Columnist Ron Kantowski: IRL is alive, but Indy 500 not the same

Thursday, Oct. 9, 1997 | 8:13 a.m.

IF YOU weren't among the 67,132 curious souls who attended last fall's Las Vegas Motor Speedway inaugural, here's a quick Las Vegas 500K refresher course:

Roger Penske won't attend, there won't be an Andretti on the starting grid and the only Unser behind the wheel will be Johnny, the son of Jerry Unser (Al and Bobby's brother), who was killed practicing for the 1959 Indianapolis 500. Johnny U's as nice a guy as you'll meet. But when it comes to his chosen profession, he is to Uncles Al and Bobby and cousin, Al Jr., what Tommie Aaron was to Hank.

On the verge of completing its second season, many auto racing fans still consider the Indianapolis Motor Speedway-driven Indy Racing League something of a black sheep in the motor sports pasture. Started by IMS chief Tony George as a cost-conscious alternative to the CART Indy-car series, the IRL has succeeded in creating opportunities for new teams and drivers (as well as some old ones).

However, it had to compromise the Indianapolis 500, once considered auto racing's crown jewel, to get up and running.

Or did it?

To encourage participation in the IRL and reward its teams for their loyalty, the Speedway changed the rules at Indianapolis prior to the 1996 race, essentially guaranteeing 25 of the 33 starting spots for IRL regulars. But rather than compete under those rules, the CART teams boycotted by staging their own 500-mile race on the same day as Indy.

The so-called 25/8 rule since has been repealed, but now the cars are different. To make its cars more affordable, the IRL had to slow them down, using radically different engine and chassis specifications.

To the casual observer, the IRL and CART machines may look similar. But in reality they're like comparing apples and oranges. The CART teams would have to purchase all new equipment to run at Indy. Even the ones that could afford to buy cars for one race, won't -- not with the acrimony between the sanctioning bodies lingering like the smell of methanol in the morning.

In retrospect, with George's perceived power play to sway the CART teams into running Indy under his rules having failed (there has been only one convert, and Galles Racing's switch to the IRL was offset by Della Penna Racing's defection to CART), he might have been better off to leave Indy alone and/or come up with a formula both sides could live with.

In 1995, the last year the CART teams ran Indy, there were 22 CART regulars and 11 of what are considered IRL cars today (including the pole-sitter) among the 33 starters. In other words, the best IRL teams were going to make the race, regardless of the rules.

Then after the month of May, if the IRL wanted to tinker with the cars, slow them down, or even put training wheels on them, so be it. As the IRL's successful races in new markets such as Texas, Charlotte and Colorado Springs have shown, there seems to be room for two Indy-car series.

But if there's room for only one Unser at Indy and his name is Johnny, then something's definitely wrong.