Nowhere to Go but Up for Open-Wheel Racing

Psychologists say that before an alcoholic or a gambling addict will accept help, he must first hit rock bottom -- lose his marriage, job, friends and self-respect.

That is where open-wheel motor racing is today. At rock bottom.

Interest in the Indianapolis 500, lynch-pin of Tony George’s Indy Racing League, has been steadily dwindling in recent years. With two days remaining before the 87th 500, there is a malaise over Indianapolis.

Sixteenth Street, which used to be alive with hawkers looking to sell, trade or buy tickets to the race, is quiet. Attendance at Pole Day, which once attracted more than 100,000 fans, was minimal. It was even worse for Bump Day, traditionally one of the most exciting and nerve-racking days of May. Only a handful of people milled about while nothing was happening. Thirty-three cars qualified -- barely -- the first time since 1947 that the field was in danger of not filling the traditional number.

“There was a lot of equipment back in the garage that could have been rolled out,” said Brian Barnhart, IRL’s chief steward. “But we’ll be on the track for the next nine weeks, we have Texas and Pikes Peak coming up in a few weeks. People had a reason to be cautious.”

Good grief! What would old-time owners like Lindsay Hopkins, J.C. Agajanian and Bob Wilke think about that, worrying about some other race instead of pouring every resource they had into the Indianapolis 500?

On the other side, Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc., is no better off.

Its television ratings are abysmal, it has only 19 cars, sponsors have been dropping off routinely and it reportedly lost $9 million in the first quarter of this year.

Nineteen cars may be OK for street races, the kind CART President Chris Pook dotes on, as long as no one can see much anyway, but 19 won’t do it at a two-mile track like California Speedway or four-mile Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

The split between IRL and CART in 1996 has been blamed for the sad state of open-wheel racing, and it certainly has exacerbated it, but the signs of deterioration were there before.

“The big problem with the split is that it forced fans to take their loyalties in different directions,” said Roger Penske, the first major owner to switch from CART to the IRL.

Even before that, though, most of the icons of American open-wheel racing retired: A.J. Foyt, after 35 years, in 1992; Mario Andretti, after 29 years, in 1994; Al Unser, after 27 years, in 1993; Rick Mears, after 15 years, in 1992; and Bobby Rahal, after 13 years, in 1995.

That left a void in racing that could not be filled -- in the public eye -- by a parade of Brazilian and other foreign drivers.

“Indy car racing used to be about drivers with regional followings, A.J. from Texas, Parnelli [Jones] from Southern California, Mario from Pennsylvania, the Unsers from New Mexico,” veteran commentator Chris Economaki said. “They sold tickets from their area and many of them came to Indy. I don’t care how good Juan Montoya or Helio Castroneves or Tony Kanaan are, they don’t sell a ticket back in Sao Paulo or wherever they’re from.”

Then there is the booming popularity of NASCAR, fueled in part by young Americans -- Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Jason Leffler and others -- who grew up dreaming of racing in the Indy 500, only to be forced to turn to Winston Cup because there were no opportunities in CART or IRL.

The continuity of presenting recognizable drivers, such as Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, gave NASCAR the stability that Indy car racing once had year after year with the same known stars.

On the other hand, it seemed that as soon as CART developed a marketable driver, whether it was Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zanardi, Cristiano da Matta or Montoya, he moved to Formula One.

“I think it is a feather in our cap when our drivers are sought by Formula One,” Pook said. “Formula One is the ultimate racing series and when our graduates do well there, it reflects on us.”

It also gives the public the perception that Pook is satisfied with running motor racing’s equivalent of a triple-A baseball league.

Curiously, CART and the IRL have seemingly switched positions. Where the IRL once struggled to find enough cars and drivers to fill its races and CART had all the power with most of racing’s big names, plus major engine manufacturers paying most of the bills, now it is CART with short fields and the IRL with the big names and the big-spending engine manufacturers.

The turnabout may give the IRL the headaches it once gave CART. Honda and Toyota, rivals for racing -- and promotional -- supremacy, in this country as well as Japan, may wind up with precisely what George criticized about CART a few years ago -- control of the series.

Many racing insiders are predicting that the Honda-Toyota spending spree may drive Chevrolet out of the IRL by 2004. And it was Chevrolet, along with small team owners such as Fred Treadway, Jonathan Byrd, Brad Calkins and Mike Curb-Cary Agajanian, who kept the IRL afloat in its formative years.

“It’s unfortunate that the small guy has been squeezed out a bit,” driver Billy Boat said of the 500. “What we need is to get corporate America behind open-wheel racing, so small teams can grow into larger teams. Until we see that happening, it’s probably going to be an uphill battle.”

Uphill, indeed. There is no other way to go at this time.

The Bernsteins

Six-time National Hot Rod Assn. champion Kenny Bernstein probably meant it when he said he was retiring at the end of last season, but then he never anticipated what would happen last week in Englishtown, N.J.

Bernstein’s son, Brandon, his hand-picked successor to drive the Budweiser top fuel dragster, crashed violently in the first round of a national event and suffered back injuries that will keep him out of the car for about three months.

Kenny will climb back into the car he drove last year to a second-place finish in NHRA standings and race it at Topeka, Kan., this week.

“Brandon has made great strides since Sunday,” his father said. “However, we are still waiting for him to become more comfortable and more mobile before we move him. Right now we are taking everything on a day-to-day basis.

“We would ask that all the well-wishers refrain from sending anything to the hospital until we’re able to move him. The hospital is inundated at this time.”

Southland Scene

Indy 500 weekend always means busy times for short tracks as they try to capitalize on the racing enthusiasm generated by the 500. It’s true this week.

IRWINDALE -- Five classes, three of NASCAR stock cars and two of trucks, will keep drivers and spectators busy at the half-mile paved oval Saturday night. Featured will be the super late models, top of the line in NASCAR’s Weekly Pro Series. Also running main events will be late models and super stocks, plus super trucks and pro trucks.

PERRIS -- A Salute to Indy program Saturday night will headline the Sprint Car Racing Assn.’s first 50-lap main event on the half-mile clay oval. Damion Gardner, winner of three of five Perris races this season, including last Saturday, will attempt to continue his domination in the stretched out feature in Harlan Willis’ black No. 45 sprinter.

ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY -- Speedway motorcycles will return for a season of Friday night racing tonight on the new speedway track located inside the main stadium track on the National Orange Show grounds in San Bernardino. Racing will be conducted by International Speedway, Inc., operators of Saturday night racing at Costa Mesa Speedway. The Costa Mesa facility will be closed this week. A total of 13 Friday night races will be held on the Orange Show track.

VENTURA RACEWAY -- The popular VRA sprint cars and senior sprints will race Saturday night on the seaside track, along with VRA dwarf cars.