It's funny how we all bitch about the split, yet for a fleeting moment there was a time when both series were putting people in the stands - now we have one series with no one in the stands! Yay!
+Empty Box Not long after this race, both series had no one in the stands. Attendance/popularity would've went down without the split (look at NASCAR's attendance and ratings now compared to 10-15 years ago), but the split definitely put AOW into freefall. Thankfully I started watching after the merger, so I managed to avoid being jaded by years of stupid.
War IMO, NASCAR's popularity boom was based off of the decline of open wheel in the US. For a long while, historically NASCAR was largely a southern thing while open wheel racing was generally more popular elsewhere. Coincidentally once that changed both open wheel series went down the crapper in attendance while NASCAR went through the roof. I think it's tough to say one way or another. Road racing used to be fairly popular in the US, now it's close to dead. The question though is that general lack of interest, or is that the fact the casual racing fan has become so "NASCAR-ized" they can't watch a proper race without smashing, crashing and phantom debris?
Nascar's extreme popularity in the late 90's and early 00's was as much of a cultural thing as it was a racing thing. In the SE you could not go into a Gas Station without seeing Dale Jr. cutouts, Rusty Wallace cutouts, Jeff Gordon on a Pepsi bottle, A #3 keychain, a Valvoline hat, etc. I knew a lot of people that couldn't tell you which 4 manufacturers were in Nascar but all had a favorite driver and one they couldn't stand. Similar to WWE and American Idol in the same time period, it was the "cool thing". It may come off as negative but I don't really see road racing, or any other kind of racing gaining a large sum of popularity in the future, cars just aren't as important to western culture as they were in the last 50-60 years, I think as society moves towards all-electric, maybe even self-driving cars, Auto Racing will go the way of Boxing.
Great era for IndyCar racing. IRL start-up teams competing against the Champ-Car cross-overs. 2003 season was even better. Obviously, the quality of the racing has nothing to do with popularity. It's sad that all the fans who stopped watching in 1996 after the split have never migrated back. Likewise, all the IRL teams are now gone (Menard, Kelley, Treadway, Cheever, PDM, Curb etc).
Right before the legitimate sponsors started to fade away. Them Red Bull cars though. Sam was an idiot for going to Nascar. He could have been one of the best American drivers in IRL! I would rather be the best in the league than have a slightly bigger paycheck. Must have been one heck of a buyout for him to move to Nascar and run in the middle of the pack all season long.
+dcinhere Hornish wouldn't have lasted in the unified series in top quality equipment, he wasn't a very good road racer at all. He moved from Penske's IRL team to Penske's NASCAR team.
Empty Box Youre probably right, but he did seem to dominate on Ovals. But seeing that now its 50/50 you are right. I dont remember much from that time period, being only graduating from highschool in 2002 and wasnt totally focused on racing. But I also think JPM would have done more damage too if he stayed. We may have had a 5 time Indy winner if he stayed.
+button less remote control It's smart. IRL races were the best racing in the early 2000s. Ultra-competitive and just bad-ass. This stuff made CART shit the bed.
+indyfan2 this era racecar just seemed to ride the inside line and not be challenged by the track at all. I have nothing against the IRL, in fact I like the racing a lot up until the high downforce low HP days. Just this era was bleh.
Спорт
It's funny how we all bitch about the split, yet for a fleeting moment there was a time when both series were putting people in the stands - now we have one series with no one in the stands!
Yay!
+Empty Box Not long after this race, both series had no one in the stands. Attendance/popularity would've went down without the split (look at NASCAR's attendance and ratings now compared to 10-15 years ago), but the split definitely put AOW into freefall.
Thankfully I started watching after the merger, so I managed to avoid being jaded by years of stupid.
War
IMO, NASCAR's popularity boom was based off of the decline of open wheel in the US.
For a long while, historically NASCAR was largely a southern thing while open wheel racing was generally more popular elsewhere. Coincidentally once that changed both open wheel series went down the crapper in attendance while NASCAR went through the roof.
I think it's tough to say one way or another. Road racing used to be fairly popular in the US, now it's close to dead. The question though is that general lack of interest, or is that the fact the casual racing fan has become so "NASCAR-ized" they can't watch a proper race without smashing, crashing and phantom debris?
Nascar's extreme popularity in the late 90's and early 00's was as much of a cultural thing as it was a racing thing. In the SE you could not go into a Gas Station without seeing Dale Jr. cutouts, Rusty Wallace cutouts, Jeff Gordon on a Pepsi bottle, A #3 keychain, a Valvoline hat, etc. I knew a lot of people that couldn't tell you which 4 manufacturers were in Nascar but all had a favorite driver and one they couldn't stand. Similar to WWE and American Idol in the same time period, it was the "cool thing".
It may come off as negative but I don't really see road racing, or any other kind of racing gaining a large sum of popularity in the future, cars just aren't as important to western culture as they were in the last 50-60 years, I think as society moves towards all-electric, maybe even self-driving cars, Auto Racing will go the way of Boxing.
War
Won't hear any disagreement from me. Sadly, it's the truth that the car in general is going away from modern culture. :(
Nascar was growing even before the split. Even without it it still would have eventually become more popular, the split just made that happen quicker
How can anyone not like IndyCar Racing? Absolutely the best racing on Earth!
agree
Problem is they're all too busy watching other sports like football, baseball, soccer, etc which I have never ever enjoyed as much as I enjoy racing.
Its great to be able to watch these races again.
I remember me and my dad being at this race. It was crazy those last 20 laps Little Al and Sam side by side the entire time!
Wow, that was a great race!
+Kronesian And some say the IRL sucks! Can you believe that?
RIP Dan Wheldon and Tony Renna Both was in this race
Both Killed with Impacts with the Catch Fence.
I don't know why Indy lost popularity it's as good as it ever was
My G-d what an amazing moment in sport. Top-100 of all time.
Some great drivers,badass racing this was awesome i miss it, i watched all of it
Anybody else but the Duratrax 1/10 scale RC version of this car decades ago? Sideways 6 ways till Sundays! 👍
Awesome last 30 laps
De Ferran my favorite driver
Great era for IndyCar racing. IRL start-up teams competing against the Champ-Car cross-overs. 2003 season was even better. Obviously, the quality of the racing has nothing to do with popularity. It's sad that all the fans who stopped watching in 1996 after the split have never migrated back. Likewise, all the IRL teams are now gone (Menard, Kelley, Treadway, Cheever, PDM, Curb etc).
The IRL start-ups didn't have the money to compete with the likes of Penske and Ganassi, sadly.
Miss this sound!
Right before the legitimate sponsors started to fade away. Them Red Bull cars though. Sam was an idiot for going to Nascar. He could have been one of the best American drivers in IRL! I would rather be the best in the league than have a slightly bigger paycheck. Must have been one heck of a buyout for him to move to Nascar and run in the middle of the pack all season long.
+dcinhere Hornish wouldn't have lasted in the unified series in top quality equipment, he wasn't a very good road racer at all. He moved from Penske's IRL team to Penske's NASCAR team.
Empty Box Youre probably right, but he did seem to dominate on Ovals. But seeing that now its 50/50 you are right. I dont remember much from that time period, being only graduating from highschool in 2002 and wasnt totally focused on racing. But I also think JPM would have done more damage too if he stayed. We may have had a 5 time Indy winner if he stayed.
He was pretty strong in 2006 at the road courses. That's basically what gave him the championship over Wheldon.
Epic finish
Greatest Indy racing ever. Sam is the best driver.
Posting IRL races. Now that's brave
+button less remote control Posting CART races is braver. Technically speaking they are remnants of IRL that swallowed CART a few years ago.
+button less remote control It's smart. IRL races were the best racing in the early 2000s. Ultra-competitive and just bad-ass.
This stuff made CART shit the bed.
1:40:57 last lap
IRL in 2002 was good.
come back to Chicago
and you think boomtown 500 was close well this takes the cake
Why does Scott Goodyear sound like current Jeff gordon
Hell yeah Hornish
The track was too big for these cars. They only used the inside line and didn't come even close to the wall.
+easleyrider What? Then you haven't seen those cars run at Michigan which is a totally different story and the track is bigger than Chicagoland.
+indyfan2 this era racecar just seemed to ride the inside line and not be challenged by the track at all. I have nothing against the IRL, in fact I like the racing a lot up until the high downforce low HP days. Just this era was bleh.
6:05
Green flag