FAO: The Imposter

[hangthadj]

One week after the Indianapolis Grand Prix, Michelin has announced via their website that they are going to refund money for tickets purchased in 2005 and purchase an additional 20,000 tickets for 2006.

According to the Michelinsports.com website Tuesday afternoon, Michelin has "decided to contribute to the costs incurred by the spectators present at the circuit on June 19th by offering to refund their tickets".

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, contacted by WIBC, confirmed a deal is in the works, and would issue a statement later in the evening.

In addition, Michelin said they will buy 20,000 tickets for the 2006 U.S. Grand Prix to be given to spectators who were present at the Indianapolis race in 2005.

They went on to [post on the site that "We would like to take this opportunity to underline the fact that it is unacceptable that our partner teams have been accused by the FIA of having boycotted the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

"The reality is that together, Michelin and its partners have done everything possible to assure that the race could take place in total safety."

[Bill Archer]

Good thing it wasn't Firestone. They don't have any money.

It's too bad that Michelin has taken the brunt of the abuse for this. They tried everything they could to put their cars on the track.

The a$$holes at Ferrari and the F1 Grandees were the only ones who screwed this up.

I am a big Formula 1 fan. Screw the whole Indycar baloney, when it comes to open wheel, F1 is where it's at.Indycar is so pathetic they need to peddle Danica Patrick's skinny ass in order to get somebody to notice.

But F! is now dead over here, and mores the pity.

[ZipSix]

yeah, everything short of design a safe tire for a track that's hosted a F1 race for like five years now

[hangthadj]

Good thing it wasn't Firestone. They don't have any money.

It's too bad that Michelin has taken the brunt of the abuse for this. They tried everything they could to put their cars on the track.

The a$$holes at Ferrari and the F1 Grandees were the only ones who screwed this up.

I am a big Formula 1 fan. Screw the whole Indycar baloney, when it comes to open wheel, F1 is where it's at.Indycar is so pathetic they need to peddle Danica Patrick's skinny ass in order to get somebody to notice.

But F! is now dead over here, and mores the pity.

Don't get me wrong, I hate Ferrari, Max Mosley, and Bernie Ecclestone more than anyone here. But Michelin does deserve the brunt of the blame for this.

I'll watch IndyCar, but it's really not F1. F1 will be back here next year, I'm not too worried.

The hearing for the 7 Michelin teams is today, it's no coincidence Michelin announced the refunds yesterday.

[DRWCrew]

yeah, everything short of design a safe tire for a track that's hosted a F1 race for like five years now

If I understand it correctly the issue had nothing to do with tire design and everything to do with which tires those teams brought with them. F1 restricts the amount of tires a team can bring with them to any given race. Michelin didn't have the tires necessary to handle the one banked turn for the race and advised the team using their tires not to compete. The folks that race for those 7 teams were trying to get F1 to change it's policy so that they could bring in the correct tires for the race. F1 wouldn't do it. Michelin fooked up when they decided what tires everyone should bring and F1 (although ultimately screwing the fans but sticking to their guns) could have bent the rules but decided not to.

[hangthadj]

If I understand it correctly the issue had nothing to do with tire design and everything to do with which tires those teams brought with them. F1 restricts the amount of tires a team can bring with them to any given race. Michelin didn't have the tires necessary to handle the one banked turn for the race and advised the team using their tires not to compete. The folks that race for those 7 teams were trying to get F1 to change it's policy so that they could bring in the correct tires for the race. F1 wouldn't do it. Michelin fooked up when they decided what tires everyone should bring and F1 (although ultimately screwing the fans but sticking to their guns) could have bent the rules but decided not to.


It's more than that, its politics, politics, politics...

here's my bitching rant, copied and pasted from the F1 thread on this site...
from 3 days after the race.


The reason F-1 is in Indy is Tony George.

Bernie can talk down IMS all he wants and what a terrible track it is. The bottom line at the end of the day is that no other market in America wants this race or would be able to put it on. Vegas, Long Beach, they are years away from being able to pull this off again. Bernie needs Indy more than Indy needs F-1. Tony knows that money it brings into the city, and is willing to take a bit of a bite on race day if attendance is low in order to show off IMS and Indy. No other city or race promoter has been willing to step up and do that.

I solely place the blame for this race on Michelin. They are pissed of at the 2007 (?) possible rule changes being put out there that would allow only one uniform tire manufacturer for all the teams. Rightfully so, they fear that Bridgestone would get that contract since Ferrari is in bed with the FIA. So they pull this whole stunt under the guise of safety, when there only real motivation was to embarass the Bernie and the FIA. Now, its sorta backfired, cause people understand a bit of what happened and people who know, know Michelin is to blame.

Its sickening to me, the safety excuse is a joke. Toyota's vehicles, and Toyota's only had the problem. They saw that and took advantage of it...hiding under the guise of safety. It's gutless, pathetic, and maddening.

At the track I was upset. Couldn't believe what I was seeing, but i only paid $60 for my tickets. Sat in the infield race day at corner 9 and was at the start/finish for practices anmd qualifying. I got $60 bucks worth to see most that ******** for the first time. I met a ton of good people and for the most part on the infield everyone was drinking their oil cans too much in disbelief or shock to be real angry. 100 yards down from me a clown through a bottle on the track and he was pointed out immediately. At that point I just tried to make the most of the day and meet people around me have beers and share in our bitching.

It's 2-3 days on from the event, realizing that this event may never come to Indy again, through no fault of IMS, the city of Indianapolis, or anyone else that I am furious. Over 100,000 people again. And we might nio't get the race again because polotics between Bernie and Michelin.

Like the baseball strike, I will be back to watch again despite my disgust. But overall this is a GD tragedy.

[Bill Archer]

I'm certainly no expert. And hating Greg Andrulis is taking up all my spare time. Nevertheless, I really think there's more than enough blame to go around:


1) Regardless of how or why Michelin showed up with the wrong tires (tyres) the race could have gone forward if FIA would have suspended the rule whereby the cars must race on the same tires they qualified on. Regardless of which tires they brought along, Michelin could have had the right ones here in plenty of time. The issue was the "same tires as qualifying" rule, not whether they had the ability to come up with others. Perhaps a stiff fine or something for breaking the rule, but the primary obligations are to safety first and secondly the paying customers. You have to bend over backwards to not shaft the people who forked over the dough. FIA chose instead to shaft them.

2) Michelin then suggested a chicane in turn 13 to reduce the speed for everyone. FIA refused because Ferrari refused to go along.

3) The Michelin teams then offered to stay in the race, in order to not screw the fans, if FIA agreed to not award points for the race. FIA refused.

4) If Ferarri wouldn't accept the chicane solution, then why didn't FIA run the race and let THEM drop out? That way, there would have been 18 cars in the race instead of six.

5) F1 politics are so arcane, and the manufacturers are so fed up with the FIA's meddling and weekly rule changes that there is increasing talk about starting a competing series in 2008. This includes Ferrari and the independents.

Why Michelin did not bring a second set of tires is a mystery. It's even more a mystery why they didn't take advantage of some of the other proposals, like being allowed to change out the left rear tire after ten laps (apparently there's a safety rule that allows this and FIA was willing to stretch it) or even just run the race for pints, tell their drivers to slow down for Turn 13, and accept that their best car was going to come in seventh. Or better, if cars broke down. That way, they would have gotten SOME points out of the trip.

Like I said, nobody much smells good in this deal. Everyone is already mad at everyone else, and nobody was in a mood to compromise. But it cuts both ways.

[pookspur]

...I just tried to make the most of the day and meet people around me have beers and share in our bitching.


so it was more or less like going to a crew match, then?