Avoidable Boredom

"Cindy" called in to Wind Tunnel Extra tonite to say that the best racing she'd seen this weekend was Moto GP.  "I'm gonna get a lot of grief from your viewers on this," she said, "but who needs those crash-fests that we saw in Daytona on Saturday and Toronto today?"

Amen.

I don't follow Moto GP, but it sounded like a helluva race as Dave Despain and Leigh Diffey described it.  Cindy obviously didn't see the British GP, which was pretty good.  In 2012, the parades are over.  And there was only one punt at Silverstone.  I can live without the new cookie-cutter tracks in the Mideast and Far East, but sign me up for Monaco and Spa!

Everybody expects crash-fests in NASCAR, and most of its fans love it.  Rome needed a Coliseum, and America needs NASCAR.  I'd rather watch C-SPAN.

Speaking as a reluctant IndyCar fan, trying to love it again, I have to say that Toronto was a disaster.  Half of the field took itself out and the race ended under a yellow flag.  And IndyCar has an Avoidable Contact Rule!  This is what you get on street circuits.  IndyCar didn't do itself any favors in finding a TV contract today.

But is IndyCar going back to Road America?  Apparently not.  The promoter says IndyCar wants too much money.  The series can't make money at Elkhart Lake if it sells 60,000 tickets at very high prices.  Or even 75,000 tickets--the biggest gate CART had there.  As a Road America fan, I don't want
125,000 people rubbing elbows with me.  Any race at Road America is a good one.  A great race is one with short lines at the johns and brat stands.

Apparently IndyCar Milwaukee made money (and, as ovals go, that's a good one).  With cheap tickets and a ferris wheel and waterslides and a midway in the infield.  And a small zoo.  No gladiators or lions.  The grandstand was full--more people than Road America ever saw.  

Didn't I just post something about ALMS GT being the best road racing to be seen these days?