IRL Road Racing! Your Thoughts?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnBM01
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The Indy Racing Leauge heads to Sears Point/Infineon Raceway this weekend, then after the Sonoma round and another oval, it's on to Watkins Glen. It's likely that Dan Wheldon's going to win it all this year. Indy 500 winner and perhaps the championship as well.

Wow. It's been a while since the IRL returned to road racing, eh? The last road race was way back in March or April. It's been nothing but "just turn left" until this weekend. To know who may win in Sonoma, I'm looking for those in Toyota Atlantic (soon to be (some sponsor I forget)) and Champ Car refugees to shine on the road courses. Anyhow, let me see the replies.
 
Ryan Briscoe may throw in a suprise. I don't follow IRL but I think he had alot of pace at one of the road races this year. I think he could get a best finish for himself.

Blake
 
The news from the last few months (just check out SPEEDTV.com)...

Champ Car now OWNS the Long Beach GP. It's our race!

Most of the IRL teams are getting sick of Tony George, and want re-unification. Many of them (Chip Ganassi, Rahal-Letterman, Panther Racing) have even expressed an interest ditching the IRL and coming/returning to Champ Car. Even David Letterman (co-owner of Rahal-Letterman Racing) agreed with Paul Newman (co-owner of Newman-Hass Racing) that everyone has a problem with Tony George on The Late Show in front of a national audience! :)

Each of the last 4 events (Toronto, Edmonton, San Jose, Denver) had a weekend attendence of over 100,000 people.

Champ Car announced their new specs for Formula Atlantic (CCWS' ladder series), and announced that the Formula Atlantic champion would receive $2 million (starting next year).

Champ Car announced their 2006 schedule during the Denver GP weekend.

The next-gen Champ Car will be less aero-sensitive than the current model. They will do wind tunnel testing with 2 cars at once to make sure the trailing car can tuck in behind the lead car without losing too much grip. "Push 2 Pass" will remain. That will definitely improve racing! The next-gen Champ Car is set to debut in 2007.

GM announced that this is their last year in the IRL (which means no more IRL GM engines). Toyota announced they're leaving the IRL in 2006. Honda says they don't want to be the sole engine supplier for the IRL. The IRL has a serious situation with engines.

Kevin Kalkhoven (one of CCWS' big 3 decision makers and owners) owns Cosworth (which is badged by Chevy in the IRL). Cosworth could be the sole engine supplier for the IRL (if Honda also leaves). This could get interesting...

CCWS' big 3 have brought revived Champ Car with smart business decisions, and by actually listening to fans. Check out the official Champ Car forum. CCWS' decision makers actually review those boards!

The only re-unification plan I support is a 50/50 split in control between the CCWS and IRL. But Tony George kept demanding 100% control so that plan broke down. In 10 years, Tony George has shown he has no idea how to run a top open wheel racing series. CCWS' big 3 aren't going to waste their time with re-unification talks if that fool keeps making that ridiculous demand.

Now, I say we leave that 50/50 plan on the table as the only offer (until Tony George starts to lose his engines and his teams). We do whatever we can to bring the IRL teams to Champ Car. I'd welcome any IRL team that wants to come to Champ Car. The split will end when Tony George has no more teams running in the IRL. I'd have no problems with Tony George managing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or running his team (Team Vision). Hopefully, once Tony George loses his engines and his IRL teams, he'll smarten up and finally end this split. Only then will Champ Car regain it's rightful title as the "IndyCar World Series."
 
I'm all up for reunification so long as Paul Gentilozzi and Tony George are brought out for public stonings.

Plus, reunification will only work if the Indy 500 remains THE FREAKING INDY 500. No playing second fiddle, no becoming a specialized race, nothing except that the cars are INDY cars and their biggest race of the season is at INDY.

Also, keep Milwaukee on the schedule and beg and plead Mario to get Nazareth back. We can keep Texas if we absolutely need another superspeedway, but traditional Indy car (and yes, they are traditional, as in pre-CART tradition) circuits like Nazareth and Milwaukee are vital to reconnecting the sport with its roots and stemming off the flow of young American open wheel drivers going to NASCAR.
 
Blake
Ryan Briscoe may throw in a suprise. I don't follow IRL but I think he had alot of pace at one of the road races this year. I think he could get a best finish for himself.

Blake
Click to expand...
And who just got pole position? :sly:

Blake
 
If you played Gran Turismo 4, you may recall Infineon Raceway. Well, the IRL raced there. The IRL is coming of age with road racing. I'm not expecting this to be the next Champ Car, but it's nice to see the other drivers go at it. Stars such as Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti, polesitter Ryan Briscoe, and rookie sensation Danica Patrick have all raced in Sonoma with Tony Kannan as the winner.

Now after this race, the final road race of this year's IRL season will be at Watkins Glen sometime next month. So in terms of race courses, we go from Northern California to central New York. So it's somewhat coast-to-coast in terms of road racing. By the way, the cars sound pretty nice on road courses going up the gears.

Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick, and Helio Castroneves all were taken out thanks to a desperation move on Briscoe's part. You people into ALMS (and maybe the GARRA) may have recognized some of the names competing in the 21-car field at Sonoma. Among them, Tomas Enge and Jeff Bucknum.
 
JohnBM01
Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick, and Helio Castroneves all were taken out thanks to a desperation move on Briscoe's part. You people into ALMS (and maybe the GARRA) may have recognized some of the names competing in the 21-car field at Sonoma. Among them, Tomas Enge and Jeff Bucknum.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thanks to that idiot... IRL and Champcar are a step above NasCrap. Not that they were any higher on the race list anyway. :lol: :rolleyes:
 
JohnBM01: "I'm not expecting this to be the next Champ Car"

It might as well be now. It's funny to me that everything that Tony George was "against" when he started the IRL has been allowed in. Foreign drivers, engine leases, teams more equal than others (special engines, etc.) and now road racing are part of the IRL, not to mention most of the teams that were part of CART in the mid-1990's. Tony George was never interested in solving the problems Indy Car racing was facing. He just wanted control. And the sad thing is, CART couldn't have been more helpful in allowing TG to take control.

Having said that, the IRL couldn't have chose two better circuits to start road racing on: Sears Point (can't bring myself to say Infineon Raceway) and Watkins Glen. Along with Road America and VIR, some of the best circuits in the country.

And by the way, I'm getting really sick of ESPN interviewing Danica Patrick when she finishes next to last and completely ignoring the guy who actually WON THE DAMNED RACE! Not that I have anything against Danica or female drivers, it's just the attention she/they get at the expense of other (better) drivers. Like Tiger Woods and golf.
 

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