Sponsor Woes

GM announced today that they would stop their support of the IRL as an engine manufacturer at the end of the 2005 season. GM, who is one of the original engine providers with the Aurora, is citing a lack of interest in the series as their main reason to get out. GM, along with Cosworth who was brought on board last season, has made this decision after looking at race attendance and TV ratings and simply do not see the IRL being a good enough product to support. Also today MBNA, title sponsor of the MBNA Pole Award, announced it will only sponsor the pole award at Indianapolis starting next season. Sponsors come and go. Probably more so in auto racing than any other sport. But, is the loss of an engine supplier and one of the biggest race weekend prize providers anything but the bad sign it appears to be? My "friends" over on the message boards have tried to spin this in a positive light. They say that each achieved what they wanted with the IRL and that they have decided to move on. Face it assholes, the IRL is a corporate joke and FTRG is a fool. This series had failed over and over trying to get legitimate sponsorship for a series that boasts great racing. It's product is sound, its management is garbage. I find it beyond belief how anyone can say the IRL is a success and that the moves announced today are positives. Lost sponsors, lost teams, engine leases, road courses and a diminished Indianapolis 500 have just about killed it all for me. I used to love Indy. Now it has been reduced. It is no longer the marquee event. It is just a race and soon to be a race with one less engine. Wake up people! FTRG is leading you down the primrose path and you are all going to have to drink the kool-aid. I predict the end of the IRL within 2 years.