Traffic troubles helped sink IRL at LVMS

Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000 | 10:25 a.m.

It is not easy to pinpoint the precise reason for the Indy Racing League's demise in Las Vegas, but it may date to a warm and windy autumn afternoon in 1996.

On the morning of the inaugural event at the brand new Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Interstate 15 and Las Vegas Boulevard North were jam-packed with cars filled with race fans as well as the curious who wanted to get a first glimpse of the $200 million facility.

But the enduring picture from that first event is not the estimated 67,000 fans who braved the traffic to watch Richie Hearn win the Las Vegas 500K, but the scores of fans who tore up their tickets to the race and turned their vehicles around rather than fight the gridlock into the speedway.

That unpleasant experience for many local racing fans -- and potential fans -- may have done more to undermine the IRL's success in Las Vegas than any of the other problems facing the IRL.

Since that inaugural event, attendance for the ensuing four IRL events at LVMS failed to top 35,000 -- and dipped to an embarrassing 18,000 for this year's race.

Sagging ticket sales for the Vegas Indy 300 in April prompted Bob Reif, the arrogant senior vice president of the IRL, to threaten to pull the series out of Las Vegas unless attendance improved. It didn't (people generally don't respond well to threats), and Reif on Saturday said the IRL would not return to LVMS next season.

LVMS and IRL officials had agreed upon a date to run a race next year, but the deal fell apart when Reif demanded an exclusive three-year contract that would have prevented the speedway from also hosting the more prestigious Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series.

LVMS general manager Chris Powell has been talking with CART interim president Bobby Rahal since June about bringing that open-wheel series to Las Vegas.

Reif wrongly accused LVMS officials of failing to properly market and promote this year's race, but the IRL's lack of success in Las Vegas cannot be blamed solely on the track's efforts.

The 1997 race, won by Eliseo Salazar, was held on a Saturday night in October and rain earlier in the day no doubt hurt the attendance, as did temperatures in the 100s on a Sunday afternoon in September for the 1999 race, won by Henderson's Sam Schmidt.

This year's event, held on the Saturday before Easter, was sandwiched between two popular racing weekends in Southern California: CART's Long Beach Grand Prix and the NASCAR Winston Cup race at California Speedway in Fontana. LVMS is dependent upon the Southern California market to draw fans for its major races, including the NASCAR Winston Cup and National Hot Rod Association events.

The IRL also has carried a stigma since its inception, when -- in the eyes of most die-hard open-wheel racing fans -- series founder Tony George "ruined" the Indianapolis 500. George, who also is the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, kicked the established CART series and its more recognizable drivers out of the Indy 500 when he started the IRL in 1996.

It wasn't until this year that Chip Ganassi became the first full-time CART team owner to run a car in the Indy 500 since 1995 -- although the acrimony between CART and the IRL exists to this day. Ganassi's driver Juan Montoya easily won the race.

The IRL also has been hampered in its attempt to gain acceptance outside of the Midwest and Texas by failing to retain its most recognizable drivers. Tony Stewart, the series' first "poster boy," won the 1997 championship, then left a year later for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Kenny Brack won three races in a row and captured the series title in 1998, then jumped to the rival CART series this season, where he is the leading contender for the Rookie of the Year award.

Ironically, Brack will be returning to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in an open-wheel car; it is expected that CART will announce later this year that it will add LVMS to its schedule in 2002.

Until then, however, the sprawling 117,000-seat superspeedway at LVMS will host only one major racing weekend, the NASCAR Winston Cup and NASCAR Busch Series events in March.

And that's a shame because despite its problems -- both perceived and real -- the IRL more often than not puts an exciting product on the track.