Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.....

[Peat]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89531

Tony George is back in sniffing distance of Indycar.

God help us all.

[climb]

Gosh!!

I can't wait for a comment from mountainstar !

[Yannick]

This does not come as a surprise, as he is one of the heirs of the IMS.
I have never been a fan of The Split, but it would be good to have all actors from both sides involved in the reunited series, and that includes Tony George of Vision Racing, as well as it would Gerald Forsythe of Forsythe Racing.

I'm happy that Derrick Walker's Walker Racing looks to be back as well in cooperation with Team 3G this year. I hope they make it.

Unfortunately, Paul Gentilozzi's RuSport will not be back, Tyler Tadevic's Pacific Coast Motorsports cannot be back and Ron Hemelgarn's Hemelgarn Racing cannot be back either.

[ujoint]

he did some wrong. but, he also did some right.

the facility is first class.

a fan who sat in the wooden bleachers down on the backstrech. don't ever want that again.

thanks tg.

[jondownunder]

One nicely presented circuit vs virtually destroying US open wheel racing?

The wrong FAR outweighs the right.

[picchiofan]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

One nicely presented circuit vs virtually destroying US open wheel racing?

The wrong FAR outweighs the right.

Tony George saw serious flaws and issues with CART management and split off, taking one major race and practically none of the big teams with him. He saw NASCAR getting huge in the early ninties when the rest of the CART brass stuck their heads in the sand. It barely took CART 4 years to implode in on itself and the teams to start bailing out. It then proceeded to limp and die a slow weezing death twice over the next 7 years or so.

George isn't exactly a saint, but looking at the other principals in this equation, the blame hardly falls on his feet alone. The collapse of Open wheel racing in the US falls 90% on the heads of CART/OWRS/Champcar and the idiots running it.

[Jonerz]

A lot of the blame definitely has to fall on them, CART could still exist and be a player in American motorsport if they had forgotten about losing the Indy 500 from their schedule. Just moved on. Instead, when they realized that Tony George was dumb enough to take his ball and go home, most followed him, hat in hand and tried to make up to get back into their beloved 500. Bottom line, open-wheel racing is worse off. Indy, a meager shadow of itself, is the only commercially relevant event left on the calendar.

Tony's actions were hardly in response to NASCAR to try and defend open-wheel's perch atop the American motorsport scene. They were 90% out of greed and a desire to control IndyCar racing. Tony did a lot to hurt open wheel (and blow entirely too much of his family's money and deny them future income in the process), and he started the ball rolling in the sport's demise. Certainly his "vision" has turned out to be at the very least hugely misguided, if not the greatest falsehood contrived in racing. All that said, certainly the team owners and various leaders of CART and ChampCar did nothing to help the sport survive.

Chris

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

A lot of the blame definitely has to fall on them, CART could still exist and be a player in American motorsport if they had forgotten about losing the Indy 500 from their schedule. Just moved on. Instead, when they realized that Tony George was dumb enough to take his ball and go home, most followed him, hat in hand and tried to make up to get back into their beloved 500. Bottom line, open-wheel racing is worse off. Indy, a meager shadow of itself, is the only commercially relevant event left on the calendar.

Tony's actions were hardly in response to NASCAR to try and defend open-wheel's perch atop the American motorsport scene. They were 90% out of greed and a desire to control IndyCar racing. Tony did a lot to hurt open wheel (and blow entirely too much of his family's money and deny them future income in the process), and he started the ball rolling in the sport's demise. Certainly his "vision" has turned out to be at the very least hugely misguided, if not the greatest falsehood contrived in racing. All that said, certainly the team owners and various leaders of CART and ChampCar did nothing to help the sport survive.

Chris

When the history is written, the catalyst and the continuing fuel for the fire was tony george's greedy lust for power and control. No doubt that others along the way made mistakes, errors and also milked the situation to their short term gain.

"The greatest falsehood contrived in racing", you better believe it and if the "vision" was so great the sport wouldn't be the toilet bowl it is now, nor would it try to be CART 2. Says a lot when on the top tier of indy this year finishes a bunch of one off drivers that may not drive the rest of the year.

When it comes down to it, people just like to ignore the key problem and only focus on symptoms. The real problem is tony george and his ilk at the speedway and until they go away, it will continue as the toilet bowl racing league.

[Bob Riebe]

There will always be two things in the CART/IRL split that foretold the end result:

A- TG's first-and continually changing- rules contradicted what he said his vision was.

B- The U.S. 500.

[gttouring]

The US 500 sadly was an awesome race but they tried going head to head with Indy was dumb. The indy stands alone regardless, only if F1 regs matched.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by gttouring

The US 500 sadly was an awesome race but they tried going head to head with Indy was dumb. The indy stands alone regardless, only if F1 regs matched.

The U.S. 500 was a total cluster-f especially as the head honchos of that pathetic dog and pony show bragged that the best Indy drivers in the world were there yet they could not even finish one lap without near the entire field crashing.

They should have called it the Chinese Fire Drill 500.

It took a few years but it was a true preview of what would happen to CART.

[Yannick]

This unified IZOD IndyCar Series should bring back the race at Brooklyn, Michigan. I'm pretty certain this could win back some fans of the old CART.
However, no more "the US 500" which would only devalue the status of Indy.

The track could host a "Twin 275s" style event like it used to at one point in history. But first, let's see how the concept works out in Texas.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by Yannick

This unified IZOD IndyCar Series should bring back the race at Brooklyn, Michigan. I'm pretty certain this could win back some fans of the old CART.
However, no more "the US 500" which would only devalue the status of Indy.

The track could host a "Twin 275s" style event like it used to at one point in history. But first, let's see how the concept works out in Texas.

I agree one hundred percent they should be back at Michigan. Simply call it the Michigan 500.
It is time for a return of the old USAC Triple Crown.
That put USAC Indy cars on the National map, and they need some thing now, not later.