IRL’s Checkered Flag Might be a Bit Premature

Before Mike Kupper declares the IRL the winner over CART in the race to see who will control big-oval racing in America, he should ask how many race fans saw the Indy 500 and how many saw the Motorola 300 [May 24 in Madison, Ill.]. After 10 years of getting together with my friends and family to watch the Indy 500 on TV, this year none of us saw it--we were all at work.

Of course, while Tony George can’t be blamed for the weather, it’s also premature to give him credit for vanquishing CART, while the real jury--us race fans--is still out. About 300,000 attended Indy on Monday, but only 100,000 came back on Tuesday. Right there are 200,000 people who didn’t see the race, not to mention the millions who missed it on TV. If George doesn’t do something to keep these people’s attention during the rest of the racing year, he just might find that, come next Memorial Day, they are tuned to the CART race.

P.S. Anyone who calls the Indy 500 the “greatest spectacle in racing” hasn’t seen the Reno Air Races.

PAUL LIGHTHILL

Palm Springs

*

I will agree that the IRL managed to put on a pretty good show at Indianapolis, once the race finally got started. But the war between the IRL and CART is far from over.

Two points: Tony George’s biggest beef against CART is it has too many foreign drivers. A glance at the starting grid for the 81st running at Indy showed almost a third of the field was of foreign origin, including the winner. Second, of the 21 cars that did not finish the race, 10 went out with engine or mechanical problems. I don’t see much difference vs. the CART cars here. Both series will continue to suffer until George gets his ego in check.

As for the IRL engine requirements, I’m sorry, but something just isn’t right when a so-called Indy car sounds a lot like a Winston Cup car.

BILL PIENIASZEK

Long Beach