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INDYCAR: Texas Notebook - Friday
Written by: Jeff Olson
SPEEDtv.com   http://www.speedtv.com
06/06/2008
Fort Worth, Texas
 
Tony Kanaan (LAT photo) ยป More Photos

Eddie Gossage’s comments about the direction and future of the IndyCar Series elicited a variety of responses -- ranging from scorn to ridicule to agreement -- from drivers Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Gossage, the track’s president, told espn.com Thursday that the series should hold at least 80 percent of its races on oval tracks.

“IndyCar officials have to understand that it will take 80 percent ovals to truly succeed,” Gossage told espn.com. “Otherwise, this is nothing more than a niche sport. If they’re comfortable with that, fine, but I don’t think they are. The Indy 500 and high-speed ovals like TMS are why the IRL won this war.”

Those comments drew the ire of some and smiles from others.

“If that’s the way he feels, then we shouldn’t race here,” Tony Kanaan said. “It amazes me that he said that. If somebody who has such good vision and can organize a race as good as this thinks we should be racing on 80 percent ovals, he isn’t looking out for the series’best interests. He’s looking out for his own interests. We don’t need those people around if that’s the way they think.”

Series points leader and Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon smiled when told of Gossage’s opinion.

“Eddie should stick to running his track and let the series run itself,” Dixon said. “He’s probably a little biased because he’s
got an oval. Everybody is going to have different views. I’m biased because I like road courses. He’s just putting that out there because he and his owners (Speedway Motorsports Inc.) have a long list of racetracks, and most of them are ovals.”

Gossage said he is concerned that the IndyCar Series, in the wake of unification with the former Champ Car Series, is preparing to move heavily toward road and street courses. When the Indy Racing League was founded in 1996, it raced only on ovals -- including Texas Motor Speedway -- until first introducing road and street racing in 2005.

“Along with all the good this merger brings, the IRL also had to absorb some bad from Champ Car,” Gossage said. “They had to take on some baggage with the transition. But the American public has made it very clear they will not accept European-style road racing. It's not even an arguable point. It's a fact. I'm telling you that would be a big mistake.”

The series added street races in Long Beach and Edmonton to its 2008 schedule, making the count 11 ovals, three road courses and four street courses. The series will add a street race in Toronto and is expected to add one in Australia in 2009, bringing more balance while possibly threatening some of the weaker-drawing oval races.

“If you can go to places where they draw big crowds, I don’t know why they would all have to be ovals,” Dixon said. “The vibe is with street races, man.”
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