TBK-Light.com

A very fundamentally flawed car that has way too much drag and not enough horsepower thanks to the specs they have to work with. No amount of aero competition can save this pile of shit I'm afraid. I have very low expectations for this car.

We are exploring adding additional events to the 2012 schedule. We’re in the process of confirming a 16th event, while also considering adding a 17th race to the calendar.

It makes me so mad, that tracks like Laguna, Road America, Cleveland are nowhere to be seen, and I have little hope of them getting back soon.

So I guess you guys are pretty stoked about the tumors, then

Road America and Cleveland, yeah, I'd like to see that back... but what's with the nostalgia for Laguna? It has the corkscrew, sure, but the racing was usually crap due to it being a narrow track more built for bikes.

Rather see one of the Panoz road courses (Sebring, Road Atlanta, Mosport), Mont-Tremblant or Circuit Giles Villeneuve, the Glen... several of them aren't really practical desires, of course, due to economic reality or politics. But still.

Nascar is not as dominant as you believe they are either, when their TV contracts come up for renegotiation, things might be very different.

Every single one of those figures you quote is a guess, nothing more, iirc, Indycar is also shown on a channel only a small percentage of America can get, so the figures are again slued because of that.

You only have to look at the empty grandstands to see Nascar isn't as healthy as it's claimed, it could just as easily be that 4,000,000 real people watch a Sprint Cup race and 8,000,000 watch an Indycar race, but because the majority of the Nielsen homes that make up the system don't watch the Indycars, the Nielsen figures say 600k watched it.

Okay, I'm just gonna ramble on here 'cause I'm at a loss as to what everyone's expectations are of the IndyCar Series. If I make sense, great, if I don't, feel free to ignore.

First of all, there's no argument over the damage that Tony George did in 1995. The story's been told again and again, and we all know the consequences of what happened. But he's gone. His prize stooge is now also gone. He's been replaced by someone in Randy Bernard who has a plan for where he wants IndyCar to be but also realises that it will take a while to get there, especially with the radically changed reality that he faces compared to 1995.

It hasn't helped that his first major play to try and rejuvinate IndyCar backfired catastrophically. That's the second thing. Vegas was a disaster and it has almost certainly set IndyCar back a bit. The reason Vegas drew a 1.8 in the Nielsens is because 5 million people watched the final 30 minutes. So there are a lot of people who may have been interested in a strong open-wheel alternative to NASCAR who would have been driven away again by what they saw. Progress in growing the series will be slower in coming as a result.

But, that aside, there are steps in the right direction. We have a new car. Yes, there were major teething troubles when they first tested it but the last pre-Christmas test gave some indication that those problems were being dealt with. We have an engine war for the first time in years. From 2013 there will also be an aero war which is as close as we will get to a full chassis war for a long time. It hasn't even raced yet and there are people criticising it? Come on. Give it a chance.

And yes, the schedule looks very weak compared to the glory days. But IndyCar simply cannot afford to run at all these old circuits for the sake of nostalgia. They have to be financially viable. The series is no longer being financed by Tony George's chequebook, it has to be self-sustaining. It's not like F1 where Bernie is charging exorbitent fees for the purposes of sucking promoters dry; IndyCar is trying to run a business. And in some cases the people that used to act as promoters just don't want to know. Ultimately IndyCar can only run at the circuits that can afford it right now. If the economy picks up, and if IndyCar picks up, then they can surely entertain the idea of running again at the old circuits.

And I know a lot of people scoff at the Chinese race, that it mimics so well what CART and the CCWS did in their dying years, but I guarantee that if they can get Ho-Pin Tung or some other Chinese driver in a half-decent ride then IndyCar will sell in China like hot cakes. It might actually attract some real investment besides IZOD. This has actually been one of Bernie's biggest mistakes of recent times; he wants a Russian driver for the Russian GP and an American driver for the American GPs but he has not made any real attempt to secure a Chinese driver for the Chinese GP. If Randy can do this he may crack China.

IndyCar right now is fighting against the economy and it's fighting against NASCAR. Two battles it did not have in 1995 and they are difficult battles. Considering the position the series is in it's a wonder how its still alive. I'd love for the series to race at Michigan, to race at Milwaukee, Richmond, Cleveland, Laguna Seca and all those good and great tracks which it isn't right now, and for there to be multiple chassis manufacturers really committed to trying to beat each other. But it's not possible right now. I believe it will be possible in the future, but for the meantime all anyone can have is patience and belief.

The Nascar Truck Series is shown on Speed. It has double the viewers vs. Indycar. Trying to point the blame on Neilsen is lame ass excuse.

TBK Light's 2013 ARCA pick 'ems champion!

For the second year in a row, OldAsphalt takes the ARCA pick 'ems crown!

The lack of horsepower can be dealt with if they want to, they can turn the turbo boost up.

They should go to Zolder and Assen if Texas and Baltimore don't work out.