CCWS Driver Revelations: "American media is Trying To Kill CART!"

[Jay]

Lee, read his last post over again it jack all to do with what I had written. It was the usual, "...well look at the financials" BS.

[Lee Janotta]

There's very little in there about financials, Jay, unless you consider things like attendance, TV ratings, and third-party sponsors to be insignificant financial details.

Those three factors are the lifeblood of any sport in this day and age. The sad fact is that image is more important than substance in this atmosphere, and CART's image is of a series with no history, no indentity, and few obvious selling points. Now, if you dig beneath the surface, you find the series that we here love. But who's going to take the time to do that when Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. are getting roughly 60 to 80 hours of airtime a week?

CART can't become NASCAR, nor should it. But it has to play ball to a certain extent if it's going to survive at all. It's in such trouble because it looked down it's nose at the rest of American motorsport for years (especially under that w*nker Andrew Craig). It felt it need only produce good events, and the rest would take care of itself. Meanwhile NASCAR built up it's image through a lot of hard work on and off the track... Making it's drivers, simple good 'ol boys they are, into household names. And now it's paying huge dividends.

CART will have to go through a similar process if it's ever to recover. It needs to go private, _without_ a bunch of Euro-snobs running the show (see the aforementioned Mr. Craig, Joe Heitzler, and the current Chris Pook, who we can now conclusively say has _not_ done the job he was hired to do, as the series has sagged even further since he took up his post).

CART needs to get back to it's roots, plain and simple. If that means hiring a couple guys who've never been to Rio or Paris, who can't speak half a dozen languages fluently, and might occaisonally chuck their helmet at another guy's car, so be it. The money here's in beer and pretzels, not whine & cheesecake.

[Jay]

Lee, what is this if it doesn't have anything to do with financials?

Originally posted by indycool
Jay, if attendance numbers are "up" everywhere, why did MPH's financial guidance update...

[Lee Janotta]

Originally posted by Jay
Lee, what is this if it doesn't have anything to do with financials?

That's not from sgw2's post, Jay.

[Jay]

I was referring to indycool in particular, although the long post from sgw2 had more sense than his usual ones do.

[norman-normal]

the last time I checked Champ Cars had more than six times as many posts as IRL, We can afford to lose a few annoyances to help bolster thier numbers.

[The Snout]

And Vancouver has about the same times more attendance than Michigan. Jay I wouldn't worry about a bunch of guys who log on first thing in the morning to chuck mud.

I also wouldn't worry about someone who posts the same stock price on 5 CART forums in 15 minutes for reaction.

[kmchow]

Originally posted by sgjb
I just got home from the qualifying here today in Vancouver and we set a Friday record with over 45,000 fans.

OTOH, the 3 Canadian and 2 Mexican races have always been particularly well attended, according to CART officials. I think the only other well attended race is Long Beach. Some think the reason why the Canadian/Mexican races are better is b/c the title sponsors take an active part in promoting and/or running the race!

[norman-normal]

To return to the questionable US media; the advertising tells the story. It's geared to a 12 year old intellect.
For reliable news I go to the BBC and the CBC on NWI.

US TV tries to kill anything they deem unamerican

[oily oaf]

For what its worth I'll give you my 2 pennies worth. While I can't comment on the US media's take on the health or otherwise of CART, as an avid reader of motorsport publications this side of the puddle I can only say that for the most part the informed opinion is pretty positive where the future of the series and indeed it's quality is concerned, so I say if the North American media is giving CART a hard time then shame on them. I'm probably one of the rare breed that wants both CART and IRL to flourish as separate entities and by so doing prvide us the fans with a diverse but equally exciting package. Plus of course I get to see more racing on the box

[gaines]

I think the media has just done their job. The racing media’s job is to report exciting stories about the different series and let’s face it, not a whole lot of exciting stuff has happened to CART the past few years. We’ve lost all of our sponsors, two thirds of our manufacturers, most of our drivers and a majority of our teams. Our stock price is in the toilet, we have no connection to Indy anymore and there have been rumors of our folding for years now. CART is in bad shape and that isn’t something you write about every week in a positive light. CART is getting better but if something doesn’t happen quickly with the finances it won’t matter.
I still think all that CART needs to turn it around is one marquee race. Americans love marquee races. Really all you’d have to do is slap a few million dollar purse to the winner on the Long Beach race, spend millions advertising the race as “The race of all races” and hype the damn thing for months leading up to it. Put it in prime time on CBS on a Saturday night and watch what happens. Companies are willing to dish out big bucks just to be involved in one big marquee race. That’s what the IRL is built on. CART has no identity with the basic racing fan. A marquee race gives it that. Until we have something to hang our hat on, the media won’t care. CART doesn't sell papers

[KC]

CART gets zero love from the mass media. Their only coverage is via Speed Channel. But, don't think that the IRL is getting a lot more as they are not. Only ABC has any coverage of the IRL and that is because they have a vested interest in it as they are sitting on the TV contract that is doing about as well as CART is while it resides on Speed Channel.

The problem is this... the majority of reporters, and I do not mean the hard core racing coverage people, but the mainstream talking heads only repeat what they hear. If someone told them that Mario was driving for PKR then it would be gospel. Thats why anytime the racing is mentioned they usually get it wrong.

The media is in a unique and extremely powerful position. They are the most visible diseminator of information. They can pick and choose what to distribute. No one has oversight on them. No one has a pulpit from which to point a finger at them and let everyone know that they got a story wrong or ignored a story for some agenda or out of incompetence. Thus we never see a story about anyone doing good and chairtable work, but all we see is that another athlete committed a crime or another politician is slinging mud again. It has not been about the news and about what sells for a long time now. What makes them powerful in this is that they decide what sells too. Unfortunately most people do not understand this. They believe lock, stock and barrel what any talking head says as long as the news logo is pasted on the screen behind him or her.

As far as the focus of the media goes. Its not about CART's monetary issues, even that gets zero coverage. When was the last time you saw the results of a CART race on the mainstream news outside the city where the race was held? I guarantee the NASCAR winner was pictured as well as talked about. NASCAR sells because they make it sell, CART and the IRL do not because they made a conscious decision to ignore it. The racing in any of these series is good and competitive. The drivers are all for the most part good interviews and ambassadors of their sport, yet the media selectively censors certain parts to favor another.

There has not been an unbiased media ever since they advertising became the issue instead of the news.

[norman-normal]

You would think that the media, the IRL fans and the professional CART detractors, (many of whom appear on these pages) would be embarassed by thier inane remarks and predictions, when they see the grandstands fill up race after race; most likely a lot of envy as well.