This had like the best intro to an Indy broadcast ever even if it was just for a bump day broadcast. The 91 race was one of my all time faves cause of Rocket winning it. Every true race fan should visit this speedway to see the 500 at least once in their lives... Carroll Shelby's comment about the wealthy kids being able to buy their way in, man if he was alive today he'd really dislike current NASCAR....
46:21 - 55:13 Holy shit that was a great segment talking about the costs of Indycar during early 90s foreshadowing the eventual split. Carroll Shelby was right in his prediction that spec cars would come soon just that they came 5 years from 1991 instead of 3 which he predicted.
46 to 55 minute mark a foreshadowing of the eventual split in Indy racing, and unlike all the stupid arguments that tried to say CART was a perfect operation in the early 90s, this hits the nail on the problems that existed and CART refused to address while they just let elite super teams dominate and costs to keep going up.
And yet the “solution” in the form of the IRL also imploded and now looks like CART with less money, and people still complain that they can’t get excited about spec cars. Of course costs were a problem in this era, but there was no reason that trying to bring them down had to be lumped in with terrible ideas like abandoning right turns because you wished indy cars were still a step up from dirt track racing, or the 25/8 rule that ultimately drove the split and benefited no one but nascar. If TG had his job for any reason beyond heredity, he would have been smart enough to balance his (pretty reasonable) push for cost cutting with the other realities of the situation. I can’t get inside his head to know where his priorities really were, but at times it seemed his focus was more on settling a score over the previous (USAC/CART) split than effecting specific improvements to the operation of the sport.
@@de-fault_de-fault: Your comment and the one to which you are responding are both spot-on. The frustrating thing, in retrospect, is that both sides really did have legitimate arguments. TG wasn't wrong that spiraling costs and losing the connection to the grassroots were real causes for concern. The CART folks weren't wrong to say that the eventual "cure" (i.e., driving out the stars so that minor leaguers could run clunky cars in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing") was way worse than the disease. But my general impression is that high-end racing types tend to be especially stubborn assholes in a lot of ways, and consequently, their need to "win" the argument in this case overtook their better judgment. Thus, nobody won - everybody lost (except NASCAR).
46:40 I loved the interview with Shelby, and the poetic he waxed about his foes at Ferrari. He also foresaw the rich kids club that racing has now become, although he was a bit off the mark about Indy going spec, although I think he saw something bad coming in the horizon in IndyCar (the split was a few years later, I believe)
Dave Despain wrote the book to the IRL, this was so long ago that I had all but forgotten how we got to The Split but listening to him talk about the 50 minute mark, he laid down pretty much the exact ground work of what would eventually happen during the breakup. I guess I didn't care much, I was a huge fan of Penske Racing & loved seeing them dominate. Matsushita would have done better to hire someone else to drive his cars rather than himself cause he was terrible, maybe he shoulda offered Unser Sr his car in 91...
We all know Tony George's idea failed (mostly because it was just a power grab), but he, and Carroll Shelby, did have a point about the costs of racing. Even with the spec cars of today, an Indy-only effort costs no less than $1 million, and the full season is at minimum $4-5 million. Fortunately, IndyCar is not hurting for full time cars (27 again this year), but getting past 33 cars for the 500 is always a question mark. 36 cars is still not many. So what are the most likely ways to reduce the costs; solutions that A) will reduce the costs, and B) the owners won't revolt over?
Loved the piece by Dave Despain about the rising costs of racing (in 1991). And, 32 years later, we haven't learned a God damned thing. Roger Penske is so rich now he was able to buy a Medal of Freedom from his buddy-in-crime (literally) Donald Trump and still had change left over to buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. My prediction: the Indy 500 will be short of the 33-car field by 2025 and by 2035 it may not even be held. On another note: if you think John Menard was actually happy Willy T. Ribbs made the field, boy have I got a great deal on a bridge for you. First of all, Ribbs bumped one of Menard's cars, and secondly, Menard is a HUGE CON-servative who has donated to PACs run by the Koch brothers. If he was happy a black guy made the field then I'm married to Angelina Jolie.
This had like the best intro to an Indy broadcast ever even if it was just for a bump day broadcast. The 91 race was one of my all time faves cause of Rocket winning it. Every true race fan should visit this speedway to see the 500 at least once in their lives... Carroll Shelby's comment about the wealthy kids being able to buy their way in, man if he was alive today he'd really dislike current NASCAR....
Here after watching Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story. You can see Willy's historic qualifying run at 1:03:13
🙏
LOL at John Menard with a mustache!
46:21 - 55:13
Holy shit that was a great segment talking about the costs of Indycar during early 90s foreshadowing the eventual split. Carroll Shelby was right in his prediction that spec cars would come soon just that they came 5 years from 1991 instead of 3 which he predicted.
46 to 55 minute mark a foreshadowing of the eventual split in Indy racing, and unlike all the stupid arguments that tried to say CART was a perfect operation in the early 90s, this hits the nail on the problems that existed and CART refused to address while they just let elite super teams dominate and costs to keep going up.
And yet the “solution” in the form of the IRL also imploded and now looks like CART with less money, and people still complain that they can’t get excited about spec cars. Of course costs were a problem in this era, but there was no reason that trying to bring them down had to be lumped in with terrible ideas like abandoning right turns because you wished indy cars were still a step up from dirt track racing, or the 25/8 rule that ultimately drove the split and benefited no one but nascar.
If TG had his job for any reason beyond heredity, he would have been smart enough to balance his (pretty reasonable) push for cost cutting with the other realities of the situation. I can’t get inside his head to know where his priorities really were, but at times it seemed his focus was more on settling a score over the previous (USAC/CART) split than effecting specific improvements to the operation of the sport.
What Dave DeSpain was saying eventually became the reason what caused the split in 1996, severely damaging Indycar racing for the last 12 years
@@de-fault_de-fault: Your comment and the one to which you are responding are both spot-on. The frustrating thing, in retrospect, is that both sides really did have legitimate arguments. TG wasn't wrong that spiraling costs and losing the connection to the grassroots were real causes for concern. The CART folks weren't wrong to say that the eventual "cure" (i.e., driving out the stars so that minor leaguers could run clunky cars in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing") was way worse than the disease. But my general impression is that high-end racing types tend to be especially stubborn assholes in a lot of ways, and consequently, their need to "win" the argument in this case overtook their better judgment. Thus, nobody won - everybody lost (except NASCAR).
Great segment. First time seeing this interview
46:40 I loved the interview with Shelby, and the poetic he waxed about his foes at Ferrari. He also foresaw the rich kids club that racing has now become, although he was a bit off the mark about Indy going spec, although I think he saw something bad coming in the horizon in IndyCar (the split was a few years later, I believe)
My jaw just hit the floor! I've never heard this interview from him. Amazing stuff honestly
Great segment. First time seeing this interview
34:06 This was tough to listen to 😢
Dave Despain wrote the book to the IRL, this was so long ago that I had all but forgotten how we got to The Split but listening to him talk about the 50 minute mark, he laid down pretty much the exact ground work of what would eventually happen during the breakup. I guess I didn't care much, I was a huge fan of Penske Racing & loved seeing them dominate. Matsushita would have done better to hire someone else to drive his cars rather than himself cause he was terrible, maybe he shoulda offered Unser Sr his car in 91...
It was such a great segment and foreshadowing the eventual split
We all know Tony George's idea failed (mostly because it was just a power grab), but he, and Carroll Shelby, did have a point about the costs of racing. Even with the spec cars of today, an Indy-only effort costs no less than $1 million, and the full season is at minimum $4-5 million. Fortunately, IndyCar is not hurting for full time cars (27 again this year), but getting past 33 cars for the 500 is always a question mark. 36 cars is still not many. So what are the most likely ways to reduce the costs; solutions that A) will reduce the costs, and B) the owners won't revolt over?
Loved the piece by Dave Despain about the rising costs of racing (in 1991). And, 32 years later, we haven't learned a God damned thing. Roger Penske is so rich now he was able to buy a Medal of Freedom from his buddy-in-crime (literally) Donald Trump and still had change left over to buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
My prediction: the Indy 500 will be short of the 33-car field by 2025 and by 2035 it may not even be held.
On another note: if you think John Menard was actually happy Willy T. Ribbs made the field, boy have I got a great deal on a bridge for you. First of all, Ribbs bumped one of Menard's cars, and secondly, Menard is a HUGE CON-servative who has donated to PACs run by the Koch brothers. If he was happy a black guy made the field then I'm married to Angelina Jolie.
Both CART and IRL are dumb. CART tried to be F1 and IRL tried to be spec.
Agreed, you hit the nail on the head.