Quote:
Originally Posted by Mystery
Then I wish Indycar would stop trying to be anything more than a regional race series. Take the 500 out of it and that's exactly what it is.
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It's a regional series in that it takes place in North America but the 500 always attracted international drivers from the outset, long before an American, open wheel, single seater series was devised. However, once such a series was in place that changed with CART in the late '80s and '90s, when foreign drivers and ex F1 drivers, who couldn't get seats in F1, came over to race in CART as a viable alternative to F1. CART itself threatened to become a viable alternative to F1. Many would argue, including my self, that CART reached it's zenith round about '99/2000 when the 500 had been off the CART calendar for a few years.
Despite Tony George's attempts to turn IndyCar into a home grown series, with American drivers racing only on ovals, he failed and what we have now is pretty much a return to what was happening in CART, during the '80s and '90s; foreign drivers looking to race in a series that's a viable alternative to F1. With all the nonsense, that's going on in F1 at the moment, like the Qualifying format and Red Bull threatening to quit F1, open wheel single seater racing needs a viable alternative.