Ken Plotkin wrote:
>much snippage<
>> They (CART) were endangering the 500. =A0Turning US champion****p racing
i=
nto an
>> adjunct of F1. =A0Ambitions to compete toe-to-toe with F1. <<
While you may have preferred a series run 95% on American ovals,
the concept of going toe-to-toe with F1 would hardly be something
that would endanger the 500. To the contrary, the higher the prestige
and/or visibility of the sup****ting series, the more dramatic the
500 becomes.
[snip]
(Sterling): >>=A0So now, with Dave DeSpain, Tony slowly articulates the
concept
> >of the series going overseas, racing on street and road
> >courses, and quietly concurs with the
> >suggestion that the series is like CART was in 1995.
>
(Ken): They beat him down. =A0It was sad to see what happened to his
dream. =A0To
> a large degree both sides lost. =A0CART became a sad caricature of what
> it had been in its glory day. =A0And TG was thwarted in his efforts to
> restore the true glory of champion****p racing. <<<<
How did CART "beat him down? How could CART have anything to do with
the success of American drivers in the IRL (Billy Boat, some dentist,
etc. etc.)?
How did CART, running mostly on street, road and air****t circuits have
anything
to do with Pheonix and other ovals disappearing from the IRL
schedule? Better
yet, how could CART have been responsible for Tony choosing to start
adding
those types of venues? (Could it be that Tony found the same economic
realities in the marketplace that the CART owners had found in the
80's?)
CART was the series that had to explain to sponsors why it existed,
how it
didn't race at Indy, etc. etc. The IRL always had the trump card of
Indy,
and Tony's dream intact from day one to the present. The only real
confrontation or "obstacle" Tony's dream ever encountered was the once-
run
US 500. Otherwise, Tony was never prevented from doing anything that
I
can recall.
Why didn't the IRL succeed on Tony's dream?
[snip]
>> (Ken asked): So what did CART accomplish in those 13 years? <<
CART tried to continue their "dream" without Indy, and for a few
years,
looked pretty good in spite of its absence. Gradually, sponsors
yearned
for the Indy visibility and Honda & Toyota moved their big money and
influence to Indy. When Penske left to appease Marlboro, and
Ganassi, Rahal and Michael Andretti were paid big manufacturer (!)
bucks to go IRL, CART lost a good deal of its history and continuity
in the already fragmented marketplace.
What did the IRL accomplish in 13 years? Tony "I don't know"
George is now in charge. Otherwise, it is pretty much CART-1995
with less of just about everything.
Interestingly, I was at a cor****ate event a few years ago where I
could talk
to some high up Honda racing folks. I told them I missed them in
ChampCar and they let out a collective sigh, and one said,
"Yeah, we had to go with the bad guys. Japan makes the rules."
He further noted that he missed the CART days too, and the
crowds were smaller at the IRL events, but all
they could hope for was to build the IRL into something similar
to the CART era.
Another Honda guy volunteered that the one thing the CART owners
who had moved to the IRL liked was that they were still racing,
but now Tony was footing the bill for the races (words to that
effect).
They (CART owners) no longer had to worry about promoting races.
Maybe THAT'S the success you are celebrating?
-Sterling
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