Tony George: Beaten on his Own Turf

OK, I know I'm doubling up on Indy this weekend, but I missed all of May, and it will be another year before I can go through this again.

I have a message for you Tony George: you suck. I know you think you are god's gift to open-wheel racing, the self-proclaimed saviour. You're not. You've caused more damage than you can fix, you've pretty much killed open-wheel racing, and you're a hipocrite. What happened to your vision of a cost-efficient, all-oval, all-American racing series? This certainly isn't it.

First of all, you're running three street races this year. That's right, for the first time in ten years, an Indy Racing League Driver will have to make right turns. Secondly, of the 33 drivers who just participated in the only race you that matters, 18 are foreign-born. It is hard for you to provide an racing option for American drivers when over half of your competitors are not the American drivers you are hoping to breed. And what about cost? When you started the IRL, you wanted to make it a more affordable place to run cars compared to CART (now Champ Car). But for the past 2 seasons, the better bargain has been Champ Car-- and the only reason you are able to field 33 cars for one race (and 20 full time rides) is because you are shelling out the money to cover the cost. You're a monster of your own creation.

You have claimed victory on several occaisions over CART. But in all reality, you have failed-- and you are killing the sport. Open-wheel racing has become the bastard stepchild to NASCAR... flippin' NASCAR-- a bunch of rednecks who attempt to take giant hunks of metal in a circle.

You claimed victory when you started your series. But in those early years, all the known drivers stayed with CART, and your show was a joke. All you had was Indy.

You claimed victory when Penske and Ganassi left CART to join your series. But the reality of it is, they have raised the bar, raised the spending, and exposed you for the fraud you are. Your teams could not compete with the expanded budgets of the CART teams. Though Panther Racing gave it a go, you were still out classed. All you had was Indy.

You claimed victory when Honda and Toyota dumped CART to come to your series. But what that has caused is the major influx of foreign drivers to your series-- most brought in by the remaing CART teams who followed the money to their powerplants. They are only here because of Indy.

Take a look-- when was the last time an actual IRL team won Indy? Dan Wheldon just won the race today, he races for Andretti-Green Racing (as in Michael Andretti) the team formerly known as Team Kool Green-- in CART. The same team you screwed over just two years ago (and I will get back to that in a moment). Last year, it was Buddy Rice for Rahal Letterman Racing. Rahal, as in Bobby Rahal, 1986 winner, and former CEO of CART. Before that, it was Penske thrice (deFerran, and Castroneves twice). And in 2000, when CART teams returned to Indy for the first time since the split-- Juan Pablo Montoya won-- for Ganassi, who was still in CART at the time. That's right, Tony-- the last time one of your drivers won your prestige race... it was a race among your own drivers-- and even then, it was Swedish driver Kenny Brack. Not one of the American drivers you were promissing opportunities for.

How dilusional are you Tony George? Let's go back two years, to Gil deFerran's win at the Brickyard. You know the story-- it is your all-time clusterfuck. Just as an incident occured on the track, CART driver Paul Tracy (driving for CART's Team Kool Green) passed deFerran (driving for Penske) for the lead, and what would have been the win-- with the race finishing under yellow. But you declared deFerran the winner. Here's the problem with your decision: 1. Tracy beat deFerran to the start finish line when the caution came out. 2. At the time the yellow came out, Tracy had nosed ahead of deFerran, and there is video proof that proves it-- you have the tapes, and you refused to release them to public viewing following your mandate. And let's not forget 3. When Tracy's team protested your ruling, you took a couple days-- probably to find the proper spin-- and you did, by declaring that "after reviewing the tapes (the same tapes you will not release) the protest filed by Team Kool Green is overruled because the ruling of the stewards is not protestable." WTF, Tony? You reviewed it, then decided that it wasn't up for review? You make it sound like you've been presented with the evidence that proved Tracy was the rightful winner.

But you know what is even more messed up? Who did you declare the winner? deFerran. A driver for Roger Penske. Penske, who made his name in CART. Put whatever spin on it you want, but Penske is and always will be a CART team. He has done nothing since coming to series but destroy the competition. Claim victory if you want to feel good about yourself, but it was still a victory for CART.

Take a look at the top teams in the IRL this year: Rahal, Andretti, Penske, Ganassi. All four are CART teams who came over with engine manufacturers, and have decimated the hopes of your teams. CART brought over another team just for Indy: Newman-Haas, whose drivers were in contention until your undisciplined drivers (read: A.J. Foyt IV-- yes, A.J. Foyt-- and family-- still make a comical exit from Indy every year) took them out. Bruno Junquiera was running 6th, and Sebastien Bourdais was running 5th. Had Bourdais not wrecked with two laps to go, CART teams would have swept the top 5-- a sight not uncommon over the past few years.

Pull your head out of your ass, Tony-- the CART teams are here to destroy you. Sure they have made a spectacle of Indy once again, but that is simply in the best interest of open-wheel racing. The other 13 races you run are a joke, nobody watches, nobody cares. It's time to cut your losses and return open-wheel racing to a single banner-- the CART banner. Once you realize how bad you've made things, we can start to heal the problems.

Just think, there are 20 full time rides in each series. That's 40 cars. Throw in the temporary rides just for Indy, and you could have 50-60 cars fighting to make the field. Return Bump Day to the horror for teams it once was. Return your race to past glory. And return open-wheel racing to the top of the racing world, where it should be.