IRL is Winning the War

[GoFaster]

http://mv.orlandosentinel.com/sports...ines-motorrace

"Penske believes that "within 18 to 24 months," there'll be but one major open-wheel series in America -- and it won't be CART."

[rush1]

CART fans who still live in denial about CART's imminent demise sould read that article. Hopefully CART (that pitiful organization) will be unable to field enough cars to race in 2003. The IRL races at Fontana, Michigan, Chicagoland and Texas were better than all those CART street parades televised mostly on a obscure cable network. Is this the reason CART's best and brightest are defecting in droves?

CART's death will help to clear up the confusion among everyday fans as to which driver competes in what series. A unified open wheel series clears up that confusion and paves the way for growth of open wheel racing in the United Staes.

Bye bye CART, bring on NASCAR!

[macdaddy]

You feel a personal vendetta, don't you. Chris Pook stole your girlfriend?

[Down F0rce]

i agree with that article. regardless of what people think of Tony George, thet can ignore the great racing. i think, on the whole, the IRL has been THE best racing series of 2002. i cant wait for 2003, my moneys on Dario for the title.

[The Snout]

IRL is a good developmental formula, or retirement village. Cart has it's own niche and thank god that now the owners who were causing all the trouble in Cart have gone to the IRL, Cart can push ahead with it's continuation and renewal of being the premier North American open wheel series. But the IRL does have it's close racing and as a step up from FF2000 on the way to Cart then on to F1 the IRL can serve a purpose for a young driver.

[racer69]

At the moment though there aren't many going going from IRL to CART, they are however going from CART to IRL.

[JP]

Am I alone in hoping the "war" will end next year with both sides considering they've won? The IRL to continue to promote the most exciting oval racing (I really hope Toyota and Honda aren't about to ruin this) and CART moving away altogether from the US ovals and increasing its international presence, providing a "real racing" alternative to F1.

So far the only "winners" are those who've ducked the arguments and managed to enjoy the racing in both series. The IRL's provided the best open-wheel action this year that I've ever seen. Most of the CART races have been a snooze as seen on TV (a shame as it's the first year we've enjoyed good quality coverage from Sky in the UK), but Rockingham proved that CART's still a great spectacle viewed first hand.

If IRL can just take a small slice of the cake away from NASCAR, ditto CART with F1, perhaps we can all learn to enjoy a double dose of the best in open wheel racing.

[racer69]

I agree, i wish they could both just live together and get on (including the fans) and enjoy both series, as i do at the moment.

[Jay]

That's hard to do when they're in competition for teams and sponsorship....

Although, one of the big reasons Cart is having to rebuild is because of the damage done by internal politicing between the teams that are heading to the IRL (Green, Gannassi and Penske). It is these three that were BIG in the decisions to announce 10 different formulae for Cart's future, and that's a big reason why the engine manufacturers bailed out. Now that Cart has gotten rid of the troublemakers, and has someone in charge who knows what he's doing, the series can finally get back on its feet and continue to expand.

[Neil C]

JP, good for you. I agree with you totaly. I hate all this sniping and defensiveness among the true-believers in both camps.

No, I don't believe IRL is "winning" because if only one series survives, we'll all be the losers.

CART created the environment that made IRL possible. Now that it exists, it sounds like many people will only be satisfied when the IRL is wiped out entirely.

For all of the vehemence and demagoguery I see in these threads you'd think we were discussing Israel and the Middle East.

[Jay]

Honestly, I have no problem with the IRL being around, as long as Cart is able to thrive alongside. I think the two series have very different visions of open-wheel racing and there is likely room for both.

However, when the people at the top of the IRL say that there will be only one open-wheel series in the future, and it will IRL, I have a problem witht those people.

[Flatspot]

Unfortunately Tony George has stated that there's not room for two open wheel series. That's the bottom line. Until he is out of the picture there will be a fight until one series or the other or very likely both is gone. He has done a very good job recently in building himself a business model that is proven not to work. Big teams, big manufacturers, big budgets and big egos = big trouble.

In the end (quite some time from now) there may indeed be a single unified series based in North America but Tony will be long gone by then and so will his money. Bernie and the France's have gotta love this war.

[JohnSSC]

In a sense IRL has done CART a favor by forcing it to focus. Fortunately, CART has Cris Pook who has correctly determined that the focus for CART is not ovals but road/street courses. Let the roundy-round gang do their thing. Let the people who enjoy that type of racing support and enjoy it. I think Pook is on the right track with rule changes that will bring the type of close finishes that IRL has had recently back to CART. In the end imho, we will have an oval series and "road-racing" series for open wheel.

Look at the diversity we have: dirt vs asphalt. 3/4 midgets, midgets, sprints, late models, ARCA, NASCAR (Busch, etc) and on. Somehow each of these series has found their niche audience. So will CART and IRL. I hope!

[Jay]

That would be great! although I don't think Tony George will be involved.. he says he wants the IRL to be the number one racing series in North America (including Nascar)... which is odd considering a good portion of IRL attendees are there because they really wanted a Nascar ticket and were forced into the IRL one!

[mac]

Originally posted by racer69
At the moment though there aren't many going going from IRL to CART, they are however going from CART to IRL.

This is purely because of Honda and Toyota. They weren't allowed to run their own series in CART, so they went somewhere where their every whim would be pandered to. The teams in IRL are not good enough, so they through trillions of dollars at CART teams to switch. The CART teams followed the money. It has nothing to do with the IRL being a superior series. All evidence suggests otherwise - CART is faster, requires more skill and talent and gets bigger crowds at the track and on telly. Without the Indy 500 (one race - and it's a shadow of it's former self), there would be no IRL.

CART defectors are merely following the $$$$$ provided by Honda and Toyota.

[racer69]

The drivers don't have to though, Franchitti and Kanaan have, and when Penske joined, de Ferran and Castroneves were told if they didn't want to compete they were free to leave, but stayed.

At this very moment in time though IRL is producing the better racing, even the biggest CART fan or Anti IRL fan would be foolish to say that the final laps of Texas between Hornish and Castroneves weren't some of the very best racing we will see anywhere this year.

IRL teams not good enough, Panther beat Penske.

In the future i hope CART can rebuild and provide the great racing we have seen in the past.

I don't think IRL has 'won the war', next year will be the telling one, as it depends alot on whether IRL forgets about or takes care of it's loyal teams, but at the moment IRL is producing the better spectacle.

[paul-collins]

For me it comes down to two things:

1) I prefer road racing to ovals, and
2) I'm in Canada and like to see racing live.

Because of that, IRL will never amount to much for me.

My only beef with IRL is TG's assertion that he'll kill CART. CART is available to me and provides me with my open-wheeled racing fix. If he manages to kill CART, he's taken something tangible from me. IRL, as I stated above, won't fill that gap. So, yeah, I have a big problem with TG. And by association, IRL.

[mac]

Originally posted by racer69
The drivers don't have to though, Franchitti and Kanaan have, and when Penske joined, de Ferran and Castroneves were told if they didn't want to compete they were free to leave, but stayed.

And say no to contracts probably twice the size of their CART ones. Toyota and Honda are simply throwing money at whatever will get them a reasonable Indy 500 effort.

Just because the racing is good doesn't mean it's a better series. By that logic, are you suggesting the IRL is a better series than F1?

The fact is CART is faster, it requires more skill (on behalf of drivers and teams - why do you think CART teams have been dominating the 500 of late), and gets more spectators.

[Tailwind]

You can't say the war is won until the "fat lady sings." Both series are evolving and adapting. When one refuses to change with it's enviornment it will stagnate and die. That is determined by the support of the fans. Those battles are won and lost with ticket sales at the tracks and broadcast ratings. It may be that both sides come to terms and coexist, but the Generals have drawn up their battle plays and moblized for full scale war. They have made their intentions known and rallied their forces. There has been a lot of speculation of the outcome of this war, but in the end, the fans will ultimately decide the fate of open wheel racing in North America. That is still a long way off.

[Jordi]

If CART would have adapted IRL cars and engines, then it would been worse. I'm so glad Chris Pook fixed it.

[racer69]

Originally posted by mac
Just because the racing is good doesn't mean it's a better series. By that logic, are you suggesting the IRL is a better series than F1?

I never said it was a better series, i just said that at the moment the IRL is producing better racing and therefore a better spectacle than CART.

[Jay]

I don't know about a better spectacle.... For some reason the average racefan still seems much more inclined to attend a Cart race than an IRL race.

[Neil C]

Originally posted by mac

Just because the racing is good doesn't mean it's a better series. By that logic, are you suggesting the IRL is a better series than F1?

To some, particularly those who watch in order to see "good racing", the answer to your question would be "Yes". I can say I disagree, but I can't say they are wrong.

[Mackmot]

Seams to me that this argument only goes on in North America, this side of the Atlantic we just like to see good racing, and you lot (IRL, CART and NASCAR) are the only ones in the world providing it. I wish you'd all stop areguing between yourselves though and just take over from F1.

[Jay]

I think another thing is those that watch all the races on TV, and those that go to some races and hang around the paddock areas and get a sense for the series have very different opinons. When you only watch the races on TV, it doesn't really matter where they are racing or who the people involved are. On, TV, it's all just great racing.

But, when 3 of the 4 largest racing events in your area, and the health of open-wheel road racing for the entire continent completely depend on one series' viability, you tend to rather heavily support that series. And when another series that races on ovals and nowhere near you declares that it wants to kill your series, you get a little POed at them. And you wouldn't get any of that watching on TV, as it wouldn't matter whether they are racing in Toronto or Texas.