Okay, I had to take a week or so away from here so I didn't get a chance to make a timely comment....but here I go anyways.
On the IRL/ ChampCar "merger":
I read many of the posts, well all of them actually, in Art's thread, and it amazes me how clueless some people can be. I accept the posters that I know are NA$CARE fans, and that is their interest...but the people who spout off on this subject, whether here at CBS, or on different sites as if they are suddenly experts because they have read 2-3 articles in the past week, or maybe watched bits and pieces of a couple IRL races truly frustrate me. Guess what kids.....you don't get it! Let's look at the merger comparing positives-negatives....
Positives
One unified series. This might make it easier for all of the experts to stop using the terms IRL,ChampCar, CART, Indy Car, even F1 as if they are the same thing. Yes, they are all/were open-wheeled series or terms used to describe them, but they all also were different. I don't imagine that many posters would find it amusing if I decided to just refer to any type of racing vehicle that wasn't open-wheeled as a USAR car. (Wow! Those USAR cars were really fast at the Daytona 500......Did you see all of USAR drivers that competed in the Daytona 24 race?) It would become a little irritating, and I would look even more like an idiot than I normally do.
I don't quite understand why this has seemed to be so confusing to people, but it should be less so now.
Negatives
First and foremost, The devil himself, Tony George. Anybody who thinks that having this waste of air leading the new combined league is a good idea should just stop watching auto racing and go back and actually finish grade school. He is the person who ruined AOWR (American open-wheel racing) in the first place. He created the IRL for no good reason other than they were not willing to give him all of the power he wanted back in 1994. His move destroyed CART...which was well on it's way to not only being the most popular racing org. in the U.S. but in the world. He formed it out of empty promises for inexpensive racing, ovals, and American drivers. All of this of course turned out to be lies. He in the process took the cathedral of motor sports, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and turned it into the church rental hall. Before, once a year, the hallowed facility would open for a month of racing. The anticipation of the event would draw hundreds of thousands for even qualifying.....now he has turned it into Daytona Midwest. Stock car races, Motorcycle races, etc....anything for a buck.
And the man has as much credibility as Brian France..I'll get to there mutual "on their knees" mutual lovefest in a bit....An example would fall in last seasons IRL racing. Their media darlin, Danica Patrick, has so far been a decent driver..but until she actually wins something she isn't much more than a racing version of Kournikova. So what do we find out during the course of the season? The IRL was allowing Danica to use a form of "power steering" at road course events. (a significant aid) What does Tony have to say about it? That they were testing it for future events and its feasibility for all teams. Hmmmm, they just happen to use Danica? They just happen to require the members of her team to sign a confidentiality agreement about the equipment? I guess it couldn't be tested during a testing session instead of during 2 races that were just by coincidence televised on ABC? It does make Brian France and the NA$CARE ruling committee (yea...committee
) look pretty honest for once.
Oh...and the lovefest that is between the Devil himself, Tony George, and Brian France. Lets take a look at the current IRL schedule, I wonder how many ISC tracks are listed? Hmmm. How often does the IRL share weekends with the USAR Trucks? (Like how I did that?) Heck, Brian France had as much to do with the demise of CART and then ChampCar as George. NA$CARE wheeled their clout in many cities to have races removed, postponed, from many of the CART/ ChampCar schedules. I don't blame France. He has found an idiot who is willing to allow NA$CARE to use his org. as a feeder.
For the poster who holds out some type of belief that the "new" IRL is going to add some events back to the schedule...keep dreaming. I spoil this one for you...but go ahead with the Easter Bunny, Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc.. You can kiss Road America, Laguna Seca, Zolder, Assen, Mont-Tremblant, etc..good-bye. They are probably more likely to add more ISC tri-oval tracks than road courses. The only foreign event likely to remain will be the Japan race at Twin Ring Motegi to keep Honda happy. It doesn't matter that these were well attended events on some of the most beautiful tracks in the world.....I hope that A1GP picks up a few of them at least.
And if you value life...including spectators...the P.O.S. that the IRL uses is an outdated, dangerous vehicle. The Dallara should never have been the vehicle of choice in this unification. The DP01 that ChampCar used was just introduced last season and is far advanced. I understand numbers say the Dallara is more plentiful and cheaper....but what might wind up being the real cost here?
Ehhh, that's enough for now....