The ties that continue to unwind - Uncovering the Past - split between Indy Racing League and Championship Auto Racing Teams - Brief Article

Auto Racing Digest, June-July, 2002

WHEN THE CART-IRL SPLIT was first announced, we were about as confounded as everyone else. Our concern laid in the fate of the Indianapolis 500 and our confusion didn't even result in more than an Indy car preview ["A Journey Into the Unknown," May 1996] which tried to sort out the schism. Hard habits, I suppose. But the future of Indy car racing did, and does, link the two series.

"The only certainty for '96 is that there will be more Indy car races than at any time since the Championship Dirt Cars were spun off from USAC's Championship Trail in 1972," we said at the time.

"Both sponsors and fans are confused by the war between an Indy car organization in Detroit, CART, and one based in Indianapolis, the IRL, and that might hurt the sport in the long run," we went on to say. "Already, IndyCar's longtime title backer, PPG Industries, is cutting way back and is likely in its final year of sponsorship, a huge loss even if other companies step in to fill the void."

We spent most of our energy crying over what we felt was Indy's spilt milk. In an editorial ["A United Effort to Save the Indy 500," January 1996], William Wagner likened an Indianapolis 500 that allowed 25 IRL drivers and left the rest of the spots for the more accomplished CART stars to duel over to a World Series with replacement players. "How compelling can a race be when it is stocked with glorified Saturday night bullring drivers?" we wondered.

One of the things cited as a positive for the IndyCar (now CART) circuit was its versatility. "While the IRL is an ovals-only affair, IndyCar continues its blend of short and long ovals, street courses, and road courses," we charged in the 1996 season preview.

Not anymore it does. The near-elimination of ovals from the CART schedule has been one of the most lamented losses from that circuit in recent years.

On the whole, the bold decision to form a breakaway open-wheel series seemed at the time like petulance and egoism. The entire thing seemed like a case of Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George pulling a high-stakes version of the adolescent gesture of taking his ball and going home, disallowing CART from participating in his track's Indianapolis 500.

The 1996 split also seemed like a one-sided schism. Starting an open-wheel racing series just before the stock car boom seemed like a strange idea in itself, but unceremoniously leaving behind the sport's top drivers, teams, and sponsors seemed downright foolish.

Increasingly, it seems like not joining them is just as foolish.