President Al Bundy
Banned
IOTL, Tony George broke away with his Indy Racing League from CART in 1996, doing an oval-only schedule. But as he did so, he also burnt bridges with CART with the 25-car-rule for the Indy 500, which CART saw as an attempt to lock out their teams. But what if George and CART managed to do some sort of deal, which would look like this:
- IndyCar would split into two divisions. A road racing division with some international races and drivers and a oval racing division with races solely in the United States, and primarily American drivers.
- The Indy 500 would be open to both divisions, making it a Super Bowl of Indy Car, where the best drivers of both divisions duke it out. The Indy 500 would become a non-championship-event however, as only a couple of participants from both divisions compete in that race.
The advantages could have been that teams could do both championships, without streching their budgets pretty much. Because both division are under the same umbrella, there won't be much competition in open wheel racing, thus not damaging the sport like it had been over the last decade. For example, both series may race at the same date, but not at the same time, ensuring that no series suffers in terms of ratings. Even though it wouldn't make much sense to do both races on Sunday. It'd rather be one race at Saturday and one on Sunday.
Could such a lighter version of the split have been pulled off? The front between George and CART was pretty hardened, but this kind of compromise might have satisfied a lot of people. And how would open wheel racing look today in the US? Similiar to OTL or better? I could imagine that OTLs NASCAR drivers like Tony Stewart or A.J. Allmendinger could have stayed in open wheel racing.
- IndyCar would split into two divisions. A road racing division with some international races and drivers and a oval racing division with races solely in the United States, and primarily American drivers.
- The Indy 500 would be open to both divisions, making it a Super Bowl of Indy Car, where the best drivers of both divisions duke it out. The Indy 500 would become a non-championship-event however, as only a couple of participants from both divisions compete in that race.
The advantages could have been that teams could do both championships, without streching their budgets pretty much. Because both division are under the same umbrella, there won't be much competition in open wheel racing, thus not damaging the sport like it had been over the last decade. For example, both series may race at the same date, but not at the same time, ensuring that no series suffers in terms of ratings. Even though it wouldn't make much sense to do both races on Sunday. It'd rather be one race at Saturday and one on Sunday.
Could such a lighter version of the split have been pulled off? The front between George and CART was pretty hardened, but this kind of compromise might have satisfied a lot of people. And how would open wheel racing look today in the US? Similiar to OTL or better? I could imagine that OTLs NASCAR drivers like Tony Stewart or A.J. Allmendinger could have stayed in open wheel racing.