Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Originally Posted By: billt460
I thought the establishment of the Indy Racing League was to try and lower the cost of Indy Car racing, which at the time was getting out of control. Also, as such, by lowering the cost, (which it actually did do for a short while), it was going to supposedly give.... "Local American drivers their shot at driving an Indy car". Who might not otherwise have gotten the chance. A lot of people at the time were complaining about foreign drivers taking over Indy racing. Then the costs went back up after the big money Champ Car guys like Penske and Newman Haas abandoned Champ Car, and went into IRL with their high paid drivers like Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. The Indy Racing League had the Indy 500 going for it, along with all the tradition. And in the end, won out over Champ Car, which faded into the past a bit like Members Only jackets and acid wash jeans.
From my memory, Tony George didn't help the situation, basically kicking CART out of the Indy 500 only giving them 5 spots, then changing the specs so CART could not meet it.
I sure do miss the road and street courses, I watched one race held in Canada(Toronto?) in the 90's as a kid, man that was cool, watching the cars IN THE RAIN, something about they had to run so many laps or it was not a "official race". Really cool to see million dollar cars splashing through street puddles, one race I will never forget.
That is what race fans want, they want to see the car win the race on a empty tank or flat tire, they want to see rain racing, million dollar machines are at stake, the latest technology.
So many people say the cars go too fast, so NASCAR installs restrictor plates to slow them down.... that is the wrong direction, racing should have "drivers assistance" and other safety steering systems, just like we have on the streets, but then people would say "that's not real racing" well neither is intentionally slowing the cars down!
Since the big NASCAR teams have several cars for different tracks I'd like to see NASCAR permit a "road race" version with big brakes, tires, and IRS. What results would have a better relationship to real world driving.