Dave,
I've got a lot of respect for you as a person, but this anti-Tony
George, anti-IRL B.S. is getting old. I expect to see this kind of
stuff in the RASI(rec.autos.sport.indy) newsgroup, not here -- which
is why I no longer frequent the RASI newsgroup. This kind of stuff is
VERY tiresome -- you call Tony George "the Devil's son," but have you
ever met him, ever talked with him? I have, and he's a very nice,
very quiet, very humble, soft-spoken guy.
It's becoming increasingly clear that CART is unable to stand on its
own merits without the Indianapolis 500 to help define it as the
premier open-wheel series in America. Folks like Roger Penske,
Michael Andretti, and Mo Nunn have realized this already. CART
screwed its own pooch back in '94 when they refused to even attempt to
broker some sort of compromise that would have prevented the formation
of the IRL. Even after the IRL was in the planning stages, Tony
George and company wanted to align their rules with CART's, but CART
rejected all of the IRL's proposed engine-, chassis-, and
safety-oriented changes out of hand, then adopted many of them after
they shut the door in order to force the IRL to map out its path to
the future on its own.
The new Chevy engine has a connection to Ford because of Cosworth's
affiliation with Ford -- Tony George has not "bought" Ford's
blessings; Cosworth developed and submitted an engine design to the
IRL with the intention of competing as a manufacturer this year, but
they couldn't find a badge partner to give the engine ties to an
existing manufacturer, and the IRL would not let the engine compete as
simply a "Cosworth" powerplant. Ford's divisions like Visteon and
Cosworth operate like independent business units -- if they can make
money for themselves and for Ford by doing business with other
competitors like Toyota, Dailmer-Chrysler, or GM, then that is
perfectly acceptable to Ford. That is why we're seeing Cosworth
involvement with the IRL -- Cosworth submitted an engine design to the
IRL with the intention of joining as a competitor, and now Chevrolet
has stepped up to be the "badge sponsor" for that engine because their
own in-house engine design has failed to measure up to the
competition.
Cosworth wins in terms of sales.
Ford wins because Cosworth's original IRL design is now becoming a
profitable product.
Chevrolet wins because they get a competitive powerplant (hopefully,
anyway).
Toyota and Honda win as a result of the increased competition.
The fans win because things just got a lot more interesting.
Let go of the weak-kneed "CART vs. the IRL" rhetoric -- judge each
series on its own merits, and if you find one lacking, learn how to
use your TV remote to change the channel or turn the TV off.
It's that simple.
Now, let's get back to sim racing: Try netKar -- it's the new GPL;
spread the word . . . it's THAT good. Forget about Codemaster's
IndyCar Series game for the PC -- the demo is weak, and it looks like
the PC version probably isn't going to be released, anyway.
;-)
-- JCB
> It is happening again. The Devil's son, whose name I shalt not speak,
> has found another insidious way to work his evil. How much money did it
> cost? WHo did he have to influence? Once again he has started a process
> that will ultimately steal another manufactuer.
> Up until last year, the Olds/Chevy block was king of the hill. The
> Infinity did make some progress, but year in/year out, the Bowtie engine
> was the ticket to sucess in the irl league. Now suddenly it is a pathetic
> loser. How much did it cost the owner of the Indy track to convince
> General Motors to build a crappy motor?
> Ya see, here is the plot....GM suddenly can't even get a mill built
> that will keep up with 1st year experiements by a couple of Japanese
> manufactuers. And not only is the Chevy engine down on power, it is also
> down on r&d. So for SOME reason, the company that provides Jeff Gordon
> with a trick head/block that powers him to 4 Winston Cup championships
> can't do a little work on an irl block.
> Suddenly they have a White Knight! Ford's Cosworth boys can 'fix' the
> broken chevy. And they have. In the space of two weeks they have found
> enough speed to be competive with Chevy's unfixable engine. Imagine that.
> But now consider....The Nascar Petty team wanted to upgrade their engine
> program and was going to contract with the Yates engine builders. Yates
> have been the premier FORD engine builders for years. Ford is so paranoid
> they won't even let Yates loan an engineer to the Petty organization. Even
> tho Richard Petty, at one time, drove for FORD. So if FORD won't give help
> to a legend like THe King..... .... ..... (whose current manufacturer is a
> distant 3rd in points.) Why did they suddenly cave in and SAVE the CHevy
> irl program????
> What could have convinced Ford to help the hated rival who clearly is
> much more of a sales and competition threat than Dodge? In steps xxxx
> xxxxx and 'somehow' he convinces Ford to do what Richard Petty could not.
> Why? Of course FORD is the only engine builder now for CART. Now that
> the devil's child has a 'relationship' with Ford, how long til they too
> wander over to the brickyard....
> Evil never sleeps.....
> dave henrie
