Popularity transforms IRL of old

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jul 4, 2002 by Capital-Journal

Like many other drivers, Felipe Giaffone had heard the horror stories --- many of them probably true --- about the early days of the Indy Racing League.

When Giaffone entered the IRL ranks last season, however, he was pleasantly shocked.

"I was very surprised when I got in because I still had the image that IRL was old cars and old people driving," said the 27-year-old Brazilian, who will compete this weekend when the IRL comes to Kansas Speedway for the second time. "When I came over last year I was like 'there's nothing old in here.' It's very competitive, very tough and I feel that the series is growing a lot."

The Indy Racing League once fought an uphill battle against CART, but now appears to be on the verge of forcing that series into some sort of merger sometime soon.

"I think something big's going to happen in the next year or so," said Giaffone, last year's IRL rookie of the year. "For sure, IRL is doing a better job to promote the races and they have a better TV package.

"They're both great series, but I really think they should join at some point and make one very strong series."

The most obvious sign that IRL has arrived was Roger Penske's decision to move his teams to the series this season. The arrival of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and two-time CART points champ Gil de Ferran was a big shot in the arm to IRL and an obvious blow to CART.

"I think that was the best thing to happen for IRL this year, because they've won Indianapolis for so many times," Giaffone said. "They're just like what Ferraris do for F1 (Formula One) in the United States and I think a lot of teams are going to follow them.

"Of course it makes competition very hard because they have all the money of the world. It looks like they don't care for the money, they just go for it."

Castroneves and de Ferran are currently one-two in points , with defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. third and Giaffone fourth.

"Last year, you felt like if you had a good car you had a big shot to win the race," Giaffone said. "This year sometimes you'll have a great car and people are still going faster than you or just as fast.

"It's made everybody else step up a little bit. It seems that everybody is testing a little bit more and it's been harder for everybody."

The switch to IRL forced Marlboro Team Penske to find its way on ovals as opposed to road courses, but de Ferran said that a lot of extra effort has paid off.

"We just work very, very hard to do the best we can," de Ferran said. "Certainly coming into the IRL, we had not very much experience with the cars and a lot of the racetracks, so we've doubled the work, really, to try to get to every racetrack prior to each and every race weekend to make sure that we are as well-prepared as we can be."

Castroneves agrees with his teammate that switching to IRL has been a challenge --- "I'm learning every second of my life and I've still got a lot to learn" --- but he has been very happy with how Team Penske's fellow competitors have treated them.

"IRL has received us very well," he said. "They did not see us an enemy and they respected us a strong competitor."

A common hope now among drivers and fans is that the IRL and CART will soon join forces.

"I think every race would be just like Indianapolis was this year," Giaffone said. "Pretty much all the strongest guys from CART were in Indy and we had a great race, the tightest field in history. That's what we're going to be looking at if they come over."

Rick Peterson can be reached at 295-1129 or rpeterson@cjonline.com.