State of the IRL 2005

Sunday in Homestead the IRL will embark on its tenth season. For the IRL it is a pivotal year. A year which the league must seize the open wheel racing market and put a real end to CART if either are to succeed. To be honest, I just don’t see it getting done.
The story has been told time and again so I won’t rehash in detail what we already know about the IRL, but some background is called for.
As we all know, the IRL was created with the idea of cost controls, equipment accessibility and as a way for American oval track racers (read: sprint and midget drivers) get a real chance to make it to Indy. Obviously the loss of Jeff Gordon was stinging Tony George, while the CART boys continued to employ foreigners who were not exactly connecting with the American fan.
Of course, they were still well known among race fans. Add to that Michael Andretti and Little Al were still big fish in the open wheel scene. But for some reason, and we all really know what those reasons are, Tony George (herein known as FTRG as in FUCKING TONY RAT GEORGE) had to get his “vision” off the ground.
Then there were the mistakes. The loss of interest by the CART fans, effectively halving the IRL potential fan base. 25/8, which some people still call the old bait and switch, countless versions of the vision and now, street racing. Now don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with changing one ‘vision’ if it makes sense, I just don’t see how the constant changing is helping. I also don’t mind a quarter of the schedule being road course races, but the only street course they run should be Long Beach.
Unfortunately the real losers in this battle have been the fans. In the IRL there is great racing, but there is no sense of importance. Only the Indy 500 has any pomp and circumstance surrounding it and last years scene of thousands of empty seats was enough to make me want to cry.
Now we stand 10 years in and there seems to be nothing left to try. I have made my prediction that the IRL will last two more years. Looking at the less than dazzling list of drivers who will take the green flag Sunday I just don’t see how things are going to change.
I wish the IRL all the best because it is the best racing, but it takes more than that to get the fans and the ratings necessary to increase purses to attract the drivers and owners they want. FTRG has signed on a new marketing person who has said ratings are priority one. They better be!!
I guess the best thing to do is to focus on the racing itself as it has been spectacular more times than not.
Andretti Green Racing (AGR) once again appears to be the class of the league. With 2004 champ Tony Kanaan back to defend his title, runner-up Dan Wheldon, who won three races, Dario Franchitti (one win) and road racing ace Bryan Herta all back in the fold this team will contend each and every week. With races on the schedule this season at Watkins Glen, Sonoma and St. Petersburg, they look certain to be the best bet for 2005.
Honda was super dominant last season, winning all but one race in the series. It is hard to imagine Toyota just letting them get walked all over again this year, but until they get back to victory lane there is plenty of work to do. Chevrolet is in its final year of IRL racing. One of the most venerable names in racing over the past couple of decades will call it quits after what will probably be another disappointing season.
It has to be noted as well that speculation that Toyota will bolt in a couple of years has run rampant. The team has made no such announcement.
Chassis will once again be manufactured by Dallara and Panoz. The only difference is that the G-Force will now be known as the Panoz.
My predictions for the season are that Tony Kanaan will win both the IRL title again and will win the Indianapolis 500. Ryan Briscoe will probably win Rookie of the Year titles in both as well. Other predictions are that Indy will just barely fill the field again, but will and once again, FTRG will have to raid the purse to financially help the teams that are close but can’t quite get the money for Indy.
Lost this year, unfortunately, seems to be Greg Ray’s Access Motorsports team. Hopefully Ray can get something together by Indy. Robby Gordon will most likely miss the 500 as well thanks to mealy-mouth’s move of the 500 to a noon start, effectively ending any chance the taxi boys have of doing the double.
For the IRL, ratings and attendance are the big issues. If you get those things up, you have more money to work with and can attract more teams. You can not attract more teams and automatically expect ratings to go up. Unfortunately FTRG has just stuck his finger in the wind to see which way the wind is blowing on any given day. There has been no rhyme or reason to what happens at Indy.
You know what is most disappointing to me about it? After attending the F1 race and the Brickyard and seeing the crowds and how professionally they are run, it just kills me to see the 500 run like a B-main on Saturday night at Paragon.