Q: First, a big thanks to you and RACER for all you do to promote IndyCar. I view the website daily, read the Mailbag weekly and in the past reached out just once to Robin. I have gone to the 500 numerous times and introduced people to the race. I have watched every IndyCar race since the IRL was founded, and consider IndyCar my favorite sport.
I laughed at the mail Robin would get, and that he said an IndyCar fan is always complaining, but I am finally there. Every other major series is bringing on more manufacturers. We cannot find a third one, and Honda lets it be known it may be out in a few years. This is only reflective of what I think is a long line of absurd failures by IndyCar, which includes Penske.
Old cars, horrible social media presence, Motorsport Games, stagnant schedule, downtown Detroit, how Thermal was rolled out, etc… Where is the splash that I hoped would come with Penske? And please, if I hear about how good the paint looks at IMS… as if that moves the fan needle. The hybrid piece is just the latest fumbled item by IndyCar and I am shocked that Honda and Chevy have held in place for as long as they have. IndyCar grew due to innovation and risk-taking by courageous drivers, owners, mechanics and manufacturers.
Sorry to rant, but I am just keeping my eyes out for any serious leader with vision to make an appearance before we lose Chevy as well (though I was already concerned, with Andretti aiming for F1, if IndyCar would be in the rearview mirror).
Mike, Fishers, IN
MP: Thanks, Mike. Since I’m trying to come up with new things to say after receiving the same basic email about 20 times in this installment, social media was a big winner for IndyCar in 2023. Seriously. Great year-to-year gains.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, December 16, 2014
Q: There seems to be an age-old belief in the Mailbag that putting USAC-raised Americans in IndyCars will somehow magically save IndyCar since fans have been “following their careers” right to the top. The consensus in the Mailbags also seems to be that all these guys that have recently hit the ceiling on the F1 ladder won’t move the needle and nobody cares about them. Nobody, of course, wants the traditional ride-buyer either who has excelled in no series, but brings a personal sponsor.
I have been a hard-core IndyCar fan since 1994 through all the crap of the last 20 years. Let’s be realistic. If Americans Hunter-Reay, Newgarden, Rahal and Andretti haven’t made people (those who aren’t already fans) care about IndyCar, then why do we think Daly or Rossi will? Because they win? RHR wins — he won Indy. Let’s say there are as many people following some of the young USAC drivers as there are IndyCar fans today. Zero (relative to NASCAR and F1’s popularity) times zero is still zero. Nobody who is not already a fan is going to tune in for the first time just to see how some guy who dominated GP2 or USAC does in IndyCar. The Mailbags are filled with letters from fans trying to figure out how to make non-fans care. They don’t care about the same stuff as us.
Personally, I just want funded cars and shootouts for the best available (paid) driver regardless of nationality or background. Obviously that ain’t happening anytime soon, nor do I think for a second that’s going to make all the middle-aged ladies at work who discuss Johnson, Gordon, and Keselowski’s performance every Monday morning start debating the performance of Power, RHR, Rossi, or Vergne. Those are the fans that made NASCAR a monster, not us. None of the solutions in Mailbag make these people IndyCar fans. Obviously, I don’t have the answers. But we keep fooling ourselves and wasting our time in heated debates about solutions which solve nothing.
Paul Clopton
ROBIN MILLER: Sadly, you make an excellent argument. The USAC connection and watching heroes matriculate to Indy via Terre Haute and Winchester is never coming back. If Dave Darland got a ride at Indy, most of Howard County and all the HARF members would buy a ticket this May but that represents a couple thousand people. And even a popular, young American winner like Bryan Clauson has little or no effect on attendance or TV ratings. Nor will Rossi or Daly. Hell, 75 percent of the public couldn’t tell you Ryan Hunter-Reay won last year’s Indianapolis 500.
Having said that, Sage Karam, Daly or Rossi will generate more American media coverage than Sam Bird or Jean-Eric Vergne. If they turn out to be Zanardi or Montoya, sure, that kind of winner captures the public’s attention but IndyCar needs little victories to try and get back on the map. Had Karam run Pocono last summer, there would have been 5,000 more paying customers — all from Nazareth. But let’s be honest. NASCAR built its heroes through continuity, television saturation, promotion and marketing while IndyCar lost its identity after The Split. Good example? I followed Scott Dixon down the hallway last week at the PRI Show and not one person stopped him to say hello, take a photo or shake his hand. But Rusty Wallace couldn’t walk 10 feet without being stopped.