25 replies to this topic

[SonnyViceR]

Self-explanatory poll questions.

Edited by SonnyViceR, 10 December 2012 - 22:42.

[DanardiF1]

I find it funny how the NASCAR world big the Daytona 500 up so much as being THE BIGGEST RACE IN THE WORLD TM... but then go back and race there again later in the year...

Also, World Centre (Center in US speak) of Racing? Please... one big stock car race and a 24 hour for largely irrelevant sportscars... sounds like the Dubai Autodrome had more going for it when Speedcar was knocking around.

PS. Apologies to NASCAR guys... I'm not dissing NASCAR in general, just the marketing...

Edited by DanardiF1, 10 December 2012 - 23:51.

[SonnyViceR]

True, but how many would really call Indy "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing" either...

[DanardiF1]

True, but how many would really call Indy "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing" either...

Fair point... though it is a much better race than the Daytona 500, which doesn't get going until the end when all the drivers get itchy and a 'big one' occurs.

Think of this year's Indy, and then think of say the Trevor Bayne Daytona win... both exciting finishes, but Indy was a lot more fulfilling for it's duration.

[SonnyViceR]

My take...

Daytona has better build-up to the weekend
Daytona has better support race package
Daytona is bigger in the US
Indy is bigger worldwide
Indy has more history
Indy is better race-wise

Though I strongly prefer both the speedway and roval road course of Daytona to Indianapolis

Edited by SonnyViceR, 11 December 2012 - 14:20.

[SonnyViceR]

Oh and I totally agree that the mid-season second race in Daytona makes the place look less special. Kinda same with the Shootout and Duels, never saw the point in them

Month of May at Indy on the other hand is sort of old fashione and dry, pointless Bump Days with no bumping and 10000 hours of qualifying (with only one support race during the entire month) doesn't really scream exciting to me.

[jonpollak]

Quick question Sonny.
Have you been to both events?

Jp

[SonnyViceR]

Quick question Sonny.
Have you been to both events?

Jp

No, unless you are willing to write me a 3000$ cheque for both events?

But this is not what this thread is about, I should be able to voice my own opinion without being interrogated.

Edited by SonnyViceR, 11 December 2012 - 14:47.

[Risil]

Easy, tiger.

[SonnyViceR]

Yeah sorry, I just thought that this was again leading to "you fool, you cannot possibly know anything about an event you've never actually participated in person!"

[wewantourdarbyback]

Indy will always mean more to me, as much as I like NASCAR I follow Indycar much more closely. The Indy 500 is great to watch and can provide great racing without an artificial change to the style of racing (restrictor plates).

[Risil]

Yeah sorry, I just thought that this was again leading to "you fool, you cannot possibly know anything about an event you've never actually participated in person!"

Knowing Jp, if he was leading to that he'd have been pullin' your leg.

Both "500s" have their own traditions as news and TV events, but speaking as someone who's only been to one race outside the UK, it's true that sometimes you only GET an event when you go there in person. The noise, the views, the scale, the exploring, the waiting, even things like banking or elevation changes. Bet you think the same thing about Le Mans.

Btw, I love the PR races during Daytona Speedweeks. And I like the 10000 hours of practice and qualifying at Indy, it's a link to its original conception as a proving ground for cars and motorcycles(?). Course it would be better if the teams were allowed to take some unique and untried machinery to prove, although if they can't afford Rubens Barrichello it's understandable that they can't afford a Mercedes 500i (or a Penske PC24, for that matter) either.

Edited by Risil, 11 December 2012 - 15:27.

[InSearchOfThe]

Indy
Indy
Indylights
I've been to numerous Indy 500s since '87 and went to the july race in Daytona(not the 500).
Being from the midwest and an open wheel fan, Indy will always be the greater American race imo.

[kosmic33]

While I watch both, at the end of the day, the Daytona 500 is just a random lottery that any driver out of the 43 can get lucky and win.
Until that changes, it'll always be Indy for me.

[Watkins74]

It used to be Indy by a mile but now that series is a joke. The only thing Indy has going for it now is that it is held on Memorial day weekend which is like a racing holiday in the States.

[Andrew Hope]

I've seen both races every year since 1995, and I think the Daytona 500 has made the more lasting impression on me. I only really remember 3 Indy 500s off the top of my head: Wheldon winning after Hildebrand's crash in 2011, Sato vs. Dario in 2012, and the original race that got me interested in racing in the first place, Villeneuve's win from 2 laps down in 1995 when I had just turned all of 4 years old a month earlier. I can still picture Stan Fox's crash and Pruett's accident and Goodyear getting the black flag and a dozen other things, but that's only from one race.

That's 3 races I can remember vividly in 17 years, the rest all just kinda mushed together. But I've seen just as many Daytona 500s (or one less I suppose, I didn't see the 1995 race) and I'd say the numbers are roughly reveresed: I can remember a good 12 or 13 exciting Daytona 500s, and only 2 or 3 are just a vague haze of loud noises and yellow flags in my brain.

Having so many races at Daytona has never really taken any of the interest away from me, at the end of the day I like racing enough that any reservations I might've developed in wishing a track to be "special" and only come around once a year vanish with the glee that Daytona usually throws up interesting racing, and does so several times a year. The wait between February and June or July or whenever the second race is already feels like about 10 years to me, I couldn't bear having to wait any longer. If F1 had two races at Spa in one year for some reason, I can't imagine too many people complaining. Daytona is to NASCAR a lot like what Spa is to F1, at least in terms of infamy.

I still get kinda doe-eyed when the Daytona race is about to start. Indy on the other hand.. even during a good Indy 500 I tend to feel like I should care a lot more than I do. The 500 is like a microcosm of IndyCar itself, it's like if you had a crush on girl you knew to be a brilliant musician and a really clever girl, but she never did anything with the potential apart from let it slip away from her, like water through cupped hands. Even if you still like what you see, you can't help but be a little disheartened at how much better you feel it's supposed to be. I enjoy the Indy 500 every year, but it rarely creates memories the way the Daytona 500 does. Indy is like a good CD I love to listen to from time to time, but the Daytona 500 is more of an album I catch myself mumbling the lyrics in time with some imaginary beat, and I still know all the words. It shouldn't be this way, with tons of races at Daytona each year compared to just 1 at Indy - if either is supposed to feel special, then it should be Indy - but Daytona somehow takes the cake every year.

For the poll, as to which race I tend to wait more, I guess that would be Daytona too, when Montoya is on the prowl for jet dryers and the red flag bleeds through into Monday morning..

Edited by Andrew Hope, 11 December 2012 - 17:24.

[jonpollak]

No, unless you are willing to write me a 3000$ cheque for both events?

But this is not what this thread is about, I should be able to voice my own opinion without being interrogated.

Whoa Nellie.
I just wanted to know if ya'd seen them that's all.
Jeez Louise..


Perhaps my unfounded reputation as a complete and total asshole needs to be addressed.
Jp

[gm914]

Perhaps my unfounded reputation as a complete and total asshole needs to be addressed.
Jp

Needs a poll.

[SonnyViceR]

Whoa Nellie.
I just wanted to know if ya'd seen them that's all.
Jeez Louise..


Perhaps my unfounded reputation as a complete and total asshole needs to be addressed.
Jp

I'm sorry, I just remember us having this same sort of conversation some time ago (year or something?) so maybe I reacted a bit too quickly. I apologize.

[PayasYouRace]

Indy is the only one that I have any interest in, and even then, I think it's a bit of a muchness. But that's probably because I started watching "Indycar" in 1996, so I had years of "Indycar" racing, which was really CART of course until I finally saw an Indy 500 on TV in 2004. So in my mind Indy itself has little to do with Indycar racing, which I know is silly but that's just what I was brought up on in terms of US racing.

I've hardly had a chance to see any NASCAR, and the only Daytona 500 I've seen was with some friends and we generally spent most of it drinking beer and laughing at how "American" it was and waiting for a big one.

I do suspect that Daytona is the bigger event nowadays though.

I don't know enough about the support races and have never seen any.

[jonpollak]

Needs a poll.

I vote yes..

No worry's Sonny
As I said my unmerited reputation precedes me.... and that'll be 2 votes in the affirmative gm914

Jp

[gm914]

I vote yes..

No worry's Sonny
As I said my unmerited reputation precedes me.... and that'll be 2 votes in the affirmative gm914

Jp

Actually if you phrase the poll in a certain way I could see myself voting no.
Or Kevin Harvick.

[jonpollak]

Ok then...
How's THIS?

http://forums.autosp...howtopic=178870

Jp

[George Costanza]

True, but how many would really call Indy "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing" either...

I would say that belongs to the 24 hours of Le Mans...

[Dmitriy_Guller]

For all the hype, Daytona is just another stupid restrictor plate track, with a lot of decidedly average leaders of the last lap in its history. Indy 500, despite all the political troubles, still somehow manages to retain its pedigree to a large extent, and it seems to always hold a nasty surprise for inexperienced drivers like Scheckter, Hildebrand, or Sato.

Edited by Dmitriy_Guller, 12 December 2012 - 06:29.

[NotSoSilentBob]

I find it funny how the NASCAR world big the Daytona 500 up so much as being THE BIGGEST RACE IN THE WORLD TM... but then go back and race there again later in the year...

NBA - winner is the 'World Champion'
World Series - winner is the 'World Champion'

I assume Ice Hockey & NFL football is the same. There's no playoff against the best from elsewhere, it's just a unilateral declaration.

Just the American way of labelling things. Reeks of 'little man syndrome' imo ....