Why doesn't IRL race on road courses?

[Raoul Duke]

Has anybody ever wondered why the IRL doesn't race on road cources. As much as I like oval racing, I find it a little boring when a series only races on ovals and nothing else(Nascar being the exception here).

[jimbo]

Since its inception the IRL was supposed to be an American oval racing series. Tony George has expressed very little interest in having the IRL on road courses. My understanding is that the engine and chassis combo is intended to run on ovals and would not be a good choice for road and street courses. If you find the ovals get tedious after a while, there are plenty of series that do nothing but road and street courses and there is even one that runs on ovals as well as road and street courses. It's good to have choices.

[domaza]

i have to say that IRL is a worsy racing serie.... CART races on road courses too and CART is best racing series out there. They also race on ovals.... Forget about IRL and this George guy who's only pro is that he owns Indy 500. VIVA CART!

[zx9man]

I can't believe you can put down IRL like that.... and stick up for Cart Racing. You obviously know little about Cart racing and the IRL and why they split if you feel that way. The reason Cart and IRL split because of the unfairness given to the teams that could afoard the best engines and chasis combos and had the most money backing them by sponsors. By injecting the IRL into the race series, you have for the first time a series that has a level playing field where people can't cheat as easy. And you don't have the same person winning every race (need I mention Michael Schumaker) or the entire Cart series. The IRL is the first series to have principles and establish criteria which allows rookies to come in and have a fair chance. Proof of this is by looking at how close IRL races are and how exicting it is to watch the close endings. Where as many other ra ces you know who one 30 minutes before the race even ended. Kind of like a Monday night football blow out. Choose your poison or series but don't talk **** about series you may know so little about!

[R]

I kind of agree with zx9man. I'm not able to watch the IRL, so therefore I'm naturally more interested in CART, which I'm able to watch live. That's no reason to put IRL down, every racing series has its charm. And I look for the results to see how Sarah Fisher and our friend Robbie Buhl is doing.

[domaza]

Originally posted by zx9man
I can't believe you can put down IRL like that.... and stick up for Cart Racing. You obviously know little about Cart racing and the IRL and why they split if you feel that way. The reason Cart and IRL split because of the unfairness given to the teams that could afoard the best engines and chasis combos and had the most money backing them by sponsors. By injecting the IRL into the race series, you have for the first time a series that has a level playing field where people can't cheat as easy. And you don't have the same person winning every race (need I mention Michael Schumaker) or the entire Cart series. The IRL is the first series to have principles and establish criteria which allows rookies to come in and have a fair chance. Proof of this is by looking at how close IRL races are and how exicting it is to watch the close endings. Where as many other ra ces you know who one 30 minutes before the race even ended. Kind of like a Monday night football blow out. Choose your poison or series but don't talk **** about series you may know so little about!

I quess this story was for me Okey you said I don't know anything about IRL. Wrong, I have read a lot about this and also watched these races on Eurosport. You told that IRL is close and CART and F1 aren't. Yes F1 really isn't close racing, but CART is and money isn't everything in CART. Last time Scott Dixon won, who didn't have a great sponsorship package (now he has). You told that in IRL there is a change for rookies - YES, you are right, but real racers aren't in IRL. There are youngsters, oldies and medium racers, who haven't got a change to go to major motosport series (CART, F1). Finally I have to say the biggest reason I don't like IRL is the boss of IRL, who splitted CART!

[KC]

Before this thread degrades into a massive debate about why CART and the IRL split, which is better and why, it is sufficient to say that they are separate entities. The IRL is a national oval racing championship. They do not claim to be more or less.

While I personally enjoy road racing more than oval racing, I respect the racers and teams in the IRL for the job they do.

[Raven]

Originally posted by KC
Before this thread degrades into a massive debate about why CART and the IRL split, which is better and why, it is sufficient to say that they are separate entities. The IRL is a national oval racing championship. They do not claim to be more or less.

While I personally enjoy road racing more than oval racing, I respect the racers and teams in the IRL for the job they do.

Well said. It's a shame so many CART & IRL fans alike waste so much time with this tedious topic when they could be talking about the on-goings in their preferred series. Take a look into the 7thGear CART forum, it's mostly IRL speeds, Cheever quotes, TV ratings, Track attendance and so on... Not what I would really call CART enthusiasts.

I follow the IRL and CART, plus all the racing I can get my eyes on, but like KC and domaza, I'd go for CART over IRL given the choice. Oval racing only becomes really exciting for me on the last few laps.

[floid2000]

We Americans get credit for oval racing(love it or hate it). It's the best way to view racing from a fans viewpoint. Personally , I would love to see a figure 8 with an overpass. That way the cars couldn't be offset and drivers would have to turn in both directions.

[Liz]

Personally I don't like oval racing, but I support everyone's right to watch the kind of racing they do like and cheer for the pilots they like, too.

As for the "level playing field" riff, the only way you can get people to play on the so-called "level playing field" is to punish the best people in some way so they will either (1) go away or (2) not play up to their abilities. The end result of dumbing down the field (the other name for "level playing field") is universal mediocrity. Why not let everyone race to the best of his ability - and even to the limit of his funding? Merit always rises to the top.

[Raoul Duke]

Originally posted by Liz

As for the "level playing field" riff, the only way you can get people to play on the so-called "level playing field" is to punish the best people in some way so they will either (1) go away or (2) not play up to their abilities. The end result of dumbing down the field (the other name for "level playing field") is universal mediocrity. Why not let everyone race to the best of his ability - and even to the limit of his funding? Merit always rises to the top.

I totally agree with Liz. I will never understand the concept(that certain racing series use) of adding more weight to a drivers car everytime he wins. Basically this their being punished for being the best, which is ludicrous. If someone is good enough to be the best, then he deserves to be there. If other drivers/teams can't keep up, then that's their problem.