The IndyCar Split: IRL vs CART | Part 2
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- **Part 3: • The IndyCar Split: Ind... **
In 1996, IndyCar racing split in two. CART versus IRL. The open-wheel split tore apart institutions, fans, tracks, and teams. A stunning collection of personalities determined to gain power, keep others from getting power, and all thinking they knew what was best for Indy car. Now 25 years later, a look back on racing's civil war.
Part II explores the formation of IRL and CART's reaction. The IRL promised more excitement than CART at a cheaper cost for more money. A series of IRL rule decisions infuriated CART and led to the creation of a rival race that would compete directly against the Indy 500, the US 500. With a boycott from CART in effect, the IRL opened their inaugural season with an unusual collection of unknown drivers.
Part I: Anger and Division in CART - • The IndyCar Split: Ang...
Part III: Indy 500 vs US 500 - • The IndyCar Split: Ind...
Part IV: The Path to Reunification - • The IndyCar Split: The...
Narrated by Brock Beard
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Video Clips owned by:
IndyCar
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NASCAR
ABC
ESPN
TNN
Music:
Awful - josh pan
Lights Patrick Patrikios
To Ponder - Godmode
Intelligentsia - Godmode
Sloppy clav - Godmode
Strenuous Life - US Marine Band
Heartbeat - Godmode
Phantom - Density & Time
Appearing in Clips:
Tony George
Scott Sharp
Jimmy Kite
Johnny Rutherford
Leo Mehl
Mike Joy
Vince Welch
John Della Penna
Dan Gurney
Jack Long
Paul Newman
Rick Mears
Kenny Mayne
Tony Stewart
Gary Lee
Mario Andretti
#IndyCar #Indy500 
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For anyone else wondering who the sole "Lady" was for the Disney 200, it was the extremely talented Lyn St. James.
What pleases me most about today is that some of today's top female drivers such as Julia Landauer, continue to honor her and look to her for what's next? I never saw her at indy, but did in the ford probe.
@@GregBrownsWorldORacing its because she really revolutionized that femaie drivers are just as good, she was racing during the Group C/GTO IMSA and Lemans days when they were too powerful and hard to control. I'm really glad that other female drivers regonize what she did.
@@cool3865 she qualified 6th for the 1994 indy 500 back then.
Now all the passing happens on the road and street courses lmao
This man gets it lol
David, are you doing any meet /tweet ups at the Rolex?
Blame the God-awful CART-like chassis they've been using since 2018. The DW12 needs to come back.
Only cause the package is terrible
@@dibslin985 Aerokit era was awseome.
I went to those first 2 races at Walt Disney World Speedway in 1996 and 97. Some of those drivers could have been in the Witness Protection program lol.
Y'know, some might say it's a bad idea to start your first season in a way that invites people to make jokes about being a Mickey Mouse organization if things don't work out, but apparently Tony George didn't see this as a problem.
@@christopherwall2121 I know the split is very controversial, but I do think the Hulman/George family and IMS should have a bigger part in the decision making/ownership of CART than they did. The entire series was based around their race.
Anyone find that someone named "Buzz" won at Disney World
@@christopherwall2121 Walt Disney World should have been in the schedule for the 1996 CART PPG IndyCar World Series if the International Speedway Corporation purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis Raceway Park in both 1990 and 1991 had the Open Wheel Split of '96 not occurred
@@ithemeparkOFFICIAL There was nothing stopping them from entering CART with a team of their own like Tony George did with Vision Racing and recruiting the kind of driver's he wanted to see. That would get him a seat at the table as a car owner and still cost less than 11 years of the IRL.
Online school on one monitor, this video on another
Which one's which? AFAIK, this IS school.
Same here.
I love the "halo" on the converted pike's peak chill climb indycar lmao
I was like..What in tarnation is THAT??!!
It's the IndyCar Aeroscreen by Dallara and Red Bull
Yeah came here to say that, absolutely ahead of time haha
(16:28 btw for anyone wondering)
It's like Assetto Corsa rally mod with F1 cars in it
Looking at the 2021 schedule, I do find it ironic that IndyCar is essentially the exact thing it once despised.
I see some people who try to say that the IRL business model "won," when in fact, Indycar adopted the CART model almost completely. Everything that TG gave as a reason to start the IRL (Ovals, engine ownership, emphasis on US drivers, sprint cars as a pipeline to Indy) is gone now. The only reason the IRL "won" is because the Hulman-George family had a billion to spend and the most important racetrack.
@@ziggystardust4627 I have to think that not having the Indy 500 is the biggest reason why CART ultimately couldn’t succeed. Let alone the money. I guess the question is what the US 500 would have been if it didn’t start the way it did. I’m sure we’ll see in part 3.
The only difference is they did get the cars that are a little more “fair”, even if Penske and Ganassi still dominate.
@@ziggystardust4627yeah. Had CART been even competently run, they would have dunked on the IRL.
But since that was a giant clown show, Tony George won only because of CART’s ineptitude
@@Marko295They should have punted on the idea of the US500 for a year. Fontana was set to open in 1997 anyway. Take 1996, install lights, and run the US500 under the lights on a brand new track on July 4th weekend.
Man, now I can understand what a big risk was that 1996 Indy 500.
If they provided a bad race or something like tire failures/wreckfest had happened, maybe it would be the end for the Indy 500 popularity.
Instead, Jimmy Vasser made them a favour during the US500 warmup lap.
The funny thing was the 96 Indy 500 ended with a big crash while the US 500 started with one.
Once again Brock Beard proves he's one of the best narrators on RUclips.
Yep I've been watching for a while it super.
@@runrafarunthebestintheworld always better to narrated himsefl #Indy500👍👍👍👍💪
i swear he hasn’t been part of a bad video yet … they all been thought out & educational yet easy to watch & attention grabbing 🤟🏻
@@ThickFILA79 definitely it’s not just his narration but the way the videos are edited/soundtracks that draw us in too. And also the context/content and how he delivers it. Every video of his is 10/10
Your username may be 'nascarman', but you really do the open wheel racing community justice with these fantastic documentaries. As a fan of both NASCAR and IndyCar racing, thank you and keep up the good work!
These are by far the best videos I've seen on the Split, and I've watched about every single one I can find. Looking forward to part 3.
Agreed really great
@@RealKartRacer i can't wait!!
And now... part 4
This is the classic tale of order leading to chaos then order again, a hard story to research and get the full story, thank God we have legends like Nascarman history. Thank you keep up the great work
If irl hadn’t come along, we would have never seen that epic beat down of Arie Luyendyk by the mighty hand of “Super Tex” Mr. A J Foyt at Texas Motor Speedway.
Robin Miller's words at the start of the video were a major reason why Tony George's vision not only failed, but failed spectacularly. I love oval racing as much as anyone, but IndyCar was at its best when it had a perfect mix of ovals, road courses and street circuits. That was the main attraction it had over NASCAR: it was diverse. The series desperately needs to go back to that.
And as Robin Miller said, his timing was horrible. Despite all of its issues and problems, CART was still on the rise as a series, at least in the short term if nothing else. I understand why Tony George did what he did, but all he did was make the situation worse. He just added gasoline to the fire instead of putting it out. It's for that reason why I mostly agree with fans saying Tony George ruined the sport. Seriously, can anyone think of one good decision he made in the long run for the IndyCar series when running it? I sure can't.
He would have been better off making his own CART team and trying to get American drivers in that way to help solve one of its biggest issues. Sure, CART as a whole was beyond repair as time went on unfortunately, but at least this would have put a band aid on it instead or trying to do brain surgery when making his own series.
The Hulmans had the biggest asset IMS and the Indy 500 but they certainly abused it and when Tony came in they clearly misguided him. The fan market was in favor of CART but they only were listing to a certain part of the country the state of Indiana and Midwest US. I glad the Hulmans are out of Indycar. The 25/8 rule was a abuse of power and was just a muscle flex by Tony George but it did the biggest damage in the Indycar sport history and should’ve been revoked before the start of the 1996 season. I get he wanted the first IRL race at disney to be buzzworthly but the 25/8 rule killed the mystique of the Indy 500 were the 33 fastest made the race since the first Indy 500 and in turn made any comprise in the short term impossible. CART just got caught looking ahead of Indy just a little bit in the years before the split but the Hulmans always seemed to hate CART and wanted any power taken away but I’m glad it almost killed the family’s whole financial portfolio and thus in turn over 20 years later sold it to a CART founding father Roger Penske.
@@robertmusgrave9236 No kidding they abused it. It's as Dan Gurney said in this video, The IRL wasn't made to help out the smaller teams. It was made because Tony George wanted control of the sport. He wanted to stick it to CART because he didn't like the way they did things. Simple as that.
I'll admit CART wasn't a well run series even during its heyday, but Tony George didn't solve any of its issues when he created the IRL, at least not long term. All it did was make things worse and hurt the sport to the point its still trying to recover from this painful split. If Tony George really was trying to help fix open wheel racing's issues, he should have made his own team in CART instead and used it as a way to get in the best drivers from the USAC Sprint Car series and so on. Had he done that, I'm very confident drivers like Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson would have raced in Indy cars possibly their entire careers because they would have the opportunity to show what they could do in good equipment and then raced for teams like possibly Penske, Ganassi or Team Green as they were known at the time because they clearly had the talent to succeed. All they needed was a foot in the door.
It is pretty ironic the series is now owned by Roger Penske. The IRL in the end became the very thing it swore it would be nothing like.
@@Jonathan83X all because he hated andrew craig and left once he was taking over as the CART president and then created the IRL not thinking clearly and thought he was going to have his family money to make it big. It also didn’t help that the NASCAR France family came to his help by giving IMS a race and it brought in revenue to just keep the IRL a running organization but then had to merge the series due to the race being a not very good after the IMS surface blew tires up at the 08 NASCAR race. The IRL was a bad business model and CART was the better one but he had to make it personal and in the end the fans truly lost. I know there are People that still thought the IRL was the greatest thing in the world at the time and still a few today that swear by it.
This is the best telling of the indy split I have seen. I have always come down in the middle of the 2 sides. Both had their points. George was right about keeping costs down so you don't end up with mostly pay drivers and 2 or 3 teams dominating like in F1. CART was right about running road and street courses. I am one of the few who think indycar now is on the right path. Costs are down, Lots of good drivers but still room for young drivers to have a chance to make a name for themselves. A good mix of street, road and oval courses and the races are very competitive and exciting. I know many hate that there is only one chassis and 2 engine manufacturers but the alternative would just turn into F1 usa. I loved CART of the late 90s and early 2000s but I also know it was not sustainable. Motorsports is much more diverse in the USA than in Europe so you will never have the money and viewers that is in F1.
All series have learned now that cost controls are essential or otherwise the series will die. It took the FIA three meltdowns caused by manufacturer withdrawals in Sports Cars to finally realize that in 2020 and Formula One has Come to Jesus and has now set up cost control measures and a budget cap. I was all in with CART during the split but in hindsight they could have at least reduced the number of non oval races, abandoned the International races and done something to cut the costs to race. Some of it may have been due to a foolish notion that they could be become a Formula 1-A.
@@williamford9564 CART added a bunch of ovals and the international races were all big money-makers. They just couldn't compete with the Indy 500. If they had it, it would have been a series to be reckoned with, because F1 was in quite a dark period for anyone who wasn't a Ferrari fan.
It was most certainly sustainable if the split didnt happen.
By the late 90’s cart was international and the second biggest open wheel series in the world
Then they split and only now it’s back to being decent series
blew 20 years of a potentially great series because of ego
IndyCar needs a bunch of more ovals now. They need to race at Michigan International Speedway again for example.
Open wheel racing in the US never recovered.
the worst idea in the history of racing my friend
And now the TV ratings are showing that Formula 1 is overtaking IndyCar in popularity in the states, especially among young Americans. Kind of puts the kibosh on the whole "IndyCar needs more ovals" argument.
@@Christopher_TG not really. Open Wheel was declining in popularity anyway... NASCAR was going to pass them up regardless. It wasn't about Road force it was about them finding a new Revenue stream. They were not trying to broaden their appeal with the road courses to an American audience anyway. They were literally bailing out on that ship. Largely due to the lack of competitiveness. NASCAR was more interesting ,because well it was more entertaining. Cuz let me tell you that year watching Rodger penske's Mercedes-Benz completely dominate that oval race was like watching paint dry. Now on top of the fact that you're already declining in popularity you think opening it up to drivers from other series internationally is going to appeal to the United States Market? Of course not. Because they didn't care about the US market. Fortunately for them the international market was already pretty much taken by Formula 1. Growing up in the 80s being able to watch Formula 1 was not always easy. But when it was accessible I watch and enjoy. NASCAR is declining popularity. They're trying to see you know we're going to make Rovels and all kinds of gimicks....stages like the tour de France 🤣🤣 how's that working for them? Run on ovals mostly what happened? The product is boring 😴... thats what happened.... maybe next someone can come up with hazards you know you could put jumps and landmines LOL or you could get rid of all the chickenshit woke nonsense and all the rubber corner and all the we don't want to go too fast and all the don't let them bump their heads🤷♂️... I don't know, get rid of all the silver spoon up thier behind children? You go on, and you make the mistake the greedy owners did, you go on thinking it's about oval versus road course. Are you just do like NASCAR have a roval LOL dumbest crap I ever tried to watch. No wonder they like Formula One. I do too
Indycar's ratings are up in a big way this year, and the series is getting better as well. F1 is ALSO becoming pretty popular in the US, thanks in large part to Drive To Survive.
The level of success F1 has had in the last year or two is in no way an indictment of modern Indycar though, most of that gain is from people who had no interest in motorsports before. Some of them are getting hooked through F1, then discovering Indycar and deciding they like it even more!
@@UNHchabo This right here.
Different series' popularity among fans isn't a zero sum game. Two series can get popular at the same time WITHOUT either one suffering. F1 and IndyCar are gaining steam mostly independent of one another and, to an extent, to the other's benefit.
I was last at Disney World in 2010, the old speedway just looked like an abandoned parking lot...
If my recollection of going there in 2009 are correct, then the Richard Petty Experience used to have something involved with the old speedway either in collaboration with Test Track or with Disney to try and get more eyes for NASCAR on ABC. I may be wrong.
It is an abandoned parking lot.
S1apSh0es did a video on the history of that track and it basically was a converted parking lot/set of access roads that was turned into a speedway. Disney completely demolished it a few years ago when they were reconfiguring the parking on that area
The hypocrisy of the IRL is in the starting lineups. It was a series that was supposed to be about the American short track racers, but they would never be more than a minority group in the series. Most of the drivers, many of whom had questionable talent levels, had road racing backgrounds. If Tony was serious about helping the Tony Stewarts and Davey Hamiltons, he should've started his own teams (Vision Racing?). He should've fielded IndyCars, cars in Lights, Atlantics, USAC's 3 series, World of Outlaws, or any other open wheel series he wanted. Even if he had to pay for most of that out of his pocket, it still would've been cheaper (and far less destructive to the sport) than the nearly half a billion he spent on the IRL from 1996 to 2009. And as team owner, he would get to decide who is in his cars, so he could hire a John Andretti, Pancho Carter, or Gary Bettenhausen for the IndyCar programme, and groom the likes of Stewart, Irwin, Leffler, etc in Lights & Atlantics. Tony would've looked like a hero with a farm team for the traditional short track racers to get to IndyCar without uninviting the establishment.
pretty spot on...and why would most of the top sprint car/dirt oval guys want to go to a second tier/essentially minor league (at least at the beginning) knock off indycar series when they could go to NASCAR?
Everyone figured out pretty quickly, just like the CART owners had many years ago, that the American short track racers couldn't cut it, even on ovals.
@@bduddy55555 even up to a couple years ago random teams would pop up and try to run sprint guys at indy.....can't remember one that was ever remotely competitive...even compared to other 1 car indy only entries
@@bduddy55555 A.J. Foyt? Mario Andretti? Bobby and Al Unser? Al Unser Jr? Jeff Gordon? Tony Stewart? None of them seemed to have any problems being competitive on road courses. The assumption that the open-wheel short track racer can't road race is as arrogant as TG forming his IRL.
@@bduddy55555 the gap in the style of racing between dirt tracks and Indycar is just too wide these days, especially when you only try and run the 500 without ever running another race in the series. Chris Windom and Jarrett Andretti have looked reasonably competitive in the IndyLights races at the speedway in recent years, but with that race going away, their chances for track time have gone with it.
I didn’t realize at the time how huge it was that the IRL got the whole series on ABC, even if there only were a few events. Can you imagine how different this could have been if the provisional rule hadn’t been introduced? If Tony George had just started an oval series which didn’t conflict with CART events, it would have been interesting for sure… I have to admit, if I didn’t have knowledge of the past and tomorrow Penske announced a new “Oval-only” Indycar series which would try to allow young dirt races to race indycars… I would be excited. I tend to ignore the years 1996 - 2007 in Indycar, but there was a lot of exciting stuff going on… Thanks again for the awesome video, looking forward to more!
ABC wanted the Indy 500 and TG wanted the other races tossed in with it. Like most situations in life with TG, he threatened to pick up his ball and go play with someone else if ABC didn't play by his rules. Maybe he had an offer from FOX, maybe he didn't. Everything revolved around the Indy 500. Without control over that one event, TG had nothing.
That 25/8 rule was key for the IRL, otherwise I don’t how many 1995 chassis would have been available for the IRL teams. The CART teams would have kept many of those cars to themselves. You should watch the 2002 Indy 500, when the CART teams raced against the IRL teams. You could sense the friction between both sides in many of the interviews and comments. It was like Hatfields vs. Mc Coys.
ALREADY UP?!?! ITS LIKE SECOND CHRISTMAS.
Thanks again.
The story of Scott Harrington is the best part of this episode. Gave up everything he had for a shot at Indy there’s just something really captivating and inspiring about a man who does anything he can to make his dream come true! 🏁 Scott your a legend sir
Good series, the beginning felt a little slanted to IRL. Also, the fact the 1995 CART car that was being ran in IRL 1996 needed to be talked about more. The CART teams made money off the IRL starting as the team owners sold these vehicles to the IRL teams. Also, they weren't allowed on CART tracks as there was a safety issue with the fuel tank. The fact the teams had to buy these cars in 1995 only for them to be obsolete in 1996 was a major issue for Foyt who probably would've gone to IRL anyway but mentioned this when he was angry at CART in the mid-90s.
Team owners by this time always sold off their current chassis to smaller teams or for 1 shot teams for Indy. Stefan Johansson consistently ran the previous year Penske chassis all through the 90's.
I’m amazed how Disney managed to emerge the real winner here, because they bought ABC (which brought them ESPN as well) and they had both the CART and IRL races on their broadcast docket.
Not all of ESPN technically (Hearst has the other 20%) but by the time Disney entered the picture ABC already had 80% of ESPN.
Awesome videos mate. This series on the split is brilliant with all the footage you’ve manage to locate. Well done and thank you very much.
Michael Andretti's Indianapolis 500 legacy was a victim on what could have been 5 chances to finally win the great race '96-'00
Had Michael Andretti raced at Indy in any of those years he would have walked away with the race win but it would have been a hollow victory since he wouldn't be racing against the best the sport had to offer.
Right guys! Because to me (albeit that CART hurt themselves in a small amount), but to me Tony George is and always has been the biggest control freak that American Open Wheel Racing has ever seen.
@@iancooley9848 no, roger penske is worse and he is turning indycar in a woke event for teens
This series took everything serious from the SB Nation Seattle Mariners video without most of the humor and made it just as good while taking a very different feel to it. Absolutely incredible.
I remember this all. Great recap of open wheel's dark days.
Yep.
HBO called, they want their cliffhanger back
5:02 John Della Penna (RIP) in his biography book said after he won the 1995 Formula Atlantic Championship his team could get into the chance to race in the major series but The Split put him in a tough situation choosing between CART and IRL.At the begining He decided to make part time season between both series,the reason to make this was his sponsors were based in California (Where he was living also) and he has more "connection" with the Road Curses for all the years he was in the Atlantic Series but in the other hand he couldnt denied to race in the 500 but he didnt have so much conection with the Ovals.The last season with IRL he decided to move to CART full time for the upcoming season and he was called a "Traitor" by George and AJ Foyt.At the race in Las Vegas Richie Hearn won the race and this victory boosted more money to the team for the upcoming CART season.According to Della Penna they told him the "Rockie of the Years" belongs to Richie not for Tony Stewart but Richie moved to CART so at the end it belongs to Tony Stewart
The "Rockie of the Year" was for Indianapolis and Richie finished third but tony set new track records, started on pole (with Scott Brayton's death) and lead a substantial number of laps early in the race before his car failed. The ROY does not always go to the one who finishes best but Della Penna was really sore about not getting it. I thought Stewart deserved it.
I had literally NEVER heard of the "American Indycar Series"... You learn something every day lol
I definitely agree with Tony on the fact that Indycar on ovals is much cooler. I mean, Indycar on road courses is cool, but Indycar on ovals is some of my favourite stuff. Nowadays they have too few oval races, although I'm unable to watch anyway since some nice TV deals which prevented RUclips uploads of the races.
you're in the minority...no one goes to the oval races which is why they aren't on the schedule.
@@joeb7975 sadly true
Why won't people go to the oval races?
@@joelbrooks3198 imo oval racing just isn’t as popular as it once was in general. NASCAR has seen a gradual decline in attendance over the past 15 years as well.
@@joeb7975 why isn't oval racing as popular as it used to be?
I grew up with the IRL, and was always a Champ car fan. The result, although I can appreciate the 500's history a lot more (ack when I was growing up it was that race with the boring sounding cars), I'm not completely taken in with the 500. It's a great race, and historical, but I don't treat it as the only race that matters in the series. Honestly, I think I get more excited for Long Beach, because that's what I grew up with. I blame Tony George for this.
I went to 11 CART races at Long Beach. Before that I went to 3 F1 races there, and before that, the inaugural F5000 race in 1975. I was a teenager. There were so many F5000 cars they had to run 2 heat races to determine the starting grid for the main race.
The track I went to the most to see CART was Laguna Seca. I saw the series 14 times there.
An interesting fact that I didn't see mentioned is that nearly all of the 1996 IRL cars were old cars from CART teams that had gladly sold them to their supposed enemies for a few extra bucks. If that hadn't happened the IRL may never have been able to get off the ground.
was this done with intent to allow the irl to race,,,,,
@@ror312gallery19 No. By this point, it had become common practice for all of the CART teams (including Penske) to sell last year's chassis to smaller teams so they could upgrade to the latest ones. It was also a way for smaller teams to race in CART or a 1 shot for the Indy 500.
@@danielhenderson8316 cheers mate, thank you your comments and POV,cheers from italy, robert
Tony George speaks like someone who's just woken up.
Fantastic series btw, best I've found on the split.
I think its pretty funny that George went all "BUT MUH SPRINT CAR DRIVERS" and he got it in Tony Stewart, who then immediately went to Nascar anyways.
That's were the money was still is but much less now Indy car racing is coming back slowly!
Funny how those early IRL racers were a ragtag bunch of misfits. You had complete nobodies such as Buzz Calkins, CART backmarkers such as Buddy Lazier and Robbie Buhl, guys with some success in CART such as Eddie Cheever and Scott Brayton, and a young Tony Stewart.
Really great series so far. I've really enjoyed the channel since finding it. I've watched everything a handful of times each.
Thanks for sharing! You are an incredible video storyteller. FYI - the inaugural IRL race at Walt Disney World Speedway was run twenty-five years ago today (January 27, 1996).
Well, this series is amazing. Can't wait for part 3. I fell out of love with open wheel over all of this.
Too bad because you're missing the best racing ever.
Oh, I'm back in.
@@dubdaze68 See, great racing is the cure for everything.
You had to know that the Open Wheel media members hated this split with a passion. Robin Miller, Paul Page, Bob Jenkins, etc. You know they sat around ripping the owners of both series behind their backs. And when I saw Dan Drinan I thought that Ed Norton went into racing for a second.
I'd love to see a high quality replay of the 1996 Indy 500 on their RUclips channel - such a "unique" race!
I remember Buzz Calkins winning that Disney race
The ironic thing is that even with the IRL, no midget/sprint driver ended up winning the Indy 500. Not even Buddy Lazier was from that racing tradition. And in the eight years spanning 1996-2003 (when the big CART teams returned) only 2 US-born drivers had won the Indy 500. The whole battle over open wheel racing was all really groundless and contradictory. That’s why people got turned off and that’s why there were no “winners” in the split.
At least one good thing came out of the split, It game Tony Stewart the fame to go straight to Joe Gibbs in NASCAR
Vince Welch actually sounded normal back in the day. And he enunciated his words. Nowadays, he sounds like he's trying to be a new Ken Squier.
Literally two weeks ago I was looking for documentaries on this subject haha great video
I was there for most of it as a fan.. I attended the bulk of the 12 Indy 500's I attended starting in 1990. I quit in 1997 on a protest and did not return to 500 until 2007 I followed the whole thing closely. I am convinced to this day Tony George has got to bear some of the blame for the death of Scott Brayton. I lost all respect for George over this. Something I will never regain. Your series is a walk down memory lane... I attended a lot of races through that era including Toronto for 15 strait years. I had the privilege of meeting most of the players here. GREAT JOB and thank you... I wait impatiently for the rest.
This is great. Thanks for compiling. Looking forward to the next chapter.
...Oh, I get it, you released this on the 25th anniversary of the first IRL race!
Your series on this topic is first class!
Can't wait to watch part 3!
This is by far the best coverage of "The Split" I've ever watched, and I remember the 90s well... I was born in 84 and I LOVED Indycar, F1 and anything besides Nascar.
Tony George set the sport back 20 years, and time has proven his endeavor to be the end of the "big money" days of American open wheel racing.
Some of the drivers in the IRL were NOT professional driver caliber, and at the time, CART was pretty much the step in between the F1 series and F3000 (currently Formula 2)... CART attracted real worldwide superstar racers.
I know people will disagree, but Tony George was the worst thing to ever happen to top level American open wheel racing.
i hate road and street races but now they draw the crowds, look at all the oval tracks in american there all silent,i liked the oval approach but it just didn't work and Indy car has suffered since!
Tony was so much better than his car, those engines kept breaking on him...Kind of like Michael at the Indy 500.
Tony George is a bit of a tragic figure really. He wanted to be like Ecclestone and the France's but they totally played him. IRL walked straight into Nascar's crosshairs while killing off any chance that Indy could be bigger than F1. And Penske had the last laugh in the end.
With or without the split, Indy could never surpass F1. It's impossible.
@@23GreyFoxand it should never have been the goal. Beating NASCAR should have been the goal
@@BlueSkyCrystals I agree.
Cost effective and open wheel are mutually exclusive in my opinion. Top tier open wheel should be outrageous, its part of the draw.
Constantly evolving technology should also be part of the equation. I loved it when Penske unveiled his secret Mercedes pushrod engine at Indy in 94. His cars had at least 200 more HP than anyone else.
There is zero new technology in the series anymore. One of my friends was an Indy Car mechanic from the late 70's to early nineties, and the teams were always allowed to try new stuff. His says now the team members are not mechanics and innovators. They are merely technicians.
I hope this is a 10 part series because I can't get enough
Awesome, awesome videos! Great storytelling! Thank you for putting in the work for this!
love the way you incorporate TV footage and not narrate everything. You deserve more subscribers for the high quality stuff you put out brother. Much love.
5:26 Somebody get Tony George an expresso, stat!
*smiles cause there’s a new one*
*cries because I watched it*
"I swear it was brand new a split second ago, what happened!!?!?"
Oh....I watched it transfixed in a spacetime bubble that made it seem instantaneously over....
2:32 This coming from a driver who won SCCA Trans-Am titles driving on....wait for it.....wait for it....Road Courses! Man, what a Shrill Scott Sharp was when he was in the IRL/IndyCar Series.
All the guys in the IRL were shills. Eddie Cheever might have been the worst.
9:25 Man that ad is just dripping in 90s faux "manliness". I can only imagine how the director pitched it "This ad is so masculine when someone watches it their beard grows 3 inches".
15:56 Scott Harrington is the embodiment of the Bread song "I Would Give Everything I Own". 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
*IRL vs CART exist
Me: Grab some popcorn :D
These are great in-depth videos. Nice work!!!
Ovals in indycar used to be way more exciting than street courses but due to the safety concerns of pack racing or even racing that even somewhat resembles it, most of the time the ovals suck major ass
Honestly, the Aero Kit oval package from 2015-2017 was the last time we saw excitement on ovals. The Universal Kit (IR-18, the ones they are racing right now) package isn’t really as good on ovals. That’s most likely the problem
(Also, hey Dood! Remember me? Remember Joseph, jlpsnipes, as well?)
@@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT yeah man whats up! lol
@@akaDOOD not much. Got my channel terminated almost 2 years ago, but still making videos in this new channel. You?
the CART schedule in those days was PERFECTION....look at 1997 for example.....7 ovals, 5 street circuits, 4 permanent road courses and one airport (I don't think Cleveland fits the street circuit category).........to me the best drivers in the world are those that can master the short oval, superspeedway, street circuit, AND road course....and all that bluster about finding American talent from the IRL netted exactly one great driver (Tony Stewart)......the rest of the IRL field was full of CART rejects, rich guys cosplaying as IndyCar drivers, and other misc/retirement-aged has-beens.....then when CART started to fail all of the vastly superior international talent displaced all of those "homegrown" IRL guys......and then Tony George had to eat crow and go back to road racing anyway. CART had its leadership issues and wasn't sustainable without tobacco $$$...but for my money no series on earth before or since holds a candle to late 90's CART.
That's exactly the point I do not understand. If late 90s CART was the best thing since sliced bread, it would not have crumbled to a series of nobodies.
@@X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X the tobacco money is what supported the massive budgets and promotion apparatus.....once the government regulated them out of the business there was no one to fill that massive void. Up to that point the series was growing at an explosive and unsustainable rate....(look up their 1999 IPO).....then in 2002 they made some changes without consulting the OEMs (big mistake) so all of the OEMs packed up and went to the IRL. Now, the IRL didn’t really win....the series today is still jam packed with aging CART talent because the IRL failed completely in what they set out to do....in the end no one really won, especially not us fans. The series slowly has morphed into “CART lite” ...not nearly as good but much more sustainable....and far better than IRL which was essentially a second tier/minor league series at least in its original iteration.
@@X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X it was run terribly. they got too expensive for their own good...and then government pulled the plug on Tobacco advertisement and that essentially killed CART as well.
no series in the world,not even Winston Cup oddly enough, was as propped up by big Tobacco as CART was.
@@X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X - Yes it would because CART was run terribly with CEOs coming and going. The main difference was Tony George took the arrogance and ego of CART and dwarfed it.
Just wait and see how stupid things are going to get.
@@danielhenderson8316
I know how stupid things are going to get. I agree him taking the nuclear option was the wrong solution. To the right problem, however.
Another good one. Looking forward to part 3.
Things have Changed, Road courses became more exiting
Thank you Tony for ruin the magic of the American Open Wheel Racing
I saw your part 1 in my recommendations two days ago and had a good time watching it.
Now seeing part 2 pop up. I am watching it right now and will hit that subscribe button
2:07 didn't know vince covered so much indycar crazy how he's gone from that to keepin' on truckin
He worked with Jack Arute at Fox Sports when they televised races too
tony george talks like he is slow, or drunk.
Because he is (was).🤣
@@paulo9504 which one or both ;)
Great piece of motorsports journalism. I can't wait for parts 3 & 4.
In today's Indycar, they have 1/3 oval, 1/3 road courses, and 1/3 street circuits. A diversity that is the most even in any motorsport. Don't get me wrong, I love oval racing, but it can get pretty stale if it's done all the time like NASCAR
Once again, these videos are masterfully put together!!!! Great job and absolutely love the content!
Love how PT is the only one smiling in a serious advert 9:38
I went the the 1996 US 500 with My Dad , It was awesome !!!!
I live less than a half hour from IMS, I love the IndyCar series and always will
Nicely done! I enjoyed both parts. Those were tough times for open wheel fans.
Can't wait for the third and fourth parts. Amazing videos, amazing storytelling.
The biggest thing I've taken away from these two videos is that Tony George was a terrible public speaker. I can't say I'm any better though.
Dan Gurney should look down from heaven to Tony George.. and THANK HIM.. Had the Eagle-Toyotas run at Indy in 1996, they would have been laughed out of the property.
Amazing work. I can hardly wait for the next part. Thank you!
Great documentary! Keep them coming!
I miss the Gold Coast race. Was there for the first one.
One thing is apparent in each video so far, for me. Tony can't speak publicly for shit
I love that CART shirt, Crybabies At Roger’s Racetrack.....
CART was the better series.
Crapwagons sucked
Had CART/it's teams called George's bluff and shown up at Disney, so much of what happened could have been avoided. George gets more grief than he deserved because he was not well-spoken and much of the press was on CART's side/payroll, but Cart's arrogance was on full display at the time and it was used against them. Both sides deserve half of the blame, but the IRL/Tony George got far more than it's share at the time.
Tony was ( and still is) dumber than a box of rocks. Thankfully, both he and his family have nothing to do with the series or the Indy track any more.
CART screwed up many times, but ultimately TG's actions caused the downfall of American open-wheel racing.
If Tony George was half as smart as he says he thinks he is, he wouldn't have had to make the IRL into CART Jr.
Chip Ganassi did show how much of a joke there IRL was when Montoya led 2/3rd of the 2000 IRL 500 and won.
If he didn't declare war, he probably could have taken over when CART would collapse on its own, but he had to destroy the entire thing like the little man-child he is.
I wish that Indycar would go back to some of these ovals. Nowadays, they only go to Indianapolis, Texas, Iowa, and Pocono.
They don't go to Pocono anymore, "to dangerous" they go to Richmond instead now
Iowa and Pocono are gone
It's damn near impossible to make an IndyCar oval track race profitable.
@@kloosternator no richmond or iowa this year just indy texas and gateway
@@michaeldeitch3642 didn't know that, was just going off the plan pre covid
nascarman History + Brock Beard = Best Motorsports Creator Combo on YT. 👍👍👍👍❤
There needs to be a documentary about John Paul Sr and Jr. They did some CRAZY shit!
Every time Tony George is on the screen I’m almost overwhelmed by his passion and charisma. #scarcasm
Amazing job on this video series. Next level.
“Americans want American drivers racing on American ovals. It’ll be cheaper and more cost effective”
Present day America: *uno reverse card*
Leo Mehl knew, what he was talking, he was involved big in nascar as goodyears competition director and saw this growth.
Empty Box's series of videos on The Split is also worth watching
2:02 damn that's a young Vince Welch
Vince Welch sounds totally different today
Other than Tony Stewart, none of the sprint car drivers stepped up to the plate. Billy Boat won a race. But other than them...
@ballplayer1799 They did try, Kinser got a chance at least.
@@SwineBrothers Kinser had already gone to nascar before IRL existed and failed there too.
he is what he is. a sprint car driver.
It turns out that if you offer to pay someone for driving a sprint car or offer to let them drive an Indy car if they pay you, they drive sprint cars. My biggest disappointment of the IRL is that it became even more dependent on ride buyers than CART had been. The best were being paid but the field was being filled with guys with checks. Oh Donnie Beechler almost won once but Johnny Rutherford wrecked him with the pace car under yellow while he was leading.
Fantastic Work!!!! love it. Do you videos that are similar to this one?
Great series! Can’t wait til pt3