This week’s United Open Wheel Word Butchers Association question:
What’s on this year’s Christmas List for the IRL?
– Start talking about the new chassis / engine formula so we can get excited about it!
– Make sure the international TV package is good. There are a LOT of IndyCar fans outside the USA and we feel like an afterthought sometimes. Gary and Larry made sure to namecheck all the countries their feed reached and it was nice to hear.
– Make sure the Indy Lights champ of every season gets a test with a major team. Do they already? I have no idea. Surely if they get a test, somebody down the grid will take a chance on them.
– I don’t care about a series sponsor as long as the cars are well stickered-up and look good. Make sure each team has sponsors, and try to attract even more. Yes, this is tough to do these days.
– Make sure safety car periods are kept to a minimum, and the clean up is as fast as safely possible. Don’t extend yellows just to squeeze in a pit sequence or a TV commercial break. TV should fit to the sport, not vice versa.
– Ditch Sonoma, a track with no fans looks stupid. See Bahrain in F1.
– Bring in Road America for 2010 (if not 2009). Also try for Michigan Speedway. Keep the street races to no more than 3 per season (Long Beach, Toronto, St Pete). I’d like to see the schedule mixed around a bit. I don’t like having oval-heavy to start with, road-heavy to end with.
– Above all else: survive this downturn intact, even if it means not doing some of the above until things quieten down.
I know that’s a lot of hard things to ask for, and they are all needed…
Thanks to Joel for this week’s question.
Come back tomorrow for my F1 Top Ten!
I Watch Too Much Racing 