Who is really to blame for the IRL/Cart Split?

Question

Tony George? Or is it Cart for thinking that they would just be better off going on without the Indy 500?

Answer 1

There are a lot of nonsense answers so far. Some of you guys must have been about 6 when the split happened, because you obviously don't have any idea what actually occurred.

Who's to blame for the split? Tony George, 100%. The Indy Racing League was wholly unnecessary, and was created out of cocaine-induced paranoia. The stated reasons for the creation of the IRL, 11 years down the road, have all been proven to be an absolute sham -- it was never anything more than a power grab by a guy who inherited a race track and figured that ought to make him king of the sport.

When the IRL was formed, they intentionally scheduled races in direct conflict with race dates on CART's schedule, which had been under contract for months. Then Tony George guaranteed 25 of the 33 starting spots in the Indianapolis 500 to drivers who ran the full IRL season, hoping that CART owners would abandon their own races and run the IRL's pathetic 3-race schedule instead so that they would have a better chance to qualify for Indy. Never before in the then 85-year history of the race had anyone *ever* been guaranteed a starting spot on any criteria other than qualifying speed -- to do so was utterly ridiculous, and counter to the spirit of the event.

Not surprisingly, many other traditions have been thrown out the window since then. The 4-day qualifying format has been changed three times. Bump Day now contains no bumping at all and nobody shows up to watch it. Pole Day is a ghost town compared to what it was pre-IRL. Carburetion Day has been moved from Thursday to Friday. The traditional 11 AM start time has been changed twice. The race has been started practically single file a few times to avoid first lap shunts with a field full of wanks that don't deserve to be there. And tickets? Yeah, you can get those for under face value on race day, and there are still more empty seats in the joint on race day than the year before. In the CART era, you *had* to order tickets the day after the race if you held any hope of attending the event the next year.

And all of those compelling reasons for starting the IRL? Rubbish. American drivers are no more common now than they were in the CART era, and *successful* American drivers are far less common. Sprint and midget guys still don't have a prayer of running at Indy unless they do some serious road course racing in formula cars first. Engine leases are the order of the day, and the IRL is completely at the mercy of their sole engine supplier Honda. All ovals all the time turned out to be a lie too -- now they're running road courses (and mostly not very good ones) and even have thrown in a race at Belle Isle Park, by far the worst street race venue in CART history and one of those evil events that supposedly necessitated the IRL's formation to start with. The cars are ridiculously dangerous, which the IRL does nothing about, and they're ugly as hell to boot.

It sounds like an awful lot of you have been spoonfed a heaping pile of steaming crap -- the IRL is the answer to a question nobody asked, and its formation has absolutely ruined the sport of open-wheel racing in this country, to the point that it's in serious danger of ceasing to exist on any meaningful level. A Champ Car/IRL merger would fix a lot, but for good reasons, it's not going to happen if Tony George has any level of authority, because he's proven about 18000 times that he doesn't deserve it and isn't capable of running anything more complex than a hot dog stand.

Answer 2

The split was basically due to the lack of conflicting goals between the IMS Management (Tony George and et al.) and the CART entrants as well as the escalating price to compete in the CART series that left many talented drivers and owners with almost no chance at all of reaching their full potential. It is true that the IMS wanted to take a new direction with the series, but unfortunately the situation with CART's ownership got so bad that everything collapsed leading to the creation of the IRL. The IMS was also afraid that the cars would not be safe enough in the old form to compete...

Answer 3

It's mainly Tony's fault, but the CART team owners were partly to blame as well. Tony got power hungry and greedy and CART got stubborn. The result was the landscape we have today. That said, I'm not sure a unification is desirable or probably these days. Champ Car and IRL are just too different these days in both equipment, race style, fan base and philosophy. Other than having four wheels and wings there is very little the two series have in common anymore.

Answer 4

Tony. 100%! I went to the last 4 Indy 500s before the split and let my tickets laps because I wasn't going to pay good money to watch a bush-league racing series destroy the greatest spectacle in racing!

I have gone back the last two years. IRL is the major league now. Champ Car is barely breathing and should be put to sleep as soon as possible.

Answer 5

I actually believe that the blame goes to both sides. If I remember right Roger Penske had something to do with the formation of CART. Tony George along with a few of the owners decided that it was getting too expensive in the CART series.

Answer 6

Tony George is to blame. Cart wanted the indy 500, Tony said if you don't play by my rules, you cant come. I am surprised cart has lasted this long. This country is overwhelmed with oval racing.

Answer 7

there never was an irl cart split because cart preceeded irl and then
cart became champ car
these entities always existed seperately !
there once was a time when usac controlled all the similar type events but a splinter group cart was formed years before your mother was born

Answer 8

edward s has it 100% right, penski ganassi, andretti and kim green were part of cart when the split happened, the bad management by cart and pressure from the sponsors is the only reason they went to irl, and remember champ car IS the true evolution of the good old ppg indycar world series irl was the "other woman" who ruined and wonderfull relationship and tony goerge is the pimp

wanna know the real problem with the indy 500?

i have a $100 bet that next years winner will be a honda powered delara on fire stone tires, any takers? ofcorse not and that more than anything is whats wrong with the indy 500.
thanks tony thanks alot

dear god
your humble servant again can you please please pleeeeeeease have tony george get trampled by an angry renegade circus elephant, in jesus name we pray - amen

Answer 9

Tony George mostly, CART the rest. I used to watch before the split and then just CART. I hate IRL. Open wheel racing is much better than NAScrap. But now there sport is in shambles and NAScrap is everywhere. NASCAR ought to be sending Tony George a thank you card every year for their success.

Answer 10

No single person is to "blame" for the split. There were disenchanted teams who wanted more than the "IRL" was willing to give, so they broke away and formed themselves into "CART".

Teams have come and gone from the fields. Drivers have jumped from series to series. The sport lives on. There's no need to place blame for any of it: it's just evolution; and there's more change in the wind =))