| Home > racin' > If a Champ Car Race Fell in the Woods, Would Anyone Hear it? |
| If a Champ Car Race Fell in the Woods, Would Anyone Hear it? | | Date Created: Apr 10, 2007, 01:51 PM |
Before going to Las Vegas last weekend, it was almost entirely by accident I learned the Champ Car season opener was taking place on a new street circuit in downtown Vegas. Had I not known this before I arrived, I would have never learned of the race while at the airport or anywhere on the Strip. No signs. No banners. And certainly no fans wearing hats or shirts featuring their favorite team or driver. This is symbolic of the sad, sad state of open wheel racing in America.
For a street course, the Vegas venue is about as good as it gets: a track with wide straights and places to pass, plus a paddock and fan zone in giant, air-conditioned tents. The media center - almost a ghost town during the race - was on the 16th floor of a modern new building overlooking the circuit. Gorgeous - but empty.
Less than an hour before the green flag, I stood and spoke with a long-time friend alongside the driver she represents, Sebastian Bourdais, and only one or two fans came near to ask for an autograph. And Bourdais has won three consecutive Champ Car titles! The pole sitter and eventual race winner Will Power walked through the crowd to the grid and was recognized by no one. Can you imagine that at even a Craftsman Truck race?
For a fleeting moment, I dreamed of the luxury of working with a driver that doesn't need an entourage of security guards to get anywhere on race weekend. Then, I realized how far a once great racing series had fallen - primarliy due to unending ego and lack of concern for the fans. Until Tony George and Kevin Kalkhoven - the owners of the IRL and Champ Car respectively - have the interest of the fans and the sport as a whole as a priority, both open-wheel series will continue to wither and deteriorate.
Bobby Rahal - who owns a team in the Indy Racing League, yet has a very talented son, 18-year-old Graham, who drives for the powerful Newman/Haas/Lanigan team in the Champ Car series, said it absolutely best in an interview that appeared in the Tampa Bay paper:
"I think open-wheel racing as a business may be the only business in the world that doesn't care what its customers say or think," he said.
Last week, IRL team owner John Barnes suggested something I've been saying for years: have an open wheel race as the Saturday feature on a Nextel Cup weekend. It would be great to expose the sport to more than the small handful of Hoosiers who follow it. However, an IRL official scoffed at the notion as ridiculous.
As long the head-in-the-sand attitude continues on both sides, kiss the small shreds of open wheel racing that still exist in this country goodbye. |
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