bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING 12/13/99
The ups and downs of being an Indy car fan
The front row Arie Luyendyk (225.179), Greg Ray (225.073) and Billy Boat (223.469) comes through turn three on the Pace lap for the 1999 "Indianapolis 500"
Bob Jennings
There was a story on the The Indianapolis Star website SpeedNet last week. Former Indy Racing League executive director Leo Mehl told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "I think everything's got to get worse before it gets better," while talking about an Indy car racing reunification between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and CART. Mehl also commented "it ain't worse enough now."
Being a fan of the "Indianapolis 500" and the IRL is like riding an emotional roller coaster. Things start looking up and forces appear to be coming together that will make things better. The next moment, the news is bad and things look dismal.
A few weeks ago, things seemed to be going good for Indy car racing and the prospects for the 2000 season offered some exciting new situations in what has been a troubled four plus years for the sport I love.
Al Unser Jr. made it official and acknowledged he signed a five year contract with his old racing partner Rick Galles to return to the "Indianapolis 500" and run the Indy Racing League full time. Unser's sponsor wasn't named but it was announced that Little Al will race a G Force - Aurora, on Firestone tires for the first time in his career.
That was big news. If there is any racing driver in the world who can help the Indy Racing League, it's Al Unser Jr. They still love Little Al in Indianapolis. The few times he's been at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in recent years, he's received a lot of attention and affection. Unser is the closest thing to A.J. Foyt in this town and he ought to be worth no less than 50,000 fans at the Speedway during "500" practice and qualifications and he will also intensify focus on the race itself. If he can win in the IRL, especially at the season opener next month at Walt Disney World, he'll do no worse than double the crowd for the IRL race in Phoenix, next March.
The comeback story line on Little Al should draw more media attention, especially at Indianapolis next May, than any story since the split with CART in 1995. It's the kind of story that will draw media attention like a magnet. A once great star and two time "Indianapolis 500" winner tries to rebuild his slumping career in the race, from which he has been away since 1994, but where he and his family have achieved their greatest success and notoriety.
Unser is an important addition to the IRL and Tony George has a lot riding on the success of Al Jr.'s return and the potential marketing opportunities that will generate. In some ways, it would seem that Al Unser Jr. is being cast into the role of savior of the Indy Racing League. That's probably an overstatement I know, but given the problems the IRL has had with building a following and the external forces that seem to be pushing Tony George and CART towards some sort of merger, it isn't that far out of line.
Beginning with the weekend of the season finale at California Speedway, there seemed to be a rising tide of interest by CART teams in returning to Indianapolis next May. Within a couple weeks, there were stories that as many as 24 entries would be coming from CART for the 84th "Indianapolis 500." From there, the word started to get around town that CART was coming back to the "500" and that generated a lot of talk.
As we pass from Thanksgiving to Christmas, Indianapolis is enjoying a striking period of success for its two professional sports franchises. The Indianapolis Colts are riding a nine game winning streak with an 11 - 2 season record. The Colts are tied with the St. Louis Rams for second (.846) best winning percentage in the NFL, behind the Jacksonville Jaguars (.917), and have already clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 1996. The Indiana Pacers have also started to get things together, after a relatively slow start to the NBA season. The Pacers are on a six game winning streak with a 13 - 7 record and are in a tie for the lead of the Central Division with the Charlotte Hornets.
Even with the holiday season, the coming new millennium and the recent success the city is enjoying with pro sports, the "Indianapolis 500" still gathers its share of the attention. With the possibility of an "old style" May at the Speedway to look forward to, people have been asking "what do you think about Little Al coming back to the '500'?" or "is CART really coming back?" or "does this mean Tony George won?" and questions like that?
Obviously I don't want to see Indy car racing become what CART represents. A large part of the content on this website has to do with my support for the Indy Racing League. When the battle lines were drawn in 1995, I cast my lot with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and eventually I quit attending CART races. I'd do the same thing all over again. I advocate most of the IRL concepts and I think the series has the best racing in the world.
I have to admit, however, that I'm excited about the prospect of seeing CART and the IRL going into combat next May. It adds another dimension to the "500," sort of like can the big boys come in and capture the fort or will the little guys defend their honor and preserve their home and that sort of stuff. One of the things that I think about is the prospect for the most intense, dramatic weekend of qualifications in the history of the "Indianapolis 500." Can you imagine what it would be like to have 55 to 60 legitimate car/driver combinations fighting for 33 spots on the "500" grid? That makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Eat your heart out NASCAR!
Therefore, it's been looking pretty good for next season and especially next May. Al Unser Jr. is coming back to the Speedway and is running the full IRL schedule. The IRL will be at the new Kentucky Speedway, making the series more accessible to Indianapolis fans. The IRL announced it as TBA, but a run at my favorite CART oval in Nazareth next September was part of the IRL schedule. Most of the names in CART were reported to be coming to the Speedway in May to give the "500" a Super Bowl feel. Things have been looking up.
That was then. This is now.
It has to be an embarrassing to the IRL to rent Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway for their 2000 races at those two tracks, after being dumped by both Lowes Motor Speedway and Dover Downs because of poor attendance for series events at both tracks. That makes three tracks that have dropped IRL races. New Hampshire International Speedway didn't renew for 1999, after three years of poor attendance for IRL events.
The ten-race 2000 IRL schedule includes an event in September with the location to be announced. It was all but confirmed that the TBA would be at the tight little tri-oval in eastern Pennsylvania that I love so much - Nazareth Speedway. I haven't been to Nazareth since the CART race in September 1994. I had my return trip planned.
In a story appearing yesterday on SpeedNet, talk in the pits at Walt Disney World Speedway where IRL teams are currently testing, says that Bill France rescinded an offer for the IRL to run at Nazareth or the Miami Homestead oval. According to that talk, France held out an offer for an IRL race at one of his tracks as incentive for a CART - IRL merger. Now that the talks are off, so is the race at Nazareth. I hope that isn't true.
Dan Davis, the director for Ford Motor Company's international motor sport program, has publicly stated that Ford doesn't want its CART teams to run next May at Indianapolis. That's a lot of teams, Newman Haas, Rahal, Patrick, Players Forsythe among them. With the prospect that the new Ford Cosworth V8 package will be the most potent in CART in 2000, maybe the teams have decided they don't want to piss off Ford.
Derrick Walker has said he intends to run 18-year old Sarah Fisher in a full season IRL program. However, Fisher can't seem to break free from an entanglement with the Pelfrey team, which is being sued by Robby Unser, who alleges that he has yet to be paid his share of the purse from a couple IRL races this past season.
Roger Penske said he would be back at Indianapolis in 2000, but I haven't heard anything about that lately. Nor have I heard anything definite about any other CART teams coming to the "500." IRL engine vendors report that there were a lot of inquiries coming from CART teams about IRL engine programs earlier, but the calls seem to have fallen off recently. Maybe the powers in CART have changed their minds about Indianapolis.
Pep Boys started its series sponsorship of the Indy Racing League in great fashion in 1998. By 1999, the auto parts store chain had fallen on hard times and run out of money, without having paid existing amounts owed to the IRL. Last week it was announced that the IRL is suing Pep Boys for breach of contract.
Okay - but at least we'll have Al Unser Jr. in the IRL next season - right? Won't we? Greg Ray, Scott Sharp, Robby McGehee, Eddie Cheever, Mark Dismore, Buddy Lazier, Jeret Schroeder and Buzz Calkins and others have been at Disney World testing new IRL spec 3.5 liter V8 power and some of the new style 2000 Dallaras are being run too. Little Al and Rick Galles were nowhere to be found. The first race of the 2000 IRL season is less than seven weeks away and Unser has yet to turn a wheel in an IRL car. Where's the sponsor? Where are the cars? What's going on?
Maybe things aren't going to be so great after all.
Things aren't going that much better in CART either.
Carl Hogan sold his racing inventory to Mo Nunn. The new Nunn operation, which plans to run Ilmor Mercedes power, has neither sponsor nor driver. Derrick Walker has a driver for his CART program, Formula One castoff Shinji Nakano, but no sponsor. Budweiser is gone and John Della Penna is also looking for dollars. So is Dan Gurney.
PPG bailed out as a CART associate sponsor after nearly 20 years of backing the series in one form or another.
Robin Miller writes in The Indianapolis Star that he's being told that Andrew Craig is out at CART, but Miller writes that Craig still answers his phone.
Merry Christmas.