excrept from article on tuscaloosanews.com

DON'T LOOK BACK: Although the Indianapolis 500 remains Stewart's first love, he certainly doesn't miss the ******** of open-wheel racing.

With Champ Car and the Indy Racing League once again talking about reunification to solve their financial struggles, Stewart said he was lucky to race in the IRL before it got to the point where drivers needed to bring sponsors to a team to get a ride.

Stewart wants to see the two series get back together, but only if it results in something that looks like what the IRL was intended to be: A series that gives up-and-coming open-wheel drivers a chance instead of forcing them to buy rides.

"It sounds like the IRL is kind of getting to that stage anyway, and if that's the case, that's not what the IRL even was designed for to begin with," Stewart said. "It makes the project a failure, almost, to a certain degree.

"And what it does is it makes somebody like me lucky - like hitting the lottery lucky - because if it weren't for that timing of being there when it started, guys who win USAC championships haven't got an opportunity to go racing at Indy for a long time now. And I don't know if that's ever going to happen again."


Sounds like Stewart should take over open wheel racing!

Tony hit the nail on the head. The IRL, what it is now, is a joke. CCWS is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Sad that Indy didn't stop the rear engine cars back in 61. We wouldn't have this problem now.

:O:I look forward to the merger. Now maybe we will see more of it to compete against Nascar. A win/win situation.

Sincerely,

Larry "O"
:respect:

When the IRL was formed, I predicted that the series would become just like CART within 5 years of being formed. I think I hit it pretty damn close.

I know it will piss people off, but IMO, as long as the cars are rear engined pavement cars, there will be very few Americans in the series. It is a totally different animal than what most American drivers envision while climbing the racing ladder. The only reason that guys like Rutherford, Foyt, Jones and such got thier shot at Indy cars is because at the time, that WAS the most popular form of racing and the sponsors were lining up to put cars on the track, the aformentioned drivers were there for the transition from front engined cars to the rear engined ones, sh they shoe horned in. After that, the type of racing favored the European and Brazilian drivers, and continues to do so, because of the steps that they take. They race their entire careers on pavement and as soon as they leave Karts, they are in rear engined cars, giving them a huge advantage. The only way that Americans cam be competative in that series, is to do like guys like Scott Speed did and leave America for a few years to learn to race, then come back. And even that is no guarantee, after all, look what happened to him and look where he's racing now.

"Sad that Indy didn't stop the rear engine cars back in 61. We wouldn't have this problem now."

I'm all for everyone having an opion but does anyone else agree that it might be time to stop living in the world of 40 or 50 years ago and realize that even if the rear engine cars hadn't come around we would still have the problems we do now in racing...plus there would be hundreds more drivers killed? At those speeds changes were desperately needed for the safety of the sport and only inevitible. Sure this might have excellerated the issues but it certainly is not the only cause of the issues open wheel racing is facing now.

That's my opinion anyway....

Well I never lived 40 or 50 years ago. Turning 30 this year. The rear engine cars coupled with the split of the pavement and dirt into to different series, followed by the split of 1979 forming CART and leaving the Silver Crowns put a huge dent in the fanbase for the Indy 500. The split of 1996 drove a lot more nails into the coffin for major league OWR in America.

I am not "living in the past". I have been able to use hindsight and see where things went wrong and where the problems started and it has been growing and growing as time goes on.

It's just that now people have other places to put their money for enjoyment. AOWR has fallen off the radar. and more than likely will not return to it.

Robin Miller is reporting that the war is over...

I look at the other side of the coin.

What would have happened if USAC had not outlawed rear engine Sprintcars?

Things could have been a lot different.

Then USAC would have become as irrelevant the IRL (or whatever they call it now) and CCWS (or whatever they call it now). USAC pavement racing nearly died from lack of interest before until they wised up. That's IMHO as always. :wink:checkered:

BINGO!