I enjoyed the balance of the old Indycar series. It had a good number of temporary circuits,street, track, and ovals. Cart is lacking a few ovals and IRL is purely ovals. Partial blame has to be taken by the owners like Ganassi, Foyt, Penske and Andretti who did not stick with cart to promote the american influence on the series. These are the guys who draw the american sponsors. The divide has created an "open wheel Nascar" (no slight to nascar). An absence of cart would leave few open wheel alternatives to the F1 parade that aren't oval racing. Don't get me wrong, oval racing is exciting but as I try to tell my wife "variety is the spice of life"
but like my wife some of you probaly don't buy that either.
I makes you wonder if the sponsors are not driving the teams to the IRL as it's been said that there is more bang for thier buck when sponsoring an oval track event. Do they have the sports best interest in mind? I think not! I understand the drivers go to the bread and butter but what influence do the drivers have? When will the likes of Unser, Foyt, Herta, Ray, and Hornish sign for the pure love of racing without the influence of the owners.(maybe they have). I commend Paul Tracy for stating this publicly as he had the opprotunity to sign with F1 and the IRL but stuck to the product he believed in.
I went to the inaugral cart race in Montreal last year. The sponsor like Dodge, Players, Klien, and Molsons Breweries were front and centre. The fan support was phenomenal. Not bad for a bunch of F1 aficiados. Thank You Montreal, a job well done!
Being Canadian I respect some of the foriegn sponsors that keep the series going. Like Players who is sticking with Canadian racing development to the end even though they are being legislated out of the sport at the end of this season (Imperial Tobacco).The sport will miss thier commitment. They have developed racing in Canada and abroad for the likes of Tracy, Carpanthier, Tagliani and Villeneuve. The talented American drivers require the big sponsors like Miller and Bud, but without the support of the big american owners it just won't happen unless they are winning championships.
Yes the fans in Texas have every right to be upset with that cart fiasco. As a safety issue of the drivers passing out due to the excessive g's why did they not acknowledge the drivers when they complained months earlier during practice sessions?
Just a few thoughts from a racing nut who hopes that common sense will prevail and a balance will be found to create the most exciting open wheel racing series in the world!!( a little naive,Eh!)
Draco