Columns like this will help turn things around (sarcasm)

[MM658]

syndicated Seattle Post-Intelligencer article

This syndicated article made it onto the front page of my local sports section this morning, masquerading as a news article about Fittipaldi's move to NASCAR. Instead, it turns out to be a decidedly anti-IRL (and anti-OW in general) rant, complete with the flawed logic often espoused by a certain ex-Star writer, that "prior to Tony screwing it all up in '96, everything was great in OW land." Yeah, sure, whatever.

Good to see the propoganda machine is still at work, 7 years later.

With biased, negative press like this, no wonder OW's ratings are in the dumper.

[Defender]

Someone needs to strap her pompous, out of touch arse into the two seater for a few laps.

[PHJIndy]

This person must be related to Kravitz and RM. This is nothing but mindless tripe, IMHO!

[GoBuckeyes]

CART Frontrunner? Did I miss something?

[manson]

Propoganda?

That was the truth, brother... every word of it.

[Defender]

The mistake most of these pompous, out-of-touch opinionaters inevitably make is thinking C-RAT actually amounts to more than a hill of beans.

The reality is very different. Perhaps if and when they moved past such a jaded point of view where most of them, in fact, stop and actually took a look at all the great things occurring in the IRL, the balance of the opinions might more accurately reflect the current reality of the sport.

Tony needs to get someone to put in a 1.5 miler or another Michigan up there.

[manson]

Ok, I read it again and I guess I dont agree with all of - particularly the writer's aparent assumption that that "openwheel" must mean road and oval racing are one in the same. But I don't see the bias here. He never even mentioned Tony George, did he? He blames the split but doesn't pick on either side.

He makes some good points:

These pedigreed open-wheel drivers are going where the attention and competition is in this country: NASCAR. Whether you like or respect stock car racing, it is absolutely the most visible, popular and interesting racing series in the United State. And now it boasts the sport's biggest names.

Open-wheel fans can blame this exodus of talented racers on the split between CART and the Indy Racing League that began in 1997. It divided the genre, confused fans and watered down the whole product. Seven years later we're still feeling the effects.

The Indianapolis 500 may be recovering, thanks to teams willing to field cars there again -- racing politics be damned -- but the overall condition and status of open-wheel racing remains in flux.

And, let's face it, these champions are likely to leave for F1 or NASCAR anyway.

[IRL Dan]

I'm with Manson, I didn't see anything in that article to argue with.

I love The IRL, but I don't wear rose-colored classes. NASCAR is a 800 lb. gorilla sitting on your chest and squeezing your manhood. Fittipaldi, Casey Mears, etc. leaving for the greener pastures is extremely bad for all of OW. And if Hornish follows them, Katy bar the door.

[PHJIndy]

I disagree with both Dan and Dave on this one!

[Racewriter]

Originally posted by manson:
<STRONG>Ok, I read it again and I guess I dont agree with all of - particularly the writer's aparent assumption that that "openwheel" must mean road and oval racing are one in the same. But I don't see the bias here. He never even mentioned Tony George, did he? He blames the split but doesn't pick on either side.

He makes some good points:

These pedigreed open-wheel drivers are going where the attention and competition is in this country: NASCAR. Whether you like or respect stock car racing, it is absolutely the most visible, popular and interesting racing series in the United State. And now it boasts the sport's biggest names.

Open-wheel fans can blame this exodus of talented racers on the split between CART and the Indy Racing League that began in 1997. It divided the genre, confused fans and watered down the whole product. Seven years later we're still feeling the effects.

The Indianapolis 500 may be recovering, thanks to teams willing to field cars there again -- racing politics be damned -- but the overall condition and status of open-wheel racing remains in flux.

And, let's face it, these champions are likely to leave for F1 or NASCAR anyway.</STRONG>

The writer has obviously studied the issues. Good article.

[jimbo]

There isn't anything isn't much about the article that isn't true.
1. the split hurt OW racing. We already knew that.
2. Sponsors in the IRL are primarily interested in the Indy 500. Again no surprise.
3. The only race on the IRL schedule that matters is Indy. That was part of the master plan from the begining. TG hated the Idea that the CART championship was more important to most teams and drivers than his race.
4. Most American drivers have set there sights on NASCAR. Sounds about right to me.
The only thing I have a problem with is the part about pedigeed OW drivers jumping to NASCAR. Yeah some of the names are legendary
but that only gets you so far. Casey Mears was ok in lights but he wasn't setting the world on fire. He had a chance at a series where he could make some money rather than spending it and took it who can blame him.
Christain Fittipaldi never amounted to much in F1 and has had less than a stellar career in CART with only a couple of wins that he backed into. His OW career was likely to end very soon.
Tony Stewart. I admire his spirit but his OW career never amounted to anything.
You guys get so upset when someone injects a little reality into the fantasyland that is Trackforum.

[manson]

Pay attention, jimbo - there are many of us here, who want nothing but for the IRL to flourish, who quit drinking the koolaid long ago.

[PHJIndy]

Jimbom, reality and perception is in the eye of the beholder!

[sifaka]

Seemed an honest and fair article. Folks will have to accept that the split damaged OW racing very badly. Some argued that it had to be done, others feel it was uneccesary. There's a difference of opinion. The fact that OW has less prestige, fewer fans, poorer TV ratings and fewer people in the seats is not opinion, it's reality.

As long and CART and the IRL are content to play in their little pools and take potshots at each other, nothing will change. I'm looking at another five years of this stuff.

[Indyknut]

The article looks right on to me. At least he didn't say the "RACING" was the best or most interesting or exciting, just the series.

Sorry it's not what some want to hear but it's closer to reality than somes perception around hear.