The Lost Years Of The Indianapolis 500
If the title of this article attracted you because you thought this might be a historical piece about the war years, when there was no racing in 1917-18 or 1942-45; you will probably be disappointed. Yes, it would be an interesting topic to explore – how Mauri Rose had a five-year run as the reigning champ of the 1941 Indianapolis 500 during World War II – but that’s not what this is about.
Instead, this is an article that will probably not sit well with some who thought I was teetering on the brink of negativity the other day, or the IRL faithful – and yes, I used that dreaded acronym for the Indy Racing League. I consider the years 1996 to 2001 as the lost years of the Indianapolis 500. This is not meant to be a diatribe against one side or the other. We’re long past that. But I love delving into the history of the Indianapolis 500 and so far, history is not being kind to those years. It’s worth examining why.
For the record, I agree with CEO Randy Bernard’s sentiment that the term “IRL” has a bad connotation. I’m just not sure that he needed to go public with his feelings. Longtime reader of this site, Michael Clossin e-mailed me with a very good point. He thinks that Bernard probably under-estimated the bitterness that still lurks among open-wheel fans over the split.
I’m not sure what to call the sanctioning body of the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights. They need to call it something – but the term “IRL” immediately conjures up images of Dr. Jack Miller, Racin Gardner and Cory Witherill. These are not names that are destined for immortality, except perhaps to live on in trivia questions for years to come.
In 1992, I had returned to the Speedway as an adult after spending some of the best days of my childhood there in the sixties and seventies. After following CART for many years – I had attended the Indy 500 for four years in a row up through 1995, when “The Split” took place. I immediately sided with CART; not because I thought they were right, but because I knew that without their drivers – the Indianapolis 500 would suffer. I chose to not go to Indy in 1996, even though I had tickets. I went ahead and ordered tickets for the 1997 race, foolishly thinking that common sense would prevail and order would soon be restored at 16th and Georgetown. I was wrong. I chose not to renew my tickets for the 1998 race and didn’t return to the race until 2003, although I did attend qualifying in 2002.
Although I chose not to travel and spend my money attending the race during those years, I still watched the race and qualifying on television. I tried to convince myself that I really cared whether or not Robby McGehee or Fermin Velez made the race. They still had Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again In Indiana” and the winner still drank milk while standing next to the Borg-Warner trophy; but it didn’t feel the same.
Many people today complain about the sound of the current Honda engine, but does anyone remember the horrible drone of the Oldsmobile Aurora of the late nineties? I didn’t know whether to wince or cry every time I heard it. There was nothing pleasing about it and it certainly did not sound like the Indianapolis 500. Even today, when I see clips from races and I hear that low-pitched groan, I shake my head in disbelief.
The most ardent supporter of the IRL would have a tough time defending those years as having premier fields. The best teams and drivers on the grid in those days were the also-rans and castoffs from CART. I think the world of Buddy Lazier and he has proven himself to be a great driver. But he was never more than an afterthought in CART. One could argue that he is the epitome of why the IRL was formed – to give young American drivers that were overlooked by CART, a chance to compete and excel on racing’s biggest stage.
It sounded good in theory, but in reality history has placed an unseen asterisk next to the names of Buddy Lazier and Eddie Cheever – two drivers that never got it done in CART, yet won the Indianapolis 500 against extremely water-downed fields. The race became jokingly referred to in some corners as the IRL 500, and for good reason. It was just a showcase of the sub-par regular season drivers in the IRL. There was no longer any way to make the case that these were the best drivers in the world. Formula One fans have always had a problem with that claim, anyway – and of course NASCAR fans not only lay claim to the world’s best drivers, they also know they invented the sport as well; along with all the advances in safety.
Kenny Bräck isn’t given the imaginary asterisk because he came up through the IRL, won Indy and the championship before moving on to CART. Still Bräck, Juan Montoya and even Helio Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 against weak fields. The ultimate embarrassment for the IRL came in 2001, when for the second year in a row – a team from CART came over in unfamiliar equipment and beat the field. It was done the year before, when Juan Montoya absolutely dominated in 2000 – while driving for Chip Ganassi in a one-off effort as the team took a break from their CART schedule. In 2001, not only did Roger Penske’s team come over from CART and take a one-two Indy finish from the IRL regulars – the CART teams that came over to run the Indianapolis 500 walked away with the top six spots, leaving Eliseo Salazar to carry the IRL banner as he finished seventh and a lap down, while driving for AJ Foyt.
To me, this was never about ideology. I didn’t care for the posturing on either side. I only cared about restoring the luster to the Indianapolis 500. While CART had the better teams and drivers – the IRL had that famous piece of real estate on the west side of Indianapolis. That proved to be the trump card as the top teams began to migrate back.
In 2002, Penske shocked the racing world by announcing his team would leave CART – the series he co-founded in 1979 – to run in the IRL on a full-time basis. Ganassi and Team Green, the other top teams in CART, followed suit in 2003; while Fernandez, Pat Patrick and Rahal-Letterman jumped ship in 2004, leaving Newman/Haas as the lone CART power to remain – yet even Newman/Haas chose to run Indy in 2004-05.
Like it or not, the presence of the top teams from CART gave the Indianapolis 500 the credibility it had lacked from 1996 through 2001. I almost count 2002 as one of the lost years; but there were enough strong teams in that field, that it was obvious that the race was emerging from the dark days. While it was a noble idea to give young American drivers a shot at glory, it didn’t quite work out as planned and the end result was a confused public, fading interest and a diluted field for one of the greatest events in the world. Now Randy Bernard and a new regime are left to pick up the pieces and put this thing back together.
I have faith in Randy Bernard. While things aren’t as great as they were fifteen years ago at the famed oval, I’ve seen many positive trends in the last few years to feel confident about the future of this event that is so important to so many of us.
A giant step in the right direction is to try and steer the public away from using the moniker IRL. Again, it would have probably been better to attempt it subliminally, instead of giving the IRL haters more ammunition to crow about. But what’s done is done. I still agree with the idea, because the term ”IRL” brings up too many images of the lost years of the Indianapolis 500.
George Phillips
Note – There will be no posts this weekend. I’ll return Monday May 17. Enjoy Opening Day and practice everyday this week online at IndyCar.com.
Oilpressure 
May 14, 2010 at 9:10 am
I agree completly!
Personally, IRL doesn’t conjur up that bad of thoughts, because I really didn’t become interested until 07 in Open Wheel Racing, so I never saw the embarrassments of the late 90’s. That said, going away from IRL makes a lot of sense.
All I can say is it’s brave of you to write this. Good luck with the inevatible hate mail/comments!
May 14, 2010 at 9:10 am
Yeah, some lean years there George. But I’m very optimistic about the future of the IIRS and the Indy 500. I’m excited about this year’s race and all the changes that will happen between now and 2012.
May 14, 2010 at 9:20 am
Spot on George. In 1996 I stopped watching either series and the race period. I was so completely annoyed with both sides of the story, neither was worth my attention. It took a CART bankruptcy with the writing on the wall and a young (somehow different?) Dan Wheldon to bring me back. So as I reminence about racing today, Tracy and Mansell duelling at New Hampshire and Briscoe and Carpenter at kentucky are both clear as a bell, while in between is there is a cloudy hazy void. I know there is some reason people love tomas schekter or sebastien bourdais, but those reasons escape me. Finally, there is open wheel racing in this country that is relevant again.
May 14, 2010 at 9:26 am
A nice piece George and one I agree totally with. I have a lot of faith in Randy Bernard and its time to move forward and put all this IRL vs CART stuff behind us. Maybe as the final step in moving on, this new IZOD Indycar series can unify the record book too and recognise ALL the winners and champions from 96 to 07, from both series, as former Indycar champions and add them to the list of winners and champs that goes back almost 100 years. Open wheel has a glorious history and it should be preserved regardless of who the sanctioning body was at the time. Just a thought.
May 14, 2010 at 9:54 am
I agree with you. With the exception of ’64 and ’66, I was at every Indianapolis 500 from ’63 through ’95, covering it for print media from ’72 through ’95. I didn’t set foot back in IMS until I decided the 500 counted as a significant event with top drivers and teams in 2001.
I know there was a race at the Speedway called the Indy 500 during those years, but, in my opinion, it wasn’t THE Indianapolis 500.
I didn’t watch those 5 years and know almost nothing about them. I wasn’t even in the country two of those Mays.
I don’t care what the sanctioning body is called now. I do think the series is moving in the right direction. I do believe it would be great if the fans get what seems to be aunanimous, or nearly so, desire and that is a series with the option to run the chassis of the entrant’s choice so long as it meets the specifications of the rules.
May 14, 2010 at 9:55 am
Those years were my “formative” years of IndyCar fandom, as I was 13 at the time of the split and nearly 20 by the time Penske returned full time.
Growing up in Indianapolis, it never felt like the race lost its luster – was attendance down? Definitely. But the attitude of those at the 500 was never “this race is dying;” it was more of a “it’s their loss for missing Indy.”
Now nationally, it felt as if people were throwing dirt on the 500 grave at the time, and I remember seeing crowds in each year since 2002, looking around and thinking, “if only the media saw the excitement and anticipation about Indy this year, they wouldn’t be burying the race.”
May 14, 2010 at 10:05 am
I’m going to add to the chorus here, and my thoughts fairly well echo what Dylan said up above. For me, the acronym “IRL” doesn’t prevent me from claiming IndyCar as my favorite form of motorsport, but there were some years in there (when I admittedly watched almost every one of their races on TV and went to the 500 every year) when I thought of IRL as a four letter word (including the years of the Indy Racing Northern Lights Series, which my brother always appropriately called the “Earn-Less”). I’ve put that behind me, but there are a lot of people who haven’t, to one extent or another. Putting myself in those folks’ shoes, I wish they’d put the past behind them, but I do understand the bitterness. It’s for those folks, people who have followed major open wheel racing in the past, and passionately, to boot, who I feel that we might be able to win back pretty quickly by getting rid of “IRL” as a severing of ties to a comparatively dark period of the sport’s history. It’s a way of saying “look, we’re done with focusing on what’s happened in the recent past, and though we embrace all that the Speedway and IndyCar racing has encompassed over the sport’s history, we’re focusing on the future; come back home”. In my eyes, that’s the very first (immediate) step that we can take back toward prominence in the American sports psyche.
May 14, 2010 at 10:43 am
amen. what he said.
May 14, 2010 at 10:46 am
I happen to agree with you that Randy Bernard did not need to go public with his “blow-up” comment. That actually ticked me off a little. Sure, the term IRL maybe carries some bad connotations among some people but going out and saying what he did made it sound like Robin Miller was sitting on his shoulder whispering into his ear. I think it is a good idea to maybe change the name to reflect the unified series but do it in a positive way, not by digging at a sensitive issue.
Otherwise, those years were dim in the history of the speedway for sure. The racing was fun sometimes but I also think Buddy Lazier gets a bad wrap. I think he would have been competitive against the CART teams there regardless. He’s the only guy who could hang with Montoya in 01 and is consistently a solid driver.
May 14, 2010 at 12:10 pm
George, you missed it on this one. The “lost years” as you call them actually had a lot of the things that you bloggers wish we had today. Things like multiple chassis constructors, powerful and cheap engines, many cars battling on Bump Day, three abreast starts, 28 cars at places like Phoenix and Loudon and most importantly many talented home grown Americans! Tony Stewart, Davy Hamilton, Billy Boat, Andy Michner, Jason Leffler, J J Yeley, etc etc. Just because a driver never competed in CART doesn’t mean they are inferior. Maybe they didn’t have a fat wallet or sugar daddy. I was at all the “lost 500s” George and they were better races than the ones I have seen the last few years cause there was actual racing. Don’t kid yourself, the field this year will be pretty umcompetitive. Think about it.
May 14, 2010 at 3:17 pm
I’m acutally on Mike’s side. I grew up in the 90’s, and my first 500 I remember watching all the way through was Buddy’s win in ’96. As I grew older I watch both CART/ChampCar and the IRL, and I was (and am still) thrilled that they have finally unified (since I had never, ever, seen them racing together!).
But, every year when the Month of May rolls around and I start to youtube classic Indy 500’s (the Emo-Little Al battle, Scheckter-Tracy-Helio in ’02, the 85 Spin and Win, Clark winning in this Lotus, etc etc) I usually start by watching the 96, 97, and 98 runs with the drivers I grew up to know (Brack, Lazier, Luyendyk, Ray, Stewart) and watch the very loud and very fast (240mph!) ChevyOlds engines up against the Nissan Infiniti’s. And I think the mid-90’s CART cars and IRL cars looked so much better than the ones of today (that could be, again, because they were so much faster).
So no, they’re not the Lost Years. I’m not saying that they where anything but dark ages with relative unknowns, but it was still the Indy 500 as I learned to love it!
May 17, 2010 at 5:14 am
No N/A IRL motor ever propelled and Indycar to 240mph!
May 14, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Thank you for the great blog, George. As I was reading, I read a lot of things that, if put in words a child would use, were similar to what I saw. I’ll definitely have to blog on that.
May 14, 2010 at 3:57 pm
No question that those were a disgrace. Some of the racing was entertaining, but so were some of the slot car races in hobby shops during the 70’s so lets not give them any more credit than they really deserve.
The only positive that came out of those years were the masses of people who stopped renewing their tickets. As a result we went from 4 pairs of 2 seats scattered about a section of the J stand from rows as low as G and as high as X to 8 seats in a block on the aisle in GG and HH.
Where I think that Mr. Bernard is mistaken is that eliminating the IRL moniker is going to get rid of the residual resentment that he sees. The letters IRL themselves are a trigger that summon up anger and resentment, but what transpired during those “lost years” isn’t the root of today’s discontentment.
The complaints we hear today are not bitterness about the IRL. It is the result of bitterness that the speed is gone, the outcomes are predictable, the drivers we want to see have no interest in participation, the cars are boring. As a result the buzz and excitement that we remember from the 80’s is gone.
The city used to be as electric during the weeks leading up to the 500 as it was during the weeks leading up to the Superbowl this year… and we got that excitement every single year.
The IRL is the past and it is water under the bridge. The anger today exists only because those leading this race don’t have the drive or the will to make it be what it once was and very well could be.
It is the slow cars, the conservative stewardship of Barnhart and the refusal to take the risk of opening the rules up to make the 500 exciting again that cause the current anger.
Pretending there might actually be 40 cars, instituting push to pass, and giving multiple championships are futile steps by impotent stewards of the 500. These acts may placate some fans and give people something to talk about, but they will never bring the true excitement back to the sport.
The $20 million dollar purse? That is the act of somebody who wants people to believe the event is great… not the act of somebody who wants to SHOW PEOPLE that it is great.
May 14, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Good points, but the “showing” takes a little time to get set up (new cars, better promotion, changes to improve the on-track product). Those things are going to take several months (and up to a couple of years in the case of new cars) to roll out.
In the short term, you’re left with exactly two options: A) do some cheap, easy stuff (road/oval trophies, new names on the letterhead, new qualifying procedure, a possibility at a big prize for the 100th anniversary race) that *might* work to increase interest, or B) do nothing and be seen to be completely disinterested in improving your lot in life. I’d far rather that our new stewardship take option A, instead of giving us complete radio silence and not much of anything new to talk about at all. The latter is what we got a lot of the last few years, however pleasant and loyal our steward may have been (though there was no question he was both of those things). I’m glad to have somebody in there now who is willing to roll the dice a bit instead of standing pat and doing the same thing over and over again. Yeah, the big stuff is what is needed to completely revitalize the sport, but that stuff takes more than 75 days to institute. Patience. Relax, enjoy the month, and hang in there.
May 14, 2010 at 5:08 pm
“first you get the money, then you get the power, when you get the power, then you get the women…uh…fans.”
May 15, 2010 at 11:26 am
George, how about Indy Racing Group or IndyCar Racing Group ?
May 15, 2010 at 1:19 pm
[…] The Lost Years Of The Indianapolis 500 « Oilpressure […]
May 15, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Those that think that the “lost years” post split at the 500 were just fine, could not possibly have been around to see CART in it’s hey day.
May 28, 2010 at 6:58 pm
[…] originated when I read a blog post by respected blogger, George Phillips at Oilpressure.com on The Lost Years of the Indianapolis 500. As I read, while in complete agreement, I saw the need for a post on these years from my […]