IRL Death List

[¡As-de-mim!]

or TG's "I'm big time now and I don't need your piddlin asses anymore."

Teams that were good enough when TG needed them:

Conquest to CART
In 2002, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing became a full-time Indy Racing League team. Upon their arrival in the IRL, Indy Racing League President Tony George called them "the most professional looking team in the paddock." Now, no mention of the team can be found on the IRL site. Someone's panties got twisted it would seem.

Hemelgarn-gone unless they come up with sponsor. TG has promised a small amount for them, if they run Buddy.

Bradley-gone.

Schmidt-Gone. Sammy is not too happy with GM.....Three car IPS team.

310-gone $$ (TG to bring Mack back in some form?)

Treadway-gone

Curb-Boat-gone, looking for ride, Cheever a possibility....

Blair-gone, trying to get money together for CART.

Brayton Racing - Gone

Cahill Racing - Gone

[KC]

Ahh. The big ugly specter of life has stricken the IRL now. Racing is a business not a hobby. TG has gotten part of what he wanted. Penske, Andretti and Ganassi are there and the truth will out. He does not need the little guys now and they are kicked to the curb. What happened to the All-American form of racing? What happened to the chance for American drivers to show their stuff on a level playing field? Amazing what gets sacrificed for becoming "big time".

How could any of the small "mom-and-pop" IRL operations not see this coming? I feel for these guys. They are what kept the IRL rolling when it all began and now they are being ushered out the door in the name of the big time teams.

Some one tell me where the difference between CART and the IRL is now except for the name on the CEO's door? Where is the great revolution now?

[Liz]

I just hope CWS doesn't do the same thing when the time comes -- we have a lot of "little guys" in the field now and it would be good for us to cheer them on and support them and not dump them off the map as soon as some rich team comes along to buy in.

Remember the lesson TG has taught and support the little guys until they become big guys, and they will return loyalty for loyalty. The big guys just say "bidness" and kick you in the face -- they will climb the ladder and then kick it out from under them so nobody else can ascend.

[Snrub]

I assume CART would do the same thing to the little guys. Big guys offer more promotion, more money, usually better track performance (due to money).

[Jay]

I'd like it if all of motorracing (F1 included) could keep costs to a minimum. I'd rather racing be what you can do with X number of dollars rather than what can the richest team do. Unlikely to happen though...

If racing were a fair sport, every team would put down a certain amount of money to the FIA (or other governing body), and they'd have to pay all expenses out of that fund. I know, it's laughable.

[sgw2]

I agree with Liz here. It is nothing to cheer about when race teams lay off their workforces. Many of these guys go between the different series, and are anything but political.

The IMS has dropped financial aid. Yet the support TG gave is not without success. (Also this is the model Pook is has followed.) Some of the teams they nurtured have survived and are healthy even in this bad environment; Red Bull Cheever Racing, Kelley Delphi Racing, Robbie Buhl's Dreyer&Reinbold Racing, and Panther Racing. Apparantly PDM has sufficient resources as well. Other's like Sam Schmidt Racing (and apparantly Curb-Agajanian-Boat) will drop down to be IPS teams, joining Arie Luyendyk's expanded IPS team, waiting until such time as the economy turns around enough to move back up to the big leagues. A few, such as Blair Racing, Treadway Racing simply closed shop for good and laid everybody off.

Still this shows better development support than CART has acheived to date. If the cash burn can be managed and CCWS repositioned into a self-sustaining series, then hopefully CART can nurture some teams as well. Unfortunately CART has been unable to secure funding for any Atlantics teams moving up. Instead of homegrown talent CART is relying on imported pay drivers from Mexico and Europe to fill the grid, with heavily subsidized small teams. We may see many driver changes during the course of the year since many of these teams lack "crashing" budgets. Even so, one can only hope that a few of these small teams will nuture into healthy teams. Looking over the field this is what I see:

Pat Patrick and Newman-Haas are nearing the end of the line with their septuagenarian team owners, so don't expect them to be around many more years (NHR will no doubt be sold since it is a first rate operation). I think Wayne Taylor is the most serious and dedicated of the new prospects, as he has worked hard to build a team. Adrian Fernandez is the most committed amongst the returnees. I have serious doubts about Stefan Johansson's commitment to anything given his track record. Dale Coyne is a perpetual tail ender and happy to be there, while Derrick Walker seems intent on following his model. Bobby Rahal seems to be focusing on diversifying his efforts, much like Mo Nunn and Chip Ganassi did; a fair weather friend. Paul Gentilozzi is a question mark; what is his motivation and commitment level, given his focus on purchasing Trans-Am and sudden change of plans from IRL+ALMS to CCWS?

Obviously this will not be the same lineup of teams in 2005 when the cash support ceases, but one or two good teams ought to emerge from the list, and I think Fernandez and Taylor will be amongst the best of them.

For CART to survive the finacial situation of the larger world needs to improve, and that will probably be a tide that raises all ships - IRL included. When the tide is low the weakest are beached. This is why CART is spending so much of the cash reserve to keep the grid afloat. That IRL doesn't have to do this to get 20+ car fields tells you all you need to know about the health of each series. CART has a lot of work to do to turn it around.

What comes around goes around. It is ironic to see Chris Pook following the model Tony George proved to try and rebuild CART. A focused marketing effort, and buidling a field from scratch. The only difference is Pook has only two years to replicate what George did in seven, and in a much worse economy. Good luck to him. To date he has surpased my expectations.

Happy New Years and Good Racing to come!

[Fiorentina 1]

Don't forget PDM, Tri-Star, Blue Something (Guthrie won Phoenix in 97 with), Pagan, etc, etc!

Menard & Foyt are the only original teams left....

[Lee Janotta]

I'm with Liz. These guys just love to race... When big money players with big sponsors like Ganassi, Penske and Andretti turn traitor, that's all about money and politics. But these guys couldn't afford to be in CART if they wanted to, that's the sad fact. Maybe now they can afford to come back to the fold. I'll welcome them with open arms, for my small part.

[f1manoz]

I hope all these ex-IRL teams can find a birth in the CART paddock. Some of them are even former teams from the split in 1995... or variations of those anyway.

[DNQ]

Yeah, agreed, it'd be nice to see some of these teams being welcomed and helped onto the Champ Car grid.

[tanalised]

Yeah that would be good. I'm sure they still want to race. No doubt TG would put some spin on it but **** him right.