Bob Jennings

I went to 75 CART races in person beginning on July 15, 1979 at Michigan International Speedway. That day at Michigan, I saw Bobby Unser and Gordon Johncock each win 125-mile halves of a 250-mile "doubleheader." My final trip to a CART race occurred in June 1997 at the old Milwaukee Mile. Greg Moore won. I believe Moore's win came after leaders Michael Andretti and Paul Tracy had to pit for fuel near the end of the race. Off the top of my head I can't recall too much about what happened on the track without going back to read about it or look at a video. 

The thing I remember most about the day was walking into the infield and seeing a message written crudely with a magic marker on a piece of battered cardboard. The cardboard sign was hung on a beat up truck where a group of people were gathered. They looked and smelled like they'd been partying for three or four days. The people in the group I saw all needed trips to the dentist. The female members were lifting their shirts proudly for everyone to see. They weren't good looking. The "girls" would've done everyone a favor if they left their shirts down. The message on the piece of cardboard said "IRL sucks." 

I wanted to make a wisecrack. However there were some mean looking people in the group. So I kept my silence and moved to the infield fence inside the corner near the end of the backstretch.  

The Milwaukee race left me empty. I was happy when it was over so I could leave. 

It was my eighteenth trip to the Milwaukee Mile dating back to August 1971. It's been a place where I could enjoy bratwurst, take good racing photos and gather some terrific memories.

My first trip to Milwaukee was a spur of the moment decision. It was an all day drive from Port Huron, Michigan, where I was living at the time, to Guy Nadeau's apartment in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. I  heard Paul McCartney's "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" at least 100 times on WLS from the radio in my 1969 Ford Mustang as I drove west on Interstate 94. "We're so sorry Uncle Albert." The next morning John Dailey drove up from Indianapolis and met me at Guy's place. Then John and I went to Milwaukee for the 200-mile USAC Indy car race. 

Al Unser won his second consecutive "Indianapolis 500" in May 1971. Bobby Unser was into his first season driving for Dan Gurney's All American Racers. Bobby qualified on pole at Milwaukee with Al lining up next to his older brother on the outside of the front row. Bobby had the faster car. But Al was able to grab the lead about halfway through the race after Bobby had a slow pit stop. 

Bobby was intent however and he went after Al. When Bobby caught his younger brother, they had a classic dog fight for several laps. I wish I could've frozen the moment in time. Think about it. There was a perfect clear blue sky with mild temperatures and a nice breeze was blowing off Lake Michigan. The Unser brothers, two of the greatest of all time, were racing each other for all they were worth. Bobby's navy blue Olsonite Eagle - Offy number 2 was quicker. But the deep "candy" blue Johnny Lightning Colt - Ford number 1, with yellow lightning flashes on each side, was so smooth through the flat Milwaukee corners that Al managed to hold off Bobby for several laps. 

The McLaren M16 was introduced in 1971 and it represented a giant step into the future for Indy car design with a wedge shape and wings actually built into the bodywork. For the most part however, small winglets were only starting to show up on the nose pieces and engine covers of Indy cars. Wings didn't become the defining physical feature until the next  season. In 1971 a driver's skill and bravado was a larger component in the mix than today. Teams didn't need aerodynamics experts and the term engineer was still a thing of the future as it related to Indy car racing. The chief mechanic was the most important member of the crew. 

With about 25 laps remaining in the Milwaukee race Bobby pulled alongside and put Al into the outside wall in the third corner. Al was out and Bobby went on to win. The story goes that later George Bignotti, who ran Al's Johnny Lightning team for Vel Miletich and Parnelli Jones, went after Bobby with a wrench and had to be restrained. 

I watched Al Unser dominate a 200 lap race at Milwaukee in August 1977. Al had the field covered in the American Racing Wheels Parnelli - Cosworth. The white and dark blue Parnelli was a beauty! Al looked great on a humid, overcast day while the Wisconsin State Fair was going on all around the old Milwaukee Mile oval. But Unser's car quit with about 20 laps left and Johnny Rutherford, who'd been running a distant second to Al, cruised home the winner in his First National City McLaren. Elvis Presley died the next day. "Well since my baby left me I found a new place to dwell. It's down at the end of Lonely Street at Heartbreak Hotel."

Three years later in August 1980, with rain clouds looming above, a similar situation occurred in Milwaukee. Al Unser walked away from Jim Hall's Pennzoil Chaparral after he won the 1979 Indy car season finale at Phoenix. That was a "shocker" to say the least. Unser went to drive for Bobby Hillin. Johnny Rutherford replaced Al in the Chaparral and easily won the 1980 "Indianapolis 500." Meanwhile Unser was out at Indianapolis after 33 laps in the new Hillin Longhorn. 

Al Unser struggled in the plain white (no sponsor) Longhorn LR01 for most of the 1980 Indy car season. But George Huening and the Longhorn team had the car set up well for the Milwaukee Mile. The car looked "jazzy" with a fiery graphic of yellow, orange, red and black stripes covering the bottom half that contrasted nicely with the top of the car which was still painted white as it lined up on the outside of the front row, next to Rutherford's Chaparral.

The August 1980 race was the first time CART sanctioned an event at Milwaukee. CART was rapidly taking race tracks away from USAC which was acquiescing to the inevitable and giving up the fight for control of Indy car racing. Unser took Rutherford for the lead going into turn one and for 175 laps Al held off Johnny by a few car lengths. Then a wheel came off the Longhorn in (you guessed it) turn three and Al hit the wall. Once again Rutherford was the beneficiary and came home a comfortable winner.

Milwaukee is where I saw Al Unser Jr. get his first Indy car win on an oval in June 1990 on a cold day with rain threatening to fall at any moment. Unser Jr.'s Galles - Kraco Valvoline Lola led the first half of the 200-mile race. Michael Andretti ran in front during the second half with Little Al in pursuit. Andretti nearly ran out of fuel and had to pit late in the race. Unser Jr. was rewarded for his fuel economy with a win on the way to his first Indy car championship. I can still picture the happy image of Al Unser Jr., wife Shelley and their children riding around the track in the pace car after the race, while Tom Carnegie described the scene on the Milwaukee Mile public address system. 

The Milwaukee victory in 1990 was important for Al Unser Jr. It helped erase the notion that Little Al couldn't win on the ovals. It was one of my favorite Al Unser Jr. wins. 

In June 1993 Nigel Mansell won his first race on an oval at Milwaukee. That was a great day! It was the first time I saw Mansell win a race in person. Nigel played it cool for much of the event, being patient as he moved through the field. But when it came time to go for the win Mansell was where he needed to be. 

The previous Sunday in the "Indianapolis 500," Mansell was "suckered" on a restart while leading with 16 laps to go and ended up third behind Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk. However Nigel learned from his mistake at Indianapolis. Faced with a similar situation at Milwaukee, he ran away from Raul Boesel when the race restarted with a few laps to go.     

One of the things I thought about that day while I watched Nigel Mansell ride high through the corner on the bumpy track surface was how unlikely it would've seemed even twelve months earlier to have the most famous racing personality in the world competing at the old Milwaukee mile. But then I remember Jim Clark led from flag to flag to win a 200-mile Indy car race at Milwaukee in August 1963, while in the midst of his first World Championship Formula One season.   

Those earlier days represented wonderful memories for me at the oldest continuously operated race track in the U.S. But I didn't feel good as I walked back to my car after the CART race at Milwaukee in June 1997. I felt like I didn't belong.

I was pissed off after I saw the "IRL sucks" sign. With the exception of Al Unser Jr., none of the drivers in the Milwaukee race meant anything to me. The "Indianapolis 500" had been run the previous weekend without CART for the second consecutive year. I was deeply involved in the exploits of Tony Stewart, Arie Luyendyk, Buddy Lazier, Scott Goodyear, Eddie Cheever, Billy Boat, Jeff Ward and the rest of my Indy Racing League "boys" during the three days it took to run the 81st "500." A growing number of CART drivers like Alex Zanardi, Greg Moore, Mark Blundell and Dario Franchitti hadn't competed in the "Indianapolis 500." So Milwaukee was like being in another world.

In August 1996, I was at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Road America was always my favorite CART circuit along with Nazareth. With the exception of 1989, I made every CART race at the beautiful four-mile road course, beginning with the first race in September 1982. I loved walking the hills, wooded areas and open green pastures upon which Road America traveled. The circuit has so many good vantage points from which to take photos. 

During most of my trips to Road America I hoped to see Al Unser Jr. win the annual CART race. It appeared that Little Al was finally going to win in Elkhart Lake in 1996. But even as I watched Al Jr. race toward victory, my thoughts were on the Indy Racing League event being run in New Hampshire on the same day. Unfortunately the Ilmor Mercedes turbo V8 engine blew in Unser's Marlboro Penske on the final lap, about one mile from the finish line, giving the win to Michael Andretti.

When I left Road America, I shot several minutes of video of the surrounding scenic locale. Perhaps I knew it might be my final trip to Elkhart Lake and I wanted something to remember the area by. When I drove away from the Milwaukee Mile the following June, I was wishing I had made the Road America race my last visit to a CART race. CART was no longer Indy car racing and it was no longer part of me. 

Not quite four 1/2 years after I went to my final CART race, the future of the series is very much in doubt. Come on CART board members, car owners, drivers, officials and fans face the facts. CART is in big trouble!  It's going to be a tough fight for the series to survive beyond next season.

CART has finally lost all four of its "sugar daddy" auto manufacturers just as all but the most naive  CART car owners, sympathetic media and foolish fans knew would eventually occur. Mercedes Benz pulled out of the series after the 2000 season. Toyota announced early this year it was moving to the Indy Racing League in 2003. After the car owners in CART decided to adopt the 3.5 liter IRL engine formula for 2003, Honda announced it would leave after 2002. Did you hear the way American Honda execs Tom Elliott and Robert Clarke "bad mouthed" CART during the ESPN telecast from Laguna Seca? Both Elliott and Clarke questioned the honesty of management and competitors and both said Honda no longer wanted to do business with CART. A few days ago Ford clarified their position which stated they were no longer interested in participating as anything but a supplier of "spec" engines. Ford stated the return on its CART investment was unacceptable. 

So what is CART going to do for engines after next season? They can hope IRL suppliers Toyota,  Chevrolet and Nissan will provide engines or they can accept Ford's proposal to sell detuned Cosworth turbo engines for $2 million per car per season. However with today's firing of Jacques Nasser as Ford CEO that proposal may be withdrawn. Nasser's replacement William Clay Ford Jr. is an environmentalist who may want to withdraw the offer to CART.  

CART CEO Joe Heitzler worked out a TV package for 2002. But it doesn't amount to much. CART will have to shell out a bunch of money to CBS to televise seven or eight races. The other events will be shown on Speedvision although recent rumors suggest the cable channel wants out of the deal with CART.

The value of shares of CART stock hit an all time low last week. Jon Vannini owns eight percent of CART's outstanding shares. Vannini filed a statement of ownership with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A public fight with Jerry Forsythe, CART's major stock holder, looms since Vannini wants to get rid of Joe Heitzler. The CART CEO is Forsythe's boy. That will be fun to watch.

Andrew Craig took CART public in 1999. Craig said the primary reason for selling shares in CART was to raise money to buy the Indy Lights series from Pat Patrick and Toyota Atlantics from Toyota. Now CART has folded Indy Lights. What kind of business logic is that?

Roger Penske is the father of CART. Penske and Pat Patrick started CART. During the first 15 years CART operated, Penske carried the series with a $7 million loan. Penske has been unloading his CART stock for a couple years. Earlier this year Penske sold his remaining shares. He's been quoted as being unhappy with the direction CART is going.

Roger Penske is rumored to be moving his team to the Indy Racing League for 2002 and taking sponsor Marlboro with him. Imagine that! Roger Penske who created CART may be moving to the IRL. I'm still not sure Penske is leaving CART. However just the notion that Roger Penske is thinking about switching from CART to the IRL tells the story about which direction open wheel racing is heading  better than anything else. 

Speaking of faith in CART, other series principals like Carl Haas, Pat Patrick, Chip Ganassi and Bobby Rahal have been unloading their stock at bargain prices. What does that tell you? Even the CART owners understand the obstacles their series faces to stay alive.

It seems like 2001 has seen one crisis after another for CART.

Andrew Craig's former employer had entered into a deal with CART to market the series in 1998. As I recall, this outfit whose name escapes me now, guaranteed sponsorships to CART teams which never materialized. Early this year the company went bankrupt.

The CART race in Rio de Janeiro was cancelled when the promoters couldn't afford to pay the sanctioning fee. 

CART paid nearly $4 million to Texas Motor Speedway in an out of court settlement over the "last minute" cancellation of its ill-fated race in April. 

Bill France kicked CART out of Michigan International Speedway, which has been the "spiritual" home of the series since it's beginning.   

Morris Nunn is taking his Hollywood cigarette money to the Indy Racing League next year. Nunn will run a full time effort for Felipe Giaffone. Nunn has said Hollywood was no longer interested in being involved in CART and preferred Tony George's series. According to Mo Nunn that was the primary reason he decided to start an IRL team in addition to running a single car in CART next season.           

Why is the world falling down on Championship Auto Racing Teams? If there is one word that can best sum up the reason for CART's possible demise, it's arrogance. 

There's been arrogance on the part of everyone involved with CART. The media has fueled this arrogance. Guys like Robin Miller and Ed Hinton have been writing how great CART is and how worthless the Indy Racing League is since the split occurred after the 1995 season. CART fans e-mail  arrogant letters to an ever decreasing number of racing publications which are dedicated to reporting how wonderful their series is. 

Mario Andretti is one of the greatest race drivers of all time and perhaps the most versatile competitor the sport has ever seen. Andretti won everywhere in every type of four wheel racing machine. However since CART and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway split, Mario has been a pain. He talks too much. 

The worst example of Mario's rudeness came during a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2000 where he was being honored as an "Indianapolis 500" legend. He made some remarks about the Indy Racing League, saying Tony George made a "valiant effort" to create a racing series but failed and should give up. How many people would accept an invitation to be a guest and then insult the host?

It's funny how the tables turned. There are a lot of people today who are saying and writing CART has failed and should give up. I'm one of them.

The media, fans and even Mario Andretti are only accessories to the crime. They can almost be forgiven for their ignorance. The real culprits are the car owners. It's been one blunder or misinterpretation after another by these guys almost since the series started.

I was all for CART in 1979. I love USAC racing now. However in 1978 I felt as if change was needed. With Tony Hulman's passing, I hoped people like Roger Penske, Pat Patrick, Jim Hall and Dan Gurney would take Indy car racing where it needed to go. CART had every opportunity to do something great. In 1979, Indy car racing and NASCAR were on fairly even terms. Even in 1982 when ESPN began televising CART and NASCAR races on a regular basis the two series were relatively equal in popularity, TV ratings and recognition. 

Unfortunately since that time nearly every move CART made was the wrong choice for Indy car racing and beneficial to NASCAR. 

I don't blame CART for adding road circuits to its schedule. For years I loved going to Road America and Mid Ohio each season. There weren't many race tracks being built in the 1980's. Even the move to street circuits, beginning with Long Beach and the New Jersey Meadowlands in 1984, was understandable. CART chairman John Frasco felt that taking CART races to major population areas would enhance the popularity of Indy car racing. Frasco also made a lot of money in commissions from setting up CART events in Cleveland, Long Beach, the Meadowlands and Toronto.

However the move to temporary circuits didn't stop with three or four races. CART scheduled new races in the streets of Detroit (1989), Denver (1990), Vancouver (1990), Surfers Paradise (1991), Miami (1995), Houston (1998) and Mexico (2201). I've probably forgotten some of the places where CART raced on temporary circuits over the years. 

The street circuits have been the only consistently popular venues on the CART schedule. Recent news stories have CART planning even more "street races" in the years to come. I guess you have to play to your strengths. 

But there are some big problems with the street races. To begin with they aren't races. There's next to no passing during a CART street race. It's boring! These things are nothing more than high speed parades. I hate them. They're stupid. Street races have no appeal on TV either. 

If you're a fan and you sit in your chair on Sunday afternoon to watch racing on TV, what are you going to do? Are you going to watch NASCAR, featuring familiar personalities and wheel to wheel competition or are you going to watch race cars, driven by people who's names you can't pronounce, play follow the leader around a bunch of buildings at speeds about 100 mph below their capabilities? Indy cars racing through public streets is like having an NBA game in a broom closet.   

The CART race in Australia was supposed to be on ESPN in the middle of the night this past weekend. I wasn't going to stay up to watch it. So I set my VCR. I didn't see any CART racing on the four plus hours of tape I recorded. All I saw on ESPN was a rehash of the Arizona Diamondbacks win over the New York Yankees in the opening game of the World Series.     

Over the past 30 years some of the finest talents ever to race have come from Brazil. Names like Emerson Fittipaldi, Ayrton Senna and to a lesser extent Nelson Piquet belong on anyone's list of all time greats. But CART's history since the Indy car split has been characterized by a never ending parade of Brazilian drivers occupying a majority of the available race cars in CART. 

Some of the Brazilians are good race drivers but most aren't anything special. But for some reason CART owners gravitate to these guys like ants take to sugar. Instead of creating American stars with whom racing fans could identify, CART chose to bring in guys from Brazil who either brought sponsor money or who knows why. What I do know is there sure as hell aren't any Dale Earnhardt Jr. types racing in CART.

When the traditional stars of Indy car racing retired, perhaps CART teams felt it was time to go after Formula One. Maybe that's why they filled the available seats with mediocre international drivers. When someone really exceptional came along, CART couldn't hold on to them because Formula One called. The best thing CART ever did was bring Nigel Mansell to the U.S. But CART couldn't keep Mansell from going back to F1. Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya were all special but CART couldn't keep them either.

Jeff Gordon tried to find a place in CART in 1990 but no one was interested. CART could've brought Tony Stewart up from USAC but it didn't happen. What do you think drivers like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart would be worth to Indy car racing today?   

But you know CART. It had it's head up it's butt like always. They didn't want young Americans from the grass roots. They wanted Formula One rejects and "wannabes" instead. However NASCAR wanted Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart and CART didn't. Unfortunately with the exception of an ever dwindling number of devoted fans the racing public doesn't want CART's product. 

CART has had numerous opportunities over the years to cut costs. Instead Roger Penske, Carl Haas and the boys decided it would be better if they made racing more expensive. That way they would have control over who ran in their series. Remember when CART pushed Porsche out of the series in 1990?  Haas didn't like the fact that Porsche had a new car built completely from composite material. It was more advanced than the Lolas Haas wanted to sell. Penske didn't like it because the Porsche turbo V8 was becoming fast, maybe faster than his Ilmor Chevrolet engine.

Look what happened with the stock block Buick turbo V6 engines that were legal at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through 1996. In the early 1990's car counts were low for CART races. They use to run 21, 22 cars in the 500 miler at Michigan. Allowing the Buicks to run 55 inches of turbo boost, which was legal for Indianapolis, would've added at least four or five cars at each race. But CART knew better or so it thought.  

But cost wasn't a concern to CART's major teams. There were big dollar sponsors to pay the bills and Ford, Mercedes Benz, Honda and Toyota were giving the good teams engine deals. Sorry boys, the auto-makers are tired of you and are going away. Without much TV, so to speak, and a lousy economy how much money do you think you're going to get from your sponsors now?  

There has been an ever changing list of guys who have occupied the position of CEO for CART. Of all of them, the sharpest was John Frasco. Frasco was the attorney who argued the case in court to get CART's entries reinstated for the 1979 "Indianapolis 500." By 1980 John Frasco had become CART's chairman. Frasco worked out some good deals. He was especially good at finding ways to fill his wallet doing CART's business. Frasco made a lot of money from 1982 through 1986 when March was building most of the cars being raced by CART teams. As I already wrote, Frasco made some dough off the early CART street races too.

However John Frasco was Roger Penske's man and he kept things moving the way he was told. Carl Haas didn't like John Frasco however. For that matter Haas doesn't particularly like Roger Penske either. Frasco became a bit too greedy and Haas wanted to sell more Lolas. So there was a clash and Haas won that skirmish. Frasco was kicked out with a hefty buyout.   

I can't recall the name of the guy who succeeded Frasco as CART chairman. The replacement was Frasco's assistant who was also Michael Andretti's legal counsel. But that didn't last long either. There was a mini-revolt by the smaller teams in CART after the 1989 season ended. Johnny Capels, long time head of USAC, was selected as the next CART CEO. I don't remember what happened to Capels. I think he quit because he didn't like CART. After Capels, William Stokkan assumed CART's chairmanship. Stokkan was the weakest of all the people who held the title of CART CEO. He didn't last long either.    

Then there's Andrew Craig. What motivated the CART owners to hire Craig to be their CEO? If they'd listened to Tony George in 1993 they would've hired Cary Agajanian and there wouldn't have been an Indy Racing League?

So what was the first thing Andrew Craig did as CART CEO? He went to Indianapolis in early 1994 and threatened Tony George that if the inaugural "Brickyard 400" took place as scheduled, CART might boycott the 1995 "Indianapolis 500." Two months later Tony George announced he would form a new Indy car series. Weren't the CART guys brilliant?

In 1999 CART let Craig take them public. In order to increase stock value CART made sanctioning fees for races so high that promoters like International Speedway Corporation had to charge ridiculously expensive prices for tickets to the Michigan race and people quit coming.

Finally CART decided to get rid of Craig after more than six years. Bobby Rahal took over as CEO. Why would anyone think Bobby Rahal could manage anything? Rahal was a terrific driver but as a manager he doesn't cut it. Remember who threw Honda away in 1994? I couldn't believe it when Ford Motor Company hired Rahal to run the Jaguar Formula One team. You saw how long that lasted.

I could go on and on with this but I think you get the point.

CART has made one blooper after another. The biggest mistake CART made however was to think they could beat the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I've watched it all. The CART community, its fans and media have laughed at Tony George and the Indy Racing League. How many times have I read articles by Robin Miller calling the IRL minor league? How many times have I seen those fan letters poking fun at the "IRL 500" in On Track magazine?

Do you suppose the fools in CART and their equally ignorant fans finally figured out the "Indianapolis 500" is Indy car racing? Maybe they don't yet realize Tony George is going to beat them? I don't know. CART fans don't seem too intelligent to me.

I perceived the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Tony George were going to win the Indy car war when I went to the 1996 "Indianapolis 500." Remember the "US 500" at Michigan, held the same day as the Indianapolis race? CART's insurgence went awry the moment the green flag dropped at Michigan. CART's big stars couldn't keep from running into each other. About 110,000 people showed up at Michigan, while at least 90 percent of the usual "500" crowd went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There wasn't a second "US 500." CART should've realized they couldn't win the Indy car war then. But there was that same old  arrogance blinding CART's vision.

Tony George has had a tough fight trying to build the Indy Racing League. He's spent millions to keep the IRL going. It must've been disheartening to suffer constant derision from CART and it's fans. But George kept his cool and pressed ahead. I never heard Tony make that first disparaging remark about anyone in CART or the series in general. 

Instead Tony George stuck to his plan, even in the face of disappointment and uncertainty. It was difficult to watch New Hampshire International Speedway, Lowes Motor Speedway and Dover Downs cancel IRL races because of small crowds, while dropping Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the same reason. It had to be embarrassing to watch race cars with empty side pods line up for IRL events. It must've felt like a setback when Pep Boys defaulted on their agreement to be the IRL series sponsor.

Things began to turn around last year however.

The race at the new Kentucky Speedway in August 2000 was a big deal for the Indy Racing League. There was near capacity crowd for the IRL race. The event in Kentucky signaled the start of the IRL Midwestern strategy which has boosted total attendance at IRL races significantly in 2001. This year there were five races, in addition to the "Indianapolis 500," within a day's drive of Indianapolis on the IRL schedule. All of the Midwest races with the exception of the event at Gateway International Raceway drew big crowds. But there were still twice as many people at the IRL race at Gateway than attended the CART race at the same track in September 2000.  

During the 2000 season the only race, at one of the tracks owned by the France family International Speedway Corporation (ISC), on the IRL schedule was at Phoenix International Raceway. This season the Indy Racing League replaced CART at the ISC track near Miami. There were also new races added at Richmond and the new venue in Kansas, both of which belong to ISC. The race at the new Chicagoland Speedway was another success. The 1.5-mile Chicagoland oval is a joint venture between ISC and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

In 2002, the Indy Racing League will replace CART at two more ISC tracks, Nazareth Speedway and Michigan International Speedway. The IRL will also race at California Speedway bringing the total number of races at ISC properties on the schedule to eight. Bill France and his family continue to build strong ties to the IRL.

The crowds at Indy Racing League events have grown dramatically. Regarding attendance, the thing I most enjoy is the comparison that can be drawn at Texas Motor Speedway. There were 58,000 tickets sold for the CART race that was canceled two hours before the scheduled start last April. 70,000 tickets were sold for the IRL race last June in Texas. Then earlier this month, 60,000 tickets were sold for the IRL season closing event that was postponed for three weeks after the terrorist attacks on September 11. What makes the October crowd at Texas Motor Speedway so impressive is the Texas Longhorns were playing the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, about 30 minutes away.

A surprising 40,000 plus people came to Richmond International Raceway to see a spectacular IRL race last June. There was a sellout crowd for the IRL race at the new Nashville Superspeedway this past July. 

The Indy Racing League is finally catching on with American racing fans. The new found popularity isn't based completely on the association to the "Indianapolis 500" either. A big part of the appeal is because the IRL puts on the best racing in the world. The Disney people recognized it too. ABC increased its commitment and tightened its association with Tony George, at the same time dropping CART for 2002. 

Compare the IRL season finale in Texas featuring the spectacular three car fight to the checkered flag between Sam Hornish, Scott Sharp and Robbie Buhl with the CART race through the streets of Houston the following day. The CART race was a classic. Gil de Ferran led from flag to flag. That's a perfect example of why Tony George and the IRL is going to control Indy car racing.

Yeah I know. There were 110,000 people at the CART race last weekend in Australia. So why doesn't CART go to Australia to run all of their races? 

I know Chip Ganassi and Bobby Rahal express confidence in CART's future in public, but I wonder if they really believe it. It sounds a lot like posturing to me. CART should go ahead, fulfill their contractual obligations and run the 2002 season. Then they should close things down. Even if CART figures out a way to keep it going they'll end up as a niche road racing series at best. 

In the grand scheme of things with all the serious problems we face as Americans, the future of Indy car racing seems like a minor consideration. But there are hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy the sport and want it to grow. Tony George has put together a terrific product and I think it's going to grow significantly. If things continue to go the way George is trying to direct them we might even cut into the appeal of NASCAR. 

With CART, it's going to be a downhill ride. What more can I say? Give it up. You blew it. CART sucks.