Dr. Indy found the following commentary in the Enid Oklahoma News. Wait til you read the end…

“The field is set for what might just be the most important race in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

The race, billed as “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing,” isn’t any longer, at least as far as most racing fans are concerned.

The 92nd Indy 500, which will be run Sunday afternoon, is the first since the end of the 12-year split between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car, formerly Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART).

The split divided loyalties among U.S. fans of open-wheel racing and set the stage for NASCAR to move to the forefront of American auto racing.

Ask most U.S. racing fans these days the biggest auto race in the country and they will say the Daytona 500.

It wasn’t always so. In the past the Indy 500 was mentioned in the same breath with one-of-a-kind sporting events such as the Kentucky Derby, World Series and Super Bowl. In recent years it has become almost an afterthought. For one thing, the split kept the best open-wheel racers in America from competing head-to-head.

Of course, now that the series have reunited, many of the open-wheel stars of the past, drivers such as Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr., have defected to NASCAR.

To return to prominence, or at least to achieve something approaching parity in American auto racing circles, the Indy 500 needs a hero, a driver who can capture the fancy of race fans the way A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Parnelli Jones used to. (more at enidnews.com)

Of course Indy cars don’t have a hood, and that might be part of the problem. The cars look like ground-bound rockets, while NASCAR entries look like a car you might drive on the street.

Only time will tell if the Indy 500 ever returns to the status as, truly, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

That’s it - every car needs a hood! (Good story, just having fun with the one line.)

Posted: 05|20|08 at 8:31 am. Filed under: IRL, Indy 500.
Pinging is currently disabled.