Why so little interest in Indy?
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by user Alex Holowczak
The Indianapolis 500 is one of the greatest spectacles in the sporting world.
In the early 20th century, it was the States' answer to the great European events. With Grand Prix motor racing going strong in Europe, the US wanted in. The Indianapolis race was the first of these.
Since the First World War, Indianapolis has seen the fastest races ever recorded. It is also the second oldest motor racing event held annually, apart from the French Grand Prix, which predates it by just three years.
As a Formula One fan, it has always annoyed me how the US love NASCAR, and even IRL and CART. F1 bosses look to these series for talent, but rarely fo they find it. And the likes of Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi and Juan Pablo Montoya have gone from Formula One straight to winning races in those series. But never the other way around. Infact, the big 3 US racing series are so far behind their Formula One counterparts, it's unbelievable. Only the Andretti brothers, Michael and Mario (the 1978 World Champion) have ever lived up to the hype they brought. Even the fact that road courses are ignored has angered many purists, who consider road circuits a more strategic challenge.
So I hate the fact that this is ignored by the US public and media. Yet, for Indy I throw all this to the side.
Indy is generally considered as one of the trinity of great motor racing events. The Le Mans 24 Hour Race and Monaco Grand Prix are the other two.
Even by Europeans, Indy is a much loved race. It is the second oldest motor race in the world. It is the fastest by a country mile. Nowhere else can you see laps at an average of 230 miles per hour. With a circuit framed by a concrete wall, this is almost suicide.
And then look at the cicuit itself. On race day, a quarter of a million people converge on Indianapolis. It is the biggest "stadium" for a sporting event anywhere in the world. Being an oval, it is the perfect amphitheatre.
Indianapolis has huge motor racing tradition. It has hosted the 500 since 1911, and it hosts the United States Grand Prix, on an infield section as well as the main straight (backwards!). It has superb facilities, that circuits all over the world would love to have.
Every Indy is creating new history. In contention every year, Danica Patrick may one day become the first woman to ever win a race of such prestige. Considering Indys status as the best race in America, and one of the best in the world, if Patrick were to ever win the race, it would be a ground breaking day in the history of all sport, not just motor racing.
The great thing about the 500 is that it is open wheel. You need to be precise to put your car in the right place on each turn, because if you don't, you leave in a body bag, simply. The Daytona 500 and other such NASCAR races are all well and good, but they are nowhere near as good as their open wheel rivals. They are slower, have more downforce - it is generally much easier to drive a NASCAR. Compared to the open wheel formulae, NASCAR holds nowhere near the same amount of strategy from a drivers point of view. A common plan is to bump a team mate through. Do that in an Indy car and you're out of the race.
And look at the list of winners at Indy. Jacques Villeneuve, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Graham Hill and Jim Clark were all Formula One World Champions. The NASCAR list is filled with nobody's, in comparison. Only Andretti is on both lists.
This May 27, there is a feast of motor sport. The Indianapolis 500 is on the same day as the Monaco Grand Prix - the fastest and slowest motor races in the world on the same day! Just two and a half hours after the Monte Carlo winner is crowned, the order will come to start the engines at Indy. It doesn't get better for a racing fan.
This year will be the first Indy I have been truly aware of, and it saddens me to see such little motivation towards it from anybody.
