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IRL welcomes return, but image could suffer from another strong CART showing.
By KEVIN KELLY
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2001
The names that lured families to the television on countless Memorial Day weekends are trickling back into consciousness.
Andretti, Penske and Mears are alongside Foyt, Unser Jr. and Luyendyk again.
CART's boycott of the Indianapolis 500 has slackened even more this year as five of its drivers and three of its car owners returned to the Brickyard.
"I think it's great," said Al Unser Jr., a former CART star who drives for the rival Indy Racing League and is a two-time Indy 500 winner.
"We need to get more and more of the (CART) teams that used to run here real strong and competitive back and enjoying what the spectacle is all about."
While the IRL welcomes CART's return to its marquee event Sunday, another dominating performance by CART drivers might leave the IRL looking like an inferior circuit.
Juan Montoya, who now drives in Formula One, led 167 of the 200 laps last year, winning in CART's first return to Indy since the two series split in 1996.
"I think one of the good things about racing is when we all get on the same patch of ground we forget our political affiliations," IRL team owner Derrick Walker said. "You're out there to beat the next guy and that next guy can be an IRL guy or a CART guy.
"I think that's one of the things the Indianapolis Motor Speedway brings to open-wheel racing. It's sort of neutral territory where we can all race and just get on with the racing."
When Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George formed the IRL in 1994, he wanted the series to be a low-cost, ovals-only alternative to CART. He reserved 25 of 33 starting spots in the 1996 Indy 500 for IRL teams.
CART responded by boycotting, stripping much of the luster from the Indianapolis 500, which had a field of rookies and mostly low-profile drivers.
"I get a little angry sometimes that a lot of great teams and drivers over in the IRL maybe don't get the credit they deserve," IRL driver Greg Ray said. "Let me tell you something, the Buddy Laziers, the Scott Sharps, the Jeff Wards, these guys are tenacious. These are damned good racers. And I don't think you can just say it's one series or the other. There's a lot of great guys here. A lot of great guys there too. Bringing them all together only makes it better for everybody."
Some on the IRL side feel the CART teams and drivers are showing weakness by coming back to the Brickyard in increasing numbers. Without Indy, the CART series lacks a showcase event.
But team owner Roger Penske, a 10-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 and owner of the entries driven by defending CART champion Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves this year, disagrees.
"I don't think it gives the IRL any more ammunition because we're here for one race," Penske said.
It's just the biggest open-wheel race in the country, if not the world.
"We've had F1 champions come here to race and it shows how big this event is," said Michael Andretti, a CART driver and veteran of 11 Indy 500s. "I think that is why you are seeing it happen."
As NASCAR continues to steal ratings and fans from open-wheel racing, CART and the IRL have talked about working toward compromise on issues in which their stances differ greatly. Progress has been slow.
"I have no belief that it's going to come back together," said John Barnes, who owns the car driven by 21-year-old IRL points leader Sam Hornish Jr. "There's no reason for it. They have a successful racing series. We have a successful racing series. ... They're like channel 8 and we're channel 6."
The cost of building and testing an extra car prevent more CART teams from trying the Indy 500. Although the cars appear similar, each series requires different equipment.
CART's manufacturers lease turbocharged engines to race teams, controlling the building, on-track maintenance and rebuilding. The IRL keeps costs down by allowing its teams to buy and control 3.5-liter, normally aspirated engines from six approved builders.
Penske's proposed solution to the rift is a common engine -- 3.5-liter, normally aspirated, V-8.
"I think it's the way to go," he said. "I think we need to have a common engine and one that's capable of being put in either an IRL car or a CART car and I think that will help bring us together.
"I don't think the fans in the stands know whether it's a V-6 turbo or a V-8 turbo or a V-10 or naturally aspirated. They know the drivers, the teams and the sponsors. I think we've got to get rid of the rhetoric on these rules things."
A solution might be years away, but for now teams continue to focus on a race so appealing it has the power to override serious differences of opinion.
"We don't put any pressure on ourselves to not let (CART drivers) win," Barnes said. "Just speaking for myself, those guys are just another race team. Montoya coming in here last year and winning and doing it pretty handily, I think he's a special guy. You don't go from winning in CART, come here and win here and go over to Formula One and whip up on those guys if you're not a pretty good driver."
INDY 500: noon Sunday. TV: Ch. 28.