Making A List: The Open Wheel Racing Season
Written by Douglas Brown · March 10, 2008
With Sebring testing behind us, unification in process and the Homestead race approaching as fast as a lion, I scratched down a list of reasons why I am excited about the new season of … uh … it’s still called the IRL right?
11) More foreign-born drivers for Danica to argue with
10) The end of multi-channel TV schedules/No more races on ESPN Classic
9) The end of Helio’s “Dancing with the Stars” Press Releases. Please, no more!
8) Hearing people ask “What happened to Ashley’s husband?”
7) The beginning of the return of THE Indy 500
6) The return of Townsend Bell and Max Papis
5) Andretti, Ganassi, Haas, Lanigan, Letterman, Newman, Penske, Rahal all racing each other again (with a nod to Forsythe and Walker. Please come back.)
4) A balanced Road/Oval/Street course schedule … Hey, wait a second!
3) Four-lap qualifying at all oval tracks in ’08
2) Justin Wilson (possibly) beating everyone
1) Graham Rahal v. Marco Andretti
You excited yet? Why?
What are your reasons?
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5 Responses to “Making A List: The Open Wheel Racing Season”
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Nice list Doug, to which I might add:
1. Danica in a car without any weight advantage.
2. No Rusty Wallace making inane comments about the IRL “hot rods”.
3. More than 17 cars in a starting grid.
4. Will Tracy catch a ride?
5. How long will it take Newman-Haas-Lanigan to catch up to the IRL leading teams?
6. Bump day at the 500 with real bumping.
7. No more meaningless discussions over which series is better.
Last and possibly most important of all:
No major wrecks until Dallara has enough replacement chassis available!
Thank you George for item #2. How could i forget … whew, no more Rusty Wallace. Whew.
Hey George, how about changing your last item to: “Major wreck with Dallara’s (without injuries) so they can put the real open wheel cars on the track”… OK still bitter.
I actually thought of my comment in the same way you did John F, but I don’t want to keep revisiting all of the negatives of the buyout. The IRL “won”, they are entitled to work with their major engine/chassis suppliers.
Hopefully in 2010 when the league is looking for new chassis the door may open to more constructors ( a modified DP01 and Dallara) and engines including Cosworths.
In the mean time we have what we have and let’s go racing!
I mostly went with the IRL after the split, although I still followed CART/Champcar, but I would love to hear them turbos again! I really missed the sound (and speed) at Indy compared to what the IRL went to.