Survival of the fittest

Success leads to growing pains for some in IRL

"Our teams are going to have to step up their game. If any team relies on their prize money in the Indianapolis 500 to compete for the rest of the season, then they don't have any business being in the IRL." Tony George President and CEO of IRL

While the IRL continues to grow, however, some of the smaller teams that have been part of the series' history eventually may be unable to survive as stronger, better-financed teams eventually join the circuit.

This year's Indianapolis 500 will feature even more teams and drivers from CART than in the past. For every spot in the 33-car starting lineup that is filled by a CART team, a spot is taken from an IRL team.

Dick Simon had been a team owner in CART and later the IRL since the 1970s. When he missed the Indianapolis 500 twice in a three-year period, he eventually was forced to close his racing operation.

Marlboro Team Penske left CART and joined the IRL full-time at the end of last season. Chip Ganassi Racing decided to field an IRL team this year with Jeff Ward, who will be joined by CART drivers Kenny Brack -- the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner -- and Bruno Junqueira.

Mo Nunn Racing runs dual operations in CART and the IRL, with Tony Kanaan in CART and Felipe Giaffone in the IRL. Both drivers will compete in the Indianapolis 500.

CART teams participating in only the Indy 500 include Team Green with Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti and Rahal/Letterman Racing with driver Jimmy Vasser. Another CART driver, Max Papis, will compete for Cheever Indy Racing in a three-car effort that includes Eddie Cheever and Tomas Scheckter.

With only 33 starting positions, if some CART drivers secure positions that previously had been held by IRL teams in the series' early years, it could place a financial burden on those operations. And if those CART teams join the IRL, the makeup of the series likely will change.

Tony George, president and CEO of the IRL and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said there are no provisions being discussed to protect those teams, other than the rewards that are part of the Leaders Circle Program for the top 24 that run in all IRL events.

"Our teams are going to have to step up their game," George said. "If any team relies on their prize money in the Indianapolis 500 to compete for the rest of the season, then they don't have any business being in the IRL.

"The 25-and-8 rule that we had in 1996 and 1997 was not something that we wanted to do, but it was necessary to do at the beginning of the IRL. As soon as we had a chance to dispense with that rule, we did, and it's not coming back. It was there to keep the IRL going in the beginning. But we don't need that now."

The nature of competition in any sport, or any business, is survival of the fittest. That means as the quality of teams in the IRL improves and the competitive bar is raised, teams that are able to keep pace are the ones that survive while those who struggle likely will go out of business.

"We're looking to grow the series to the point where we have 28- to 32-car fields week in and week out," George said. "As the series grows and develops, the strong will survive and those who put together a good quality organization with the right amount of support to not only support the operation but fund the operation through sponsorship will be the one that survives. That will be the ultimate test.

"Hopefully, the IRL has provided the opportunity now for drivers and car owners and sponsors to become involved and compete on a level playing field."

Some of the smaller teams that once were mainstays of the IRL, such as PDM Racing, have found creative ways of staying in business. PDM has rented out its team to help aspiring drivers pass their IRL rookie tests. PDM also is joining forces with Sam Schmidt Motorsports for this year's Indianapolis 500 and will work with Anthony Lazzaro throughout May.

One IRL entry that has made the most of its opportunity is Dreyer and Reinbold, which has done an impressive job of putting together a team and finding sponsorship to run a professional operation for driver Robbie Buhl.

"I think that is really what the IRL is all about," George said. "I'm glad to see them be successful. They put together a great group of people, a great group of sponsors, and now they are looking to grow it from a one-car to a two-car team. That is the opportunity we are talking about.

"It makes me feel good to see people like Billy Boat and Eddie Cheever be able to build teams and be successful. PDM? I don't know. They are hard-working guys and I'm sure they will hang in there as best they can."

Buhl is driver and part-owner at Dreyer and Reinbold and has been in the IRL since the series' early days. He understands as well as anyone that when teams from CART join the IRL on a full-time basis, some teams and drivers with whom he has competed in the past may fade away in the name of progress.

"I think it does affect a lot of guys who have put a lot of heart and soul into the IRL," Buhl said. "But that is part of the evolution of things. It's not just racing, it's life and how it happens. You don't want to see those guys who helped build the IRL to get where it is get squashed out. It's a ton of work. It's always been a ton of work.

"Dennis Reinbold and I are co-owners. We've both worked our butts off. We have another gentleman, Eric DeBord, who handles all of our Purex/Dial sponsorship stuff. Pat Wright handles the Racing for Kids. There are four guys who put a lot of time in this to make sure everything is done professionally, to make it all happen and not get left behind. We're not even talking about the crew guys. Our focus is I want us to become a powerhouse team. After that opportunity is created, you have to make it work after that."

As more teams join the IRL, will it eventually look more like CART than the old IRL? Not exactly.

"It's not going to be CART with another name," Buhl said. "They are coming to the IRL, and the IRL is still the IRL, the way I look at that. But it's going to be hard. You have the Barry Greens of the world with a ton of money behind them coming in. This is great racing that the IRL has come up with. The formula is great and the series is growing and more teams are going to be here. You can't stop that."

John Menard has been a loyal proponent of the concepts of the IRL, long before the series went into operation. He was a long-time competitor in the Indianapolis 500 on a one-race-only basis. The IRL gave him the opportunity to field a full-time Indy car operation, and Team Menard has been one of the powerhouse entries in the series, winning the 1997 title with Tony Stewart and the 1999 title with Greg Ray.

Menard disputes the notion that CART teams are inherently better than IRL teams.

"They were so much better that they joined us," Menard said, referring to Marlboro Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Mo Nunn Racing joining the IRL this season. "Now some of the top-rated teams are IRL teams. They just changed their stripes a bit."

Team Penske's arrival has created spirited rivalries with Panther Racing and Kelley Racing. While Penske drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves have raced at the front of the field, the home-grown IRL teams have stood their ground in 2002.

Sam Hornish Jr. has won two of the four races this season, with Scott Sharp capturing the most recent race at Nazareth Speedway when de Ferran ran out of fuel on the final lap. Castroneves gave Penske its only win in March at Phoenix.

The addition of Roger Penske's teams has raised the competition in the IRL.

"Beating Roger Penske is like beating Tiger Woods," said team owner Tom Kelley. "He is my hero."

Sharp raced against Marlboro Team Penske in CART in 1994 as a driver for Pac-West. Now that he is in the IRL with Kelley Racing, he is able to experience it again.

Sharp does not believe more CART teams at Indianapolis is a bad thing for the IRL. In fact, he likes the heightened competition.

"The racing to me is so competitive right now," Sharp said. "I don't think it gets any tougher than Roger Penske. He has won the last two CART championships and the Indy 500. If you can run with him on a regular basis, you can run with anybody.

"Now that his team is here, I don't worry about who else might come. It makes that list of front cars better. There are probably really 25 guys who can win the Indy 500 this year, and that's awesome."

Kevin Blanch is confident one of those cars will belong to his driver, Hornish. Blanch is the chief mechanic at Pennzoil Panther Racing and his team is as responsible as any for increasing the competitive level in the IRL.

He realizes some of the teams that were so much of IRL folklore in the early days will be forced.

"That's a shame, but it's a business and you have to be competitive," Blanch said. "It's not about how much money we have, it's about how well we do our job with the money we have. We're able to compete against teams that I'm sure have bigger budgets than we've got, but we know what it takes to do it.

"If you are a smaller team, you have to make sure what is in your control, you control. What is out of your control, you can't do anything about."

John Barnes is one of the owners at Panther Racing and said it's up to the smaller teams to find a way to survive instead of blaming bigger teams for putting them out of business.

"When I first started in racing, we had people from Formula One, people from NASCAR and people from all over come here," Barnes said. "A lot of guys who ran every day for USAC didn't make the race. It's the same deal. It's still a tough race to make. Just because they come over here and they have thousands of miles of experience in CART or wherever they come from doesn't mean they are a shoe-in to come in here and do well, either.

"Think of it this way. If the IRL hadn't have come along, they would have never had a chance to play in it to begin with. We are given opportunities in life and it's how we deal with them and how we take it to the next level. It's on their shoulders to continue to build their teams."

With the addition of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Mo Nunn Racing and new drivers like Scheckter, there is more interest in the IRL, but George believes the series still has a long way to go.

"I think the general excitement and enthusiasm around Indianapolis is higher knowing that Penske is a full-time participant in the IRL, that Chip Ganassi is in the league and there are more CART teams coming back to the Indianapolis 500," George said. "I think having Penske and Ganassi competing against some of the top IRL teams have created some fan interest and a little bit of a rivalry. I think you've seen it with Penske and Panther Racing.

"I hope we see more of that. I know other teams want to be part of it."

When Ganassi became the first full-time CART team to compete in the Indianapolis 500 since the IRL was formed, his driver -- Juan Montoya -- won the race in 2000. Last year, CART teams swept the top six positions, with Helio Castroneves winning.

Is it important to the credibility of the series that a home-grown IRL team wins the Indianapolis 500 this year?

"On any given day, the team that is best prepared and gets the breaks is going to win," George said. "Last year, there were a lot of CART teams that were atop the leaderboard at the end of the race. It wasn't a good day for the IRL regulars, but that could change totally this year.

"At the end of the day, it's the best prepared teams that get the breaks during the race that allow them to be in a position at the end of the day to win. I don't know if it's important or not. I know Panther, Kelley, Menard, Cheever and all those guys will be trying just as hard as they did last year. So will the Penskes, Ganassis and Barry Greens."

As the promoter of the Indy 500, George has to be pleased at the collection of teams that will participate this year. But he believes it always could be stronger. He said the race will miss Stewart, but George is glad to see Dario Franchitti compete for the first time and Paul Tracy return for the first time since 1995.

"It's not really going to sell any more tickets," George said. "It may improve television ratings. But from a promoter's standpoint, you always want to see the best and brightest compete."

When George launched the IRL, he wanted the best teams and best drivers to compete in a series that also offered opportunities to others.

"You always want the best for your people and for your teams and for your fans. I don't think it's ever going to change," George said. "There will always be people aspiring to attain either a regular role in competing in the series or attaining a starting spot in the Indianapolis 500. Everybody has their goals that they are trying to attain and some are diligent; some are not successful. All we can do is provide the opportunity."

 

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