Comments on: OK…Now What?

By: James O.

James O. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:05:42 +0000

I won’t rat you out.

By: oilpressure

oilpressure — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:22:15 +0000

You’ve stolen my thunder. That’s what my blog for tomorrow is about. -GP

By: James O.

James O. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:51:02 +0000

My crystal ball went into the wall so I have no idea what will happen, but so far all I’ve been reading on the blogs is mostly fear of the future. Considering the past, we have a good reason to fear the future, but at the same time: this could be a new page turning and the next chapter might be great. There’s a real possibility that the next group could be exactly what’s needed to make the races more interesting, captivating old fans and drawing in new ones, which in turn would make the series more attractive to sponsors, teams, and potential drivers.

I’m not saying it will happen, but since I’m at standing at the door of a new era, I might as well feel hopeful rather than dread it.

By: Travis R

Travis R — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:11:31 +0000

Another great article, George and some excellent points made in the comments, too.

I’m kind of wondering how things will go for Vision now – if Tony had been using the Hulman fortune to help keep Vision afloat and that funding is no longer channeled (let alone the TEAM funding), Vision’s now a lot more dependent on sponsorship dollars. There seems to be the potential that they’ll have a hard time unless they can draw in some really good sponsors. It’s hard to say if Menard’s is a big dollar sponsor or not – John Menard is known for being very disciplined with his money…

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:43:17 +0000

IMS will survive, even if they run Silver Crown cars for the 2013 500. Even if the place is half full, they only manage to field 1o year old Dallara’s, or God forbid run the Taxicabs in the 500, it will survive. IMS as an entity does not need the IRL. This is not a matter of opinion, but a fact of history. AAA, USAC, CART, IRL, F1, the league / sanctioning body can come and go but 16th and Georgetown, and the 2.5 Mile Brick Oval remain. Come Memorial Day 2111 there will still be some type of vehicles circling the track 200 times.

I know that some would like to paint the sisters as evil, money grubbing harpies who don’t care a whit about the tradition. I don’t know much about them, other than IMS is a business, and they’d be foolish business people to let the place fall into disrepair. Bottom Line: They ousted Tony because he bled off a significant portion of the family fortune. Hard to blame them for that. As much as I love Indy and Open Wheel racing, I don’t think I’d be able to sit by and let a sibling spend $600 Million of my inheritance on anything. (Disclaimer – I do not have a $600 Million inheritance. Or even a $600 one, unfortunately)

The HUGE question mark right now is who is running the IRL, and what will become of it without the large subsidy provided by the Hulman-George family. I can’t see anyone buying it, and without the TEAM money at least half the cars in the field will have to close up shop. Can the league survive with only Penske, Ganassi, and AGR? I seriously doubt it.

Hooray the Open wheel war is over! Unfortunately, both sides have lost.

By: John McLallen

John McLallen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:06:36 +0000

I don’t see anything changing in ownership. I do, however, see a new man in charge and that is Jeff Belskus. If I remember correctly, the IRL was basically set up so that the Indianapolis 500 had a group of cars that weren’t going to ask for a cut of the profits like Dan Gurney’s “White Pages” suggested. John Barnes has also said that the series and that the IMS were also “joined at the hip.” I think that tells the story.