Love the diversity of the tracks especially the ovals. Started watching David's videos then and learned a lot. I gotta say, I'm active on youtube watching stuff but I despise other social media so i wont be the one liking shit on instagram or whatever. I do however, want to bring my kids into enjoying the sport just like college football. Id also love to go to some races when the kids get older. Im in northeast Florida so st pete would be easiest but damn id love to check out mid ohio or certainly the 500. Honestly, im lucky to be naive to the indycar shortfalls, makes me just enjoy the ride. Thanks for the content.
I was hopeful that Indycar had come to their senses when they scheduled another race 2 weeks after St. Pete. Last year the next race was Texas, 4 weeks later on April 1. But I see that after this exhibition on 3/24, the next race is April 21. WTF Indycar?
Indycar needs to come back east to Pocono or The Glen. A 2 hour drive is a lot easier to make a day trip to a race than 7 hours to Mid Ohio where you have to make a weekend of it at minimum, or having to fly to any other race which is more advance planning and money, which where i live is a 3 hour drive to an airport with decent prices and destinations. I go to the 6 hours of the Glen most years cause i can just go up for the day, though i have camped and do recommend camping there as well. The Indy 500 is on my radar for next year, but for now I'll just get my in person racing fix locally watching Sprint cars.
Conor could become a big asset for Indycar if they can understand what is needed on the social media side of Indycar... Conor is a genuinely good dude. That's why hes an Indy fan favorite!
Great job. I've been going to Indy dating back to 1981. Went to Kansas 2004-2005, been to Iowa multiple times, and now headed to Milwaukee in August. Get to the races people!
We go to Texas and have been every year since we moved up here. Hope they keep coming back. COTA testing days were the best. It was completely open to the public except for on pit lane and in the media room. We went as a family because it was going to be our son’s first race. He was 3 at the time and the biggest IndyCar fan ever. We were able to sit anywhere, so we went to right above Rossi’s pit box, his favorite driver, who was so nice and signed an autograph and took a picture when he saw us getting a pic next to his bus and would wave at us before he got in his car. Our son had a blast and loved it. We tried out different areas for seating, explored and peaked in garages. Almost no one was there because it was Wednesday and Thursday in February. The only hard thing to find was an unlocked Women’s restroom. There are diehard Women race fans too. We met so many drivers, all who were extremely friendly and approachable. We got lots of autographs and pictures. It was the best experience ever. The only thing was that it was 2020, so you know what happened next. Getting to see his first race actually took a little longer and was TMS instead, but we loved it as well. He really wants his own RU-vid channel too, so someday there’ll be another one. He’s only seven, so a little young yet to do it on his own, and right now despite his begging and me wanting to help him, I just don’t have much time right now.
David and Connor you two are awesome. I love the content you both put out. I believe the best way for you to grow the sport is continuing to put out positive content that magnifies the things Indycar does well. Your enthusiasm for the sport is infectious and people can recognize this.
David...you are the king! Thanks so much for this. Might be my favorite since your long in-depth IMS Museum access. I am in Vietnam but I promise to fly to California next year if you can list me as part of your media team...I can follow you around with a camera...I can at least pull that off. 🤣
@ConorDaly22 what would be your ideal engine type for Indycar's next gen chassis? Personally I have 2 ideals; 1st ideal would be a 2.4 V8 recycled from Honda F1's previous engine regs but refitted with twin turbos, slightly lowered redline (14k rpm) and the current hybrid system. This should give us the v8 sound we've missed since the CART era. 2nd ideal would be 2.0 inline 5 with a single turbo, 15-16k rpm, and the hybrid system. This should make a unique scream that differentiates Indycar from F1's V6 and Superformula's inline 4, plus its *hopefully lighter and smaller package than the current v6tt. - from Indycar fan from Malaysia.
It's unfortunate that Jack Harvey is no longer with Hy-Vee. Had one of the best quotes from that commercial. "If you don't know Hy-Vee, you don't know Jack."
Wisconsin is becoming a Destination for nearly everyone to enjoy... 3 races this year in our Cheesey State!!! Road America and the double at the Milwaukee Mile.... SOOOOOO much cheaper and easier to get to and enjoy for nearly everyone... Come and enjoy our Dairy Air! ;-)
I will be at Indy, Milwaukee, and Nashville Conor. I was also at St Pete. Just a jump hop and a skip away from me. I’m super stoked we’re going back to Nashville Superspeedway. 💪🏁
I’m no one I guess. Been to at least 10 Pocono 500s, 10 Michigan 500s, Indy, every Nazareth race, multiple Nashville races. I understand that they can’t run ovals because of attendance but let’s not say no one lol. I’ve spent a lot of money and vacations going to the ovals so some of us went haha. Just being whiny. Sorry. My first race was Trenton when I was 10.
15:24 I think this is Indycars problem. They have little brother syndrome where they always compare themselves and try to belittle F1. You can say F1 is boring but Indycar is on the verge of losing 1 of their 2 engine suppliers. Meanwhile 5/10 F1 teams are luxury car manufacturers. You have multiple companies trying to join F1. While Indycar has a 13 year old chassis and only 2 manufacturers, 1 of which is threatening to leave.
For 40 yrs I was a NASCAR fan. Huge Rusty Wallace fan. Loved F1 drive to survive. F1 sucks, sorry. That led me to Indycar which is superior! So keep the faith, we are coming!
Open wheel racing viewing options today: 1) F1 qualifying on cable tv that I already pay for, and is already on my DVR 2) Indycar qualifying that I have to pay extra for I'd rather watch indycar, but I can't pay for everything.
I was there, it was nice. At $500 with parking, food and drink, not a good deal, but not bad. This is a glorified practice. The two big points, 1) Should have not be on NBC (a real race should), and 2) should not take the place of a real race (Texas). What this meant to do is 1) B2B for sponsors. If more sponsors get interested, then it is a win. Need to play down the elitism aspect though as part of this race.
Totally agree about getting more eyes on the sport. I think Indycar missed a big opportunity when pocono was still on the schedule. Indycar should have gotten together with pocono and got space at the New York international auto show. Have a car plus the 2 seater and TV's showing close racing. Have a promotion if you bought tickets by a certain date your name is entered into a drawing for a ride in the two seater. Even if people can't make it to the track, they still can watch the series on tv.
Conor nails it. Very hard to reconcile all the bitching about a race with no fans and the massive number of empty seats we see at Texas every year. To the people who go to many or even most races: sorry, but you have to sit this one out. To everyone else: if you want to go to a race that bad, THEN GO TO A RACE! Anyone who’s seen an IndyCar races this century (outside the 500) could tell you there are plenty of seats available.
This sounds crazy @ first, but I think a BRAVO show for indycar would be a hit. The women in their target demo have husbands/boyfriends that would all love indycar if they don’t already watch or know about it. No brainer
not only the sport needs to work on advertising the sport and their current oval races, the fans need to do their part and show up for more ovals that way we can get more ovals again the future. This sport should NOT be Formula USA or anything that has way less ovals and more circuits with garbage street circuits. We already have way too many of those road courses. Way too much. If IndyCar and fans do their part to get more ovals, the sport will be great again in terms of the schedule. Look at Pocono, for example. The attendance and ratings were up, and that is in the main crowd for IndyCar fans (too bad it's gone, should me back with upgraded safety stuff at the track for the sport).
nice burn on Logan Sargent lol David could be a pit lane personality. Thats a natural talent that I feel he has and I feel he would be good at it because he has passion. so who's going hire him?!....Im looking at you IMS.
If F1 did a thermal club event where literally only Uber rich people who belonged to a country club could attend, you’d ridicule them. This event is a joke, I know Penske lost their shorts on it.
I loved IndyCar (and NASCAR and NHRA and anything on the American Sports Cavalcade) up until the split in the late 90's. Then I watched NASCAR til Dale Sr died. Then I stopped watching auto racing other than Daytona/Indy. Drive to Survive reinvigorated my love of autosport. F1 consumes my life. I love the easy points structure that makes the midfield battle far more interesting than the podium. But F1 has production value that nobody in the United States will ever match mainly because of no commercials. My number one goal is to watch every IndyCar race this year and go to 2 races, but I the quality of the TV production makes it really hard to be inspired. Between the constant commercials and what seems to always be disjointed/forced commentary in the booth, it's rough to really dive into
I haven't bought a Red Bull in years, but when I see one in the store that has Max/Sergio on the can I end up buying it. I feel like motorsport sponsors in general could be doing more to take advantage of this
Well, Conor, if anything that would make Indycar look cooler would be for Ferrari & Aston Martin dive into Indycar and race at Long Beach. Plus I always attended every Indycar race at Pocono. And I loved every one. Especially since I’m from PA
This whole Thermal Club "race" either speaks of how desperate IndyCar is for sponsorship dollars or are trying to attract a fan base that doesn't yet exist. IMO, the people that attend Thermal have no connection or interest in the fan base. Their only interest is return on investment. Sure, IndyCar is a business, but if you promote a good series, the fans and sponsors will come without the drama of a Thermal Club event. IndyCar is trying to reinvent themselves to attract F1 fans and it won't work.
15:05 couldn’t agree more, the viewership is starting to drop for F1, if Indycar can start and finish just before NASCAR start their cup race, it will be an easy 1-2 punch for Sunday racin in the US for all us DARFs
100 Days to Indy is not the right formula. All of the focus on the 500 which is already the gem of the series. Clearly they should have an episode or two totally focused on Indy, but the show does not show the amazing championship battles and misses some of the best races on the schedule.
I keep saying this, but purse racing is more legit to me than points racing. The origin of GP racing is cash purse, from the inception of racing all the way through the post-war era. I think all of them should be purse races and use the dollars earned as the points in the championship. That could be a real leg up on F1 for hype if Indycar returns to the origins of actual "Grand Prix" racing.
Purse racing was more of a thing in America than in Europe due to racing in Europe being more popular among rich people rather that the middle class here in America
@@rexthewolf3149 the first Gp's were all purse races put on by French newspapers and it spread like wildfire. Of course it was largely before leagues or championships, but I think the two ideas can co-exist. The indy 500 has stayed a kind of semi-purse race. It's just all the races claiming to be gp's actually haven't been for decades, and I think an organization like indycar could capitalize marketing-wise on re-introducing the idea.
@@beezball your right, but the problem with your idea is that as you said points have been the status quo for decades now. Who’s really going to care if we go back to cash.
David, I wish you got way more views. Would you be interested in talking to me about my indycar inspired comic series I am working on? It's pretty much a homage to current and former indycar greats with a bit of furry fandom culture thrown in. I'd be glad to show you what I've completed so far, the comic is about halfway done.
Sorry watched a few days late, but a good conversation about the current state and future. The upcoming TV broadcast deal is going to be a big either step up or step down for IndyCar. NBC isn't an awful partner, but the inconsistency of which channel is awful (and even worse up here in Canada). While CW isn't a big notable network (and barely exists up here in Canada, only as part of the "US channels package")... Xfinity Series is smart by being 100% dedicated to them instead of thrown around as a second tier series (and tbh NASCAR Cup is insane for what they're gonna try, but I guess that came down to money and everyone wanting piece of the pie). With how CW did good things for 100 Days to Indy, what's the odds we can get on the CW (and Paramount+ for streaming options or extra sessions?) along side Xfinity?
Indycar should show us last years races in the preseason and winter prior to the next racing year instead of 10 year old races. Last years races primes us for this years season and allows us fans to get in the groove for the current season. Also, NBC is not the best at showing action during the race and the commentators talk way too much and we never get the hear the cars over their constant chatter about this and that trivia and not the cars, teams or drivers. It's an American racing series and does not need or want an Englishman as the primary commentator. F1 is based in England and has that covered. Thank you.
I don't have a problem with the venue but the on track action could have been better. Not a lot of passing and zero chance to overtake the leader. just another race where Palou drives off into the sunset. Not knocking the guy he is outstanding on track but doesn't make for the best experience watching on TV. Hoping the next chassis will make the racing a little tighter, you really want those challenges to the leader and not F1. I like Conor's point of view. I had a great time at Laguna Seca a very fun experience a few years ago. Would like to see Phoenix back on the calendar between St. Pete and Long Beach. I think the TV show should do the whole season and not just stop at the 500 and maybe get on a bigger network. Didn't know it was on Netflix makes me wonder if they should have approached Amazon?
If you actually love indycar then maybe you spend $5 a month from march to September. It always blows my mind how indycar fans say they love a sport, but won’t $40 a year to watch it?
I enjoyed the event overall but the format needs adjusting. I got to see my favorite driver on track for less than ten laps in Heat 1, that was a bummer. I do not believe having this scheduled in the week after St. Pete is the best spot either. It should either kick off the season, or be treated as a All-Star Weekend late into the season.
I keep saying 25M to win Indy GP pole , race, Indy 500 Pole GP....that'll drive eyeballs and throw that out to social media. Name another race series that touts their prize winning for their biggest races. Meaning a chance to win a huge number. Think about the chatter for 2 weeks if the indy gp pole winner and race winner has just going into qualification.
Despite ancient and underdeveloped cars, Indycar has far more entertainment value than F1 when it comes to the races. Imagine what Indycar could be with cars up to date with 2024 and a race season that’s a bit longer than today. Another issue with American racing in general is commercials. They squeeze in a few extra laps behind the safety car to be able to show more commercials, and that kinda ruins racing imo. Let the racing come first and commercials second, not the other way around as it is today. 🤷🏼♂️
@DavidLand I wish they would do a formula ford sprint race instead of them driving their indycars and wrecking them. Still do the testing, but put these drivers in a formula ford with the paint schemes of their indycars, and run sprint races in formula fords. It would be a way better race than what we had today. Indycar will supply the formula fords that way if they wreck them the teams won’t have spent millions fixing wrecked indycars.
That is a bullshit excuse i have gone to Texas multiple times went to Kansas every year from 2001-2010 i would love to attend every oval on the schedule but it's already expensive as it is going to the 500 every year indycar just wants this to be all road courses highlighted by the 500 which is a damn shame you can't slap an oval on the schedule and give up on it after 1 year you have to build it up give it some time
@ConorDaly22 Your point about fans not showing up to Texas/ovals and how we wouldn't show up to Thermal. Texas was a dud race until this year where we did have some great racing, if the racing is good again I imagine attendance will rise. I have my ticket for Milwaukee so hopefully I see you and David there. As far as engaging the fans your point was in short "we already have this stuff and fans aren't engaging." The context of the convo looked like "what does indycar need to do" but it turned into "why aren't the fans doing enough?" You can say the word "trash" was too far, but the general tone of this was that we are asking for too much and Indy shouldn't reciprocate because we won't show up anyway.
@@IvyLeather13 I genuinely appreciate you answering this respectfully because my question was honest. I appreciate your input but I personally think that is a bit of an aggressive interpretation. It’s a tough discussion but you have to remember we bust our butts to try and grow this sport but even good things, although they may be new, are just absolutely shredded by some folks for some reason. No one has the right answer but this weekend is not a bad thing for our sport at all.
@ConorDaly22 That's fair and I get why you disagree. I think I was right with the underlying message but that's just me. I mean, having a point race that your fanbase can't really go to was never going to be a good look, but if that turns into all these b2b relationships that help fund things we want, or if the racing is good, then people will chill on if. Best of luck on the new media stuff and I'll try to bring some friends to Milwaukee.
