What A Race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[f1manoz]

Originally posted by Glen Hartigan
I only live about 45 minutes from fontana.After hearing the endless radio and television promotions for the race, why the dismal attendance?

True, the attendance was fairly pathetic, but why do you think CART don't go to Nazareth or Michigan this year?

Because of poor attendance, and the fact open-wheel oval racing on superspeedways (except for Indy) is dying. One milers are still great though.

[angus987]

Hi I'm new here, and saw my 1st IRL race on TV at Homestead, which I had to say was dissapointing, Phoenix was better, but Fontana was sensational, I just hope that we don't see Hornish run away with the Championship, but it's still early. I am looking orward to Nazareth though, it's always been a favourite track of mine in the CART days so I'd like to believe their could be some serious racing there! See Ya.


Adam

[Dr. Austin]

Well, to be honest, even i thought the first two races were a disappointment. Homestead was run in 40mph crosswinds and it is really a miracle they could have even raced. I live about two hours from Homestead and the wind was so bad i was really afraid for my roof! And even Pheonix was ok, but too many of the teams just had a really bad weekend.

But Fontana is what the IRL is supposed to be all about. You can't have those kind of races every week, but excellent races are becoming the norm for the IRL.

I tell everyone to watch three before you make your mind up, but it would have been hard for most observers not to have been already convinced after Sunday.

[Knottsfreak]

IRL was fun, but CART will always put on a great show. The only thing I didn't like as how fast the field got spread out. AND whata wreck!! We heard Scheckter's engine die the lap before. I litterally predicted the wreck! I told my friends that someone would hit him when he dives for the pits and WOOOPS!! BANG, FIRE!! Yikes! I will definitely go to next years race since I bought the tickets on the day of the race, and sat in Speedway Club seats which was freaking awsome!!

[Lars]

Looking forward to Chicagoland in September...be cheering for Sam!!! It was an awesome race last year!

[Laagri]

Originally posted by Dr. Austin
I tell everyone to watch three before you make your mind up, but it would have been hard for most observers not to have been already convinced after Sunday.

Well, that was my third. I dare say that if I could watch the races live, I would find them exciting. The problem is that in my part of the world the only opportunity to watch the IRL (and CART this year, for that matter) is a 1-hour disjointed highlights programme 1 week after the race. This means that I know roughly what is going to happen and roughly when, and that obviously makes it less interesting. But, having finally got to see the Fontana race yesterday, I must say that, yes, I was astonished as to how clean the racing was.

I was beginning to think I could start following Sam Hornish, but now I've actually seen what he looks like I'm afraid I've changed my mind. I could never support anyone who sports a ridiculous beard like that...

Still, looks like Dr Austin's pick, Jaques Lazier, is pretty nifty...

Anyway, the thing I actually found most interesting was Hornish's post-race comments. He was asked about something he'd said earlier - about the IRL seemingly being him against the two Penske boys - and the commentator said that maybe he'd got Jaques Lazier to help him out now too. And then Hornish said something (I can't remember the exact quote) along the lines of there having been two or three other "IRL teams" at the front of that race. Does that mean that he doesn't actually consider Penske an IRL team?

[Lars]

Originally posted by Laagri
I was beginning to think I could start following Sam Hornish, but now I've actually seen what he looks like I'm afraid I've changed my mind. I could never support anyone who sports a ridiculous beard like that...

Sounds like a perfectly logical reason not to like him...LOL.

[botsquad]

by far..one of the best irl races ever....

with the addition of drivers like...

tomas scheckter..
and anthony lazzaro
helio castroneves
gil de ferran

the series has greatly improved.....
they made a big leap in one season...

they have a ways to go....

now...if only eddie would retire...

[knackaneal]

Originally posted by f1manoz
That was the first full IRL race I've ever watched (on ESPN in Australia), and being an avid CART fan, I must say I was impressed ...

And what about Penske? Here I thought they'd blitz the championship, but they aren't. The IRL looks quite competitive.

Maybe I have underestimated the IRL......

Probably because there is no action in CART I actually watched the Optus Vision cable (per ESPN) of this race as an experiment.

f1manoz has written the exact words I would have liked to post ... I was amazed

Probably because I "mix" with a whole lot of people on a speciality CART-Racing Forum, I was a little tarnished by their influences as regards the "second rate" IRL... but have got to admit this Fontana 400-miler was fantastic even if the seats were empty (just goes to show that the American public is no longer tuned to open wheel racing ... which is another issue again isn't it )

Being from DownUnder, I am not exactly partial to roundy-roundy oval racing, and although a sworn CART fan, I don't even stress if I don't watch CART on an oval. But I stayed rivetted through my virgin experience of watching an IRL event. Top stuff !!!

[The Beer Baron]

The best IRL races go back as far as 1998, I remember Texas 1 1998 was a classic, with ray, Brack, Boat dicing for the lead at 225mph+ in the old 4-liter motors. 3-wide racing all the way down the back stretch!!

Oval racing is unique, I don't see it as a series of left hand turns, its a highspeed dogfight with the drives battling it out for position!

[jcclausen]

What was the attendance at Fontana?

[The Beer Baron]

attendance was 15,000 or thereabouts, but I was too busy watching the race than being concerned with attendance!

[jcclausen]

The last time I was at Fontana, 1999, attendance was 80,000.