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Tarnished Indy

By Bill Zahren
(Posted 05/11/05)

It's May, so of course that means it's time to get all frothed up over the Indy 500. And yet this year, well, I can't quite work myself up to froth.

Or even a state of extreme eagerness.

First, for the racing unwashed, a little bit of housekeeping. There are two kinds of car racing -- stock cars and open-wheel cars. If a racecar has fenders and looks roughly like something you might drive to the 7-11, it's a stock car and therefore part of the NASCAR empire. (NASCAR actually stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.)

If the car doesn't have fenders (so the entire wheel and tire are visible) and it looks like some kind of winged, alien vehicle, that's an "open-wheel" car. You probably get where "open wheel" comes from.

I've always been an open-wheel guy, which puts me among the solid 1% minority within this NASCAR-crazy racing country. At this time of year the chatter on the open-wheel message boards I frequent focuses on the decline in grandeur of Our Lady of 225mph, the Sacred Indianapolis 500.

For more than a decade, the luster of the Indy 500 has been slowly fading. TV ratings have gradually declined and tickets have become easier and easier to come by. Last year the race didn't even sell out for the first time in about a billion years.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, when I was growing up, getting a ticket to the Indy 500 was virtually impossible. If you wanted to see the race, basically you had to know someone OR you had to just show up on race day and hope the scalpers wouldn't rip you off too bad.

But, today, with just 18 days until the race, you can still buy good seats at Indy500.com. Or you can wait until race day and walk up and get a ticket. That, all by itself, makes Indy 500 hard-cores kneel down and weep.

Why the decline? Many trace it back to 1995, when two factions within open-wheel racing got pissy with each other and split into two leagues -- the Indy Racing League and CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams). The IRL is run by Tony George, who is part of the Hulman family that owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. CART is now known as ChampCar and is owned and operated by Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven and Paul Gentilozzi.

From there see the "house divided cannot stand" school of thought.

For whatever reason, the two sides hate each other. ChampCar mainly does road racing. The IRL sticks mainly to ovals. The two have car and engine specs that are totally different so they can't compete in each other's races even if they want to. Toyota, Honda and Chevy provide engines to the IRL. (Chevy is getting out of the IRL next year.) Ford supplies ChampCar. (And, it just so happens Cosworth is owned by Forsythe and Kalkohoven. Go figure!)

It's like the IRL Hatfields and ChampCar McCoys. Tony, the leader of the IRL, is either the antichrist or a defiant hero figure standing up to Satan's legions (ChampCar) depending on who you talk to. The ChampCar owners are either the "three stooges" or the defiant hero figures standing up to Satan (George). A lot of people who think the Great Racing Schism (the split between IRL and CART) is slowly killing upper-level open-wheel racing, pray nightly for "reunification."

Within the last month or so, Tony has met with Kalkhoven. But, based on post-meeting comments, the two mainly talked about the weather as opposed to ending the feud.

Meanwhile, open-wheel racing is caught in a toilet swirl and headed down. Attendance at races rivals a state fair enduro race and TV ratings make pro hockey look like the Super Bowl.

I'm sorry to say the inescapable fact is that less and less people care about the IRL or ChampCar. And, while open-wheel racing has fiddled, NASCAR has burned their empire. NASCAR races routinely get around 700 percent more TV viewers than IRL races. The Coca-Cola 600, which will happen a few hours after the Indy 500 is done on May 29, will blow the Indy 500 out of the television ratings water.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year is trying to drum up interest using an attractive female driver, Danica Patrick. She's the only woman in the race and the IRL is clearly hoping the sex appeal/woman-in-a-man's-sport angles will attract at least some interest.

Personally, I think the fans are dwindling because the competition is mediocre. 10 drivers this year have a shot to win, the other 23 are just out there for show. If you don't have a few million for R&D, don't bother. The cost of being competitive has become so high that corporate sponsors can't justify the investment. Who gets to drive is most often determined by who can bring sponsorship cash, not so much by talent. I could go on.

The reasons, remedies and recriminations for all these things are bandied about over and over and over and over on the messages boards every day. It's all very interesting, but the net-net is the message-board people -- that tiny minority of the minority who cares about open-wheel racing -- can't do much more than screech about it.

Adding to my malaise this year is the fact that, my favorite driver, Sarah Fisher, has moved into the NASCAR minor leagues. For five Indy 500s, Sarah was the "woman-in-a-man's-sport" attraction. Unable to get a job driving an Indy Car, Sarah went where the racecar driving jobs are -- NASCAR. Since my first love has always been open-wheel racing, It stings.

But, hey, I'm happy for Sarah. I'm watching her races. I'm buying from her sponsors. (Domino's and NAPA. You should too!) I'm looking to get new Sarah Fisher "wearables." NASCAR driving is way, way better for Sarah than sitting at home. But watching the Indy 500 slowly disintegrate, that's painful.

Without reunification, open wheel is toast. And I'm starting to think there's a better chance that the Hatfields will move in with the McCoys. More's the pitty.

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