When necessity trumps opinion,,

Crisis, the great unifier…. How often so many of us have seen it work! The great depression, wars, natural disasters, they all bonded those of us with differing opinions and opposed political beliefs, causing us to pause and allow things return to where a successful way of life triumphed through safety and solvency. 

In the world of auto racing, clinging to outmoded differences of opinions must cease for the good of all. More than ever, now is a time when there is an immediate and absolute need for all hands on deck pulling together in the right direction to rebuild, nourish, and set the stage that the open wheel Indy type series can be solvent and return the great sport to its once high elevation. Nothing positive results from disfunctional thinking. The time for blame, the time for a locked-in-the-rear-view-mirror fueding over who did what and who said what is over; so efforts to continue in this mental framework serve no purpose.  There can now be only be one purpose for fans of Indy cars: building anew. 

The realities facing the IRL and its teams, such as costs of racing not being met by available income, are reflections of the greater reality facing not only racing but the nation and range from General Motors’ and Chrysler’s bankruptcies right on down to a 55 yr old employee losing his house and retirement and having no hope of being hired again at his previous rate.

The threat of war, the shrinking dollar, credit unavailability, unemployment, a shrinking manufacturing base, and much more require divisive opinions to ride the bench. Yet some fans refuse, some cling to their fruitless opinions as they might a pressed flower from a cherished memory. They are a helpless  frustrated quarrelers united only in the shared belief that to repeat hatreds from the past is a great intellectual accomplishment. The rest of us who are devoted to Indy car racing must move away from them, not allow ourselves to become what they are.

To linger in their anger  would be useless.

I love open wheel racing at the highest level. I love what it has brought to my life, so many historic moments: family outings, great vacations, bonding with my Dad–all with Indy type cars as the nexus. Yeah,a decision (one I think was the worst ever was made in racing) resulted in it all becoming something less, something broken; so now Indy racing sits on some very soft ice in the middle of a lake of anxiety. No one can put toothpaste back in the tube. No one can glue fans together. If we are to come together, as we must to save Indy racing, it will only be by accepting the necessity of an honest recognition that once we were all fans together, and we need once more to join ourselves together if Indy racing is to survive. Honest acceptance of this need is a good, a goal to which we must all aspire. As it is at present, there is still the chaos of denial. There is still an underground fostering resentment and hatred. There is still wasted energy. There are still those who cling to impotent opinions and refuse to offer to our sport the necessary helping hand. Necessity tells us only by so doing will there be a road back. 

It is necessary for us to accept critical facts embedded in reality, not opinions embedded in ego. There is only one person who can do what is necessary. The necessary upsurge can be grown only within the SANCTIONED series that is the platform for open wheel racing in America. The economity reality is no one will feel it is necessary to build an alternative series.   

Some readers know of my close friendships with several Champ Car drivers and families. I watched years of dreams fade as these people, who worked their whole lives to reach the premier level of racing, peaked only to see the split erase their futures instead of being open to their progression. Blaming, hating, bitching will change nothing. When there were two series, campaigning to make the one of your choice dominant made sense. Now, though, the election is over. Now, for the good of the sport I choose to write for an upward solution. Holding onto opinions from the past is pointless. Bashing the IRL, trashing Champ Cars’ attempts to survive, ridiculing anyone, scorning any CEOs … useless, all useless. We must now all begin to write, talk, and show what we think is best for this sport.

I love the sport more than I hate what happened in the past. Looking back, going over scars from the past is worse than listening to some failed lounge lizard lost at the bar in some horrible hotel lamenting as he combs over his “ so close” stories, or “how he wasn’t discovered”, or how unfair things are. No one discovers the successful person, they make it on their own. If Indy type car racing is to continue, we who care must look forward and build with what there is.

That my friends (and those who no longer choose to be because of my feelings) is the real truth. Why is that?

Necessity has now trumped opinion,,,,,,,,,paper

Wandering the Open Wheel Landscape

My, my, Pole Day at Indy!!

This year I watched Pole Day coverage, which on Versus was very complete and respectful. The emotions I experienced ran from total disappointment to hopefullness somehow, someday all will be as it was before a civil war amongst fans, team owners, media, and internet forum members severely damaged open wheel racing by polarizing everything and everybody. When I afterwards checked the various internet fan forums for reaction to qualifications, I found there remained a self-annointed few who remained dedicated to their own hatred. We’re a long way from healing the deep wounds inflicted in this dispute. The time to seek their healing has never been more upon us.

As a traditionalist I loathed any change I saw as dimininishing the character and acclaim of Indy. I watched CART raise Indy to its highest position; but then I  watched it lowered year by year by the IRL. For years I wrote in support of the late Champ Car World Series for it to remain intact and be the eventual sole series at the top level of American open wheel racing. As we all know, that did not occur; and now (over a year later) the sport is still in decline–as can be seen in the embarrassing Pole Day 2009 attendance, once second only to the 500 itself as the largest in American racing. 

I was one of the fans who did not get his way, who witnessed the demise of ChampCar. I admit the disappointment of how ChampCar ended will forever be within me. However I know spewing hated against the IRL foolishly ignores the fact that today the only American destination for aspiring American open wheel drivers is the IRL. I also know the only possible future for open wheel racing will be born, one way or another, from the IRL of today. If the IRL fails, it will be a long while before there appears another series to produce new stars, new fans, new venues in addition to continuing whatever and whoever might have survived the hiatus following an IRL demise. (Why would someone rush to the rescue knowing Tony George spent over a quarter billion dollars only to meet financial failure?) 

These hate embracers then go on to denounce any driver or owner who choses to realize their dream by racing Indy and IRL, as if they were given a royal right to condemn those drivers for such a choice.To think this sport should die, as the haters as a group do, because these adamantly disaffected posters did not get their way is the most self absorbed, insanely vain position possible. Their hatred and denunciatory preaching might still influence some who are not in the off-key choir, I suppose; but I for one sure hope it doesn’t. 

Now I admit when I decided to watch the first day of Indy qualifications, I first had to compartmentalized residual anger as well as CART/ChampCar memories so I could watch with new eyes. IRL is what it is, and so that is what I must see. Ya know what? The way the qualifications went–drivers throwing out sure starts to try to move up positions–was a very good thing, evidence of a different attitude, approach than seemed prevalent in the past. The element of gambling with the unknown had returned. It made the sport more of a sport.

The best part of the entire day, though, was Paul Tracy saying “People should stop living in the past.” Once again the man who many times stepped up to aid his sport in the Champ Car days is now again stepping up to aid his sport. He is correct. To lovingly remember the past is one thing but constantly to count the ways the present is not as the past, or even like the past, is something else entirely–it’s more like a sacrament performed in a catacomb by a mob of fanatics. Paul’s realistic forthrightness stands in sad contrast to the anonymous, hate filled blathering composed on computer screens. 

Who better than Paul Tracy to say it is time to move on? Paul, his good friend Jimmy Vasser, and many, many others know THEY don’t want any young drivers to go through their whole productive driving years entrapped in what they endured. I don’t know the IRL’s stars, but I have no doubt they also endured the asterisk many fans placed next to the names of those who drove in the years of The Split. That this is continued by the haters sucks, perhaps even more than their fruitless blathering. Let’s instead work for the good of all so in the days ahead we find a way to end the decline in IndyCar acceptance to which Pole Day attests. 

Let’s hope and strive for the good of a wonderful sport we get it back to the significance it once held. It does no good for any of us to have personal frustration made the grounds for demanding the demise of open wheel racing. Along those lines, my last article about moving on was embraced by a number of young drivers, drivers far closer to being ChampCar hopefuls than any of us peanut gallery forum clowns will ever be. If they can move on, if PT can move on and by their example lessen the anger that spoiled so much for so many that can only be for the betterment of the sport.

And as to those who say they don’t care, will never watch, let’s hope the door misses their butt but does knock some sense into their head. (Allow me a little light hearted blast in closing–having read what some blast at me I certainly know I have that right!)

I simply cannot passively watch the sport I love savaged by those who prefer to destroy it in their love of remembered hate. We who love open wheel racing must set aside any remembered hatred, walk away from those who won’t, and together seek the rebuilding of the sport we mutually embrace,,,,,,,,paper

The catalyst in the conflict

For my whole life, the most important exciting day of the year was Race Day. Not just any Race Day, but the day the Indianapolis 500 was run. I personally was introduced to the glory that was Indy in 1954, but from the mid 1930s it had been a family tradition to attend. We had the same incredible seats for decades. . To have seen the bricks, the roadsters, the British invasion, speed barriers broken, and pole days with Race Day crowds was a privilege un-defined.

I attended an Art School in Indy, which brought me closer on a daily basis to the legendary speedway. Many days (all year long) I would go there, sit in empty grandstands, and daydream of all that had occurred over the years. I would picture people dressed up in clothes of the 1920s, and the magnificence of the special day had in each of those as well as subsequent years, years when the world’s most renowned auto race would capture the attention of the world. It all just got better and better and better.

This all changed with the birth of the Indy Racing League. The dispute over its creation, its presence, and the division between those who joined and those who didn’t  soured the event, caused an unnecessary decline–facts that cannot be escaped. As a result, after millions upon millions of dollars were spent promoting its existence, we today still find ourself in an anguish no one needs and everyone wants gone. We now have a situation where one man created this, and only that one man can fix it. There is no doubt the key to this situation, to the future of IndyCar racing, is Tony George; he and he alone holds the reins to bring things back to a satisfactory level, the results of which would undoubtedly be embraced more by George and his family than anyone else.

I have written rebuke after rebuke of the IRL, mocked it, disapproved of it, and campaigned as hard as I could to have prevail a better version of the thing I fought so hard to end. That is all in the past and serves no purpose anymore–and never will again. Granted many still have scar tissue as part of the fallout from this division, but those wounds need to be forgotten for the future good of this sport. If the sport is to continue, to prosper, we who are first and foremose dedicated to open wheel racing need to begin, to take part in the needed reconcilation,

We need to embrace reality. 

Yes, reality is the IRL has a lesser car. Yes, reality is the IRL represents a lesser standard of racing excellence. So what? Although I hate the expression. “It is what it is”, it applies here; so if the sport is to recover from the injuries inflicted by our behavior–irrespective of the side on which we fought–we must realize the future of the sport far transcends any hate of the IRL, any hate of Tony George, any hate onto which ChampCar fanatics clung as long as they could, and any hate of each other for being a fan battling for the other side, whichever side. Hate is a catalyst speeding the decline of IndyCar racing–and therefore of American open wheel racing. 

As I watched a bit of the St Pete Grand Prix, I saw many friends I’ve come to know over the years. Their future in the sport they embraced their whole lives is in the IRL. If that series vanishes, there will be no replacement for a long time, and they will either see their dreams dissolve into vapor or have to begin all over again by learning a different form of racing. There will no easy street for a sanctioning body to create a new series to replace an IRL George might close for fiscal reasons. There will not be the possibility of the necessary entrepreneurial money from anyone for many years to come. 

IRL, spoiled as it is for some, will be the series for open field racing–if there is a series at all. For many, to say this is just to engage in promotion; but they are wrong. It is just plain fact. Those who say they want to see IRL dead should actually look in the eyes of an open wheel driver while they rant their hate. Tell the driver they want to see his (or her) future closed. Tell them they want to see their passions for racing frustrated. Tell them it is more important those who hate Tony George and the IRL should continue their hatred than drivers should continue their careers and passions. 

In my 60 yrs I have seen presidents do things with which many strongly disagreed. I’ve seen (as have you) dissent rule peace, conflicts rule emotions where nothing could be gained by the ruling negativism and hate. Nevertheless, through it all we are still Americans. Similarily I’ve seen marriages dissolve when the negativism of the day overwhelms the positivism of years together. Nevertheless, through it all most all still see marriage as a good and necessary institution where people survived many dissents and conflicts to live united in better days.

History has seen far greater maladies solved for the greater good than this episode. Yet even with global and particular examples such as these at hand, in the auto racing division there still exists stagnating division serving no further purpose than perpetuating useless hatred. For the future of the group, who is it that will not find it in themself to care more for the sport’s recovery than their self absorbed, useless clinging to something that produces nothing positive? To see open wheel racing decline further, thus denying many new young fans what we were privileged to enjoy, by now wishing death to the sport is for this writer an intolerable product of the haters’ self absorption.

I feel very sorry for any who exist in this self-maintained prison of hatred. I love this sport more than I hate the last 15 years. I love the sport more than I scorn what has occurred within it. I want it restored to its former glory. As a fan of this sport, one who also fought for CART and ChampCar during those 15 years, I urge those who care about this sport and wish to see it attract new fans to seek ways to help it become at least what it was. The time for rebuilding is now, else tomorrow will surely becomes the first day of further decline, of being too late.

The catalyst which gave such emotional energy to the division, hatred, must be abandoned. The solution starts with all parties looking forward to find new, reinvigorating possibilities. The opportunity and only chance to rebuild this belongs to Tony George. There is no one else, either at hand or on the horizon. We must accept that George, not hatred, is the catalatic agent for energizing IndyCar racing. That’s not TG promotion, that is fact. I choose to look forward: Papertakes will be about this sport’s healing. ,,,,,,,paper.

Here is another guest blog, it written by my good  friend Thor, a member at CCF.

In coming weeks there will be more writers here, some from each series, media, and other professions as we try to seek ways to make a better day for open wheel racing,

Was Versus and the IRL a marriage made in heaven at St Pete? Hardly—but then it certainly was not made in Hell! And did IRL turn the corner there? Hardly—but the driving was no worse than what we have come to expect at street races from whichever group is running them (Monaco likely being the annual exception). There’s a long row to hoe, but American open wheel racing ain’t dead.  

John Griffin of the IRL was not surprised Versus’ telecast of the St Pete race only reached 233,000 households, as that was predicted by the network’s research people. Even without Versus’ warning, the frankly dismal results were anticipated by most followers of IRL. And indeed it should not be a surprise. Versus is at present a minor league channel that could be made big by its parent company but is still little noted by surfers and almost unknown to all but hockey fans and outdoor life aficionados. Therefore having Versus present the IRL is a gamble. The gamble for the channel is whether IRL has a product that will cause people to go to Versus and keep people’s eyes on the screen when races are presented. The gamble for IRL is whether Versus will do what is necessary to promote its presentation of the series, to make known to both the dedicated and the casual race fan that IRL is available for watching and tease them into settling before their big screen television to see what there is to see. On the basis of what was presented by both partners last Sunday, I would suggest both partners fell short—but certainly not fatally so.

On the Versus side, on track coverage was commendable, laudatory in fact. Their camera coverage of what was happening on the track camera was comparable to the international F1 feed carried by Speed, although grantedly it lacked some of the technological features of F1 broadcasts. The coverage was much, much better than ESPN in any of its guises provided for either ChampCar or IRL; so in that respect, IRL is far ahead of where they would have been with ABC/ESPN. However the broadcast team fell short of the camera team. It wasn’t that the five people involved lacked skill as much as they were as concerned to laud what they were seeing as they were to report what they were seeing The three track action people certainly were not worse than the ESPN broadcasters for CC and IRL, actually rather better; but they were far below the level set by Speed’s F1 team. Hype cannot change what is seen on the screen no matter how enthusiastically delivered. But where Versus did really fall short was with pit coverage. Two people in the pits simply cannot give the NASCAR-like coverage that is just as necessary for IRL. Whether Versus underestimated staffing needs in the pits or did not realize how important the stops would be, the presenters played catch-up in the pits—particularly the blotched stops of Dixon and Powers.

A second failing was the encore presentation on Monday night. Given the competition IRL/Versus faces Sunday afternoon, the encore presentation could be significant in the promotion of both Versus and IRL. The scheduling of it from ten to midnight EDT made sense, but what did not make sense was the editing to fit the original broadcast into the two hours slot. To do that, laps 47 though 73 were cut. After the 47 lap, which Briscoe led, there was a break for commercials; and when the race was returned, it was 26 laps later, the second round of pit stops  occurred, and Wilson was the new leader. No explanation was offered, and viewers were left to piece together what happened from interviews with Dale Coyne and Roger Penske. Big mistake. It would have been far better to cut down the now anti-climatic pre-race activities and show the complete race.

Nevertheless, the telecast deserved a B+, and future telecasts have the potential for an A+.

The race was far from a B+, more like a C-; but there certainly is the potential there to be much more than mediocre. The front runners did put on an interesting show, especially Briscoe, Hunter-Reay, and Wilson; while Franchitti, Rahal, and even Kannan turned in strong supporting roles. Of course it was a street race, and that kind of racing is seldom good racing, whether it done by IRL, CART, or ChampCar. And so it is rather odd IRL chose (?) to open its season with a street race, for it is extremely unlikely the series will be seen at its best on the streets of any place. Accidents happen, particularly on such courses; but that inevitability was at St Pete well aided and abetted by driver error. Veteran race watchers could applaud some of the up-front action but could only shake their head at the doings mid-field and back. New comers to IRL racing must have been laughing. The suitability, or the lack of same, of the car used by the IRL in street racing is a problem impresario Tony George and his people must address. The direction in which George is taking the series requires the sooner-or-later change being in the sooner rather than the later into which the decision is presently being pushed. As long as the series continues its use (even though the League expansion is away from the ovals for which the car was designed), the kind of mediocre performance seen last Sunday will become “normal”.  If the IRL wants a mix of circuits, it will have to go to a car that can handle such a mix. Kits will not turn the trick, will not make an oval car into a street race car, will not make an oval car into a road racing machine. The series simply cannot afford (in more ways than one) the crashfest of last Sunday. Until then, though, the burden must be on the team owners to select drivers who will learn how to drive that oval designed car on streets courses and permanent road courses—not just drivers with sponsourship money.

And perhaps it is at that point Tony George should become a factor in the driver decisions made by teams asking him for money so they can race. Sure, the teams are privately owned companies; but we also know George is subsidizing several of them to keep up the car count. Therefore he has every right to ask if he is receiving value for his subsidy other than cars being on the grid. Does he not have the right to expect more than a team making it to the grid and then making a mess on the track?  Can it be honestly said all the teams taking his money are operating at a quality level justifying taking his money? There must be a point where George must ask what it is he is really receiving in return for the cheque he puts in the mail. He certainly has a right to raise his eyebrows over nine cars at St Pete being eliminated by contact—and it was little shy of a miracle the mechanical retirement was not the tenth contact retirement. It is no wonder rumours were circulating at Sebring that George was going to drop the subsidies. Is not the St Pete crashfest proof that simply handing out money does not result in quality teams? Perhaps George really needs to consider the implications in the team that won certainly not needing his money and the team giving the winning team fits all day doing it with very a modest budget.  

The IRL is far from where CART was at its peak. In fact it is far from its peak in the early years of this century. However there is a nucleus of talent that can form the core. There are owners that can form the core. The car, another matter. The rules, also another matter. And of course there is the engine, still another matter. Right now, though, the question posed by St Pete is does the series really think it can continue with the hot-cold, good-bad racing it there showed? IRL should not be NASCAR on a bad day on a short track. Hopefully IRL leaders at the team and series level will put as much thought into avoiding a Long Beach crashfest and presenting professional racing throughout the field as Versus put into putting IRL in a favourable light at St Pete. It is time for staring.

The way back to a better time

Watching the years go by, I find each one makes me more thankful at having had the good fortune to live in a time of intense enthusiasm covered in innocence. It was a time when many of us didn’t have to lock doors, when bank pass books had hand written balances, when there was shame felt when doing wrong, when personal responsibility was a supreme asset. And it was a time when every aspect of life was marked by progress–from the first color TV to the dawn of the space age, which was born at the very time its generation was just old enough to realize through the imagination of childhood it could someday be part of breakthroughs never before even fantasized. Auto racing’s technological acceleration was equally as stunning and fascinating and was also accompanied by a sense of personal attachment that made what we saw on the track a magic we in our innocence thought would never end. By some wonderful occurrence my first home was next door to a member of an Indy Car team. My father was a fan of racing, so I was surrounded by the beauty of it all. Add to that we were one hour or less from the major race tracks of the time. It was too good to be true for this young child.

However even then, even as a child, I was aware of the dark side. By the time I attended my first race, I knew drivers were killed on a regular basis. Some were even young men I had seen next door. As deeply as all the people I met loved the sport, they seemed complacency about these deaths. Many times, I as a child heard them say to each other, ”They’re all gonna get it sooner or later” as they left the stands following a death; and as I watched from year to year, that became true so many times its was horrifying. The even sadder part was some fans were thrilled when it occurred and demonstrated an apathy towards the lost drivers as though they were not even real people. Was this macabre feeling some offshoot from the personal tragedies found in the major wars accompanying the sport’s early growth? 

Regardless of what produced that loathsome reaction, it always seemed to take dozens of tragedies to create one idea to halt even the chance of the next one. Open cockpit cars didn’t have roll bars before 1958 and many complained when USAC mandated them at the start of that season. It took a huge fire that killed 2 drivers in 1964 to implement fuel tank cells. It seemed only through disaster did anyone put effort into preventing the next one; and death counts of four, five, six drivers a year continued to occur until finally a generation of designers started to engineer safety into the sport. Long overdue changes entered the sport when USAC was still in charge; but even after inheriting the improved cars of the ’70s, CART’s early ’80s’ designers and engineers still had much to correct. Foot injuries were total catastrophes, and CART responded by mandating more distance from the drivers feet to the front impact zone, thereby dramatically reducing those injuries. Fatalities were reduced to numbers that in my youth were simply unimaginable. Between age 6 and 16 I had seen dozens fatalities and read of many more, but my son (who from age six attended races with me) in the same 10 year period of his life experienced only one. CART has been lamblasted by some for what they saw as  flaws, but it was CART that accomplished the most sought after advancement any could desire–injury and fatality reduction.

In those same years of Indy Car history, CART also created such a good product that the Indianapolis 500 improved and the Speedway added more grandstands. Entries would approach 100 race cars. Over 100,000 fans would appear on Pole Day just to watch one car at a time attempt to make the race and sit first on the grid. The first Indy 500 I watched (1958) was when the race’s reputation was at its highest, and Indy would stay at that level for decades. CART’s rulebook evolved a championship car that could race at speeds of 220 all day long. Points battles were always suspenseful. Live TV now covered entire seasons. Then in l996 it all became a backwards slide in a move that served no productive purpose.

A series was established to ”fix” things that were never the problem they were made out to be. Then, as time went on, these ”problems” were forgotten, ignored, overlooked. Primary rationalizations for pitting IRL against CART, such as foreign drivers taking the place of American grassroots drivers (thereby blocking for them the “road to Indy” and racing stardom), motor leases, and operating costs requiring deep pocket corporate sponsors remained and became a 500 pounds gorilla mocking the new racing body. Worse still, the heighten injury rate in the early years of the IRL reversed CART’s safety pattern and became a sad reminder of many things fans two and three decades earlier knew only too well. The fans were polarized, split far deeper than they had been when the rear-engine cars replaced the beloved roadsters (repercussions of which still vibrate down the halls of racedom) thereby producing a situation much more injurious to racing than the “problems” IRL was created to “fix”. 

The division among fans was reflected in the internet forums, which became a stage where anonymous posters could express their singular frustrations instead of  attempting to support the sport, share memories of value, or offer suggestions opening new doors. Such forums, regardless of their original purpose, became for many  nothing more than a chance to say something without responsibility. With hatred birthed by the split filling each forum thread, vitriol ruled over sensibly stated dissatisfaction, and critiques not including “F-ing” were dismissed with sneers. While these forums were a great instrument for measuring sentiments, the level of understanding steadily declined; as ” fans” of took advantage on their anonymity to indulge themselves in a complete lack of civility. They still do.

I myself composed many slams against the series started with only one thing in mind: to run the original evolution of Indy Car out of business. After 40 years of watching Indy Car grow and prosper, it seemed a blind blasphemy to claim a new series was needed and then fermenting the division necessary for this new series to succeed. As time demonstrated, any attempt at “fixing” by dividing the essentially unified world of American open wheel racing through reviving unhappiness with the decades-ago evolution from ovals and roadsters was destined to destroy what was so proudly assembled after WW2. IRL was begun at the peak of CART open wheel racing success and contrary to that success produced results in many cases far more resembing disasters than accidental injuries. Careers long planned were spun into a nightmare by the sectional split. If there was anything wrong about CART, never mind, don’t look; because, whatever was allegedly after a few years became a “normal” part of the new series. More ironic than even this was the Crown Jewel of American racing–the protection of which being the leading reason for this new series–was belittled by the IRL. And now, finally, there is nothing left but the very series that drove participants and fans into a civil war. So now, in their lingering bitterness, many say they will never come back to the sport and have resigned themselves to quiet contemplation of their memories. However, many others remain entrapped in a catacomb of vitriol, sustained by their redundant hatred for the IRL, Tony George, and any and all who played a part in the split and ending the evolution of years of traditions, history, and personal memories by contributing to the demise of ChampCar. 

They have chosen the bleakness of an underground existence rrather than emerging from their womb of negation to accept the challenge of re-forming the series even its proprietors recognize needs restructuring. That is sad. The war is over. Yes, we lost; but a greater loss will result if open wheel racing is condemmed to its present course. With the war over, which it is for this writer and all others not walled into the catacomb of vitriol, pointless condemnation serves nothing. Such makes happy those who chose darkness but serves no other purpose. It is time to realize the only landscape left for open wheel formula racing at the highest American level is the one controlled by those from the IRL, and the muffled groans from that landscape’s underground are fading on the wind.

Can the IRL attract the necessary new fans, fans from a generation to whom the split is at best ancient history best forgotten, fans to replace the irrelevant personages from the worn out hate clubs? Yes, “clubs“; because both sides have fans who will forever blather words of distain for the other side in the late civil war, fans best left in the darkness they created for themselves. These haters must be set aside, must be forgotten, their irrelevance confirmed if the sport is ever to rebound to what each side wishes. I say this as one who fought for the victory of my side, the ChampCar World Series. I never wanted Champ Car to lose the war,  campaigned as hard as I could for its victory by writing on an internet forum. Some read my offerings and agreed, while others expressed much anger in disagreeing  with the intent of my sermons. Whatever; it’s all over now and only one thing is left, the restoration of American open wheel racing. 

The great majority of both sides will hopefully set aside the war they fought and come to a common realization. We must, whatever we think of the past, recognize the need to work for open wheel racing–even if that means working with those once regarded as the enemy–if there is to be open whel racing. Looking at the landscape about us, it is apparent there must be another evolution, as there was after the rear engine invasion, for open wheel racing again to move forward. Towards that end, we must bury the dead and work with the living.

Am I saying I love the idea of this sport more than I hate what happened? The answer is determined by what I understand is good for all the new fans we so badly need, for the young drivers seeking to reach the highest goals in American formula racing, and for resuming the daydream of racing that danced in the imagination of children fifty, sixty years ago when first they heard the cough of an Offy. So my answer is, “ Yes!”  As it always is for “paper”, I will choose hope over pessimism, faith over doubt. The only correct thing to do for this sport is seek improvements that will aid all. The other choice, the incorrect one? Staying mired in the catacomb of vitriol with irrelevants who  feed each other’s hate and satisfy their own egos by supporting the total death of American open wheel racing

This is another guest column.  It is written by an extremely accomplished historian, multiple higher degrees, a long career of success, and a former Indy Car team member with one of the most successful teams of all time in its prime.       These things need to be said. The sport needs a higher unity than the merge created. Only by the  seeking of real solutions putting all selfish motives behind will there be the start of a path back to the open wheel racing as the pinnacle it once was.      Read these words carefully, they bravely suggest the start we all need.       These words will drive the haters away,    at this time can that be a bad thing?

 Judging from the howls of outrage at the web forum, birthed for the dual purpose of supporting the late Champ Car series and opposing what was happening to the Indianapolis 500, over the proposals at Papertakes that the future of American Open Wheel Racing and the Indianapolis 500 required people get over the past and work for the future, a real nerve must have been touched. But then, what nerve in the human brain is more delicate than that of an oversize ego? After scanning over a few dozen of the hundreds of postings in opposition to the Papertakes proposal (looking at all is unnecessary for what we have is but a few dozen people repeating themselves multiple times), one thing becomes quite clear. Those who oppose working with the existing open wheel establishment to secure the reforms the establishment itself recognizes as necessary—as  well as some not yet acknowledged as necessary—are more concerned they be untainted than they be relevant.

This desire to remain pure is really rather interesting, but then, self-destructive impulses of this sort have a sort of inherent fascination. How contrary they are to the impulse that drove Winston Churchill to declare to those who questioned his dealing with Stalin that he would deal with the Devil to defeat Hitler. Tony George is certainly neither Hitler nor the Devil, but a casual perusal of forums opposing him and IRL might lead a reader to conclude such indeed was the case. And yes, a powerful case can be made he is the reason for much of the dilemma in which AOWR finds itself. However one can also powerfully argue strategic errors made a few decades ago are also responsible for the present situation. Furthermore one can argue the present situation would not be as dire as it presently is if not for the recession unto depression in which the world’s major economies are mired. Interesting as discussions involving these considerations might be, are they in the short run any more relevant than the “purifying” bath of death and destruction fantasizing into which the TG/IRL haters immerse themselves?

To this group being relevant to open wheel racing under the present management is being uncleanly. It is far better to envision forms of punishment for the open wheel team and series owners as well as the failure (albeit not the injury) of drivers than to become relevant by working for change. Their hatred and contempt towards and for George, Mari George, the IRL, Roger Penske, Bobby Rahal, Chip Ganassi, and various drivers they view as a sheath of purity. Like the ascetic of a different age who would rather withdraw to a desert cave and stare at the sun that be sullied by the world, they gather on their forums to hurl invectives at the primary open wheel series of today  and vow to each other upon pain of banning that they will never look at an IRL race, look at an IRL car, or refer to those associated with IRL and Tony George other than with a “F” in front of their initials or name. It is fortunate they do not actually encounter each other, for the pure light they reflect would surely be blinding. That is, it would be if they were not already blind.

The problem confronting open wheel racing has its origins in that past. So to say is to speak a truism. And certainly it is relevant to examine the past for the purpose of identifying errors; but such an examination should be of a forensic character, not a pathological—and must never become a pathology in itself. A public discussion of the open wheel situation highlighted by concrete remedies rather than F-ings is indeed necessary, and of course this would mean attentive hearing and consideration by the managers of open wheel racing. In fact, if they do not so engage, they will be closing a prime avenue for recovery. As the situation is at present, the recovery plan hinged upon a new engine manufacturer and car is on hold, at best. It is less that likely, apparently there will be a new engine before 2012—and equally unlikely the team’s financial situation will be such they can afford a new Dallara before then. George himself cannot be expected to subsidize the series any longer than a few, very few, more years—if that long. Therefore if the 500 is to be revived and open wheel racing sustained on its own terms, i.e. independent from the revenues secured from the Brickyard 400, relevance rather than purity, the present rather than the past, becomes the order of the day.  

Those who place purity ahead of relevance and glory in their irrelevance seem not to have thought that purity and virtue are separate things. A person can avoid the unclean by withdrawal, as they are doing; but by that withdrawal permit far more grievous happenings than a splattering of mire upon their sheath of purity. Essentially these “purists” would close the road to those who wish racing to be their career—unless of course those drivers are content to race the half-milers the duration of their career. Yes, there will be an Indy; but for it to then be a destination, it would have to revert to the pre-rear engine era. While another variety of “purists” might find that delightful, it is doubtful indeed the racing community will support two NASCARs. In reality, while the haters see themselves as pure because they are irrelevant to open wheel racing under George, a far greater number upon consideration will view them as not merely relevant in their fuming but lacking in virtue because of their desire to destroy open wheel racing if it is but associated with George, IRL managers, Penske, Ganassi, Rahal, et al. If open wheel racing is to survive and prosper, it needs relevance and virtue, not purity and irrelevance—that’s the answer. Thor. 

Destination Lost

In my first years of fanship for what was then called IndyCar, the new crop of stars were A.J. Foyt, Eddie Sachs, Lloyd Ruby, and many others from various sprint car series. They were young, ambitious, and their goals were the championship trail and the Indy 500. It which was the supreme goal. There was no division and no public display by management, media, or fans decrying  dissent. It was a path to glory they all sought from early childhood, one unobstructed by the anger and resentment presently surrounding the sport and driving it to the edge of a death unimaginable. It was their destination, a dream come true, a heaven; and there was no condemnation of their pursuit. This has been extinguished.

In my life around this sport, there have been many changes, triumphs, sorrows, a coming and going of fans, attitudes and events. Nothing has been as disappointing as the constant downturn caused by the introduction of a series that crippled the joy seeking what was once the undisputed destination for many racers worldwide, the Indy 500. The IRL’s creation was to fix something broken for only a few, but its existence did not fix anything. From Day One I was one of the many who opposed this split and so repeatedly in my writing pointing out the lack of necessity for the IRL’s creation. It worsened the situation it was to fix.  It was to restore equality of opportunity but instead made equal opportunity non existence for the many, as now only a few can afford the level of investment necessary for victory. It was to restore the hopes of those who once were the seeds of the future but instead cast then as  dead weeds.

Fifteen years ago the greatest group of new stars, men at the highest peak of IndyCar, were caught in a soap opera by a handful of bad producers who handed them a script requiring some to decide whether to stay with IndyCar or choose the IRL. For others, deciding for themselves was not even a option. They were contractually bound to follow their owner’s orders. The dreams of these young men were postponed, dreams to be IndyCar drivers competing in a championship series that had survived many situations over eight decades to arrive at the peak of its success. As a result, I saw Jimmy Vasser, Paul Tracy, Scott Pruett, Greg Moore, Brian Herta, and long list of other drivers held hostage in a split that has now devastated a once beautiful thing. If they had not been the victims of unneeded divisiveness, they would have given us a history so very, very different from the one we witnessed. Will what did not then happen be repeated? Will we fans foster a situation that will leave the next generation of stars with no destination?

Until last year there was a better, safer, destination to which we gave our support, a stronger series which for years strove to become the best destination for drivers, fans and all. Originally it was CART, then it became ChampCar. Amidst all ChampCar’s growing pains, it with sincerity worked to provide a great season for everyone. However our efforts did not meet with success. Our series finally ended, and so a destination for those who preferred its path was no more. For young drivers, this meant the road from a support series to our respected premier series ended. As a consequence today they must chose another path to follow in their efforts to realize their dream. Some embittered fans tell them to chose any other another series than the one with Indy as its core, but those possible ones are either too far, too expensive or for still other reasons out of reach for the majority. Can we who love racing and who made it part of our lives justify watching another 15 years of young drivers’ dreams being set aside and forgotten?

We are today watching the last flicker of a once bright light fade, but in that fading light are we seeing what will make those dreams realizable? No, because it is not there to be seen. There is still time, however, for the people who not only own the equipment but must do the heavy lifting to accept that only they can raise open wheel racing from the level to which it has descended to the plateau it once occupied. The lifting cannot be done by one or two. As the plans for the 100th year of the Indy 500 approach, will there be a celebration of Indy–or will the façade of wellness be continued? 

Wishing for and pursuing the next generation Indy car and motor has entrapped the leaders and kept them from seeing the most important thing they should pursue, something requiring attention here and now and without which cultivation of that car and motor will yield no fruit. For once and for all, the leaders of the only American open wheel racing series of major standing must pursue a final peace between all who watched the last 15 years grow into a tension no one who puts racing ahead of their ego wants continued. They must employ their imagination and experience to change bearings from a course of monotony to one filled with imagination and initiative, qualities quite absent in today’s open wheel racing. The leaders and fans must accept not only the economic realities of today but the realities of entertainment and psychology as well. Above all, they must place the 500 first, foremost, and totally in their thinking if they are to negotiate the perils racing faces. It doesn’t matter who owns it; for the race is more than its owner. Without a 500 in good health and respected by the racing world–as once it was–there will not be anything more than local, bull ring open wheel racing in America.

In these troubling economic times opportunities exist to evolve and use strategies otherwise seldom available. The quest, demand and necessity for financial solvency has never been more crucial.

USE THAT.

In the early 30s, amidst a depression, cars were constructed from the chassis of vehicles designed for the street, not the speedway. In no way do I suggest that for today. But I do suggest thinking outside the box. There are many Cosworth motors, and many proven cars they fit. (What a dreamer huh?) Let’s continue out-of-the-box thinking and imagine Indy’s 100 Anniversary car and motor being the most popular ones to grace the place in the last three decades. They already exist, and these cars’ designs,  sounds, and enhanced safety produced the best of all times for Indy. They produced the best attendance, the best championships–and what could better beckon as the future destination for our new drivers than this? It would be a destination that worked well; do we have that RIGHT NOW?,,,,,,,,,paper

This is a guest blog. It is written by a close friend who was a member of the most winning ChampCar/Indycar team of all history.   The stories, insights and discussions of change over the last five plus decades would be enjoyed by any fan.  He sent me this , I choose to have ut read,

Loving to hate

Is the would-be-destructive game being played by a small group of fans of the late Champ Car World Series. In their responses at certain forums to Paper’s blog of last week, they clearly characterized themselves as people far more in love with vilification and hatred than American open wheel racing. They not only disagreed with Paper’s call for fans of open wheel racing to join in an effort to find solutions to the numerous problems confronting our sport but united themselves in wishing an end to the existing dominant owr series as well as ill fortune to all individuals connected with its ownership and who chose to participate in it.

The rationalization for their position is the present situation was created by these various individuals; so if the roof of the house they built falls upon their heads, that is but fitting punishment. Anyway, fandom is not to worry about the future; surely someone will pick up the pieces and build a new series—one they will only consider supporting if it meets their standards and is managed by people of whom they approve. If this does not happen, oh well …; they will just find other ways to spend their entertainment dollars. And anyone who suggests otherwise is a fiend not deserving of their company. After all, to hate is ever so much more fun than to dissent from a faulty position and then work to remedy those faults.

Setting aside their hatred and looking only at what rhetoric they present, a choice emerges for those not part of their establishment—such being whether to work to lift American open wheel racing from the morass in which it presently finds itself or to watch it sink under a watery surface and then wait for someone on the other side of the rainbow to invest the $100M+ to resurrect the sport.

The problems of auto racing outside of Formula One and NASCAR (and even NASCAR is experiencing darkening in its corners) are well recognized. Since 1996 hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to produce a single series which today promises at season start to consist of from sixteen to twenty cars, of which perhaps a dozen are fully funded. The car at present being used by the surviving series is of an undistinguished design that is also most questionable from a safety perspective. Furthermore its engine produces a hideous sound not even the series owner likes—in addition to not being overly pleased by the car itself. The driving level within the series drops off sharply after the top five, who are distributed over but three teams. And there is on its schedule only one race of importance, whether the importance be national or regional. Except for the Indianapolis 500, itself an emaciated shadow of what it once was, the events generate but mediocre (as compared to the potential) local attendance.

In its present form, only the naïve support the open wheel status quo. Including Tony George, every aware person recognizes the need to implement substantial change. As ill fortune would have it, the likelihood of the planned changes being in place before 2012 is dim at best because (if for no other reason) of the world-wide recession. Open wheel racing has been at best a niche in the advertising world for all of a dozen years—and the width of that niche is steadily narrowing. Our sport simply does not present the platform or the stage occupied by Formula One and NASCAR. Therefore the question of how to rescue open wheel racing, i.e., how the present organization is to meet the challenges of the next few years, if not longer, is paramount. If they are not met, the likelihood of the planned changes being effected in 2012 will be even less than it is at present.

We who were fans of the deceased series and remain fans of open wheel racing are more than every before faced with determinative questions. Is hatred of what happened since l996 and hatred of the leadership involved in all that happened to be the determinant of our attitude towards open wheel racing if Tony George is therein a part? Or is the need to re-form (sic) open wheel racing irrespective of George more important than those feelings? A relatively small number of people have filed their answer by responding to Paper’s call for open wheel racing support with a vehemence that erased the boundaries of rationality. So be it; their hate-filled demand for the death of the present premier open wheel racing organization irrespective of its form if George is present makes them irrelevant.

What is relevant is thinking that has as its purpose beginning the removal this year of open wheel racing from the morass into which it is at present sinking, i.e., we do not have three years to tread water in the hope there will then be a new engine and new car to rescue open wheel racing. Car count alone provides proof of this need. The optimistic 20-22 predictions of but a few months ago appear from the recent tests to be indeed fanciful. The likelihood of subsidies for teams running the entire season is considerably less than even six months ago. Anticipated deals are falling apart. While the benighted will cheer, the people who make up open wheel racing and support it in one form or another are dismayed—except for those resigned to indifference.

To bring back the latter and reinforce the former by designing a series meeting the circumstances of today and the next several years becomes the challenge for this year. It is towards this goal the leadership of open wheel racing must address itself. In so doing, it will need the support of the open wheel community. (Haters are no longer a part of that community and therefore should be set aside, excluded.) Those who a part, who express reality based concern as to the future of racing should be asked to lend whatever support they can to this re-thinking; for in the short run as well as the long run, their acceptance or rejection of what is offered will determine the fate of our sport—just as it does every sport.

This is a dialogue which must begin and that beginning is what I understand Paper to be attempting. Without it, without it being a part of the re-thinking so obviously necessary, the scope of open wheel racing will not extend all that much beyond 16^th and Georgetown.  Thor.

Its all about Indy,, It always was,,

For the last 15 years, the division of the Indy 500 has taken an un-imaginable toll upon fans who experienced its struggles after World War 2, the paving of the course, the rear engine innovation, the addition of a lesser race, and then the split. To us, Indy as the zenith of achievement in racing was invulnerable to changes brought by time. It was simply invincible. It was Indy. It was the Month of May, a month to which we looked forward every year beginning June 1, a magic luring fans, drivers, manufacturers to a place where we all lived the best of moments. AAA, USAC, CART, that didn’t matter in May, because May was Indy.

The birth of the IRL and then the death of a series, which under a number of names was for decades the real Indy Car, spoiled careers and drove a knife into fans’ hitherto endless enjoyment of May. It seperated us from the bonding that when we were undivided was at the core of the racing experience. The reaction of many of those fans resulted in their now shrugging at Indy’s plight while scornfully asking, “Why restore Indy’s traditions?” Perhaps they are too young or too unknowing of what Indy was to say anything otherwise, but what they are doing is displaying their ignorance of what was once held in such high esteem, of what made Indy an experience we all loved, admired. It was because we feared the destruction of that experience, the destruction of Indy and its traditions, that we took sides in a war that shaped our attitudes towards each other and auto racing in general. The war was fought and lost. The defiance with which our side fought has been replaced now that all has been said and done, with a stubborn conviction nothing can be done to restore Indy. Many who opposed Tony George’s plans are now with the same stubborness said to drive George are denying there is a basis for Indy’s renewal, irrespective of who manages it. What they ignore is the absolute need to accept the war’s outcome as the new reality. 

Peace and reconciliation followed military wars in which tens of millions of people died and destruction was in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. While it is true many could not be reconciled, the great majority of combatants reconciled, recognized there were common post-war needs and joined to meet the challenges brought by those needs. The situation with Indy and American open wheel racing poses far less personal challenges than presented by the post-war situations of those real conflicts. It is definitely a reversable situation. Attitude alteration can be accomplished, even if done but one step at a time, and must be done if Indy is to be restored. If Indy is not restored, there will be no open wheel racing of which to speak–indeed, if any at all.

Of course there are several obstacles to be overcome for Indy to be restored; but here is one we as individuals, irrespective of the uniform we wore in the late conflict, can and must work at effecting. We who as individuals chose to fight the birthing of the IRL need as Individuals to decide whether hating George is preferable to seeing the demise of American open wheel racing via the IRL and the even further dimunation of Indy. As I and many others see matters, to blame a race, a track, an event is ludicrous. To see this being done by people who only know what they have heard, who have not experienced Indy back in the day, is shameful; and therefore what they say in their unknowing falls on deaf ears for this and many other fans.

I watched Indy in its suffering become a career postponing mess for many. I wrote in protest of George’s thinking. I wrote in disgust about how the very concept of the IRL destroy what over generations was so very so wonderful. I saw it in its early races raise injury rates that had been reduced for an entire generation of drivers. Out of the criticisms I and many, many others voiced, there grew a myth we critics of the IRL hated Indy; but the real fact was we as IRL critics were united in a bonding conviction IRL was a danger to Indy and must accordingly be protested. Yes, there are still things needful of correction. Even friends and spporters of IRL and George recognize many corrections are needed if Indy is to avoid being reduced to an Indiana picnic. But at this point what I am seening is a gigantic, “So what” from those who were once united in their determination to save open wheel racing. 

I will forever want Indy back to what it was. I believe this is attainable. There is no changing what happened but there is the possibility of changing where Indy and therefore the IRL can go and what it can become. What brought this home to me was listening on the phone to a friend who is a young, talented driver telling me Indy Lights offers him a better future and so he needed to make the tough decision to change to the IRL ladder series. What brought this home to me was listening to a long time friend from Trans Am and ALMS say the very same thing. They weren’t alone in voicing these thoughts and plans, so hearing those many agree constituted an interesting even if uncomfortable message message for me. What is on the racetrack is what is left from the now-ended war. It’s all we have. Do we run to the hills ?  Do we forever bitch, complain, and recite endless disgust for what happened ? Or do we seek a way we can all be together again? I know what the decision must be for me. 

The endless recital of hate for Tony George only works towards the burial of Indy and therefore open wheel racing in this country. Although I will forever be mindful of its being his invention that created the end to something once blissful and full of racing significants, at this point something else matters much more. If there is a way to restore Indy, to make its past its future, that is what those who loved Indy and the open wheel racing for which it was the core need to support. Past quarrels must be put aside to achieve this common goal. It’s the only correct thing for all to do.

People can go on wallowing in despair over what happened or do as one young driver, one Indy Lights owner, and many good friends chose to do: take what they have, what is there, and work with it so somehow, someday the years of division in our sport will but be a sad remembrance and in the place of an embittered division an unified new and better series. It will never happen without first a willingness by all fans to move forward together. At present Indy and open wheen race have very few options on the table, very few avenues along which open wheel racing can move forward. For those to be accessed and open wheel racing continued, the obstacle of stubborn recalcitrance must be removed. The clock is ticking and obstructing based on losing the war will achieve nothing for our sport. 

This editorial will face huge criticism and be skewered, blasted, and condemned; but at this point it’s impossible to care about that happening or what will be said about me. I care far more about what should be next, upon what is there that we of racing can use to build its future. Only by overcoming our feelings about IRL and Tony George can we have a return to something we all miss. Does this make “paper” an unquestioning IRL fan? Nope, not really; for I still contend IRL has problems it must correct. Does this mean I’m trying to seek a way to be part of a solution, to be part of the correction? Yup. Do I have any idea how hard that may be? Yup–in fact, too much so.

But I’d rather work and seek something productive than not,,,,,,paper

Christmas Past