Robin Robertson to Drive Indy 500 pace car

[MDS]

It's not really a big deal, but Helio got some face time on Good Morning America, they'll probably do some pre and post race coverage of Robertson and her duties as honorary pace car driver.

Any coverage is good coverage.

[Scotty G.]

Its Robin Roberts.

Not exactly a household name, but what do you expect from Indy Car? Probably couldn't afford anyone bigger.

At least she is an American. :D

[garyshell]

Its Robin Roberts.

Not exactly a household name, but what do you expect from Indy Car? Probably couldn't afford anyone bigger.

At least she is an American. :D


The REAL question is what do YOU expect from Indy Car?

Good Morning America is pretty well known and has a wide and varied demographic. I'd venture a guess that her name is known in a large number of households. The decision shows, to me, that someone is thinking about ways to EXTEND the reach of the series outside its normal viewership. Who would you have picked, Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford? I think it was a very SMART choice to pick Robin.

Gary

[Lousada]

The REAL question is what do YOU expect from Indy Car?

Good Morning America is pretty well known and has a wide and varied demographic. I'd venture a guess that her name is known in a large number of households. The decision shows, to me, that someone is thinking about ways to EXTEND the reach of the series outside its normal viewership. Who would you have picked, Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford? I think it was a very SMART choice to pick Robin.

Gary

And Indycar will probably be mentioned quite a few times in the shows leading up to the race and directly afterwards. If they picked some sportsplayer or actor they would never get so much pr.

[bblocker68]

Robin Roberts carries some weight. Her battles with cancer are well documented. She made a huge transition from covering sports to making it big in the mainstream media.

This is great for IndyCar.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Good pick. ABC will play this up a lot more than if someone in Indy decided a doofus like Jimmy Kimmel.

[MDS]

She's not a huge player, but she's on a massive platform. GMA has a viewership in the millions. Maybe if we're really lucky they'll broadcast from the track on that Friday.

[indyracefan]

I'm alright with Robin being the driver. There's been a noticeable improvement by ABC in promoting the series already this year. Of course anything done by them is an improvement over what they've done in the past couple of years. Would be nice if they worked some Indy 500 stories or drivers into GMA the week leading up to the race.

[Scotty G.]

The REAL question is what do YOU expect from Indy Car?




Very little.

Robin Roberts (a 'C' list, "who the hell is that?" personality at best) is about what Indy gets nowadays. Not surprising at all.

At least its not some reality star. :)


I wonder who we get to throw the checkard flag? Charo or maybe Kate Gosselin?

[Lousada]

Very little.

Robin Roberts (a 'C' list, "who the hell is that?" personality at best) is about what Indy gets nowadays. Not surprising at all.

At least its not some reality star. :)


I wonder who we get to throw the checkard flag? Charo or maybe Kate Gosselin?

It's the freakin' pace car, who cares.

[DanicaFan]

Im with Lousada on this one. I really dont care who is driving the pace car. It has nothing to do with the race, attendance, viewers, etc.

[TURN3]

Im with Lousada on this one. I really dont care who is driving the pace car. It has nothing to do with the race, attendance, viewers, etc.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that because she is a cancer survivor it is being used as a platform to help fight the disease. So this is something we should all just zip it over regardless of how we feel about this being a topic of discussion...then again we could announce Danica's birthday which is far more significant than fighting cancer...right?

[DanicaFan]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that because she is a cancer survivor it is being used as a platform to help fight the disease. So this is something we should all just zip it over regardless of how we feel about this being a topic of discussion...then again we could announce Danica's birthday which is far more significant than fighting cancer...right?

Turn3, you never have anything good to say, especially towards me. This has nothing to do about cancer. I have nothing against Robin Roberts. I actually like her but just because she is driving the pace car doesnt change how I feel about the 500.

I dont care who you have driving the car, it wont change anything with the parameters of the race.

Get off your high horse and quit overanalyzing.

[champcarray]

I'm with you on this, Indyracefan. I hope they do promote the Indy 500 (and other races) with race-related stories, driver interviews, etc on Good Morning America. There are some great stories to be shared with the world...

[TURN3]

Turn3, you never have anything good to say, especially towards me. This has nothing to do about cancer. I have nothing against Robin Roberts. I actually like her but just because she is driving the pace car doesnt change how I feel about the 500.

I dont care who you have driving the car, it wont change anything with the parameters of the race.

Get off your high horse and quit overanalyzing.

My high horse? Just because you can't reach this high doesn't make it a high horse.

I think you've missed the point as you so often do, nearly 100% of the time. Somebody posts that she is driving the pace car and you squeal about what it matters. It matters because of the platform she has to bring attention to a huge cause. It matters because of her position and exposure. Wait, maybe she should do a photo shoot? Somehow you think posting Danica's birthday is a relevant race subject though? What is over-analyzed about that? I usually post facts and my opinions that can be substantiated while you sit on a whoopy cushion and repeat what comes out.

[Lousada]

My high horse? Just because you can't reach this high doesn't make it a high horse.

I think you've missed the point as you so often do, nearly 100% of the time. Somebody posts that she is driving the pace car and you squeal about what it matters. It matters because of the platform she has to bring attention to a huge cause. It matters because of her position and exposure. Wait, maybe she should do a photo shoot? Somehow you think posting Danica's birthday is a relevant race subject though? What is over-analyzed about that? I usually post facts and my opinions that can be substantiated while you sit on a whoopy cushion and repeat what comes out.

You missed the whole point. My reply was directly to ScottyG (notice I quoted him) who made it seem like the IRL made the biggest failure ever for bringing in a supposedly C-List celeb. I think he should not make such a big deal out of it. It was NOT aimed at MDS for bringing this newsbit.

[TURN3]

You missed the whole point. My reply was directly to ScottyG (notice I quoted him) who made it seem like the IRL made the biggest failure ever for bringing in a supposedly C-List celeb. I think he should not make such a big deal out of it. It was NOT aimed at MDS for bringing this newsbit.


I wasn't referring to you in any way Lousada...not following why you quoted me? I know what you are talking about though, I don't disagree with what your point is at all.

[Lousada]

I wasn't referring to you in any way Lousada...not following why you quoted me? I know what you are talking about though, I don't disagree with what your point is at all.

I'm not following you. You say you agree with me, DanicaFan agrees with me, yet you don't agree with DanicaFan.

[TURN3]

I'm not following you. You say you agree with me, DanicaFan agrees with me, yet you don't agree with DanicaFan.

Yeah I left that sort of vague because I was trying to be careful not to put any names in. I have a problem with somebody thinking everytime I refer to somebody else it is considered a personal attack so I was making an effort to avoid that.

What I meant was that I agree Scotty makes it sound like Indycar is a failure for this. I disagree with anybody posting about a driver's birthday on this forum turning around to say that they don't care to hear who the pace car driver is. The entire point of there being a "celebrity" pace car driver is to gain exposure. In this case, a cancer survivor, respected for many issues related to it, and tv personality with a forum to give Indycar exposure. Are there more famous people, sure! But I wasn't intending to debate who a better choice would've been...merely that she shouldn't be slammed , or this topic shouldn't be slammed (by one person in particular) for being irrelevant....when in fact it is very relevant, although a secondary thought.

I hope I cleared that up for you...sorry for confusion.

[Lousada]

But I wasn't intending to debate who a better choice would've been...merely that she shouldn't be slammed , or this topic shouldn't be slammed (by one person in particular) for being irrelevant....when in fact it is very relevant, although a secondary thought.


Okay, so we completely agree here.

[garyshell]

Im with Lousada on this one. I really dont care who is driving the pace car. It has nothing to do with the race, attendance, viewers, etc.


Are you REALLY that clueless to think that getting the host of the number one rated morning tv show to drive the pace car will have no affect on viewers? Good thing you are not doing PR for your girl.

Gary

[Mark in Oshawa]

Are you REALLY that clueless to think that getting the host of the number one rated morning tv show to drive the pace car will have no affect on viewers? Good thing you are not doing PR for your girl.

Gary
We knew he was clueless. Now we know how much...

[mileman]

It should have been Al Unser Sr. - whose birthday is the day before the 500.

Happy birthday Al! Oh wait - birthday wishes aren't allowed here...