Open Wheel Wednesday

How does a guy in the middle of roundy-round country become a fanatical open wheel racing fan? Well, in my case it was the exposure I got growing up with a Dad that always turned on the Indy 500 every May. We're talking about the late 70's through the 80's. When it was a BIG deal; you know the names: Unser, Foyt, Rutherford, Andretti and a slew of others. But I can also remember watching the Long Beach Grand Prix when it was televised; or Laguna Seca and the famous corkscrew. But it all pales in comparison to actually being at an event.

Ironically, my first event happened to be the(gasp) 1995 Indy 500. Yes, you're right, the first post split 500. As a staunch CART and Champcar supporter it was a tough pill to swallow. You see, my Dad was widowed for several years and re-married a woman who still had family in Indianapolis. So the invitation was extended to travel to her family's and go with her brother on his season tickets to the 500. Part of their tradition was to pick two drivers out of the starting line-up as 'your picks' for the race. My first thought was, 'Who in the heck are these guys?' and shortly followed up with, 'Can we be back in time to watch the US 500?'. I think I picked Eliseo Salazar and Davey Jones(shows you how much I can remember of the field). The seats could not be any better. Here I was at my first race an I'm sitting about 40 yards shy of the start finish line at IMS. And looking to my right and to my left, into Turn 1 and Turn 4 respectively was breathtaking. And the mass of people; I have never seen so many in one place at one time.

But what really got me was the first few seconds after the famous words of "Gentlemen, start your engines". The subtle and somewhat sweet smell of burning methanol as it poured from the exhaust of the turbo v-8s of every car on the grid(yes, the first year post-split was run with CART chassis and engines). It sent goosebumps down my spine. And that feeling hits me every time I hear an engine warming up at the track or get a whiff of the methanol.

As history goes, Buddy Lazier, a journeyman racer, ended up winning and Eliseo Salazar wrecked coming out of Turn 4 on the last lap. Most of the names in that field would soon be forgotten.

I've since been to the track in Gateway, IL only to see Michael Andretti blow an engine(much to the delight of a majority of the crowd) as he pulled away from the field. Jaun Pablo Montoya won that one with Patrick Carpentier coming from a lap down, only to run out of race laps to catch him.

I've been to all but one of the recent run of Denver Grand Prixs. I've seen Paul Tracy punt Dario Franchitti when they ran for Kim & Barry Green. I've seen Paul Tracy lose his concentration and put his car in the wall while running away with the race. I've seen Sebastien Bourdais dominate and come through the field, carving it up like a surgeon.

I was at Texas Motor Speedway as CART pulled the plug on the morning of the race due to vertigo from high G's on the high banks.

I saw Gil de Ferran win in Houston while we snuck in a pit straight corporate booth because all we had were garage passes.

I was at the 1999 500 in Fontana, CA when Greg Moore lost his life. I miss that guy.

One summer I even went to Hallett Raceway, here in Oklahoma, because Marco Andretti was running in the Skip Barber Dodge Pro Series(he finished second).

I've seen a few IRL races; and now I'll probably be seeing more IRL races.

But that is how I became an open wheel fanatic.

I guess it's official

AJ Allmendinger is officially on the bench at Red Bull Racing, being replaced with Mike Skinner. I really don't have that much sympathy for the guy, leaving Forsythe Racing after the tear he went on with them. Maybe it's because, as a fan, to see an American do so well in open wheel racing is a chance to say, 'hey we do have talent here!'. I don't think Memo Gidley would have jumped ship like AJ did for Nascar, but what do I know?

I think the transition to a tin topper with all the weight they carry is quite the change for an open wheel guys. Do I like it? Hail no! We've now lost Dario(who was getting a little long in the tooth any way), Patreek(who I met when CART was to run at Texas Motor Speedway, he is truly a great guy), and Jacques(which doesn't mean a hill of beans to just about anyone even though he's an INDY 500 and F1 champion).

And what about Bourdais bad mouthing the series that gave him a life for the last several years? So he bolted for a backmarker F1 team, whoopee! How long before we see him with his tail between his legs and moving in to Nascar?

I hope that the IRL(please tweak the name, PLEASE) will be a step in the right direction to retaining talented open wheel drivers.

I know there are many more factors in play in all of this; and who can blame these guys for looking for the bigger buck out there. It's just a shame that it's taken 12 years of decimation to bring the powers that be to their senses.

Open Wheel Wednesday

The IRL is to hold a press conference today that will be covered live on SPEEDTV. It’s to go over the recently announced unification of the rival open wheel series, the IRL & Champcar World Series.

This will be a tough year for the Champcar teams that will be incorporated into the IRL. They are basically starting from scratch with chassis that are foreign to them; unless they have raced the Indy 500 in the recent past. Testing is a HUGE part of racing and can gain you seconds on the race track. And seconds can be the difference between first place and fifth place; or even last place. What goes on behind the scenes in racing has a massive impact in track performance. Knowing the Champcar teams like Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, Forsythe Racing, PKV Racing, etc one can tell that they will do all they can to prepare themselves for this cluster that is 2008. They are proven winners and their professionalism is rivaled by no one. Whether or not they will be able to compete for podiums this year, remains to be seen; but don’t count them out too soon(especially someone with no fear like Paul Tracy who was airborne, hitting the rev limiter going into a downhill turn in Vegas).

More importantly we as fans, especially staunch Champcar fans, need to suck it up and embrace this unification. It may not be perfect and we may feel like Champcar conceded on everything to unify, but Champcar was bleeding money like a sieve and at times was terribly mis-managed.

For the first time in years we could see 24-26 cars on a race grid! Isn’t that amazing?! We have Newman/Haas competing against Penske and Ganassi. We’ve got the next generation of Rahal vs. Andretti vs. Foyt, names that ring of racing history.

So please, let go of the past, we cannot change it. We may not like it but let’s throw it in the closet and support a unified open wheel racing series.

For Better or Worse, It's Done

The merger that is. Love it or hate it, it's done. For the hardcore Champcar fans like myself, it's a bitter pill to swallow. Just like a racer, we wanted to win. We wanted to stick it to Tony George and his reproduction of CART, called the IRL. But each year we watched our series slide backwards instead of moving forward. Sure we watched the unveiling of a new chassis and new events but viewership and sponsorship faded into near oblivion. That can't be good.

From just a marketing perspective, this needed to happen and it needed to happen soon. I'm a big picture guy and I despise how the France family has taken NASCAR and done their part to fill the void that was created by the open wheel split in 1995. But now NASCAR has plateaued, in my opinion, and it's time to attack. It's the perfect timing to unify and start a marketing push to get Indy car racing back on the map. Will it happen over night? No way. Can it happen in the next five years? I think so. I think the IRL has always had the upper hand on Champcar from an advertising perspective and I think they really push now, to win back the fans that feel alienated from open wheel racing.

This can be done this year by championing the unification of the two series. "Don't miss this years 500 as we see the return of Paul Newman, Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser, yada, yada, yada". I think you market the RETURN of everyone this year. I think 2009 needs to be built around the return of tracks that will fall off the schedule this year. It's a shame to see Toronto and Cleveland not get a race this year. I HOPE they return as well as Laguna Seca(need I remind you of Zanardi's move?)

There is nothing perfect in this unification and there never would have been any perfect scenario but they can build from this and work to get open wheel racing back to something similar to it's glory days.

Is it a done deal?

First Castro steps down in Cuba and word this morning that the merger could be complete with announcement some time this week.

The Fix Will Be In

I'm going out on a limb, albeit a pretty sturdy one, by saying Dale Jr. will win the Daytona 500. Or should I say Dayyyyal, as pronounced by his minions of fans.

I'm not a Nascar fan by any stretch of the imagination. I prefer open wheel racing, specifically Champcar or Formula 1. You may say, 'what about the IRL?' Well my feeling on the IRL is that they tried to instill a business model to copy that of Nascar. Only problem is, most open wheel fans want more than just the roundy round tracks on the schedule. They want something that shows off the drivers skills to the nth degree and that requires right turns as well as left turns, off camber turns, out braking a competitor on a blind uphill turn to gain a position, etc. We want more than just to know a racer is brave(or stupid) for driving on a high banked speedway. But NOW IRL is becoming what it despised....CART.

Back to my prediction, Dayyyyal is going to win. NASCAR needs it. As their ticket prices go up, TV ratings go down, and track attendance goes down they want, no they NEED Dayyyyal to win because he has the fan base. NASCAR has a history of mysterious yellow flags to bring the pack back together for an 'exciting finish'. Is that right to manipulate like that? What happened to the best man winning based on his skill and his machine, regardless of the gap between positions?

While I wait for the needed merger of the IRL & Champcar(rumor this morning is that it's a done deal), I'll probably tune in to the snoozer 500 today from time to time to see the obligatory 'big one'. But don't be one bit surprised to see the former Bud poster boy win this one and have the fans leaving Daytona satisfied.

Every Irrelevance

Since reunification stories broke last Friday it is becoming clearer by the day that they mean next to nothing. Nothing from either camp other than 'third parties are hindering chances of a merger'. Baloney!

Each series slides further and further into irrelevance to everyone outside of a handful of die-hard fans. All the while leaving thousands of employees, teams, sponsors, etc waiting for some kind of answer.