By David G. Firestone
So I wanted to discuss this last week, but the column was way too long, so I’ll discuss it here. It was announced that FOX will be purchasing 1/3 of IndyCar from Roger Penske. This will, according to the press release, create:
-Innovative and industry-leading racing and entertainment events
-A hyper-engaged digital strategy and immersive content focus
-Enhanced promotion and star-building opportunities for NTT IndyCar Series drivers
While get what they are trying to do, I kept circling back to one singular question. That question is, given the current viewership numbers, and overall trends, what does FOX think they can accomplish? This isn’t a boom period, the 1990’s are over. IndyCar has made mistake after mistake after mistake during the boom period and since.
When Penske bought IndyCar, I, like many fans, thought this would change IndyCar for the better. A fresh owner would bring fresh changes, and the sport would improve. Not only didn’t anything really improve, but it got worse. The utter disaster that was the two races at Thermal made the sport look really bad. Penske blew many opportunities to bring fans in.
IndyCar moving from NBC to FOX was the best thing that happened in the last few years. NBC has been a joke to racing fans for years. It was so refreshing to watch the Toronto race on a regular tv instead of Peacock. All of the races are on broadcast TV, and ratings are up 31%. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing, but, how long can these ratings raise last? NASCAR’s ratings are down, F1 and the NHRA ratings have plateaued.
This move does have the advantage of injecting cash into IndyCar, but, again, how long can this last? FOX and IndyCar are for-profit businesses. As such, they need to make money to survive. This will work for a short while, but the fact that the fans are gone will affect things going forward. This partnership will work for a while, but FOX might sell their stake sooner rather than later.
The fan bases of racing are slowly going down. F1 and the NHRA have a very stable fan base, and they aren’t really doing badly. NASCAR has burned so many of their long-time fans, that they’ve left. IndyCar spent 35 years making the worst decisions at the worst times. Bottom line here is that this deal sounds good, but let’s see how long this lasts. Now, on to Randy Couture’s Pro Mod crash. According to TMZ:
“UFC legend Randy Couture was airlifted to a burn center with serious injuries after crashing during practice runs at a racetrack in Kansas City … TMZ Sports has learned.
Couture — who was slated to make his National Hot Rod Association racing debut this year — was involved in an accident during preparation on Tuesday … resulting in first- and second-degree burns, trauma injuries and smoke inhalation.”
Now, before we get to my Uni-Watch comment, let’s get technical and discuss the NHRA uniform requirements for Pro-Mod
NHRA Pro Mod Firesuit requirements, NHRA rule book Section 6, page 12. PDF page 166. The following items are required for all NHRA Pro Mod drivers to wear.
-One Piece driver’s suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/20(1)(3)
-SFI Spec 3.3/20 gloves(2)(3)
-SFI Spec 3.3/20 boots
-SFI 3.3 head sock or SFI 3.3 skirted helmet is required on all cars.
-Fresh-air breathing system mandatory.
-Glove under-liners made of flame retardant material and socks meeting SFI 3.3 mandatory.
-All clothing containing metal or plastic prohibited.
-Undergarments that are worn in addition to those mandated that are made of flammable materials (e.g. nylon, rayon, polyester,spandex, etc.) are prohibited.
-All jewelry prohibited, with the exception of a high temperature rated silicone wedding band.
NOTE 1: SFI Spec 3.2A refers to SFI Spec 3.2A, which is the SFI standard for firesuits.
NOTE 2: SFI Spec 3.3 refers to SFI Spec 3.3, which covers all other Driver Accessories. These include gloves, underclothing, hoods, socks,shoes and boots,helmet supports,harness pads,arm restraints,helmet skirts and sports bras.
Note 3: SFI 3.2A/20 and SFI 3.3/20 are rated to protect the wearer from second degree burns for 45 seconds. These suits have up to seven layers. A typical NASCAR Cup Series or IndyCar Series driver suit is rated SFI 3.2A/5, is rated to protect the wearer from second degree burns for 10 second and has three layers.
Now I’m going to repeat what I said on Uni-Watch about the situation:
“My feeling is that one of two things, if not both, happened. Either he was not wearing the appropriate rated suit (since this is practice, the rules might not be as rigidly enforced) or since this was practice, a full safety team may not have been in place during the run in question. Safety officials were on scene, but not as much as a full race weekend. Since Pro Mod cars can reach speeds over 270MPH in a matter of just under six seconds, if something were to occur with one or both of these scenarios, it could easily lead to what happened.”
With that, It’s also possible that it was just an accident, and even with all of the saftey systems in place, it still caused the damage. Auto racing is an inherently dangerous sport, and accidents happen. Randy is up and about, and he is still preparing to debut in Pro Mod sometime in 2025. That is a good thing.
Next week, unless something major happens, how I spent my summer vacation.
Sources:
DGF2099-Main Page 