Article in the Tampa paper, looks like there's a chance IRL will be coming to a street near me soon.
http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGBORS5Z0YD.html
IRL in St. Petersburg?
Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
Who said this in the SR Forums a couple of years ago? Kinda prophetic. 
I would hate to see the IRL start including street courses. I watch and enjoy the IRL events because of the speed and the close competition. Both of those things would be lost on the street courses. I also think the addition of street courses would dilute the identity of the IRL. I think the only way street courses will be added is if CART completely goes away and the IRL sees a good opening to broaden its base of fans in a meaningful way. Otherwise I doubt if the IRL wants to go the street course route and put additional burdens on its teams..
Randy, at some point if you can't beat em, join em. I've been an Indycar fan since 1970, and I was definitely on the CART side of the split until 2002 when I ended my boycott realizing that the IRL had won and that Penske, Ganassi, Green/Andretti, etc. were on their way out.
At this point, adding road courses to the mix is the last remaining thing I was upset about with the split to begine with.
My main beefs were:
1) Dilluted prestige of the Indy 500 and not the highest level of teams and drivers. - That is gone completely now with Penske, Rahal, Andretti/Green, Ganassi, etc. in the mix.
2) No road courses. What I always enjoyed about Indycar racing of my youth, was that the champion had to master all levels of circuits. No other high level series in the world could really boast that. IN the end CART took on way too many street courses for my tastes and lost some of my favorite ovals. Now with road courses and even (gasp) street courses being considered, that may be a thing of the past. Add in Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Road America, Long Beach, and one of more of the Canadian street circuits and you've got a pretty interesting mix.
3) Division of the fans. Both entities(CART and IRL) basically did their best to put fans on one side or the other. Maybe not for casual fans, but for hardcore fans, I know not one that was a fence rider. That is kind of still going on, but this is the fisrt year EVER (well since 1979 anyway) that I have not watched a CART/Champcar race. Not necessarily on purpose, I just don't have the interest with the diluted talent, teams, and uncertainty of the series. Not to mention I never remember when they are on. To be honest the IRL could do a better job with their marketing as well, but they clearly won that battle. CART now is kind of like what the IRL was in 1996-1997, but with road/street courses as the focus.
Come join us Randy! It is ok for a CARTisian to jon the fold at this point because the CART we loved no longer exists. (Well, it sorta does, its the IRL
)Believe me, it was not easy for me to do. But I love Indycar racing and the Indy 500 too much to keep the boycott going. If Penske, Rahal, Unser Jr., Ganassi, Andretti, etc. can suck it up, I figure so can I.
You can take some solace in the fact that outside of Sam Hornish and Panther, since the CART teams and drivers started coming back in droves, they have been pretty dominant. Former CART teams and/or former CART drivers have won Indy ever since 2000. This year the IRL poster boy went to the pinnacle CART team. There is a pretty decent mix of good foreign and American drivers (certainly better than the last years of CART), and with Buddy Rice's Indy 500 win it was a nice merging of a former CART team and an American IRL driver(well his background was Toyota Atlantic's but I digress) running a foreign engine. Pretty international and mixed if you ask me. Honestly, the best thing that can happen at this point is for OWRS to fold completely, thus leaving a void at some venues that the IRL will probably be ready to fill. I say let the healing begin.
At this point, adding road courses to the mix is the last remaining thing I was upset about with the split to begine with.
My main beefs were:
1) Dilluted prestige of the Indy 500 and not the highest level of teams and drivers. - That is gone completely now with Penske, Rahal, Andretti/Green, Ganassi, etc. in the mix.
2) No road courses. What I always enjoyed about Indycar racing of my youth, was that the champion had to master all levels of circuits. No other high level series in the world could really boast that. IN the end CART took on way too many street courses for my tastes and lost some of my favorite ovals. Now with road courses and even (gasp) street courses being considered, that may be a thing of the past. Add in Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Road America, Long Beach, and one of more of the Canadian street circuits and you've got a pretty interesting mix.
3) Division of the fans. Both entities(CART and IRL) basically did their best to put fans on one side or the other. Maybe not for casual fans, but for hardcore fans, I know not one that was a fence rider. That is kind of still going on, but this is the fisrt year EVER (well since 1979 anyway) that I have not watched a CART/Champcar race. Not necessarily on purpose, I just don't have the interest with the diluted talent, teams, and uncertainty of the series. Not to mention I never remember when they are on. To be honest the IRL could do a better job with their marketing as well, but they clearly won that battle. CART now is kind of like what the IRL was in 1996-1997, but with road/street courses as the focus.
Come join us Randy! It is ok for a CARTisian to jon the fold at this point because the CART we loved no longer exists. (Well, it sorta does, its the IRL
)Believe me, it was not easy for me to do. But I love Indycar racing and the Indy 500 too much to keep the boycott going. If Penske, Rahal, Unser Jr., Ganassi, Andretti, etc. can suck it up, I figure so can I.You can take some solace in the fact that outside of Sam Hornish and Panther, since the CART teams and drivers started coming back in droves, they have been pretty dominant. Former CART teams and/or former CART drivers have won Indy ever since 2000. This year the IRL poster boy went to the pinnacle CART team. There is a pretty decent mix of good foreign and American drivers (certainly better than the last years of CART), and with Buddy Rice's Indy 500 win it was a nice merging of a former CART team and an American IRL driver(well his background was Toyota Atlantic's but I digress) running a foreign engine. Pretty international and mixed if you ask me. Honestly, the best thing that can happen at this point is for OWRS to fold completely, thus leaving a void at some venues that the IRL will probably be ready to fill. I say let the healing begin.