Indycar but not F1 fans?

The recent news about Herta struggling to get a Superlicense very much points out that the FIA does not put much into Indycar when it's one of the top open wheel series in the world.  Now I'm not *really* sure they think badly of Indycar, but I do think that F1 may consider Indycar a competitor to F1.

And that's what I'm curious about.  When I read threads here, on a hockey board, and back when I did participate in the Miata board, pretty much everyone who was an Indycar fan is also an F1 fan.   I totally get that there are F1 fans who are not Indycar fans- but this is very much not about them- or comparing the two series.

Being a fan of both series is very easy- as there is zero overlap in events- heck you can make a couple of amazing Sundays with the F1 race in the morning and the Indycar race later that same day.

So- is anyone here an Indycar fan but not an F1 fan?

The real eyeball competition to both open wheel series is Cup racing.

(this came from watching a The Race vlog about the Herta situation- where you can win a minor open wheel championship once and have more points than finishing 5th 5 years in a row- points are hard to really accumulate for Indycar unless you win or place in championships regularly.  And noting how super license holders have not really been able to keep their license (sort of- if you count how competetive they are)- it's a very competitive series with very talented drivers)

zero overlap in events? Indy 500 and Monaco 

To me Indycar is more competitive. Anyone qualified in the top 10 has a good possibility of winning. 

I'm a fan of both. My fandom for each waxes and wanes. In the 90s I was all in on CART and it was certainly my favorite. In the 2000s as CART failed and the IRL was pretty uninspiring, I got way more into F1. This also coincided with the USGP at Indy, which I attended every year. Starting about 5 years ago, Indycar started picking up my interest agian, to the point where I follow it just as closely as F1. So, at this point, I'd say my fandom is pretty equal between the two series. 

It's different, though. F1 has all the high drama, the high stakes, the big money, higher technology, and the worldwide footprint. On the other hand, Indycar has much better, closer racing and parity, and a great variety of tracks. It's also more accessible, I have walked through the paddock many times at Belle Isle and met multiple drivers and team owners that way. That would never happen in F1. But, it's a spec series, so that's kind of a bummer.

Personally, I think the reason the FIA doesn't rate Indycar as highly for Superlicense points is that it's in their financial best interest for people to follow the European F3/F2 ladder and not the Road to Indy, which they don't have an interest in.

I think Indycar is just trying to regain some of the prominence it used to have prior to The Split.  Now that it's owned by Roger Penske I'd bet they will succeed to some degree, but until they regain some diversity in the cars they won't regain a lot of the true fans they lost going to a Spec Series.  There were a lot of empty seats at the Indy 500 this year and I think that's going to be a reasonable litmus test as to the popularity of the series.  When The 500 is back to waiting list status for tickets then we'll know Indycar is restoring its former popularity.  If they'd adopt rules that take advantage of the vulnerabilities of F1 to offer a more interesting product, THEN Indycar might be considered a threat to F1.   I'm not going to hold my breath.  

L5wolvesf said:

zero overlap in events? Indy 500 and Monaco 

To me Indycar is more competitive. Anyone qualified in the top 10 has a good possibility of winning. 

As a fan, there is no overlap in those events- you wake up to watch Monaco, and then when that is done, the pageantry to the 500 starts.

And this is about the fans, who pay the bills for sport.

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

 

Personally, I think the reason the FIA doesn't rate Indycar as highly for Superlicense points is that it's in their financial best interest for people to follow the European F3/F2 ladder and not the Road to Indy, which they don't have an interest in.

Is it, though?  Given how few seats there really are available in F1, we regularly see these ladder drivers in Indycar races, too.   But The Race pointed out that after the top of the series, the drop off is more like a minor open wheel racing- I get supporting F2 and F3- but having Indycar be lower than those (in many ways) makes no sense.

In reply to stroker :

Again, I'm not asking about what is good or bad about Indycar racing- but if anyone who IS and Indycar fan but not an F1 fan.  So there's no reason for any European to think that it's some kind of rival series.  The one time it was a 'threat' was a BS threat from Ferrari, as far as I was concerned- way back in the 80s.  

But F1 has had some odd rules where a CART or Indcar race could not be held on the same track as an F1 race for some confusing reason.  That was because of the perception of a threat of the series.  

In reply to alfadriver :

They didn't want anyone to be able to compare lap times.

johndej said:

In reply to alfadriver :

They didn't want anyone to be able to compare lap times.

I can't imagine why. F1 cars are much faster. What's the difference at COTA, something like 10-15 seconds a lap?

I agree about the lack of seats in F1, but what they are selling to the prospective up-and-coming driver is the possibility. Every one of those guys thinks he's the next Hamilton, if only he had the chance to prove it. F3/F2 gives them the path to F1 if they can just get a chance to show their talent.

I don't follow either series closely, but I'm definitely more of an Indycar fan than F1. But that's due to me growing up 1/2 a mile from turn 4 of IMS and the month of May being a pretty big deal for my entire childhood.

alfadriver said:

In reply to stroker :

Again, I'm not asking about what is good or bad about Indycar racing- but if anyone who IS and Indycar fan but not an F1 fan.  So there's no reason for any European to think that it's some kind of rival series.  The one time it was a 'threat' was a BS threat from Ferrari, as far as I was concerned- way back in the 80s.  

But F1 has had some odd rules where a CART or Indcar race could not be held on the same track as an F1 race for some confusing reason.  That was because of the perception of a threat of the series.  

Bernie Ecclestone certainly saw Champcar as a threat to F1 in the early to mid-90's.  The situation has changed significantly since then but, as I said above, it's not likely to return to that situation any time soon. 

I follow F1 and watch the Indycar road races. Occasionally I'll watch an oval race but fast forward through most of it.

I'm enjoying Indycar on road race tracks with some many different winners.   I'm thinking TV is so important that if you are a diehard serious fan you are going to stay home and watch all the detail TV/web coverage affords.  On that same note, I think "Drive to Survive" has peaked interest in the US of A for F1 racing.

FIA is Americancentric, they also don't want people running to indycar after spending 1 or 2 years in F2/3, they rather them spend 3-4 years in F2 and then go to sports cars or FE. As typical in F1 it's all parliamentary procedure and elitism, of course Herta could handle a F1 car, but in F1 driver talent is only a small percentage as the team, car, and how the budget is spent is far more important. However F1 (Liberty Media) also knows that they are getting snubbed by celebrates so they need a American in the series. Eventually Logan will be in a bottom tier team for 1 year before he comebacks to America for Indy or Nascar. Maybe even Jak Crawford will get a chance, but certainly can't depend on HAAS on giving a American driver a chance.

Never been interested in F1. The few times I tuned in decades ago nobody ever passed each other.

CART was fantastic. Indycar and the split killed it for me. I no longer watch any open wheel racing. In fact, I no longer watch any racing since getting rid of cable/satellite.

Most every go round in a circle with or without a few rights in it motorsport on 4 wheels is meh.

If you want F1 to not be a bore, get rid of simulators, whether driver or computational. It is way too polished to be not have a predetermined finishing order.

JMO.

In reply to ddavidv :

So I was hoping you would be one, but being a fan of neither, well.  

The reason for the points system is to try to judge whether or not the driver's experience to date is enough to adequately prepare him/her for F1.  Most of the F2 and F3 events are held at F1-style circuits (often at actual F1 tracks during the F1 weekend as a support race), whereas over half of the IndyCar schedule is made up of temporary street circuits and ovals.

I followed CART/ChampCar in the early 2000s, but IRL and IndyCar never really interested me due to the spec nature and the dominance of oval tracks.

alfadriver said:

In reply to ddavidv :

So I was hoping you would be one, but being a fan of neither, well.  

I'm actually kind of sad about it. I was a pretty rabid CART fan back in the day. Then the IRL/Tony George assclownery happened. Whatever evolved from that just hasn't caught my interest. 

I also was a close follower of IMSA back in the GTP days. Once the manufacturers left, so did my interest.

Speedvision turning into NA$CAR...err...Speed channel also didn't  help.

I like close racing on road courses. CART mixing in ovals throughout the season actually worked for me. The last series I really followed was the BTCC but see above, the death of Speedvision made it too hard to find. So now I watch...nothing, other than YouTube channels.

I'm a fan of both series, but I prefer IndyCar because the racing is so much better. I do know lots of fans of F1 that look down their noses at IndyCar, which is too bad.

I also love IMSA racing , too.

In reply to ddavidv :

Right before the split I was very close to being a CART only fan.