indyracefan - an apology and an explaination.

[mapguy]

First I want to apologise about coming across too harshly. Secondly I want to explain why I feel the way I do about Tony George and the irl500.
Basically he kicked CART out of the track because he could not control open wheel racing in North America. He had delusions of grandeiur (sp?) that he was going to be the Bill France of open wheel racing. And it blew up in his face.

Back in 1994 He attended a CART board meeting in Houston with a proposal that would see himself and his USAC cronies effectively take control of CART. Accoring to the press reports at the time (and I can provide links if you would like) the propsal was very amateurish and was rejected. This was the start of what myself and other CARTisans like to call "The Tantrum". In 1995 TG formed the irl. He assumed that since he had the biggest race all of the sponsors would either demand that their teams show up or they would pull from CART and go to the irl. As we all know that blew up in his face. Then he implimented the 25/8 rule to ensure that if a CART team wanted to have a good shot at qualifying for the irl500 they would have to race at Disney. That one REALLY blew up in his face. I will skip over the debacle of 1997 and fast forward to 1999. There was a high ranking meeting between a group of CART team owners hand picked by TG (Barry Green, Bobby Rahal and Derrick Walker). Leo Mehl and a few others were in attendance. According to Leo Mehl that there was an agreement on the table and TG balked at it. Then there was a meeting in Detroit where Andrew Craig, Bill France and high ranking GM executives attended along with the above mentioned team owners and TG blew it off. Even Bill France was ****ed and he commented that TG was a fool to continue with the irl.

He ruined the race formerly known as the Indy 500. All because he wanted power.

That is why I feel the way I do about Tony George, The Speedway and pretty much everyone involved in the irl.


[This message has been edited by mapguy (edited 27 April 2000).]

[Neil C]

Thanks for the explanation Mapguy. My impression of your first few posts was "here we go again", in reference to recent experiences with single-issue flamers.

It helps to know why you're so passionate on the subject. Thanks, and welcome to 10/Tenths.

[craigmanning]

...mapguy! All of my friends here will be expecting this but now you also will know that my understanding of the situation and my feelings towards it are exactly as yours. I hate being thought of by others as just another IRL basher, but the facts speak for themselves. If there was anyway I could find a way to accept George, the person he is and the actions he's taken I would, but I just can't. Unfortunately, this discussion could go on for the rest of our lives! I too miss the Indy 500...thanks...

[Lizzerd]

Cheers, mapguy. I too mourn the terminal illness Boy George has inflicted on his own race, and have watched it all happen right here in my hometown.

[KC]

I believe that you are correct Mapguy in your belief of Tony George's reasons. I hold nothing against any driver in the IRL (barring Eddie Cheever and his ignorant comments) or the team owners looking for another outlet to race. The entire issue is a massive powerplay and flexing of huge egos.

[Franklin]

Brock Yates' Notes From the Margin
Wyoming, N.Y., April 25 — Let's have a small round of applause for the
mountebanks and poltroons who are currently running open wheel
motorsports in America. After all, during the past two weeks they have
produced a pair of events that vividly exhibit the failings of their
efforts which, by the way, have managed to place the entire business in
peril.
First came the CART Long Beach Grand Prix, which in many ways is the
showcase event for the entire series. A wonderfully promoted week of
festivities, support races and area media attention produces massive
crowds and what is perhaps the only sensible temporary street race in
North America. But then there was the television rating (0.7, with a 2
share) — a number equaled only by late-night crock pot offerings on the
QVC Network and generally surpassed by even Badminton and Curling
tournaments and debates on Federal Housing policies on C-Span.
But at least the CART race produced a crowd, although the whining of
Toronto Star motorsports columnist Rick Matsumoto served as a paradigm
for the entire, dismal affair. Matsumoto wrote "when Paul [Tracy — the
John Hinkley look-alike who is, thankfully, a Canadian] passed Takuya
[Kurosawa, the little Harbor Bomber who was leading the race], I didn't
know who to root for!" For openers, as an impartial journalist, perhaps
Matsumoto shouldn't have been rooting for anybody, but that's hardly the
point — which is, America doesn't care either way. CART has managed to
produce a series full of drivers nobody has ever heard of or even cares
about.
But then, a week later the IRL gang showed up at Las Vegas with several
drivers they had heard of — Al Unser Jr. among them, plus a hot young
female named Sarah Fisher — yet managed to attract a crowd roughly equal
to that in the lobby of Caesar's Palace - on a Tuesday. The "official"
attendance was announced at 18,500, although Richie Clyne, who built the
joint and ought to know, figured the number topped out at no more than
ll,000. This, by the way, was well below the number recorded by the
World of Outlaws who appeared in Vegas earlier in the year — which
brings up a possible solution: Why doesn't Tony George ring up Ted
Johnson and simply buy the WoO? He gets (1) inexpensive racecars and (2)
a paddock full of recognizable and appealing drivers who actually pass
each other on the track. The thought of the Indianapolis 500 being
contested by this gang of wild men quickens the pulse, to say the least.
Sadly, the whack jobs running CART and the IRL are not alone. Say hello
to Roger Edmondson, the new impresario of the Grand American Road Racing
Association whose background in motorcycle racing apparently qualifies
him to save professional road racing in this nation. Edmondson was
quoted in the most recent issue of RACER as saying that "We believe that
a successful series is one where the spectators consistently outnumber
the participants." Hello, Rog! Did you have a look at the grandstands at
last weekend's show at Phoenix International, where Janet Reno's ATF
boys could have burnt up every box of ammo in the entire state of
Arizona and not hit a bloody soul. This is the series that is going to
run the upstart Panoz boys off the ranch?
For openers, Rog, remember that aside from the Daytona 24 Hours — which
took several decades to jump-start — there has never been a road race
run on the infield course of a super speedway that drew flies. (Well,
Humpy Wheeler did have about 60,000 for an IMSA GTP show back in the
early 1980s, but he had to give away 200,000 tickets to do that.) The
major problem for the Grand Am, as I see it, is that the Panoz ALMS has
more natural road courses, which are the key to success in the long run.
PIR and other ovals are dead issues for road racing and no amount of
Daytona Beach-based flim-flammery will make it any different.
And speaking of infield road courses, my computer guru J.J. Hunsecker
reports that on-line simulations of the new US GP circuit at Indy reveal
yet another flat, slow, vanilla-flavored nightmare of the type that
Bernie and his boys seem to favor these days; twisty, 75-80 mph corners,
one long straight and table-smooth, featureless terrain. Save for Spa —
even in its sanitized state, and Monaco, the Fl circuit is cursed with
dull, dumb, hopelessly boring circuits in the theme of Malaysia's newest
contribution to the sport.
Then again we had the recent debacle at Silverstone, where the poor fans
face similar challenges to the medieval pilgrims to Canterbury, slogging
for miles over back roads and the English countryside only to be fleeced
by the brigands of the Roaring Dwarf — who seemed to be intent on a
massive payback to the Brits for a variety of indignities, including the
loss of his sweetheart tobacco deals and his horrific press coverage
involving his various political and financial scams.
In sum: how did our wonderful sport fall into the hands of such a
collection of bozos? The Craigs, the Georges, the Ecclestones, and
perhaps Mr. Edmondson have managed to create such a mess that even QVC,
C-Span and, God forbid, the Golf Channel are beginning to look like
viable alternatives.
We can carp about Winston Cup and all its overblown commercialism, but
have to give full points to the Frances. They have produced a series
that is terrifically entertaining to millions of Americans and is a
financially viable business operation for hundreds of racing teams and
accessory companies, not to mention sponsors.
But what's next for the open wheelers, Vince McMahon and his new series
involving Monster-Truck-Figure-Eight-Chain-racing? — Brock Yates

[mapguy]

Y'know Franklin? You could have just posted a link to the article. Also, what does this have to do with this thread?

[indyracefan]

Mapguy......thanks for the apology, although I understand where your coming from. I as well am an 'open-wheel' fan but in my case, I was sick of CART.....I grew up loving open-wheel racing and maybe I took Indy for granted because I was able to go several times each year as far back as I can remember. I don't mind road/street courses but through the 80's and into the 90's it 'seemed' like CART was moving away from oval-racing and becoming too much like F1....outlandishly expensive with the 'choosen few' getting the best equipment. I don't worship Tony George, but I do agree with him on a lot of aspects, and you can't blame him for creating the IRL because it was a pre-emptive strike against CART which was going to try, basically, a hostile take-over of the Speedway in order for CART to recieve more of the money from IMS & the Indy 500. As I said, I'm an open-wheel fan and like 'most' everyone else I wish 'everybody' was one, so I'm an IRL fan first and I watch CART with interest. Sorry this is so long!

[Franklin]

By posting the text of Yates' current column, other readers will be able to see what I was talking about when in a few days Yates publishes a new column discussing other subjects.

[Crash Test]

OK Franklin, smiley

Yes, we all know that there is problem between T. Geaorges ears, there's not much the world can do about that.
Down here in Australia, one of the biggest pricks in the land runs the most popular class. What do the people do? They ignore him and watch the race! Amazing!
Sitting there ragging the drivers and the action because the person in charge is an idiot doesn't make a whole heap of sense. If Georgie boy was out there driving and causing accidents, fair enough.
Everytime a Cart driver sticks it in, do we sit here dissin Cart driving standards? No, it's a part of the game.