Motorsports

Mears: IRL shouldn't be copycat

By BRANT JAMES
Published January 23, 2005

HOMESTEAD - Scores of fans congregated at Daytona International Speedway in the past weeks to see their favorite drivers during two open testing sessions. There were far fewer in the wind-swept bleachers and on garage tours at Homestead-Miami Speedway last week at the Indy Racing League's spring training.

It's no surprise the nation's fans decided not to switch allegiances from NASCAR to open-wheel over the winter. Give them time, said four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, who added the IRL should not try to emulate NASCAR to woo them back.

"(NASCAR's) on a roll right now," said Mears, an adviser at Team Penske. "To me, it's kind of like a wildfire, NASCAR is. The fire burns until it runs out of fuel and then it starts dying down. Right now we all tend to jump on a bandwagon and jump on a coat tail and whatever is happening at the time.

"(NASCAR) is capitalizing on it and it's because they've done good work in the past to get it where its at. No, I don't think we need to copy NASCAR. I think we have a good standalone product. Can we improve it? That's what this is all about."

Car count remains a concern as the March 6 opener at Homestead approaches. IRL president Brian Barnhart does not expect that situation to improve. Nineteen cars participated in the road course portion of the Homestead test, and A.J. Foyt Racing arrived for the oval session on Saturday. Barnhart said he expects fields to again hover between 20 and 22 as they did in 2004. That figure does not include Mo Nunn's and Adrian Fernandez's teams, which have sponsorship problems.

DECOMPRESS: Jamie McMurray drove the final 10 races of the 2004 Nextel Cup season like a driver who had missed the Chase for Championship field by a technicality - which he did - and wanted to make a point.

Turns out, he didn't.

"When we didn't make the Chase, although it was disappointing, it was a lot of relief," he said during testing at Daytona. "Because when it was over with, we could just kind of focus on racing."

McMurray missed the Chase by 15 points after being docked 25 for an inspection violation earlier in the season. But he had eight top-10 finishes during the Chase to finish 11th and earn a $1-million bonus.

NO DEAL: Rusty Wallace admits he'd love to see McMurray replace him in the No. 2 Dodge in the Nextel Cup series next season. But he knows that's not happening.

"I would love to see Jamie drive the 2 car, but Felix Sabates and ( Chip) Ganassi have a contract with him," said Wallace, 48, who is retiring. "If they didn't, I would love to have him drive for me. (But) those two are some of my best friends and there's nothing I could ever do with it."

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates invoked a one-year team option to retain McMurray, the 2003 rookie of the year, this season and reportedly can do so again in 2006 and '07.

Ganassi indicated with a no-dice smile that he doesn't plan to let McMurray get away.

"Fortunately, I value our friendship as well," he said.

TURNING POINT: This is an important season at Petty Enterprises. The historic team has struggled mightily in recent years; Kyle Petty finished 33rd in points last season and Jeff Green 30th. Dodge's introduction of the Charger and a switch of engine builders should give the team a chance at better equipment. Petty ended its association with engine builder Mike Ege after last season in favor of the resourceful Evernham Motorsports.

"I feel like our motor program will pick up the whole situation," owner Richard Petty said. "The handling is not as good as it could be, the pit crew is not as good as it could be. We hope the motor will give us a start and then we will go back to working on the handling and the pit crew and the rest of the team."

[Last modified January 23, 2005, 00:15:19]