ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan 29, 1997 - 08:30 EST) -- It really is time thatsomebody blew the whistle on these guys - the Indy Racing League. It isn't that they can't put on a decent race, which they did again onSaturday with the Indy 200 at the Walt Disney World Speedway. The cars werefast enough, the racing was adequate (although the driving was somewhatconservative) and there was a surprise ending. It was good entertainment. That's where it should end. But it doesn't. To hear these guys, they arethe greatest - the biggest and the best. Which is just so much nonsense. The International Hockey League features a pretty good brand of hockey. But it's not the National Hockey League. What is important is that theleague and the players don't pretend to be anything more than what they are- minor-leaguers. The Indy Racing League is the brain child of Tony George, who owns theIndianapolis Motor Speedway. He wants to run Indy-car racing in NorthAmerica and created the IRL after his efforts to take over leadership of theCART-IndyCar series failed. His trump card is the Indy 500. Last year, hereserved 25 of the 33 starting positions for IRL regulars, effectivelyshutting out CART. After a season of running races using CART hand-me-down equipment, hesolidified the split for this year by instituting new engine rules - V-8stock-block motors vis-a-vis the high-performance, turbocharged racingcreations used by CART. So they went to the post at Walt Disney World with a short field (only 19cars instead of the usual 24) because the two manufacturers of the new powerplants (Oldsmobile and Nissan) couldn't get enough built in time. Wonderful, eh? In fact, three cars were allowed to start without runningany real practice laps and without posting a qualifying speed because theyonly took delivery of the engines Friday night and had just enough time toinstall them before the race. The event was won by Eddie Cheever, a 17-year veteran of Formula 1 andCART who had never visited victory lane before (which is quite anaccomplishment, considering how long he has been racing in the majors. Italso explains his nickname: Under-a-Cheever). Even at the IRL level, luck had everything to do with Cheever's victory.When Tony Stewart (one of the IRL's two real talents along with Canada'sScott Goodyear, who finished third) dropped out just after Buzz Calkins'sengine gave up the ghost, Cheever found himself in the lead. Then it rained, and the 200-lap contest was over at lap 149. At the winner's news conference, Cheever continued with the shtick thathas been the IRL's trademark: how it's us against them (CART), how the IRLis presenting a wonderful opportunity for new drivers and how the IRL onlycares about a driver's ability to go fast while "the other guys" areconcerned primarily with a driver's ability to bring sponsorship money. Cheever must have been aware, of course, that 13 of the 19 starters onSaturday were former CART drivers; two came from oval racing and the otherswere in CART feeder series, such as Indy Lights and Toyota Atlantic. So the opportunities being created, as indicated by that lineup, are notfor new drivers but primarily for washed-up or never-good-enough CARTdrivers; for ride-buyers no longer welcome in CART; and for guys who wouldnever make it to CART in a million years. The continuing lie about CART's primary consideration being sponsorshipmoney is working, if letters to U.S. racing newspapers and callers to racingphone-in shows are any indication. But there is only one paying driver (Hiro Matsushita) in CART. InSaturday's race, at least seven of the cars were rentals. And four oval-track drivers who were there shopping for cars to race (and the IRL issupposed to be designed to create opportunities for oval-track racers) saidthey were going to have to bring money, and lots of it, if they hoped toever drive in that series. Which is fine; it is reality. But it is hypocrisy of the worst kind toaccuse "the other guys" of doing something they aren't while turning a blindeye to the reality of what's happening in their own back yard. So Cheever was doing some real dancing with the facts. The trouble isthat hordes of media were recording his every word and reporting it all asgospel. And Cheever is not alone. Everyone connected with the IRL does it. It's acynical manipulation of the facts, a public-relations ploy built onmisinformation, ignorance, and class and cultural differences. The Indy 200 was fine in its own way. But to even try to put it in thesame class as the Molson Indy Toronto or Vancouver is ridiculous. There is no comparison. Without the Indy 500, the IRL would be nothing. And while the CART racesin Toronto, Vancouver, Long Beach and Cleveland stand easily on their own(which was another burr under George's saddle), the Indy 200 would not ratea second glance if it wasn't tied directly to Indianapolis. As long as the Indy 500 maintains its aura as the world's greatest race,the IRL will continue to attract attention. But if the bloom should ever come off the rose at Indy, as it did yearsago at Le Mans, then watch out. CART's days would appear, then, to be far from over. The same can't besaid for the IRL. In the meantime, they'd be doing us all a favor if theystopped pretending to be something they aren't. |