So i was watching some old Indy 500's last night..

[Black White Sox Hat]

When i was kid my family would always go out of town for my fathers business the weekend of the Indy 500.And i used to always watch that race as a kid every year.Just cuz i always loved cars.And especially Indy cars.I still think they best looking race cars of all time just look at the pictures below.But i went back and watch the 1988 Indy 500.And was just blown away at all the great names in Indy car racing at that time.

Rick Mears
Emerson Fittipaldi
Al Unser
Al Unser Jr.
Mario Andretti
Michael Andretti
and Bobby Rahal

Bobby Rahal was my dude cuz he drove the dopest black car

Rick Mears

Just made me think what a great sport they had until it died in like 1995.They should do a 30 for 30 on it.This was real racing.These dudes had class.Not like that hillbilly garbage all over the tv today.


@JKFrazier I know you into racing.Don't know if you appreciate this or not.Might be a little ahead of your time

 

[Doctor Wily]

In the 1990s imo was the best time to watch

Alot of legends in that decade. I haven't watched a indy 500 in damn near 11 or 12 years now

 

[jadillac]

I don't fool w/ any of it now, but as a kid, I think many of us had Hot Wheels versions of race cars & other toy race cars like these.

I wonder if the average kid today still plays with NASCAR's toys?

 

[Black White Sox Hat]

fast forward to 2:18:45, poor little rabbit

 

[unit321]

oval track racing is so boring.

 

[mastermind]

Old school IndyCar.

Those names

Bobby Rahal was that dude. Al Unser, The Andrettis, Jacque Vlillanueve, Foyt, Fitapaldi, etc.

Used to show races on ABC Wide World of Sports every weekend too.

I cant be bothered with it anymore, but I loved Indycar in that period. That 1996 split really destroyed the sport. The two factions actually merged a few years ago but damage has already been done. I dont think Ive watched the Indy 500 in 4 or 5 years. (And I mean watch, before that it would be bits and pieces compared to when i was a kid and would watch the whole thing)

Damn shame as it was a great circuit. Open Wheel racing>>>>Stock car

 

[yseJ]

Old school IndyCar.

Those names

Bobby Rahal was that dude. Al Unser, The Andrettis, Jacque Vlillanueve, Foyt, Fitapaldi, etc.

Used to show races on ABC Wide World of Sports every weekend too.

I cant be bothered with it anymore, but I loved Indycar in that period. That 1996 split really destroyed the sport. The two factions actually merged a few years ago but damage has already been done. I dont think Ive watched the Indy 500 in 4 or 5 years. (And I mean watch, before that it would be bits and pieces compared to when i was a kid and would watch the whole thing)

Damn shame as it was a great circuit. Open Wheel racing>>>>Stock car

I know nothing about indycar and barely anything about F1, but wasnt villaneueve dude in F1 ? I remember hearing his name a lot back in the day

 

[yseJ]

ah, just looked it up. looked like dude was both in nascar and in F1 thats pretty sick

 

[mastermind]

I know nothing about indycar and barely anything about F1, but wasnt villaneueve dude in F1 ? I remember hearing his name a lot back in the day

Villanueve was in IndyCar but bounced for F1 after he won the points title in 1995.

Then he came back and eventually to Nascar.

 

[Scottie Drippin]

ah, just looked it up. looked like dude was both in nascar and in F1 :ehhh: thats pretty sick

Jacques' NASCAR career was trash, not impressive at all. He wasted his talent. He was an open wheel prodigy. Won Champ Car in '95 (last year before the split), then jumped to F1 and finished second his first year, championship the second. Williams lost the Renault engines and '98 and were trash, but then he FOREVER ruined his career by taking the money to go to start-up British-American Racing in 1999 and has been an underwhelming journeyman since then.

And yeah, it was the combination of things that led to NASCAR finishing the 90's as the #1 motorsport. The IRL/Champ car split, and of course the rise of Jeff Gordon as the first nationwide marketable NASCAR driver.

Champ Car coming to be dominated by foreigners played into it massively as well. So much so that an entire generation of people consider open-wheel to be un-American.

That was part of the reason for the split, though. One faction felt Champ Car was getting too far away from the grassroots racing in the U.S. That the stock car circuit was cheaper to get into at the bottom, and more rewarding at the top. Gordon, who grew up in open-wheels backyard in Indiana, was sort of the prime example that Tony George (owner of the Indy oval) used at the time. Jeff was now becoming this big star in NASCAR, but the only reason he switched and went that route was because he couldn't get enough funding.

In 93/94, ChampCar made an European president who felt like they could expand and had real global appeal, and Tony George felt that was so far away from what they should be doing (locking down America) that he quit, and he started plotting his own series, using the Indy 500 as the centerpiece.

In the end, George is the dude to blame, but ultimately, with the decisions they were making, NASCAR would have won anyway. You just can't take a national series, make it LESS nationalistic, and hope to survive after you alienate your base.

 

[calh45]

Dem Penske Marlboro Chevy's



I stopped watching after the Chip Gannassi dynasty ended. Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi, Jimmy Vasser. I was on the TV every Saturday then they killed the fukking sport.