> >http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65213
>> http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65213
Cheers, uwe
--
>> So what type of cars do we see running at Indy now - the IRL junk?
>>> http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65213
> Those Panoz chassis get mothballed. Some teams have brand new ones which
> haven't even turned a wheel
They need a 60/40 split ovals and road courses to start, maybe for 5
years. Get the American fan base back. Then they should look to go
50/50 with Europe and Asia being on the ticket. I think anything more
aggressive then that and they will not be able to survive.
As for the cars, I am sure they will work out a formula that allows
all cars to run for a year or two. The IRL did this at the beginning,
and it would only make sense now.
Does anyone think this might just be a case of "too little too late"
for top level American open wheel racing?
They need a 60/40 split ovals and road courses to start, maybe for 5
years. Get the American fan base back. Then they should look to go
50/50 with Europe and Asia being on the ticket. I think anything more
aggressive then that and they will not be able to survive.
As for the cars, I am sure they will work out a formula that allows
all cars to run for a year or two. The IRL did this at the beginning,
and it would only make sense now.
Does anyone think this might just be a case of "too little too late"
for top level American open wheel racing?
It could be too late. The IRL is supplying cars to the Champ Car teams
coming over, so they ARE spending some cash to get this going. One big
problem is that many top names in open wheel racing have moved or are moving
over to Nascar. Name recognition, other than a handful of drivers, is going
to be a problem initially. I think by 2009 there will be about a 50/50 split
between ovals and road courses. Hell.....there might even be a "real" bump
day at the 500 this year if enough drivers hang around.....:-)
Ed
Crapwagons are crapwagons, doesn't make much difference to me if they
add a handful of champcar teams or not. It's nice having Penske and
Newman-Haas in the same series again, but without tracks like Road
America and cars with turbos/ground effect I don't see how the merger
is going to increase my interest in the IRL.
>> I was getting more at the putt putt engines that the IRL use -->
>> yawn.....................
> Crapwagons are crapwagons, doesn't make much difference to me if they
> add a handful of champcar teams or not. It's nice having Penske and
> Newman-Haas in the same series again, but without tracks like Road
> America and cars with turbos/ground effect I don't see how the merger
> is going to increase my interest in the IRL.
>>> I was getting more at the putt putt engines that the IRL use -->
>>> yawn.....................
>> Crapwagons are crapwagons, doesn't make much difference to me if they
>> add a handful of champcar teams or not. It's nice having Penske and
>> Newman-Haas in the same series again, but without tracks like Road
>> America and cars with turbos/ground effect I don't see how the merger
>> is going to increase my interest in the IRL.
> Adding Europe, South America and Asia is what turned CART into F1 wannabes
> in the first place. This is an American series that should be run in
> America. The Japan race is just to appease Honda. Definitely keep Road
> America, Mid Ohio, Portland, Laguna Seca, Long Beach and Sears Point. Can
> the races in South Korea (?), Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
>>>> I was getting more at the putt putt engines that the IRL use -->
>>>> yawn.....................
>>> Crapwagons are crapwagons, doesn't make much difference to me if they
>>> add a handful of champcar teams or not. It's nice having Penske and
>>> Newman-Haas in the same series again, but without tracks like Road
>>> America and cars with turbos/ground effect I don't see how the merger
>>> is going to increase my interest in the IRL.
>> Adding Europe, South America and Asia is what turned CART into F1 wannabes
>> in the first place. This is an American series that should be run in
>> America. The Japan race is just to appease Honda. Definitely keep Road
>> America, Mid Ohio, Portland, Laguna Seca, Long Beach and Sears Point. Can
>> the races in South Korea (?), Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
> You must be kidding! There is one single thing that screwed CART - the
> loss of the Indy500. It was not only the single greatest motor sport event
> on the planet - it was, in my opinion at least, the greatest single sporting
> event on the planet. And then a handful of bozos were allowed to***the
> entire thing up. As far as the foreign tracks go - well a good track is a
> good track and................ Expnad or die! :)
> I'll bet it's one of Michael Schumacher's regrets that they stuffed that
> up before he got a chance to do what Jacques Villeneuve did and what Nigel
> Mansell almost did. To me, in 1995 the CART series was a very legitimate
> alternative to F1 where the emphasis was clearly more on the driver than the
> car as it is in F1. I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of F1 ***
> brought CART down - they had good reason to feel threatened by it then.
> CHAMP and IRL now - just a joke. Not even a tiny blip on the international
> radar.
How about the last win for Little Al at Texas Motorspeedway? Three cars,
three wide for the last lap? Doesn't get more exciting than that.
And Champ car? Boring parades. Races in Korea. TV ratings? What TV
ratings? (Don't think Spike TV is a household word.) And it went
bankrupt. It was kept alive by life support, and now has finally died.
Keep the major road courses. But keep it in this country so the average
fans can travel and see all of the races if they want to. Expand? There
are plenty of tracks in this country. There is no need to China or Korea
to find a new race track.
Mike
As long as you drove for Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear. :)