rec.autos.simulators

--

Right. You would loose interest in CART because of something I said
in a newsgroup??? I can hardly stop laughing.

I lost interest in the IRL until Indy when the IRL guy took out DeFarren.
At least that is something substantial.

--

Yes, impressive, isn't it?    

;-)

-- JB

JJ

Frankly, that is yet to be determined :-)

--

LOL ;-)

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- May the Downforce be with you...
-- http://www.ymenard.com/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimato Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

I thought that was pretty cheesy... :(

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
F1 hcp. +28.67...F2 +151.26...

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

I am an Indianapolis native who was born and raised an Indycar fan. I
started going to the Indianapolis 500 in the early seventies before the
series became CART and I believe it was loosely organized by USAC. I
attended Indy 500's in the last 3 decades, and watched or listened to every
Indycar race I could. I saw all 4 of Rick Mears wins at Indy. I enjoy many
forms of racing, but I always told people I was first and foremost an
Indycar fan. Back then, I honestly did not pay much attention to the
politics, and I would have never told people I was a CART fan. It was
simple, I was an Indycar fan, and the greatest race in the world was the
Indianpolis 500. No other motor race in the world has existed longer and
attracted the best drivers in the world from all forms of racing - Formula
1, Nascar, Sprint cars, Sports cars, Motorcycles, Trans-Am, Off-Road racing,
etc. Of course, I knew of some rumblings between the team owners, USAC, the
Speedway, etc., but I really did not care. I just loved to follow the
drivers and teams in what I considered to be the greatest racing series in
the world. I am also a Nascar fan, and back in the eighties I ended up
moving south to Nascar country. I still remained a hard core Indycar fan and
when my Nascar friends would kid me about Indycars, I would always retort
with the fact that there was no other top tier championship in the world
that required their drivers to master ovals, super speedways, street
circuits, and road courses. No other championship included the greatest race
in the world, the Indianapolis 500. Sure, Daytona, Monaco, Monza, Le Mans,
there is history there, but it still does not compare to Indy. Where else
could you have one race with the likes of Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Gordon
Johncock, Jackie Stewart, AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford,
Cale Yarborough, Jimmy Clark, Jochen Rindt, Parnelli Jones, and Graham
Hill(Indy - 1967). Now granted, I know that these days with longer seasons,
huge driver contracts, sponser obligations and specializations, this is not
really possible, but the point is the Indianapolis 500 was always about
attracting the best drivers in the world to compete in the biggest race in
the world. When IMS and the IRL split from CART, they took this part of the
Indianapolis 500 with them. The IRL schedule and the Indy points qualifying
system(25 of the 33 spots were reserved for IRL teams) made it virtually
impossible for a CART team to even compete, or anyone else for that matter.
Yes, CART made a boneheaded move by trying to stage the US 500 on the same
day as Indy, but both races suffered greatly. Anyone who thinks the Indy 500
has not suffered from the split is fooling themselves. The Indy 500 averaged
a 9.5 TV rating from 1992-1994(before the split), but has averaged 6.2 in
the three races that have run without delay since 1995. In 1999, the event
hit an all-time low of 5.5 and in 2000 it was the same. Granted, no CART
race would approach a 5.5 rating, but the point is the 500 was the marque
event for US open wheel racing, and since the split it is hurting greatly.

I have no problem with some of the reasons Tony George and IMS had for
forming the IRL. Reducing costs, increasing parity, more openings for young
American sprint car drivers, etc. These are admirable goals. However, this
should not have been at the expense of the Indianapolis 500's prestige and
tradition. Also, in the 5 years of the IRL, I do not believe many of these
goals have come to fruition. Granted, 5 years may not be enough time to have
realized all these things, but lets look at the statistics. Since the IRL's
formation in 1996 there have been a total of 44 races(including Phoenix last
weekend). These 44 races have been won by 20 different drivers. Of these 20
individuals, 5 of them are foreign(25%). Of the 44 total races, 13 of them
have been won by foreigners. This is 30% of the total races. On average, one
in every 3.33 IRL races will be won by someone who was not born in the USA.
Three of the five IRL contested Indy 500's have been won by foreigners. This
is 60%!. In the 17 years CART ran at Indy, only 4 were won by
foreigners(24%). Of course there are very few American drivers in CART, but
my point is the IRL is hardly an American only series.

I have never really understood the philosophy that the IRL is geared towards
furthering US born drivers, especially given the statistics above. While I
would like to see more US drivers in open-wheel racing, the bottom line is
that I want to see the BESTopen-wheel racers, regardless of nationality. Do
we lament the fact that the US national pastime of baseball is more and more
dominated by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Mexicans? Do we care that the NHL is
dominated by Canadians and Russians? Personally, I do not. These are where
some of the best players in the world are from in these sports, and that is
who should be competing. My all time favorite sport is track and field,
specifically distance running. I grew up when Americans like Jim Ryan, Frank
Shorter, Marty Liquori, Steve Prefontaine, Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar and
Craig Virgin were the best in the world. In the last 20 years, the North
Africans from countries like Kenya, Morocco, and Ethiopia have completely
dominated the sport. An American distance runner is lucky to make it to an
Olympic final, let alone have a chance at a medal. So do we decide to form
our own US only Olympics, or do we try to figure out the reasons why we are
unable to compete with the best in the world? American institutions like the
Boston Marathon(105 years old) and the New York Marathon(30 years old) have
not been won by an American since the early 80's. Should we now limit these
races to Americans only, or somehow give Americans an advantage? No! These
races are about attracting the best in the world, regardless of nationality.

In regards to the IRL helping out the Sprint car guys, out of these 20 IRL
winners, only 3 came from Sprint car backgrounds(15%). Tony Stewart, Billy
Boat, and Al Unser Jr. And you can hardly count Al Unser Jr. as a sprint car
IRL success. He went from the World of Outlwas series in the late 70's to
CART where he had almost 20 years of success before "retiring" to the IRL. 5
wins of 44 total IRL races can be attributed to "midget" and "sprint" car
guys. This is 11%. Hardly an homage to the Sprint car guys. No IRL contested
Indy 500 has been won by a racer that was bred on Sprint cars. In fact, all
5 IRL contested Indy 500's have been won by either former or current CART
drivers(100%). Of the 20 IRL winners, 13 of them are either former or
current CART drivers(65%). 32 out of 44 IRL races have been won by former or
current CART drivers(73%). Given these statistics, the idea that the IRL is
somehow giving more chances to up and coming drivers from other series seems
overblown. I was glad to see young Sam Hornish get his first win last
weekend at Phoenix, and I hope to see Casey Mears next!

Yes, the cost to start a team is cheaper in the IRL but the teams with the
most money are still the ones who dominate. A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Team
Menard, Kelley Racing, Panther Racing, Hemelgarn Racing, Treadway Racing.
These are the teams that are always winning in the IRL, and these are the
teams with the most money. The Buzz Calkins and Jim Guthrie type wins are
few and far between. The reality of motorsport is that even if you make the
price of admission cheaper, it is still the teams with the most money that
usually have the most success. This is true in virtually all professional
sports, especially team based. This is no different than Ganassi, Penske,
Team Green, Newman/Haas Racing, Patrick Racing, and Team Rahal dominating in
CART.

Now I do realize that motorsports has as much to do with sponsorships and
money, as it does talent. Sometimes the most talented driver may not get a
break due to low budget teams with no chance to win. Part of the reason why
CART has fewer American drivers, is because they have had fewer American
sponsors. The fact is, open wheel racing is more popular in other countries,
therefore, there is more interest, more support, and possibly a larger
talent pool coming from outside the US. Forbes magazine lists Michael
Schumacher as the highest grossing athlete in the world for 2000, ahead of
Tiger Woods, yet most Americans have no idea who he is. However, everyone in
America knows the names of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. This is not
because Nascar has only American drivers, or that it has better racing, or
that Americans only like ovals. It is because Nascar has marketed itself
very well, and has ALWAYS catered to the fans, sometimes to a fault. I am
not of the thinking that Nascar is the evil in American motorsports, or that
Nascar has to fail for the IRL or CART to grow. I have heard ...

read more »

<a great article deleted for brevity>

Great stuff, Don.  You should send this in for publication!

Thanks,

Dave Ewing