Read the opposing arguments from Sports Geek and Babe Ruthless .
It’s the beginning of Memorial Day weekend and many of us have Monday off to spend time with our families, or possibly head out to a lake for the long weekend. But one of the big traditions of Memorial Day weekend is the running of the Indianapolis 500. I’m here to tell you that if you are not an Indy Car fan, or even a racing fan, don’t waste your time because that’s exactly what it is… a complete waste of time!
I consider myself a racing fan, but not really a fan of the IRL. I’ll watch some of it (maybe), but that has more to do with a certain driver who endorses Go Daddy. I’m all in favor of tradition, and the Indy 500 definitely has that. The winner has to drink milk and kiss the bricks at the start-finish line. Sunday’s race will be the 94th running of what is often called The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, and permanent seating capacity is set at over 250,000 people. Total attendance usually hovers around 400,000, after all of the people in the infield are counted. Folks, that’s a lot of people. But that’s where the draw ends.
It is hard for us Americans to actively follow the Indy 500 because there are often very few Americans actually racing in the race. Taking a look at this year’s starting grid. In all, I see are nine Americans. That’s nine out of 33 drivers. You may have heard of some of the other drivers, most notably three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves. But that’s because you know he was in the middle of a tax evasion trial last year, and that he also won the fifth season of “Dancing With the Stars” back in the fall of 2007.
The truth of the matter is that NASCAR has long since supplanted the IRL as the most popular form of racing in the USA. There’s a reason guys like Dario Franchitti leave the IRL, or other open wheel racing leagues, and try their hand at NASCAR – instead of the other way around. NASCAR is where the money is, and is just more popular. The Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte runs on the same day as the Indy 500 and often draws a bigger television audience than the so-called Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Last year’s Indy 500 drew just 3.9 percent of U.S. television households. That was the lowest rating the race has gotten since it began getting live start-to-finish coverage in 1986. This is the highest profile race open-wheel racing has to offer. To be able to consistently draw less viewers than a second tier NASCAR race is not good for the overall prestige of IRL.
The bottom line is that the Indianapolis 500 has lost its prestige, no matter how much ESPN and ABC try to promote it. Very few people in the United States care about it. Do you care it about it for reasons other than seeing Ms. Patrick? Unless you are a die-hard fan of open-wheel racing, I’m not sure you do care. That’s why the Indy 500 is the most overrated sporting event .
I’ll take Nascar any day of the week. A great American spectacle every weekend.
http://tinyurl.com/boogity-boogity-boogity
What makes it a great American spectacle, and why is the Daytona 500 NOT overrated in your mind?