greetings American Open-Wheelers:
I've been very quiet during all this chatter because everyone I know here in Indy keeps telling me to 'wait till morning.' This started about Valentines' day and has continued till tonight (Thurs Feb 21), so I can't help but think something is definitely up.
As usual it's more about money than racing. But there can't be racing without money, so what else is new?
Anyway. However things shake out, suddenly Tony George's Museum at Indianapolis is going to be flooded with suddenly worthless (in racing terms) hardware of one sort or another.
Being a bit of an anarchist, I don't see why Mr. George doesn't just post some regulations allowing for cars of various sizes and displacements to be admitted (with various kinds of 'equalizers' such as fuel injection limiters, etc) to the IRL and 500 as of, say, March 15.
What would happen would be a huge surge in interest as proponents of "both sides" in the split showed up at sixteenth street to duel with one another.
In very short order, some machines would be dispatched. It would be a concept so foreign to racing (Open Wheel, Stock Car, Outlaw, you name it) as to require explanation to fans.
"What we're doing, see" Robin Miller would be explaining, "is having something called 'Qualifying.' Under this system, the fastest cars line up at the front and the slower ones in the back. Then you drop the flag and race."
I don't know if the fans would be able to accept anything so transparent. So, I don't know, 'primitive.' I mean you could end up with moving chicanes on the track. Drivers would have to actually RACE one another on the track and not rely on pit stops and 'safety periods' to move up.
It might even be exciting. And dangerous.
Like racing. Used to be.
For one thing, a viable and no holds barred open wheel series in the U.S. would send real chills through the spine of Bernie E.!!
Here's hoping we have a real INDY 500 again!
Jim Watt
