Hulman-George family has returned IndyCar to obscurity

I thought the IndyCar race at Sonoma was some of the best road racing this year, with cut-and-thrust battles and frantic action all the way around the track. It truly was outstanding racing by any measure. But the fact remains that except for the hard-core enthusiasts who love the sport, and the owners, teams, crews and people directly involved in the sport itself, hardly anyone cares.

In reality, we're right back where we were before the CART series was formed, and that is that Indy car racing consists of the Indianapolis 500 – which still has a modicum of prestige attached to it and notable interest – and the rest of the racing series, which unfolds in almost total obscurity [Just the way the Hulman-George family wants it]. It truly pains me to write that, but to pretend otherwise is a fool's errand. Crying "Say it ain't so!" or that "The good times are just around the corner" might sound good or make some people feel good, but it wouldn't be accurate. The fact remains that IndyCar is conducted in a vacuum for the few who have a direct, vested interest in the sport and that is simply unacceptable. [The NBCSN TV contract that guarantees the series remains invisible with near zero ratings ensures that]

Can you imagine if the TV and cable networks didn't have such an insatiable desire for content? Because without it I hate to think where we would be. I can assure you that there would be no live IndyCar races on TV at all, and we would be lucky to even watch the races on a tape-delay basis. Again, this doesn't make me feel good to write this, in fact it's disgusting and depressing, but reality bites and the situation that IndyCar finds itself in is simply appalling. Peter DeLorenzo/Autoextremist