[DOF_power]

MILLER: IndyCar’s Next Step



Written by: Robin Miller
06/08/2008 - 06:50 PM
Fort Worth, Texas


There is little doubt Eddie Gossage would rather be quoted than breathe. The Texas Motor Speedway president really likes that reflection he sees in the mirror and somebody suggested that if Robbie Knievel comes back in 2009, instead of jumping 21 trucks like he did Saturday night, he could simply attempt to vault Eddie's ego.

Over the weekend, Edwardo manufactured headlines by stating that Indy-car racing needed to be 80 percent ovals to retain its identity and his crowds are off 20 percent since Texas quit following the Indianapolis 500 on the schedule.

And, of course, he reminded us that open-wheel racing is lucky to have his track and his continued support.

Anyway, the mistake some people make is taking him too seriously. He always knows what he's saying and loves to stir things up. But give Gossage his due. Sure, he sucks as a track designer, but he is a darn good promoter, one of the few remaining, and he understands his product right along with his audience.

Gossage gave Tony George an instant

hit when they partnered in 1997 and, other than Indy, it's always been the IRL's biggest draw (whether it's 70,000 or 100,000). Even though it's two hours of insanity for the drivers, the fans enjoy the too-close-for-comfort combat at 210 mph.

But Bruton Smith's oval oasis is also an anomaly.

With a couple exceptions, open-wheel racing and ovals no longer mesh. Sure, it's still some of the best racing on this planet and it's much better to watch on television, but it's usually a big financial loser. That's why George has had to abandon the IRL's all-oval mantra and adopt one of CART's few good ideas -- a blend of road courses, street circuits and ovals.

Since the split in 1996, Atlanta, Charlotte, Colorado Springs, Dover, Fontana, Las Vegas, Loudon, St. Louis, Michigan, Nazareth, Orlando and Phoenix have thrown in the towel for various reasons.

And, we're reporting right here that you can add Homestead and Nashville to that list, because neither will be back on the 2009 IRL schedule.

Ovals are in the DNA of Indy cars and naturally there needs to be a half dozen or so (just like in CART's heyday) but IRL management must be selective. It took George a long time to learn that ISC was not his ally and hopefully he'll continue to weed out the weak sisters (can you say Kansas City and Chicagoland?) and add a Phoenix.

The IRL founder recently approached ISC about returning to Phoenix but was only offered a Thursday night date which could be good for TV but obviously not a way to get back that 1995 crowd of 64,000.

Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL's commercial division, and Tony Cotman, vice president of competition, are in Mexico City right now (along with T. George) to talk with promoters about the road course but they're also interested in looking at an 1.5-mile oval in Puebla, Mexico to possibly open the season (as early as February) someday.

Loudon, another racy layout for open-wheel cars now owned by Smith which drew 50,000 for the final CART race in 1995, is also back in the IRL's gunsights and Gossage said it was "60 percent" it could happen as soon as '09.

Richmond is a keeper because it's developed a nice little niche of some 40,000 and it's usually a darn good show. Milwaukee made a nice comeback this year and drew almost 30,000 and it remains a great test of drivers instead of an aerodynamic excercise like all those mile-and-a-half joints.

Iowa drew good, enthusiastic crowds last year but the track was a one-groover while Sparta, Kentucky remains on the ambivalent list. Are either of those better than returning to

Michigan? Or Fontana?

Those are some of the decisions George & Company must make down the road.

We do know that Edmonton offers the speeds and passing of an oval, in addition to monstrous crowds (provided somebody gets Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani good rides) and it would be splendid to get that other airport circuit (Cleveland) back on the schedule.

In an ideal world, the 2011 schedule would look like this:

Road courses: Elkhart Lake, Mid-Ohio, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Mexico City, St. Jovite or Montreal.

Street circuits: Long Beach, St. Pete, Surfer's Paradise, Edmonton, Toronto, Cleveland.

Ovals: Indy, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Richmond, Loudon, Texas and Michigan.

Gossage, bless his heart, reasoned that the IRL won the war because ovals ruled which, of course, is ludicrous. George simply outlasted Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe but he did learn a valuable, if not expensive, lesson about history.

For all its faults, frauds, phonies and failures, CART did understand what worked for a long time. Street races drew festive crowds for three days and impressed sponsors. Road courses were for the purists who camped out for the weekend. And ovals for the die-hards who were seduced by speed.

And it remains the only formula that can work for open wheel.

[DOF_power]

Amen to that.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

[size=5]
For all its faults, frauds, phonies and failures, CART did understand what worked for a long time. Street races drew festive crowds for three days and impressed sponsors. Road courses were for the purists who camped out for the weekend. And ovals for the die-hards who were seduced by speed.

And it remains the only formula that can work for open wheel.

How did the open wheeled cars which ran Indy ever survive in the 30's, 40's and 50's when they ran on closed ovals (mostly dirt) only?

CART was ruining open wheel in this country. T.G. had a chance to save it but caved in and now we're back where we were prior to the CART/IRL split. A bunch of technological devices driven by a bunch of F1 wantabe's.

[DOF_power]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

How did the open wheeled cars which ran Indy ever survive in the 30's, 40's and 50's when they ran on closed ovals (mostly dirt) only?

CART was ruining open wheel in this country. T.G. had a chance to save it but caved in and now we're back where we were prior to the CART/IRL split. A bunch of technological devices driven by a bunch of F1 wantabe's.

1]
It kind of didn't.

Their first peak was in the mid 1920s, after that it went into a big decline thru the mid-late 20s to the 30s, 40s, 50s.
Almost all of the oval track from the 1920s went bankrupt and Indy was barely kept afloat; it was the exception.
The drivers went to race on what they could find, namely dirt tracks.
Compared to the interest till ~ the mid 20s, the 30s/40s/50s was era when american open wheel racing could barely be considered alive.


2] CART ruined open wheel racing how ?!
By making more popular then ever both in the USA and also other parts of the world ?!
By making it respectable and known around the world ?!
By having 3 world champions Fittipaldi, Mansell and Andretti on the field; and nearly getting a 4th, Ayrton Senna ?!


3] "this country"
What exactly this "this country" did for its open wheel racing series ?!
It left it for death in the late 20s - 30s and then again in the post split era.
Those who kept it floating were Honda not GM/Frod/Chrysler or the american people flocking to the track (of either CC/CART or Indycar/IRL) or great audiences or big american sponsors.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

1]
It kind of didn't.

Their first peak was in the mid 1920s, after that it went into a big decline thru the mid-late 20s to the 30s, 40s, 50s.
Almost all of the oval track from the 1920s went bankrupt and Indy was barely kept afloat; it was the exception.
The drivers went to race on what they could find, namely dirt tracks.
Compared to the interest till ~ the mid 20s, the 30s/40s/50s was era when american open wheel racing could barely be considered alive.

They tracks went BK, along with a lot of other businesses. They weren't alone. The failure of the '30's could be laid at the foot of the Great Depression. About the only major entertainment which survived that era was the film industry and that was solely because the government subsidized them.

The failures of the 40's were solely until around '48. Reason? WWII. Maybe you don't remember but the government banned all automobile racing during the war. Tough to keep a track profitable under those restrictions.

The '50's. I must have been in a parallel universe. Open wheel racing was the ONLY major league racing here and people flocked to it.

Originally Posted by DOF_power

2] CART ruined open wheel racing how ?!
By making more popular then ever both in the USA and also other parts of the world ?!
By making it respectable and known around the world ?!
By having 3 world champions Fittipaldi, Mansell and Andretti on the field; and nearly getting a 4th, Ayrton Senna ?!

It harmed it (maybe "ruined" is a bit harsh) by turning open wheel into a form of racing that was wholly alien to the majority of Americans.

As far as popular in other parts of the world. In the end I could care less about how other cultures view American open wheel racing.
It wasn't "respectable" and "know around the world?" How did reining World Champ, Alberto Ascari, ever find his way to Indianapolis in 1952?

Fittipaldi? He gave the 500 fans the proverbial finger by refusing the traditional milk after his win and drank orange juice instead? Emmo can go fly a kite. Nigel was OK in my book. I'd have like to see him on dirt. Mario came out of the bull rings and went to where the money was. Can't fault him for that.

3] "this country"
What exactly this "this country" did for its open wheel racing series ?!
It left it for death in the late 20s - 30s and then again in the post split era.
Those who kept it floating were Honda not GM/Frod/Chrysler or the american people flocking to the track (of either CC/CART or Indycar/IRL) or great audiences or big american sponsors. [/quote]

Totally different culture in "this country."
For one, we have a vastly more varied avenue of entertainment here. Europe, for example, has futball, F1 and a smattering of basketball. There are others but they are hardly "major sports," except colloquially.

I won't even attempt to answer what this country did for open wheel. Yes, I will, in one word...Indianapolis. That was just for starters.

"Left for death in the post-split era." Maybe by the driver fans who thought you could only have a race if an Unser, Rahal, Andretti or some other name driver was entered. The race fan followed the IRL and kept it alive. Now it's back to where it was pre-split.

It appears that you and I have agreements in some areas but we see open wheel racing in this country from totally different perspectives. I've been disagreed with many, many times. We can agree to disagree.

[DOF_power]

1] Bob, the decline started before the Great Depression. No it wasn't about the Great Depression or WWII it started before.


2] Alienated ?!
The ratings and attendance show that the early to mid 1990s was the peak of american open wheel racing.


3]
On the Ascari/Ferrari's failure at Indy in 1952, it's fairly straightforward.
For quite a while Indy had been stifled for many years by rules which stagnated technical development.
This allowed pre-war Grand Prix cars like the Maserati 8CTF to show well there.
However, by the time Ferrari got there in 1952, there had been some technical progress on the part of the Indy boys in the form of refinement and reliability.
Indy paid so much that it was worth building cars just for that race (Indy 500 car were just Indy 500 cars) and Indy was on its way to becoming a very specialized nut to crack.
The Ferraris were grossly overweight because of their huge drum brakes and their transaxles. At that time there was still a difference between straightaway speed and cornering speed so acceleration off the corners was important.
The 12 cylinder Ferrari couldn't equal the Offenhauser-powered 4C Indy cars in this part of the performance equation, and the Ferraris' extra weight added to the problem. Of the four Ferraris entered, only Ascari in the works car qualified - barely.
Larger Weber carburetors and an intake manifold to hold them were shipped over from Italy, and an enlarged airbox was literally hammered out of the hood scoop sheet metal so that the new parts could be nudged into place under the Ferrari hood.
But it turned out that those Weber carburetors, which only Ascari’s factory Ferrari had, improved performance enough to get the car into the field.
In the race, Ascari was running near the top third of the field when a wire wheel broke, ending his race.
The exact same thing had happened to a wire wheel on Wilbur Shaw's Maserati when he was leading the race (in 1939 i belive), but somehow, none of the Italians involved in the project remembered to do anything to prevent the same thing from happening.
Some of the other Ferraris entered used Halibrand wheels, but when Ted Halibrand had a third party ask the Ferrari team if he could assist by providing them with mag wheels, the Italians didn't want to hear about it. One thing was for sure, in a town where suspicion of foreigners was extremely high, everyone was impressed with Ascari's driving. He set a record in qualifying for putting together four laps that had less variance than any four before him.
Ascari’s Ferrari Special was out of the race by Lap 41, after his right-rear wheel hub flange broke on those beautiful chrome Italian wire wheels, leading Ascari to spin the car into the infield at Turn 4 kicking up the dirt, the car in full opposite lock as he tried vainly to save the car from the slide.
Although the Ferrari finished an ignominious 31st, the wise men of Indy liked what they saw of Ascari as a driver, since with not even one-quarter of the race over he had run as high as eighth place before the rear wheel hub gave way.
In his recent biography entitled “Alberto Ascari: Italy’s Great Double Champion,” Karl Ludvigsen calculated that Ascari had averaged 128.71 mph as he moved up through the field in the first 40 laps and was counting on fewer and faster pit stops given the good fuel mileage being achieved by the Ferrari.
By contrast, the winner of the 1952 Indianapolis 500, Troy Ruttman, had averaged 128.92 mph.
Ludvigsen quotes Sam Hanks, who placed third in the 1952 Indy 500 and won the 1957 Indy 500, on Ascari’s prospects:
“Ascari showed me enough in the 100 miles he lasted at the Indianapolis 500 to let me know he was equally at home on our speedway as on the road circuits of Europe. If he hadn’t broken that wheel, I firmly believe he would have had a lot to say at the finish.”


Ofcourse myths are more fun and more present in American racing then facts; I mean everyone knows NASCAR invented stock car racing and the entire grid at the first race was full of moonshiners.

So now should I take Sam Hanks words or Bob Tanner's alegations/implications ?!


4] The guys had talent, were world champions and their lack sensitivity twards your feelings, not fitting in the BT patern, did in no way shape or form take that away from them.

[DOF_power]

As to the racing in "this country" after the end of Can-Am, Trans-Am and how many countless series and sanctioning bodies disapearing do you think Indycar should:

a] Go for the Bob Tanner way and basically disapear either from the map or entirely ?!
or
b] Take a pragmatical all option considered aproach so as to survive and prosper ?!

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Fittipaldi? He gave the 500 fans the proverbial finger by refusing the traditional milk after his win and drank orange juice instead? Emmo can go fly a kite.

If I remember correctly, the Fittipaldi thing where he refused to drink "traditional" milk after winning the race, was in protest to the Indianapolis tradition which was broken for the first time in History that year, when the George family allowed Nascar to race on the famed open wheel track for the first time.
Many people celebrated him for doing it.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

If I remember correctly, the Fittipaldi thing where he refused to drink "traditional" milk after winning the race, was in protest to the Indianapolis tradition which was broken for the first time in History that year, when the George family allowed Nascar to race on the famed open wheel track for the first time.
Many people celebrated him for doing it.

I admit to hearing a lot of grousing from the Wine & Brie set of Indy fans. I read a lot of that in the Indianapolis Star.

But, being a guy who went to a lot of local tracks and having acquaintances who were into sprint cars and stock cars, I was hearing that the feelings were totally different.

I'd say that Emmo, like so many of the people who followed CART at the time, had a rather elitist attitude. He can still go fly a kite.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

1] Bob, the decline started before the Great Depression. No it wasn't about the Great Depression or WWII it started before.



So now should I take Sam Hanks words or Bob Tanner's alegations/implications ?!


4] The guys had talent, were world champions and their lack sensitivity twards your feelings, not fitting in the BT patern, did in no way shape or form take that away from them.

We can agree to disagree. peace out...