Now that the initial elation about the merger of IRL and CHAMP car into one Indy car series has had a chance to simmer down, it’s time for some sober analysis of where open wheel racing may be headed in America.
Those of us who have loved Indy car racing from our youth are perhaps most likely to view the merger as the prelude to a restoration of the greatness of the 60s, 70s and, especially, the 80s when CART, the predecessor to the CHAMP car series, built a circuit that included everything from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and superspeedways like Michigan International to shorter ovals like Nazareth, road circuits like Road America and street events like Long Beach.
At its height, the CART series was arguably the most competitive and challenging racing series in the world, demanding a level of versatility that not even Formula One could match. Perhaps the pinnacle for CART was reached in the 1993 season when 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell competed throughout the season and added the CART championship to his lengthy list of laurels.
But then in 1995 Indianapolis owner Tony George took the 500 and bolted from CART to form the IRL as an exclusively oval series featuring American drivers and the years thereafter saw NASCAR’s ascension to the dominant position in American racing.
In NASCAR’s wake, the IRL got most of the storied names of old – Andretti, Foyt, the Indy 500 – but mediocre crowds, while CART/CHAMP car got a progression of almost exclusively foreign drivers in victory circles on road and street circuits and even smaller crowds.
On theplus side, the IRL certainly found a formula that consistently produces incredibly close races, while the CHAMP car contingent has maintained a decent mix of road and street circuits that even George was forced to begin imitating.
Now more than a decade later, the open-wheel merger comes at a time when NASCAR’s popularity seems to have peaked, thanks to over-exposure on TV, excessive commercialization and, with the Car of Tomorrow, an all-but-complete abandonment of any remaining pretense that the vehicles on the track have anything at all in common with those driven by the fans.
As bad as George’s timing was in forming the IRL, his timing now in reaching out to the CMAMP car people to bring about the present merger could prove to be perfect but there are no guarantees. Indy car racing can be restored as the pinnacle of American motorsports competition if the new series develops its emerging generation of top drivers as the world’s most versatile and boldly proclaims the intrinsic superiority of its technology in meeting the challenge of the world’s fastest racing.
The nucleus of driving stars for the future includes Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal. If the series could contrive to add Alex Gurney and Scott Speed (and how about former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden?), Indy car racing would have a stable of storied names, home-grown talent and gender rivalry that no other series in the world could match.
Probably the best thing that could happen to Indy cars this year is for either Patrick or Andretti to win the 500, preferably after a stirring 25 lap battle with each other to the checkers. If Danica does it, millions of new fans would be attracted to the series. An Andretti victory would bring back droves of former fans who gave up on open wheel racing after the split and offer an attractive alternative to fans growing tired of NASCAR’s contrived soap operas.
If the rest of the 2008 season and those that follow feature Patrick and Andretti battling each other and Rahal, Gurney, Speed, Hayden, plus a returned Sam Hornish, the Scott Dixons, Dan Weldons and Helio Castroneves, racing on super speedways, short ovals, road circuits and street courses, Indy car could again deserve the glory and lustre of the greatest spectacle in racing.
And it might even mean that Bill France’s grandson and F1’s Bernie Eccelstone would sooner than later find themselves and their series relegated to yesterday’s news.
