Nothing Stock About Questions Regarding Future of Indy 500

The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday will be the richest stock car race in history, attended by more people than any other, yet most of the “bench racing” in garages, restaurants, bars and corner drug stores here is about what’s going on with next year’s Indy 500.

One thing seems certain: The Indianapolis 500, as we have known it, will not be the same.

Tony George, president of IMS, has formed his own racing organization, the Indy Racing League, and announced a five-race schedule for oval tracks with the Indy 500 as its cornerstone. Members of Championship Auto Racing Teams, the existing Indy car organization, responded by saying they weren’t interested in George’s other oval races but they expected to be at Indy, thank you.

The stir this all created was nothing compared with the bombshell dropped by George when he announced that 25 of the 33 qualifying cars for the 500 would be the IRL points leaders after races at Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix. Only eight berths in the world’s most prestigious race would be available for the cream of the Indy car entries, who are scheduled to be en route between Brazil and Australia during the Phoenix race.

“Foul,” cried prominent Indy car personalities, notably Chairman Andrew Craig, car owners Carl Haas, Bobby Rahal and Bruce McCaw and driver Michael Andretti.

Elder statesman Mario Andretti, retired but not retiring, issued a warning to both sides when he told Leslie Godel on Prime Time that “two cannot exist. One would have to die. And at what expense?”

This much seems apparent: There is little middle ground. Either you’re for George and oval racing or you’re for CART and the status quo.

One of the thorns in the side of CART backers is that George is using the United States Auto Club as his sanctioning body. Dissatisfaction with USAC officials and rules caused a group of dissident car owners to break away and form CART in 1978.

The Indianapolis 500, however, was never a part of the CART schedule. It remained a USAC race. Only its inclusion in the PPG Cup Indy Car World Series points structure, which determined the national champion, gave an illusion of cooperation between the sides.

Among the more radical suggestions for 1996 are that CART should schedule its own race the same day as the Indy 500, presumably with all the name drivers, such as Andretti, Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Robby Gordon and Jacques Villeneuve--if he has not already left for Formula One. Then there’s one that has CART teams hoarding their cars to prevent the IRL from having a full field for its opening race at Disney World, to be televised live by ABC.

Jack Long, IRL executive director, said the Orlando race is guaranteed to run as scheduled, that construction is under way on the 1.1-mile tri-oval and that most of the 50,000 seats are already sold.

“There will be full complement of cars, I can assure you of that,” Long said. “Some of the teams can’t commit until after this year’s final CART race at Laguna Seca, for obvious reasons, but some of them will be at Orlando.

“We believe there is room for two great series in this country, and we believe nothing can get in the way of the tradition of the Indy 500.”

Rahal, one of the most outspoken critics of the IRL, said, “The Indy tradition ended when they ran the Brickyard 400 there last year.”

Dan Luginbuhl, spokesman for Roger Penske, the strongest force in Indy car racing, took a neutral stand.

“There’s still a lot of time between now and January,” he said, referring to the Jan. 27 date of the Disney World race and the remote possibility that the groups may reach an accommodation of sorts.

But it’s not a good bet.

Motor Racing Notes

STOCK CARS--Street stocks and IMCA modifieds will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . Orange Show Speedway will mix street stocks, legends and a train race with a destruction derby Saturday night. . . . Perris Raceway will open Saturday on a new track. . . . Kern County Raceway in Willow Springs will start a new class Saturday night for late model drivers from the closed Saugus Speedway. . . . Winston Racing Series sportsmen and Grand American modifieds will run Saturday night at Cajon Speedway.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--After three weeks without speedway racing, the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa will open its summer season Friday night with the Legal Rights Defenders Classic. Speedway sidecars will also compete. . . . Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino will also run Friday night.

MOTOCROSS--Glen Helen’s national championship track will be closed for most of the period Aug. 7-16 for major reconstruction and improvements, motocross director Steve Nilles said. The closure will not affect the Double-Cross Gran Prix on Aug. 13.

MISCELLANY--Ventura Raceway will feature IMCA sprints, mini sprints and dwarf cars Saturday night.