It Was as Simple as That
I have been writing posts for this site for well over fifteen years. In that time, I’ve written a handful of articles, where the point I was trying to make was completely missed by many of the loyal readers of this site. This past Friday was one of those times.
I thought it was a simple point – many oval fans complain that there are not enough ovals on the schedule. Yet when new ovals appear or are brought back to the IndyCar schedule, many of those same fans fail to show up in the stands – even when the track is in their same market.
This is not a new take or an original viewpoint. Yet some of the comments on Friday’s post left me scratching my head. I actually wrote that article over two nights. I started it on Wednesday night, and finished it on Thursday night. Concentration gets lost over two days, not to mention the interruptions I had over both of those nights while writing. I was thinking that perhaps I had written something totally disjointed. Maybe I left a thought hanging from Wednesday, and never got back to it on Thursday. As I re-read the post over the weekend, it read about how I intended it – so that wasn’t the problem.
Still sometimes in writing, the author can say something he or she perceives as fairly straightforward; yet it is totally misread and misinterpreted by the intended audience. This happens with texts and e-mails all of the time. Many times, sarcasm doesn’t translate into print. I don’t think there was any sarcasm in my post, but apparently many took it in a way I didn’t intend.
Maybe I struck a nerve. Perhaps some of the very people I referred to were reading and took offense to it.
Did I really come off as a stuffed shirt bragging about how many races I go to?
In the post, I mentioned oval tracks I had been to. I even said that I didn’t bring it up to brag; rather to prove that I put how little money I have where my mouth is by going to these tracks. Yet, how was it received? Me bragging.
One reader said I was being counterproductive by knocking any fans of the series. Seriously? To use the old newspaper terms, this site is an op-ed site, not a sterile conglomeration of regurgitated press releases. There are so few original or honest IndyCar opinions left. Most content these days presents a narrative that everything with IndyCar is great. Tracks are great, races are great, fans are great, the schedule is great, etc. There is a happy medium between The Legions of the Miserable, where everything is gloom and doom; and Toxic Positivity, where everything is wonderful in the land of bunnies and rainbows. I like to think I fill that gap by giving my honest opinion on things, but in the past year – I’ve learned that a middle-ground take is no longer appreciated by everyone.
Usually when I state my opinion, readers will offer civil discourse – even when they are in complete disagreement with what I say. They offer an alternate way of looking at things in a constructive manner. Some of the comments offered up Friday were getting borderline close to the most elementary form of arguing – name-calling.
Perhaps some readers consider me a stuffed-shirt, because we go to races. Maybe they have the misguided perception that we are rich. Nothing could be further from the truth. That’s why I am approaching 66 in a couple of months, but still working a quasi-government job, and have at least two more years before I can afford to retire – if then.
I’m not going to lay out my financial statement here, but when Susan was working, she traveled a lot – meaning she collected a lot of hotel points in the process. Due to her health, she can no longer work full-time. Those points are drying up quickly and will probably be completely exhausted (or expired) by the end of next season. We are also credentialed to the races we attend, so we don’t have to pay for tickets or parking. Basically, it costs us gas and meals when we travel to races. That’s how we can afford to attend races.
I am also lucky to have a wife that enjoys going to races almost as much as I do. We will sometimes add a mini-vacation onto a race weekend, but the vast majority of our traveling is to race weekends. If she didn’t enjoy them and elected to stay home – my race traveling would be down to one of two per year.
I know there are many here, who cannot afford to go to any races. I’ve been in that position before, and I get that. But I also know there are plenty of fans who have a race in their hometown, with plenty of disposable income – who choose not to go, yet chastise others for not going. I know some of those personally right here in Nashville, who have never been to the Music City GP. They claim to be IndyCar fans and say they will go to the race, but on Monday – they’ll tell me they didn’t go, for no reason other than they just didn’t feel like going. In the next breath, they are remarking how many empty seats there were. That was their prerogative to not go, but they shouldn’t complain there weren’t many people there. Those are the people I was talking to.
Lastly, I do not consider the people that read this site to be the little people who keep my blog alive with complaints. Some of you have been here for the entire fifteen years I’ve been doing this site. You have stayed with me, even though the blog movement of the late 2000s dried up years ago. I have always treasured the readers here. You are why I keep doing this three days a week, year after year. I have always maintained that my readership is not the largest out there, but they are the most intelligent and the most loyal race fans out there. To even insinuate that I look upon readers with contempt is absolutely ludicrous, and quite frankly – it infuriated me!
Maybe I was in a bad mood when I wrote Friday’s post. Maybe some of you were in a bad mood when you read it. There were several who obviously agreed with me, but that’s not why I write things – to see how many will agree with me. I don’t stir the pot by saying things I don’t even agree with myself just to get a reaction, but I do try to get people thinking about things that I’m thinking about – to see if they look at it differently. When I saw the John Oreovicz comment on Facebook last week, I agreed with every word of it. I still do. Maybe I used a phrase here or a sentence there, that inadvertently turned a lot of people off. That was not my intent. My intent was to improve attendance at IndyCar oval races. It was as simple as that.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
August 5, 2024 at 6:26 am
You’ve been pretty lucky over the years George, to have cultivated a pretty mature and reasonable bunch of readers who (generally) make polite comments, even if they disagree. That’s why, when someone makes a rude, unpleasant and generally nasty comment it strikes all of us as a little odd. Don’t let one unnecessary and unpleasant comment bother you.
August 5, 2024 at 6:57 am
+1
August 5, 2024 at 8:18 am
+1
August 5, 2024 at 6:28 am
George, as you know, Social Media gives everyone a Bully Pulpit to expound freely on whatever they wish, free from having to look someone with an opposing viewpoint in the eye. You can’t please everybody. I’m sure you realize that for everyone who disagreed with your post enough to write a negative comment, there were dozens, if not hundreds, who agreed with you, but didn’t feel compelled to write a comment saying so. It is SO much more fun to write a negative comment than a positive one.
Frankly, I enjoy your opinions. If I wanted to hear the “company line” I would just read posts from IndyCar.
August 5, 2024 at 6:57 am
+1
August 5, 2024 at 6:47 am
As you know, George, I haven’t shied away from disagreeing with you in the past. I thought that Friday’s post was completely reasonable.
August 5, 2024 at 6:58 am
Yes, George I’m jealous of all your races you get to attend. I’m similar to you will turn 67 in 2 weeks and I’ve loved Indycar since a child watching replays of 500 on ABC. When I moved to Kentucky 2000 made the decision I would buy 500 tickets and have since 2003. Like you finances I’ve had to pick my races by certain ways. You are lucky Susan loves to go to races. My wife who now attends 500 every year is good for 1 race a year. When i pick races other plans in place. New Hampshire my race race 1982 was so wife could see New England, we even 35+ years later bought tickets for failed Boston race for race/ Canada trip. Because of Susan’s pictures and yours and her articles on Road America have her convinced for that race in future. I’ve been to Pocono, St. Louis , Nashville & Kentucky ovals so i do support oval races and look forward to trip to Nashville this September. Thanks, George & Susan will keep following every MWF
Kentucky James
August 5, 2024 at 8:17 am
I didn’t see these comments at the time I made my comment so I had to go back and see what all the fuss was. You never know what might cause controversy. I had no issues with what you wrote and just saw it as an encouragement to fans to get to an oval race and bring a friend.
August 5, 2024 at 9:12 am
As someone who thought your and Oreo’s point was wrongheaded (not because it is necessarily untrue, but because it is incomplete and potentially counterproductive)… I also thought you made the point well and that the whole column was quite well-written. I understood exactly where you were coming from and certainly did not find anything about your column to come from a braggadocious place. You are blessed to be able to go to a lot of races, indeed, and I and I’m sure most folks reading Oilpressure are grateful that you share that blessing and your passion for Indycar with us through this site.
August 5, 2024 at 9:30 am
I think you just got a bit taken aback because it’s so rare to read mean comments on here. That’s one of the things I love about this site…..even when we disagree about something you’ve posted, everyone is cool. You are blessed with being followed by a lot of grown-ups. On other sites, like the Racer.com comment section for example, one usually only gets about 3 comments in before we’re exposed to insecure-middle-aged-living-in-mom’s-basement guy who is pissed off at the world.
August 5, 2024 at 10:24 am
George, I didn’t have any problems with your Friday post. I rarely read social media comments because when I do I find the level of disrespect and ugliness pouring from people’s mouths to be both sad and disturbing. I had to go back and read the comments to your Friday posting and must say I was disappointed with the tone of several of them.
As for going to more ovals, I wish I could. Like most folks, I’m not independently wealthy. My one splurge each year is the 500 that I’ve attened for more than 40 years. I also went to Fontana a couple of times and thoroughly enjoy that track. At Indy, I’m usually there for nearly two weeks (and my wife part of that time), so besides the race tickets, there is airfare from Seattle, hotel, restaurants, Bronze Badge, program, rental car, gas, Memorabilia Show, Little 500 or IRP, etc. It’s a fantastic trip that I look forward to each year, but it is also a very expensive one. That’s not a complaint, just my reality that my IndyCar budget is pretty much exhausted after the 500.
None of that is probably at all important to anyone, just explains why, unfortunately, I don’t get to other ovals.
Agree or disagree (and I agree with you far more than not), George, keep up the great work!
August 6, 2024 at 10:53 pm
I hope you and Susan get to the Milwaukee Mile George. I only live about 30 miles west from that historic track. When the wind is out of the East I can hear the cars practicing. Ron.