The 500.....ah ?......480.....no!.....460?

[floid2000]

Why doesn't CART just pick a winner from a group of "deserving" candidates.If you advertise a 500, that's 500 miles.
Is it any wonder why Cart will be gone within 2 years MAX. ? The IRL will win the "war" and once again the INDY 500 will reign SUPREME in the world of racing.
We Americans can get our road racing from the Lemans series.
As for pure SPEED we've still got the NHRA. (that's drag racing )

[marcus]

a tad harsh dont you think ..you could clearly see the light was fading fast and they already started late due to the weather so a decision had to be made.

but it would have been good to see the full 500 miles as I was just starting to get interested in the last 30 mins or so.

[Liz]

I wondered if they didn't have a calendar when they set that race. But you remember last year it rained as well and they had to postpone it, so perhaps the problem is that they are holding it at the wrong time of year. (Considering how many of the drivers said the race was boring, perhaps they should just drop it.)

[paulzinho]

It was good for the fans which is what CART needs at the moment, More fans=more potential sponsors. And if the drivers find it boring why are some thinking of IRL?

As for the weather, thats a risk you take with a season finale on an oval.

[Liz]

The drivers that found it boring are not going to the Brand X Racing League.

And that was my point exactly - that the season finale should not be on an oval, when the weather becomes problematical in California ONLY at that time of year.

[Jimmyz360]

I was at California speedway and it was getting late because it was raining all day and they had to postpone the race to 1:15 because they had to get indy lights in. I think the California 500 really should be changed to 400 because it is just too long of a race with CART chucking out yellows a lot, I was kinda getting tired of just sitting there. Also it gets dark like at 4 now because of the daylight savings time. CART will survive, just dont expect to be sellouts everywhere. A lot of those people care about the drivers, not necessarily the engines in them. Although it was nice sitting next to a red neck racist who smoked about 30 cigs during the race, who made fun of takagi and how we should just kill all the arabs, over all the race was fun. Liz please explain to me what Brand x racing means...u keep mentioning it, and i have no idea what it means.

[nkracing]

I think they could run a half an hour more. And then everybody would be happy . As I remember in 1998, in 5pm when I left grandstands it wasn't dark yet. I easily found a car in huge parking place. That was november 1.

[Knottsfreak]

I was at the race and paid my good money to watch a 500 mile race, but since we have no control over the weather, I can't complain. It wasn't a boring race, it was a great race to watch. And the longgggggggggggggg yellows where caused by drivers who didn't get into the warm-up lane after blowing an engine (Moreno), but I did enjoy listening to the Team Green Safety Crew yell at each other on my scanner. In all, it was a fun race, it was better than last year since I didn't have to make 2 trips, and more than 6 cars finished, Andretti finished 3rd in points, and Kenny finished dead last. Whata race.

[Dr. Austin]

How many races did CART run at less that the planned distance this year? I don't have the exact figures, but I can't remember the last time they did the whole race. My best recolection is that it was the Michigan 500.

Hopefully the problem of shortened races will disappear with CART's new TV package. Most of the shortened races were a result of fitting into the TV schedule, but Speedvision will be more flexable than that.

I agree you can't race at night. Not without proper lighting, anyway. I imagine that one day we will see all ovals equipped for night racing just to avoid these kind of problems. I would like to see a 500 that starts at sunset or maybe a little earlier. What a great show that would be!