http://espn.go.com/rpm/irl/2003/0728/1586521.html

Cliff notes version - The IRL is thinking about adding road course to its 2005 schdule, the chassis manufactores are making a road course update kit for the Chassis.

 

<Edit>: Sorry if you are a fan. Just have a hard time getting into a series that has so much downforce and has power throttled back so far that they don't have to lift. Ever.

 

I'd prefer if the IRL (which I never watch, and probably never will. No, I don't even watch the Indy 500 anymore) just stuck to left turns. Sprint car guys need an upper echelon open wheeled, oval track series. I doubt any of them have an interest in road racing.

Besides, the IRL would probably just wind up on ROvals anyway.

 

If IRL proceeds with oval/road course plans, they've just hammered the last nail in CART's coffin.

RIP CART.

 

CART is dead. They've managed to swing their dicks around so much that they have tripped over them. They can't even get TV coverage anymore and nobody really cares. Most of the teams and drivers left are 2nd rate.
Did you see the start (well... and warm-up laps) of Vancouver? OMFG what a fire drill. What a joke. I was laughing at the stupidity and just plain numbnuttedness.

Players is gone after this year leaving Newman-Haas as the only respectable remaining team (assuming they dont leave as well). Good job!!!

So... if you want to see a top level Formula car road race in the USA you'd better pray that IRL decides to go that route. CART will be lucky to even exist in 2005.

Scott, who thinks Paul Tracy is a fantastic driver, but certainly wouldn't be winning every damned pole and race if there was SOMEBODY... ANYBODY... that could challenge him.

 

Paulie needs to start shopping for his crapwagon** ride right now...

K

** http://www.crapwagon.com/

 

LOL, Crapwagon...now that is funny!

 

Gonna be even funnier when Tracy is looking for a ride in one.

Lets take a look at a few likely IRL and CART teams for 2004 shall we...

IRL
- Ganassi
- Penske
- Andretti Green
- Pennzoil Panther

CART
- Newman Haas
uhhh...
yeah...
WAIT!!!
- That team Vasser carries no sponsor for... American Sumthinoranother
- Then there's those guys with the Mexican sponsorships... Herdez?

I think our boy Paul will be regretting the crapwagon thing fairly soon.

Scott, who thinks that a recent champion driving last year's car with "Jimmy" on the side pod is a pretty bad sign.

 

I think Adrian Fernandez is the Mexican team you're referring to.
We'll see what happens..

 

Paul is the king of American motorsports at this time. (No, NASCAR is <u>not</u> considered motorsports and, yes, it is sad that a Canadian is the best thing in American motorsports.) I agree though, the only reason he is having such success this season with little opposition is because all of his real competition took the nose dive into IRL last year. IRL is as big of a joke as NASCAR...and what's even worse is when people at work hear that I am into racing, they ask about NASCAR, when I tell them I can't stand NASCAR, they say, "Oh, you must watch IRL." NO! That sucks too. It's just open wheel NASCRAP.

CART is the better formula series, but you can't say "CART" sucks or "CART" screwed up big time. It comes down to a few individuals who take the credit for bringing down the ship: Andrew Craig, Joseph Heitzler, and Bobby Rahal. We're a bunch of losers yay.

Chris Pook is the best man for the job at the head of CART, however I am afraid it's too little too late. Heitzler should be castrated for dumping Honda and Toyota like he did. I'd like to start a class action law suit on him for ruining one of my favorite sports.

I think Paul might retire if his only option is the ICL - Indy Crapwagon League. He has stated time and again that he will not become a team owner when he's done and that this would be in his mid 30s. He'd not far from there now. This would make a clean break. I will seriously miss this guy when he leaves the sport. He's the one driver who isn't afraid to say what's on his mind and humor his fans.

Adrian Fernandez is the sole reason CART still exists today. He has brought 5 major Mexican sponsors to the series as both teams and series sponsors. CART itself has acknowledged this fact and thanked him publicly.

If IRL does start racing on road courses, I guess the one good thing to come from that is that the American open wheels will be back under one roof and the Indy 500 will actually mean something again.

 

the reality is that there are virtually no sprint car drivers in the IRL, so the former cart drivers would absolutely have an interest in road racing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">http://www.crapwagon.com[/url]/</TD></TR></TABLE>

this is the funniest website outside of theonion.com!

LOL

 

I think F1 should buy CART and use it as a feeder series for F1.

As for the IRL....money is the reason why IRL, and NASCAR are sucessful. Say what you want about NASCAR, and IRLbut any other racing body would LOVE to have the money and coverage NASCAR has right now. 2nd only to the NFL in TV ratings. They have to be doing something right. As for NASCAR driver not being all the great. They had Jeff Gordan (which I'm not a fan of his) driving the Williams-BMW F1 car around the F1 circuit at Indy, and he was only a few seconds behind Montoya.

I hate ignorant people. ******* open up your minds man. You can say CART and F1 are just a big Parade, and only the Start of F1 is exciting. After that, you can pretty much tell who's gonna win.

NASCAR left turn racing....although they have two road course on the schedule (they should have more), atleast with the most of the oval courses, the FANS can SEE the race AT THE event. Unlike most forms of road racing where you see very little of the race. And you must watch it on TV to see more of the action.

blah.....watch what you like. **** everyone else.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by F1HONDA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">..."Oh, you must watch IRL." NO! That sucks too. It's just open wheel NASCRAP. CART is the better formula series, but you can't say "CART" sucks ...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why not? Only true high-brow afficiandos get to have opinions about what sucks? I wouldn't actually say that of course, although CART's management clearly DOES suck...

K

 

Yoda might be missing the point. There's real racing and there's automotive entertainment.

Real racing is for driving enthusiasts...the ones who get off their asses and get out to the track to watch live, even if they have to hoof it around a road course to check out the action from different angles/locations. Megatrons give us the best of both worlds these days anyway. Real racing pushes the envelope of technological advancement and brings the future of auto technology to you and I at the dealership. It exists to test man and machine.

Automotive entertainment is what NASCAR and IRL are. You can sit in your seat and see the entire track. They exist to entertain fans. So maybe the edge isn't being pushed, but damn get outta my way the beer man is making his way down my aisle.

Inline skating endurance races vs. roller derby. Olympic wrestling vs. WWE

NASCAR/IRL exist to make money, CART/F1 exist to make history.

Oh, and to you who asked, yes everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the truth of the matter is that CART has just had the wrong CEOs for the past 5-6 years. It's not the organization itself. It's the ****** who have led it down the wrong roads.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by F1HONDA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh, and to you who asked, yes everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the truth of the matter is that CART has just had the wrong CEOs for the past 5-6 years. It's not the organization itself. It's the ****** who have led it down the wrong roads.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hate to break this to you, but dead is dead. It doesn't really matter who or what killed it. Its dead. And from what I can tell, not a hell of alot of people care.

And CART doesn't care about money huh?
Well, I guess we'll find out in the next few years because they certainly won't have any. Maybe they'll just forget about all that sponsorship and TV stuff and just go out there and make some history.

Scott, who thinks its absolutely HILFRIGGINLARIOUS that a guy just stated that a series called "Tire Manufacturer presents the champ car series powered by car manufacturer" doesn't care about money.

Quick!!! Here comes a clue!!! Grab it!!!

 

Sorry - did I say "high brow"? I meant "elitist."

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by F1HONDA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">NASCAR/IRL exist to make money, CART/F1 exist to make history.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Money stays. History fades.

 

If CART dies, then Tracy will move to ALMS. He will not drive IRL cars. I can see Junquiera (sp) leaving for IRL, as he stands no chance in F1. Andretti left to IRL because he thought it might give him a chance to win some races, and give him one last crack at the INDY 500. Unfortunately, Penske had a head start and Michael's chosen to retire.

Chevrolet, for lack of a better term, are a bunch of pussies if they roll over in the IRL like they did with IndyCar (back when the series was still called by that name). Can't take a little competition? Infiniti gave them little to worry about for years, but now that Honda and Toyota have both showed up, Chevrolet has had their *** handed to them. The left IndyCar, they might pull out of IRL, they abandoned the Cadillac LMP cars right when they began to get interesting, and I'd hate to think what might happen if the ProDrive Ferrari begins beating the C5R on a regular basis. edit : update on IRL motors from Ross. Chevy's still at it.

But I digress.

Where's CART going you ask? Right into Ecclestone's pocket. Not that Bernie will become the outright owner or a major (public) player of CART, but his support will save CART, just as his lack of concern will kill it. Look for CART to become F3000 USA. Not such a bad idea, really.

CART needs to be easier to get into, if you have the talent. Look at NASCAR. Don't ignore the nauseating array of sponsors, because that's how it all works! Drivers are signed to pre-existing teams, with pre-existing and dedicated sponsors. None of this "bring money or you can't drive for us" crap that's prevalent in CART, Toyota Atlantic, and Barber Dodge. The sponsorship approach which is in use in CART and its feeder series' needs to be rethought.


Modified by Vantage at 10:43 PM 7/29/2003

 

For the record, the new Chevrolet IRL engine (which was allowed to be re-worked mid-season, an option Honda and Toyota do not have) wowed everyone at its last outing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ross &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For the record, the new Chevrolet IRL engine (which was allowed to be re-worked mid-season, an option Honda and Toyota do not have) wowed everyone at its last outing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks to Cosworth...you know, the engine company owned by Ford!

 

I thought Audi owned Cosworth.

Anyway...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vantage &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I thought Audi owned Cosworth.

Anyway...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ford bought Cosworth from Audi, and I think it was only one day after Audi bought Cosworth from Vickers!

Edit shmedit: Ford bought Cosworth Racing. I think Audi still owns other subsidiaries of Cosworth Engineering.

 

This just in. IRL is going to "opt out" of road courses for 2004 and 2005...

http://autoextremist.com/page3.shtml#fumes

"Nothing to see here folks. Move along."

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I hate to break this to you, but dead is dead. It doesn't really matter who or what killed it. Its dead. And from what I can tell, not a hell of alot of people care.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Dead is dead. How astute of you. The point is that there have been a few bad leaders who killed the series. The series itself isn't all that bad.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">And CART doesn't care about money huh?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didn't say that. CART needs money but is less interested in creating a dumbed down racing series for fat, lazy Americans than NASCAR is. It's obvious that money is very important to the success of all pro sports these days. The point is that NASCAR would run tricycles in a figure 8 if that's what the fans wanted to see. If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Scott, who thinks its absolutely HILFRIGGINLARIOUS that a guy just stated that a series called "Tire Manufacturer presents the champ car series powered by car manufacturer" doesn't care about money.

Quick!!! Here comes a clue!!! Grab it!!!
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow, it's amazing how angry so many of you H-T people are. Go get help before it's too late.

-Patrick, who is sick of posts by people named Scott who sign their posts like this