I have posted a lot on this issue on TalkSmack, although you will have to wade thru a ton of my nonsense to find it. Heres a few of my thoughts …..

Toni Jorge’s vision turned out to be a nightmare. The “Back to Ovals and American Drivers” creedo that the IRL was formed under turned out to be a massive flop. AOWR reached its absolute zenith in the 90’s under the CART banner. The IRL can only dream of having the kind of attendance and TV ratings CART had back then. People need to ask WHY CART was so big, what made it a success, and what mistakes CART later made that led to its demise.

Most of the fan favorite drivers of the 60’s and 70’s did not hail from the midwest. True, most of the drivers still had the aura of working class Americana about them, but few of the big names were from the midwest.

Reaching out to the young urban hipsters is only part of the equation of rebuilding the fan base. The powers that be NEED to reach out to the CART fanbase – as I have said over at Rancho TalkSmack on a few occasions, of all of the numerous CART fans I have met over the years, very few have any interest at all in the ICS. The merger was supposed to unite the fans into one big happy family and attendance and TV ratings were supposed to soar once again. The slight ratings bump of 2008 did not continue into 2009; instead the ICS continued its pre ordained slide into oblivion. Longtime race fans need not ask why, the reasons are evident enough.

Unfortunately, the Sarah Fishers of the racing world are a dying breed. Ride buyers have become the rule instead of the exception. The few American working class heroes are now driving in NASCAR, where they are manipulated into marketing demigods.

And the ICS could sure use a few of these working class demigods, even if its just for the Indy 500.

By the way, keep up the good work 99.