MILLER: Indy-Style Becomes Indy-Car

IndyCar

MILLER: Indy-Style Becomes Indy-Car

Robin reviews the decade that saw the death of ChampCar transform what was once referred to as 'Indy-style' racing into simply 'Indy-Car'

Robin Miller | Posted January 05, 2010 Indianapolis, IN

The start of the 2001 Indy Racing Northern Lights Series race at Phoenix. Not only would the internet search engine's funding soon be lost, but by the close of the decade, just 2 of the 27 drivers at Phoenix would still race in the IRL. (LAT)

This was the decade that gave us CART loyalists singing the praises of Tony George, Gene Simmons replacing John Mellancamp’s wife as the Indy Racing League’s goodwill ambassador, Champ Car going belly up, Charo having a full-time ride while Buddy Rice watched from the sidelines and drivers were given 12 chances to make the Indy 500 in the same car.

And you still don’t think it’s over?

Here’s a look back at the train wreck we like to refer to as Indy-Car racing or, before the merger, Indy-style cars.

2000: CART opens the decade with 20 races, 11 different winners, four engine manufacturers and a 5-way scrum for the championship, won by Gil de Ferran. The IRL stages nine races with eight different winners, all but one powered by Oldsmobile, as Buddy Lazier takes the title. Northern Lights, an internet search engine with a reported value of $60 million, becomes the IRL’s title sponsor and pledges $54 million to Indy cars. CART’s race at Nazareth is snowed out. Target/Ganassi Racing becomes the first CART team to cross the picket line and goes to Indianapolis, where Juan Montoya leads 167 of 200 laps and draws praise from A.J. Foyt: “That Montierrier is a helluva driver,” says Tex after the CART champ spanks the IRL regulars with their own equipment. CART hires Jabberin’ Joe Heitzler to run the show while IRL’s newest whiz kid is Bob Reif, who claims he’ll handle racing just like he did Princeton’s offense as a quarterback. In Houston, CART has a press conference to announce it will be switching to normally aspirated engines, then admits Honda, Toyota and Ford have not signed off on that concept just yet. Michael Andretti and Montoya stage one of the greatest, scariest and fastest battles ever at Michigan – with Montoya winning by half a car length. Tony Bettenhausen and Jim McElreath’s daughter, Shirley, perish in a plane crash while Stan Fox is killed in a highway accident.

2001: Sarah Fisher becomes the first woman to ever score a podium in an Indy car by running second to Sam Hornish at Homestead. CART pulls the plug at Texas on race morning after drivers complain of blacking out during practice from the G forces. CART teams sweep the first six spots at Indy, led by Helio Castroneves, and CART wants to take out an ad in USA TODAY to celebrate but Roger Penske vetoes the idea because he doesn’t want to rub it in Tony George’s face. DRIVEN, a movie shot around the CART series and starring Sylvester Stallone, is released to the public as a drama but soon finds its way into the comedy section of Blockbuster. Alex Zanardi loses both legs in CART’s debut at Germany in a horrific crash but Dr. Terry Trammel makes tourniquets out of two safety team member’s belts and effectively saves the two-time CART champion’s life on the track. In only his third F1 start, Montoya passes Michael Schumacher on the outside, bangs wheels on his was past and drives off. “It was OK, he’s a good driver but he ain’t no Senna,” says JPM of the move. Penske, who helped found and fund CART in 1979, shocks open wheel by announcing he’s IRL bound in 2002. Toyota says it will follow The Captain in 2003. Hornish wins his first IRL crown while de Ferran goes back-to-back in CART. Long Beach GP founder Chris Pook replaces Heitzler as CART’s CEO. Reif, who it turns out did not play QB at Princeton, is also given the boot. Northern Lights goes dark.

Did any man have more of an impact on open-wheel racing over the past ten years? (LAT)

2002: The SAFER barrier is mandated by the IRL after TGeorge funded the project, which will likely prove to be the biggest improvement in racing safety. CART and the IRL both endorse the HANS Device, which will save several lives before the decade ends. Hornish beats Team Penske in the IRL season opener while Cristiano da Matta begins his CART title run with a victory at Monterrey, Mexico. The IRL’s debut at California Speedway draws less than 10,000 people and IRL VP Brian Barnhart blames it on the Academy Awards being held that night in LA. Rookie Tomas Scheckter is leading the Indy 500 by 10 seconds with 27 laps left when he crashes in Turn 4. Indy ends in controversy as Paul Tracy appears to be past Castroneves for the lead when the yellow lights finally come on after a Lap 198 accident. But Barnhart rules in favor of HCN and car owner Barry Green begins the official appeal procedure. A few weeks later, George announces that Barnhart’s call cannot be appealed and then loses the fourth page of his notes during the press conference. Green, who spent $100,000, considers pleading his case to federal court then decides against it. Al Unser Jr. checks into a rehab center after being arrested for striking girlfriend and abandoning her on interstate in Indianapolis. Michael Andretti becomes partners with Kim Green and Kevin Savoree and announce they’re taking Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti to the IRL in 2003.

2003: Danica Patrick finishes third in her Toyota Atlantic debut to become the first female on the podium in the 30-year history of that series. During an April test session at Indianapolis, 63-year-old Mario Andretti flips through Turn 1 in one of his son’s cars and mercifully lands on all four wheels – escaping with only a small cut on his face. A last-minute deal is struck to put Robbie McGeehee in a car to insure Indy will have 33 starters. CART’s race at Elkhart lake is a disaster, cut from 60 to 34 laps and 10 of those were under a full course yellow. GM calls on Cosworth to rescue it’s IRL engine program…that’s Chevy asking for Ford’s help since Ford owns Cosworth. “All any driver wants is a fair opportunity and now I’ve got a great one,” said Tony Renna, who would be killed testing a few weeks later at Indy for Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon claims the IRL title for Ganassi and Toyota. After finally winning his first CART championship, Tracy says: “It took longer than I wanted but it feels great.” Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe declare their intentions to buy CART’s assets and call it Open Wheel Racing Series.

Bob Reif was as good at being an IRL executive as he was playing college football, according to Miller. (LAT)

2004: Kalkhoven, Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi win the bid in federal court to purchase CART’s assets in federal court as TGeorge’s effort fails. Bobby Rahal and Adrian Fernandez announce they are leaving CART for the IRL. Kalkhoven and Forsythe buy Cosworth. Faced with another small entry list for Indy, George proclaims that “33 is only a number.” The Indy qualifying format is tweaked so that each car is given three attempts PER DAY to make the show as former Indy banzai artists Bob Harkey, Jerry Sneva and Tom Bigelow burst into laughter. Buddy Rice, the Atlantic champ who never got a ride in CART, captures the Indy 500 for David Letterman and Rahal to become the first American winner since 1998. Jeff Gordon and Montoya swap rides at IMS, with the NASCAR star loving the F1 car and JPM impressed with the stock car he will soon be driving for a living. Penske meets in Detroit with Kalkhoven, Forsythe and Gentilozzi: “We agreed there was value in one series but it got no further than that,” said Kalkhoven. Sebastien Bourdais wins the first of four consecutive Champ Car titles for Newman/Haas while Kanaan wears No. 1 for Andretti-Green in the IRL.

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale: Jan 19th-24th

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Miller

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