Made For TV? - IndyCar at Thermal Discussion

The Thermal Club rolled out the red carpet for IndyCar... but the show didn't live up to the hype. Let's discuss.

#IndyCar #Indy500 #Indianapolis500

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[NR_]

A race was ran yesterday. Will go down in indycar history as something that happened, truly an event that took place.

[patrickracer]

If the Thermal Challenge was "made for TV" then it was a mission fail, because it was boring, had poor camera angles and it felt like a 2020 event with no fans

[Halifauxer]

IndyCar at Thermal just doesn't feel like IndyCar. I felt like I was watching an exhibition race with a wacky format that no one showed up to watch. Bring back Michigan!

[Buc]

This needs to be a pre season event moving forward. It would make way more sense especially since it’s an open test as well.

[cookinginthedark]

It was honestly fun to see Rossi drive the hell out of an IndyCar again

[royavery]

I didn't even know it was gonna be on TV. I saw absolutely no promotion. David land was the only outlet I even saw talking about it. He's the real voice of indycar. Network TV is missing out.

[alexe]

Thank you David for always being honest & delivering fair criticism, despite the backlash you may receive from Indycar. Sports media needs more professionals like you.

[mbenoit]

It was a glorified test session for country club fans to attend. I wasn't impressed.

[jaxonjaxoff]

This was one of the worst races I’ve ever seen. It’s a problem when the F1 race is better than the IndyCar race. That’s the appeal of IndyCar. Better Racing.

[tombo]

Yeah the race absolutely sucked on tv haha. I wish I had my time back yesterday

[Chimp_]

My 2 cents .... Hold this event pre-season, 1-2 weeks before the season opener.
Qualifying - the usual road course format.
RACE day - 50 laps (about 150 miles). No "half time" nonsense and pit all you want for fuel, tires and adjustments etc.
The only rule I'd keep from this years event is on yellow and red flags freeze the lap count until the course goes green.

[bryonmahler]

I couldn't help thinking that the heats and the two stages in the final were kept to 10 laps, because it is the longest NBC will go before a commercial break. Therefore, it may have been made for TV.

[OSUFlyGuy]

I'm a casual IndyCar fan trying to get into it and I didn't think it was that interesting. Even when watching on TV, you still get the energy from the crowd and the feeling that it's an event. There wasn't any of that. I think heats in oval racing make sense on smaller tracks, but in this case just meant there were fewer cars on a huge track. As someone who just moved to Dallas I don't have a race at TMS or COTA, and I'm disappointed this is what I got instead. I'm glad IndyCar is swinging, I just think they should have picked something else.

Edit: I also want to say, IndyCar has some of the best racing product out there. There are better ways to showcase it.

[jonallen]

I think about PTs comments on the cheap podium and champagne. Trophies were like Kart racing.

[cody]

Indycar should be in panic mode right now

[Storkleton]

This was a kid's birthday party event. Nothing about it made sense

[hippyjason]

My suggestions: Two 10 lap heats as it was, but then do a 10 lap last chance "B" main race for all the cars that didn't make the show out of the two heats. The feature is lined up as it was, but with the top 6 from the B main tagged onto the end. Everyone fills up with however much fuel they want, and gets new tires. Main is 20 laps, WITH NO BREAK, but yellows don't count off of lap total, and no tire changes or refueling. Also, pay 100K to the hardest charger who passed the most cars/made the highest gain in positions from where they started the feature at. Then the guys in the back got something to play for, too.

[MarkWick]

I hope the TV ratings for Sunday are abysmal because the fewer people who saw that the better.

[codileger]

Here’s a crazy idea, do this at Sebring week after 12 hour. Saves teams money from going all the way out West, may catch end of Spring Break crowd, and Sebring is Sebring

[silentowlscribe]

We needed Paul Tracy in a car at Thermal 😂😂😂 yesterday for excitement