The Prince Speaks

[rush1]

http://www.indystar.com/articles/4/127810-5764-037.html

The problem with hereditary regimes is the risk of inept offspring coming to power and ruining all the good their ancestors achieved. History is littered with examples such as the Roman Empire, Czarist Russia and possibly now the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

If the Prince is not careful NASCAR will take over the Indianapolis 500. You might call that crazy but if open-wheel racing continues this infighting, Toyota and Honda bolt for NASCAR and the few remaining open wheel sponsors leave, OWRCS (or whatever its now called) will not be the only racing series calling it a day in the future.

Its all very sad. At the very least the Prince should never open his mouth in public.

[Cameron H]

I wouldn't loose any sleep over this. Contrary to popular belief the 500 didn't always have 33 entries. The IMS management have played with the numbers in the past, particularly in the 1930's. Even the hallowed and traditional multi-weekend qualifying scheme dates back to only 1952.

It'll all work out in the end, but... (EDIT)

Cam

Cam, I'd like to welcome you to the forum - I think you'll like it here - but we can't go along labelling people like that. Call it slander, defammation, libel, whatever you want, but it just ain't right.

[GP Racer]

Well TG isn't the best spokesman for the series, thats for sure, but {what you suggested}, I don't think so.

Do we even know if there would be an Indy 500 anymore if TG didn't break off and start the IRL? It seemed that the CART board was on its way to minimizing its importance, thereby hurting his business, and TG headed that effort off. Who can blame him? This race and that track is how he makes a living, and I wonder to what extremes any one of us would have went to to save our "business"?

As for the 33 cars, yes it is tradition, but in todays open wheel economy, maybe it has to change. With the in-fighting you mentioned, there maybe no other way, other than to look at alternatives. Shortening the month of May and adding another race, may not be the worst thing.

Who knows what the future is, but all the blame can't be layed at TG's feet. There's plenty to go around...

[Testure]

Also on the Indy Star is this article: http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/128329-1252-037.html. One in the eye for people who think that newspaper never criticises the IRL or Tony George

I think I remarked before that 2004 looks like "IRL Version 2" to me. Most of the people/teams/drivers who were around when it was founded have left, much more so than last year, in fact. Version 1 lasted from 1996 - 2003, Version 2 looks to be turning into what CART was. Draw you own conclusions as to whether that's good or bad (I think it could be good).

It's odd to say that traditions like 33 cars have "only" been around for, say, 50/60/70 (!) years. That's a colossal amount of time. A lot of people have said that a big mistake that CART made was not respecting/recognising the tradition of the IMS. Although I agree that these are lean times, economically, for motorsport, it would be bizarre in the extreme to have Tony George make that same mistake.

[Cameron H]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if TG wants to limit the field to 30 or 27 cars in order to ensure that it is filled with quality I'm all for that and we shouldn't freak out about breaking the 'tradition'. To allow 33 cars in and have 3 of them lapped in the first 10 laps isn't cool and is probably unsafe for all involved.

I have a hard time swallowing the Nascar Indy 500 pill, I just don't see that happening, not in my lifetime anyway.

Cam

[Cameron H]

Originally posted by macdaddy
Cam, I'd like to welcome you to the forum - I think you'll like it here - but we can't go along labelling people like that. Call it slander, defammation, libel, whatever you want, but it just ain't right.

Thanks for the welcome!

Concern - isn't this a public forum? And isn't that censorship? I've scanned some other threads and posts and I feel that the pro-USA and anti-everybody else rhetoric is a bit offensive, why is that not censored?

Cam

PS - before I get flamed, I am American too!

[Down F0rce]

Hello Cameron. Welcome to the forums.

I'm not sure what it was you said, but if it was removed then it was for good reason. We have a responsibility ro remove anything that is unaccepable for whatever reason. If you have any furthur questions, please feel free to PM a member of staff.

Lets get back on topic now

[dirtfan]

"Do we even know if there would be an Indy 500 anymore if TG didn't break off and start the IRL? It seemed that the CART board was on its way to minimizing its importance, thereby hurting his business, and TG headed that effort off. Who can blame him? This race and that track is how he makes a living, and I wonder to what extremes any one of us would have went to to save our "business"? "

If anybody can find the Open Wheel interview with Cary Agajanian back in '95, I believe you will find that, before THE SPLIT, Andrew Craig was threatening to dump Indy altogether, forcing TG into survival mode.

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by dirtfan

If anybody can find the Open Wheel interview with Cary Agajanian back in '95, I believe you will find that, before THE SPLIT, Andrew Craig was threatening to dump Indy altogether, forcing TG into survival mode.

Thats exactly why I have a hard time getting down on George. From what I know of the situation, I probably would have done the same thing! As for Andretti, Penske, and the others that came over, I don't blame them either, its their livlihood, and they all have other considerations to worry about, not just pleasing some fans. How come Craig doesn't get any blame in this? Even after George created the IRL, CART still had a great product, but Craig, Heitzler, and Pook, totally mis-managed the series, and now we have OWRS.

I've said it many times in other posts, visions change, due to alot of factors, and if TG's vision changes, so what? Like Testure said, it could be a good thing, and from what I see, I think it is. The series is growing and gaining credibility. If they need to change the 500, to keep it competitive, I'm for it. George has kept this series alive for 8 years now, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

I personally don't think the two open wheel series are truly competing with each other anymore. They are going in completely opposite directions, thereby giving fans, sponsors and teams a clear choice of where they want to be. Will they both survive, maybe...

[Hazza]

2 into one doesn't fit.