IndyCar To Honor Oval & Road Course Drivers

[DanicaFan]

Well, IndyCar will be doing something different this year. They will start to honor the top performers on the types of tracks driven in the series.... ovals and road/street courses. The drivers that score the most points in each type of track, regardless of where they finish in the championship standings, will be given a trophy bearing a former race champion and a cash bonus.

They will still honor the overall series points champion but will add these 2 designations under the Series Champion. The name on the trophies for ovals will be revealed June 3-5 at Texas Motor Speedway. The name on the road/street course trophy will be revealed July 3-4 at Watkins Glen.

Here is an example if these awards were given out last year..

Oval Champion - Scott Dixon - 406 points
Road/Street Champion - Dario Franchitti -270

[NaBUru38]

Ahem... 2010 isn't the first year. Look at this: the 2009 Raybestos Road & Street Course Challenge went to Ryan Briscoe. But better publicity for that is great!

[Quintin03]

First year there's an award for the best oval driver though. And what's with Briscoe getting the award last year when DanicaFan's calculations say Dario Franchitti should have won? What went wrong?

[Bonanza]

so there are now up to 3 champions crowned per year in the IndyCar series.


i can't help but dislike this-It's one series, not 2/3.

[JagtechOhio]

Yeah, this will sell like 7 more tickets for the race this weekend.

Prolly double in the future.

[DanicaFan]

Yeah, Im not sure about this either, Im kind of neutral on it.

[climb]

excellent idea! I proposed it on this forum some years ago.

It's like SKI World cup, you give more chances of visibility to drivers, beyond the overall title which, obviously, remains the most important achievement.

It virtually recognizes that oval and road/street racing are very different from each other, and demand different skills, which is absolutely realistic

[Dutton]

The difference with the skiing situation is the individual categories are championships in their own right, but all combine for the overall championship title. Perhaps I am getting confused, since it has been a few years since I closely followed the skiing scene, but the individual disciplines have full on recognised titles in their own rights, right?

This IRL case is different in that the additional awards do not actually mean anything in any real sense. I can see the thinking behind it, but it is the kind of thing that can only really work in something which is quite successful and widely recognised. The IRL is not that.

Don't get me wrong, I do not care that these award things exist. It makes absolutely no difference to me either way. I just don't think it achieves anything whatsoever. Or am I missing something, and that these things are meant to be accredited championship titles (not merely vanity awards)?

[DanicaFan]

Some good points Dutton. A thing to remember, to be the series champion means you need to be good on both types of courses, not just one or the other. I think splitting this up by tracks can possibly undermine the series champion by focusing on the driver who wins one of the track type championships. The IRL has very diverse track types now and they want to be known for the variety so I think splitting a championship between the tracks is counter effective.

This is my take on it at this time.

[Taprobane]

Woah, I agree with DanicaFan! I think this could lead to people only challenging for one title or the other if they have a particular strength which personally I don't like. I think the best thing about indycar is the fact that the drivers have to adapt to different types of track.

[Dutton]

It won't undermine the series champion. There will be like 1031 members of the public globally who know about the extra ones, and 994 of them won't find them relevant: the remaining 7 will be viciously divided, with the debate getting so acrimonious one will commit suicide; the ensuing deadlock will ensure endlessly circular arguments until one of the remaining six "gives up" for the great good, dies of natural causes, or is assassinated.

[DanicaFan]

Dont let everyone know you agree Taprobane...lol

From what Ive been reading on various forums, the majority dont like it. This could be one thing the IRL didnt ask fans opinions on before they implemented it.

[mz2k]

Originally Posted by Bonanza

so there are now up to 3 champions crowned per year in the IndyCar series.

Don't forget the Indy 500 winner, who has always been set apart from the remainder of the series.

[NaBUru38]

What driver names could be chosen for the awards? With help from Wikipedia and Champ Car Stats, I list some of the top winners and champions in the USAC and CART eras:

AJ Foyt - four-time winner of the Indy 500, 60 more oval wins (21% of starts), only 3 non-oval wins. But he won the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Mario Andretti - 24 oval wins (but only 11% of starts), 17 road wins (19% of starts) including three at Road America, 5 street wins including three at Long Beach (plus one with F1). Perfect for a road/street trophy, or even a road trophy.

Michael Andretti - 17 street wins (20% of street starts) out of 42 career wins. He is a street king.

Al Unser Sr and Bobby Unser - 61 oval wins including seven Indy 500 wins, three Pocono 500 and four at Michigan, versus 13 non-oval wins. Perfect for an oval trophy.

Al Unser Jr - 17 street race wins out of 34 career wins, inluding six at Long Beach and four at Vancouver. He is a street king.

Rick Mears - 22 oval wins (19% of starts) including four Indy 500 wins, only 7 road wins and no street wins. Perfect for an oval trophy.

Bobby Rahal - 10 oval wins, 9 road course wins, 5+1 street wins - more like AJ Foyt in a smaller scale.

[awrb]

I think this is a good idea. Adds an extra element to the series, but I don't think it will take anything away from the overall championship. It will add a bit of interest to the last road course at least.

[JagtechOhio]

Really fine thread, everybody has a good case.

I try to look at stuff that will catch the interest of new fans, since all of us will watch whatever they roll out and however they slice the pie.

In trying to make the case about what makes IndyCar special to outsiders, the notion that these drivers have to cope with the most diverse challenges was a selling point.

Mr. Bernard and Mr.Kelley of Izod obviously did not read this and invite me to lunch:
____________________________________________________________

A long distance runner requires great stamina.
A bicycle racer requires guile and skill.
A swimmer relies on speed and persistence.

The champion of the Triathalon bests them all.

Come watch the worlds greatest drivers as they master every challenge:
From road course, to street circuit, to the fastest oval races ever run.

Come watch the 2010 Izod IndyCar Series.
__________________________________________________________

That is one champion, who masters the diverse challenges better than the others. That is what we have now: nobody else does. I wouldn't change it, and dividing things up into catagories undermines the importance of the one champion.

The split champions won't really hurt much, might help a little, but means nothing to the world. "Premium branding" was the idea, to point out the unique aspect. I think that's something you could try to sell.

Time for lunch. Looks like I'm buying. Again. The big dogs won't even throw me a bone.

[fasteric]

I agree that it will add a storyline and some additional interest to a race. Something like hockey (also on Versus) does with their special trophies for best record,best scorer,etc. Maybe add an award like the winner of the best ex-USAC Oval track driver or best ex-Road to Indy Road racer award. They could even share rides like Sarah Fisher does!

[cptkablamo]

I don't think this is much of a story. If anything it will allow some drivers to stuff their CVs with these titles and it will open up a couple of low level sponsorship packages.

It might change things in that some teams my choose to specialise a bit more. Some may develop a car particularly to their strengths or we might get more part season runners.

I really don't see it detracting from Indy or the overall prize.

[NaBUru38]

How about using the Olympic medal system for these trophies? The driver with most wins gets the trophy. If there's a tie, the driver with most second places wins, etc. It would reward top results over consistency. It may produce an early champion, however.

[Quintin03]

The problem would be in the likelyhood of an early champion. In the IzICS points are awarded from first to thirtythird. No need for such Ecclestonian ideas.

[NaBUru38]

Voting has started. You can vote here once per day per computer.

The nominees for the oval trophy are:
Rick Mears
AJ Foyt
Mario Andretti
Ted Horn
Bill Vukovich

The nominees for the road/street trophy are:
Mario Andretti
Al Unser Jr
Alex Zanardi
Dan Gurney
Mark Donohue

I'm for Mears and Andretti, the former just because there isn't any Unsers option and the latter because he deserves it.

I hate that the page says "oval and road champions". Winners should be called "trophy winners", not champions.

[lnin0]

Went with Foyt and Andretti. I don't see what the big deal with having this distinction is. No different than the Cy Young award in baseball.

[Quintin03]

Oh great, throphies may get the same name. I'm not going for Andretti, he's too much of an alrounder.

[mz2k]

Originally Posted by lnin0

Went with Foyt and Andretti. I don't see what the big deal with having this distinction is. No different than the Cy Young award in baseball.

The problem I have with that is that the best Indy Car driver is supposed to be awarded a championship. He or she has to be competitive on all tracks, regardless of their shape. It's what makes the sport unique.

Awarding drivers to be specialists takes away from that unique aspect.

Mario Andretti exemplifies what a true Indy Car driver should be. He was always a threat on every track. But now you want to remember him as a road course driver. It takes away from his career accomplishments.

[awrb]

The good thing about this is they say each trophy will be named after a 'legend of the sport'. That means they are looking at American Open Wheel series and not just IndyCar as the sport. This is surely showing a good change in culture at the series.