Where are the Marketing Degrees?

It seems that Indy Car has found the sweet spot when it comes to road racing.  I must say that the quality of the ovals has worsened.  Okay, I admit I was biased toward road courses to start with, but before Texas especially, I tuned in prepared for the usual good action and was disappointed.  Toronto was a breath of fresh air after the long stretch of ovals and after Saturday's race, all I could think was, "We get to do this all again tomorrow."  These double headers are growing on me.  

There were a few pieces to the weekend that were a bit unsavory, however, and a lot of it goes back to marketing--that one thing Indy Car just can't get right, that one thing that's keeping the series down.  NASCAR's marketing?  It's solid gold.  Everybody knows what it is.  This may have something to do with the fact that I'm from North Carolina, but still, if I say the words "Indy Car" to someone, they picture NASCAR.  Despite NASCAR's widespread popularity, I can't believe that it's just what people prefer, much less that Indy Car is an inferior product.  Indy Car is just extremely different.  And because it's so different, it can't ride on NASCAR's tidal wave.  It has to make its own name, and it's not.  

So, here's hoping the rumors are true that Tom Garfinkel will be coming to Indy Car.  But it's not just how you promote the series.  You have to deliver what you promise, and this weekend in Toronto, race control fell just a little bit short.  

It started before the beginning.  The first-ever Indy Car standing start was a selling point of the weekend.  On Saturday there was just one attempt, and then it was called off and they went ahead with the flying start.  That said, I was not at all interested in the concept anyway.  Indy Car is a different product from Formula One--it has to be, or the two series couldn't coexist.  Therefore, in Indy Car, there are flying starts, just as there are ovals in addition to road courses.  Regardless, we were told that we would see a standing start on Saturday, and it just didn't happen.  That's not the right precedent to set.  At least they went ahead with it on Sunday.  (Though it was just as anticlimactic as I expected it to be.)

Then there was the penalty for Dario Franchitti.  He is not my favorite driver, but the call was wrong.  Yes--he did move over.  I saw it as a subconscious reaction to Will Power suddenly appearing underneath him, and others believed it was indeed on purpose.  But at least in the room I was in, everyone agreed that all the drivers had been doing that all day and the call should not have been made.  Particularly after the race.  Most people hate to see a race won or lost in the pits, so nobody wants to see nitpick-y rules get in the way.  As my dad said, the results should only be reviewed after the race if there was a violation that couldn't be ignored.  But then again, Brian Barnhart was calling the shots this weekend.

The only thing worse than making a crippling, incorrect call?  Taking it all back the next day.  You want to make those decisions?  Then just leave it.  I guess I'm happy things were set right, and I bet that's how most people are feeling.  But, personally?  Make the call or don't, but pick one.

All I'm saying is that this is a spectator sport.  If we're promised a standing start and if (for some reason...) we want to see it, we need to get it.  We want to see cars battling for position, on the track, start to finish.  And even though the rule book is important, it's only there because it has to be.  It's there to keep things safe and fair.  It's not there to punish drivers for trying to maintain their position in the closing laps of a race.

*DISCLAIMER*:  I hate blocking.  I am NOT saying drivers should be able to defend their position to the point of blocking.  There is a difference between actually coming off the racing line and driving aggressively.

      

Now the last unfortunate thing about the weekend is a much bigger hurdle as far as marketing goes.  We've been having the most interesting season in so long...until now.  Coming into Toronto, we had eight different winners from seven different countries.  We had three first-time winners.  Helio Castroneves, who has always been one of the strongest drivers but has never won a championship, continues to hang on to the points lead.  Even when Ganassi had luck at Pocono with Scott Dixon, it was nice to see the other half of the big two get their rhythm back.  But after Dixon scored his third win in a row today, now that we're headed to Mid-Ohio where he is unquestionably the favorite, I'm afraid the last leg of the season is going to look a lot like it did last year.  Of course, it doesn't matter how many marketing degrees a person has--a lot of this is out of their hands.  Talent and skill can't and shouldn't be stifled.  We are going in the right direction with the two engine manufacturers, the red and black tires, and the aero packages that will debut in 2015.  We've just got to keep the competition tough.  We've got to keep one or two big teams from dominating.  Because, for most of the races this season, I've been genuinely unsure of what would happen next and completely excited to find out.