Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
So if everything comes/stays together, we're probably going to see the return of open-wheel auto racing to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next year, and perhaps a U2 concert to boot.
Brilliant.
Only this time I'm not being facetious.
Mixing the high-octane worlds of auto racing and rock 'n' roll may be the best thing to hit Indy-style racing since Lava made its debut in Gasoline Alley. In fact, this proposed assualt on the senses might be the only way to save open wheel racing from speeding into oblivion.
The best racing on the planet occurs in the Indy Racing League, where a one-second victory is considered a wide margin. Although the Indy 500, the IRL's hallmark event, has been called "the ultimate test of man and machine," that distinction actually belongs to its open-wheel rival, the foundering Championship Auto Racing Series, which features the fastest cars in the world racing on a variety of circuits, including superspeedways, street and road courses.
Only nobody not named Jack Arute cares one hoot about the IRL or CART.
Back in 1996, as the NASCAR behemoth was approaching its zenith, the rich guys who control Indy-style racing decided to go their separate ways, splitting into two series. This made about as much sense as putting a turbocharger on a Volkswagen Beetle, and open-wheel racing is still trying to recover from its lack of foresight.
In fact, with many of its sponsors and teams having defected to the IRL because of the Indy 500's allure, there's no guarantee that CART, which lost $43 million during the first quarter of this year, will even answer the bell for 2004.
But if it does, music icons such as Elton John and Bono may be the ones who help CART's gentlemen restart their engines.
While attending this year's Long Beach Grand Prix, a rock concert promoter named Jamie Rose inhaled CART's methanol fumes and immediately became intoxicated. His company, MotoRock, has since become the title sponsor of the Trans-Am series, and Rose has partnered with a group of CART team owners who are trying to purchase the publicly traded company and take it private.
At last week's Grand Prix Americas in downtown Miami, they put their business model on display. A concert featuring Elton John brought an additional 20,000 fans to the track, and resulted in nearly full grandstands on race day. For $89, fans received three days of racing, plus the concert, plus a hat and a T-shirt.
No offense to Sir Elton, but he's probably about as relevant as the Offenhauser engine when it comes to appealing to the hip, new fans that CART is courting. But a supergroup such as U2, which has been mentioned as a possibility for the Las Vegas race weekend, once the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed, would really pack them in.
Combining a race with a major concert -- especially in an event town such as ours -- makes so much sense that it's a wonder nobody thought of it sooner.
That Smashmouth gig they held on the track apron after the last IRL race at LVMS a few years ago doesn't count. That was basically a one-hit wonder band, whose only CD was played in its entirety over the public address system before the race, negating any reason to hang around.
U2 is different. Bono and the boys have played Las Vegas before, selling out Sam Boyd Stadium, and there's no telling how many of the speedway's 120,000 seats they could fill if the event is marketed correctly.
A major concert, provided it were to become an annual thing, also could give a Las Vegas race weekend an identity and a reputation that heretofore has been hard to establish. For instance, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is auto racing mecca, where fans come from the world over to worship. Watkins Glen, on the other hand, is known for its infield debauchery while Bristol is king of the bullrings. And at Long Beach, when they talk about skirts, it's usually not the aerodynamic devices used on the racecars.
But outside of traffic snarls and the proximity of the blackjack tables, there's really nothing that separates a race in Las Vegas from others on the schedule.
On the negative side, reaching out to U2 would only further blur the line between sports and entertainment, but that's been happening since the day they started playing organ music at baseball games. I mean, how do you think Lisa Guerrero got her sideline pass? It certainly wasn't her knowledge of the West Coast offense.
Last week, a column by the Associated Press' Steve Wilstein went so far as to suggest that signs of a collapse already have made it to the periphery of pro sports. NHL teams are claiming $300 million in losses for last season, women's pro soccer and professional bowling have folded, the senior golf tour is in trouble, baseball attendance is stagnant and NBA playoff ratings were way down.
As Wilstein wrote, outside of the NFL, major college bowl games, the Final Four, Grand Slams in tennis and golf, the Olympics and yes, NASCAR, there are few pro sports not having financial problems.
In that most of its stars have retired and little has been done to create new ones, Indy-style racing is near the top of that list. So maybe this budding relationship with the music industry will help the sport re-invent itself -- just like Madonna.
Now there's an idea. If I were CART, I'd take it to the next level. I'd make Madonna and Britney Spears trophy girls, which, if nothing else, would sure make the victory lane ceremony a lot more interesting.
archive
