This year in addition to taking in the race at Barber we decided to stretch the weekend a few days. So after the race, we drove to Tennessee and rented a small cabin in the mountains for a couple days. Which implicitly implies – I haven’t seen the race broadcast yet. SO my impressions will be based on what I saw at the track.
The race itself was Good for the series (a minimum rating I
score for any race that has a green flag pass for the lead after the final pit
stop not assisted by a yellow and restart).
Relative to the course itself, the race was “Very Good”. It wasn’t the Excellent we saw last year, but
compared to the first two races here both are good events.
One thing that concerns me a bit is what next year’s race
will be like. Last year was an adventure
as no one really had the new car sorted yet and there were a lot of performance
delta’s because of that. This year, from
the experience of last year’s race in the new car and the testing a few weeks
previous, most teams (other than Panther – and we’ll talk about that at some
point in the future) had their cars on blacks sorted pretty quickly. The variable that made qualifications
interesting and the race compelling was watching the teams sort out the new Red
compound.
As we head into next year, What is the “change” variable
that will keep teams and drivers scrambling and off balance enough to make for
a compelling race? Some probably still
feel the league still owes them Aero kits, but I have low expectations on those
and thus have moved on. These teams (EXCEPT
Panther) and drivers (INCLUDING JR) are talented enough that when everything is
familiar, run so closely, even optimally, that we are likely to get a very
uninteresting race on our hands.
Unlike Mid Ohio (where I gather there are few challenges for
an IndyCar caliber driver to have individual moments) Barber can squeeze a
mistake or two out of a few drivers and provide some position exchange
potential. But as the formula becomes
completely sorted, will that be enough for a great event next year? I have my concerns.
I have a pet experiment I would love to see IndyCar
experiment with one day. Spend the whole
weekend running blacks. All Practice
sessions, all qualifying sessions are on the black tire. Then during the 20 minute Sunday morning warm
up – bust out with a red tire of unknown formulation. Let the teams and drivers take that session
the get a handle on the new rubber. Then
during the race require teams to do at least 2 stints on these alternate tires. The introduction of this random variable and
the delta’s it would create as teams and drivers both scramble to get a handle
on this new element could make for some compelling on track action.
But then I am just a fan.
There must be some compelling unintended consequence that I am not
thinking about.
One Blogger’s Financial Impact on the City of Birmingham
Heading into the Barber event there was some angst in the
air regarding some city council votes that would finance the event both this
year and for years future. As with all
news related to IndyCar some took this as a sign for the end of the world, or
at least the Birmingham event.
As we checked into our hotel Friday, the desk manager asked
us if we would consider taking a slightly different room than we were booked
for. He said the website had overbooked
my room type and that the hotel was packed for the race and he was having to
turn people away. I struck up a
conversation with him about how much business they did for the race and he told
us the race weekends at Barber were some of their busiest of the year (right
along with move in and Graduation for UAB).
I asked him why then would the city decline to continue
funding the event that brought the city so much business, he said that the city
was broke. They had just been through a
major embezzlement scandal with the previous mayor. Between the money he pocketed and spent w/o
oversight, the city was over the edge of bankruptcy. Apparently the former Mayor and some
combination of former officials were tried and sentenced to over 450 years for
their looting of city finances.
We now know that the city paid up for its portion of this
years race. This year’s event drew over
56,000 for the weekend and the Sunday crowd, representing ~2/3rds of that
number was the largest crowd ever. An
extension was signed with the race for another 3 years and the race will go on.
But I got to thinking what was my financial impact for the
city of Birmingham for the race? A quick
summary: Tickets - $250; Residence Inn Downtown/UAB - $330; John’s City Diner - $55; Piggly Wiggly - $57;
Gas - $50; Landry’s Seafood - $75; Two 2012 Race Credential Holders and one
2013 commemorative pin - $8; Stealing
beer out of @oilpressureblog’s cooler while he was smoozing on the starting
grid – PRICELESS. $825 total.
Now suppose 1500 other race fans that were not Birmingham
residents visited and spent similarly, that would be $1,237,500 of revenue
dropped into the city’s economy. Most
economists apply a multiplier to the impact of that infusion as that money
diffuses through the community and is spent and re spent. So let’s say that builds 5X to a $6.2M impact
for the city. Shave taxes off that
represents ~$300 - $400 k of revenue for the city and over $5m for those living
within the city.
I mention this as a potential tact or strategy for the
league and promoters to persuade other municipalities with EXISTING race facilities
to support an IndyCar race in their community.
Portland OR, or Salt Lake City might fit such a strategy well with the
tracks near those cities.
Anyway – another thought.
