Moving on up now?

The IBJ is reporting more encouraging news this week with regards to the Versus TV audience. The .35 Pole Day rating almost matched that for the Long Beach Race. That comes out at 388,864 US households.

Even on a fledgling cable channel, the events surrounding the Indianapolis 500 continue to be an attraction—though I’m sure the Indy Racing League’s new TV partner was hoping for better. Pole Day qualifications drew a .35 Nielsen TV rating Saturday (May 9) on Versus. That means about 385,000 TV households nationwide tuned in to the cable channel broadcast. It’s not exactly a Super Bowl type rating, but it’s as good as any Indy Racing League race so far this year.

Well, actually, Pole Day drew just less than the Long Beach race (388,864 households), but better than IRL races in St. Petersburg and Kansas earlier this year. Versus’ broadcast of the second day of Indianapolis 500 qualifications on Sunday nearly did as well, with 322,000 TV households tuning in.

- www.thescore.ibj.com

That is a testament to the power of Indy and to the wisdom of not putting any live broadcasts up against play off games and/or NASCAR racing. It also means that we may have seen the last of numbers like this.

Let us hope this is an upward trend.