What Did It Prove?

[KC]

If the status quo is maintained as now, in 10 years will we all look back on Juan Montoya winning the Indy 500 among a field of Indy Racing League drivers as anything more than a personal and team achievement? There will always be naysayers that will iterate that he was a wolf among the sheep, or that TCGR had much better funding than anyone else at the expense of Montoya's driving skill. Will we look back and say that TCGR and Montoya's success was the turning point that brought the CART racers back to the speedway to help make the great race great once more? or will it be seen as just another win by a foreigner that had better backing than anyone else?

[Regs]

I thought the whole idea with the IRL was to have a level racing field on the track. Everything is the same. And that a "better funded" team simply meant they had nicer motorhomes and ate better food. Teams own thier own engines but don't they have to meet some spec so one team doesn't have a gross advantage over the others. One thing is for sure, there will be more CART teams in the 500 next year. They know that more of thier major competition will come from each other. More of the better IRL drivers will probably follow Kenny Braak(sp) into a CART ride. I think TG is aware of this and seeks to bring the CART fanbase to Indy. So what was proved. Well, I think the talent and professionalism of the CART series teams, for one thing. Here comes Montoya, who having never been on the track pulls out a domineering win. And had Vasser's fuel managment been better, it would have been TCGR 1&3 or even 1&2. I wonder what would happen in Team Cool Green with the Dario and Paul show added in would be like?

[Liz]

I was impressed by the attitudes of the majority of the IRL pilotes - they didn't seem to take the "Us v. Them" stance that people were predicting. Of course there were the odd mouthy brats, but there always are, and by and large everyone seemed quite professional.

As for what it meant overall, my first impression is that Montoya in the IRL is like Mansell in CART - he is simply a big step above the average in talent, and his experience and his ability to learn a new track faster than average gave him an advantage that perhaps Helio or Fernardez wouldn't have had in the same car on the same day. I think having got used to blocking in CART helped him too, as he was able to just motor past everyone easily when they were not allowed to block him.

We will see what it meant next year, when more CART teams enter pilotes and we see where they finish. I'd like to see Patrick and Penske enter teams, though I don't know if Patrick can afford it. I'd like to see Moreno blow Little Al off the track!