IndyCar series

wesley_w · 02-22-2008, 08:17 AM

I guess alot of you guys might not even know this, but about 13 years ago there was a split in American open wheel racing and one series was spun into two series. The result, while to me it needed to happen, was that Indycar racing about fell off the map.
Later today there will be a press conference announcing the reunification of the two series. Through it all, the Indianapolis 500 has remained the most attended single day sporting event in the world but has taken a beating in the press and with fans. It would be like if the NFl split into two competing leagues with half the players in each league.
Anyway, I hope IndyCar racing will regain it's prominence and some of you give it a look!!

isufbcurt · 02-22-2008, 08:29 AM

They pretty much have to join back up with all the people who left Indycar to try their hand at NASCAR this year their is hardly anyone left in the Indycar series.

Side note: If anyone is willing to field a car in the Indy Series I sure would be happy to jump in a drive it for them.

Cutlass · 02-22-2008, 08:29 AM

Are the champ car teams going to now run the IRL car chassis with the Honda engines? Unless they start running different cars with different engines I'm not going to care. American LeMans will remain my racing of choice.

taco2000 · 02-22-2008, 08:31 AM

Disclaimer: I went to the inaugural US 500 in 96.

I'm not sure it needed to happen, but the result was terrible, for both sides.
I was just a fan, probably not as long as you, and I thought there was some pretty good racing in the early 90's.

Major difference in your football analogy is that there isn't another football league ready to take over dominance of the sport ie nascar.

vanillathrilla · 02-22-2008, 08:34 AM

To me, it doesn't seem like it was 13 years ago, but I probably just haven't paid much attention to it until the last few years (due to Danica).

wesley_w · 02-22-2008, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by isufbcurt

They pretty much have to join back up with all the people who left Indycar to try their hand at NASCAR this year their is hardly anyone left in the Indycar series.

Yeah, due to sponsorship woes the drivers can make a lot more money driving stock cars. Only two left this year, Franchitti and Hornish, the others haven't been in Indycars for at least seven years. Montoya and Villenueve were in Formula One.

But you are right Curt, car counts have been on the decrease.

wesley_w · 02-22-2008, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Cutlass

Are the champ car teams going to now run the IRL car chassis with the Honda engines? Unless they start running different cars with different engines I'm not going to care. American LeMans will remain my racing of choice.

Cutlass, they will not be running the champcar chassis and I would bet it will be two years before we have competing engines and chassis again. I would like that just like you but sadly it won't be right away.

wesley_w · 02-22-2008, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by taco2000

Disclaimer: I went to the inaugural US 500 in 96.

I'm not sure it needed to happen, but the result was terrible, for both sides.
I was just a fan, probably not as long as you, and I thought there was some pretty good racing in the early 90's.

Major difference in your football analogy is that there isn't another football league ready to take over dominance of the sport ie nascar.

Hi Taco, We may disagree on whether the split was needed but I will agree the result was terrible. The racing was great in the early 90's but there were things very wrong internally in the sport (and I hate to say some of the problems did NOT get fixed). I was on board and still am with the IndyCar Series, but I never envisioned the disaster it became.
As far as how long I've been a fan, I've attended at least three races for 45 consecutive years thanks to my father in the beginning taking me when I was just a kid.

I guess I likened it to if the NFL split because if that happened you would never read or hear about either league without it being brought up that all the best players were not competing with each other.

cycloneworld · 02-22-2008, 09:06 AM

Why are there so few cars in each race? Is it that expensive to field a car? I never understood that.

wesley_w · 02-22-2008, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Why are there so few cars in each race? Is it that expensive to field a car? I never understood that.

The cars are expensive, but it is a question of sponsorship. TV ratings are horrible and thus we, for lack of a better term, have to practically beg for sponsors.
While NASCAR has Budwieser and Pepsi, we have teams with ABC Building Products and sponsors like that. Only about three or four of the teams are well sponsored. We need about ten more big companies to jump on board but I don't know if that will happen anytime soon.

ISUFan22 · 02-22-2008, 09:33 AM

Wasn't a fan of the changes. Used to watch IndyCar races all the time - since the changes - slowly began not watching. Now, I'm lucky if I catch one or two a year.

I do miss it, but it just loss some of the excitement.

cys_av8r · 02-22-2008, 09:50 AM

I REALLY enjoyed CART back in its heyday. I saw 3 different races at Road America (my fav track in the world). It was a great series with great drivers. The IRL is essentially the NASCAR of open wheel racing (or at least that is what they were trying to be).

ISUFan22 · 02-22-2008, 09:55 AM

Yup, when they split - I definitely liked CART more than IRL.

cyclonedave25 · 02-22-2008, 10:06 AM

I went to the Indy car race at the Iowa Speedway last year and had a blast. My ears were ringing for a solid 6 hours after the race. They look so much faster in person.
I plan on attending again this year!!

taco2000 · 02-22-2008, 10:14 AM

Speaking of the Iowa race, does it make it past this year? Champ Car has some solid tracks that I'm sure the IRL would like to go to (Cleveland, Road America etc.)