The racing equivalent of 'two bald men fighting for comb' I can imagine Bill France Jr. laughing maniacally at both broadcast while waiting for Charlotte 600
Once again brilliant work. So many wounds reopened watching this. Actively watching the sport kill itself in this way is nothing but pain. Its so hard to imagine how anyone involved thought it would end well, instead it was the fans who suffered. As much as I appreciate what Penske is doing for Indycar now, he and Tony George are equally to blame for this and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. RIP Scott Brayton
@@weemissile Roger's arrogance and the arrogance of other elite team owners like Carl Haas and Pat Patrick is what created the problem of escalating costs and other factors that caused the split. That can't be ignored. Do you think the whole IRL movement gains traction if costs had been brought down? Not likely. All CART had to do was recognize that they weren't perfect and for that they've only got themselves to blame.
"Actively watching the sport kill itself in this way is nothing but pain. Its so hard to imagine how anyone involved thought it would end well, instead it was the fans who suffered." God, every word of that applies so thoroughly to NASCAR right now. That series played a big part in making cars a lifelong obsession for me, and even now shapes my tastes in cars (High-revving, naturally aspirated engine addict, here. I blame those damn pushrod motors...). It used to be that NASCAR was a respectable series with drivers who could reasonably be called some of the best in the world. Track variety could have been better, and the charter system was still a thing, but it all pales in comparison to watching total idiot after total idiot tear the sport apart by treating it like a circus rather than a sport. It hurts, man. I used to fantasize about being a NASCAR driver. Now I actively avoid watching the races.
Meanwhile, NASCAR was just sitting back enjoying the Coca-Cola 600 weekend while open-wheel racing cannibalized itself, lol. Solid job as always guys. Looking forward to Part 4!
The author of this video is like a magician. Weaving together footage and storyline, even Jim Neighbors song and Tom Carnegie's voice for the dramatic moments at the track and funeral.
“The best drivers in the world, Formula 1 and Sportscar World Champions, 7 INDYCAR titles, 131 INDYCAR wins” *Doesn’t even make it past turn 4* Jeez bro
One of the greatest catastrophes of Indycar's division and decline in that era was losing Stewart to NASCAR. The guy that should've have been a generational talent for Indycar becoming their biggest what-if.
16:17 Oh god. I was a 19-year-old in Battle Creek at the time, living with my parents. My mom knew Brayton's sister. I will *always* remember that front page of the Enquirer... it had been such a surreal week.
@@sunnybeech74 Watched the race again. Of course the delay was bad and the broken start was a mess, but CART was prepared, they repaired or brought replacement cars within 1 hour which is a remarkable effort from the Teams, mechanical marvel. IMS handling of F1 in 2005 is much more of an embarassement imo, they ignored signs from 2004 where Ralf Schumacher already had those issues lurking in the corners and Michelin wasn't giving in either so that Bridgestone would supply the majority of the field. If the Split didn't happen in 1996 and Firestone would've had those issues under CART sanctioning there would not have been ill will or animosity to use Goodyears to supply the field in order to race, Both Firestone and Goodyear were competetive in 95 and it wasn't a warzone. Sure the Michigan 96 Race was delayed but still started and was enjoyable after all. It's just as some said attention span from many viewers is too short and the damage was done immediately.
In the dying stages of CART, the Texas debacle of course was also very bad but Part IV elaborates that a lot of things went wrong behind the scenes due to various reasons. But imo up until reunification in 08/09 both sides were on the decline.
I knew that Brayton was racing his teammates car when he crashed, but for some reason I never put together that it was Tony Stewart’s car. That could have been Tony. Wow. One of the saddest deaths in racing history.
I was a young kid during the split. I had no introduction to motor sports from anyone so watching these races as a kid, usually alone I heard the words about “the split” but I was way too young to understand the politics behind it. These 3 videos have been awesome to watch because now as a person in my mid 30’s this makes a lot of sense to me now. Thanks you for making this and I am awaiting the 4th installment.
Not covered in this video is the fact that the IRL's poster child, Tony Stewart, won the 1996 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award. This despite the fact that Richie Hearn finished 3rd in John Della Pena's Reynard. The bias towards this award was quite strong since Hearn and Della Pena was running a split schedule of CART and IRL races but mainly CART races in 1996. Hearn also won the 1996 IRL race at Las Vegas, if I am not mistaken. Hearn probably would have been the 500 ROY in any other year.
I wouldn't say that was politics. They always award the ROTY to who they think had the best run, not necessarily who had the best finish. They've always preferred a driver who fights for the lead or wins a pole or leads large chunks of the race over a driver who backs into a high finish due to attrition. The same exact thing happened in 2017 when Ed Jones finished 3rd and Fernando Alonso finished 24th (the exact same positions) but they chose Alonso. I guess the question is whether you're evaluating the best driver or the best performance, but I honestly agree that leading is better than getting a good finish because leading is the best predictor of eventually winning. And while Stewart is a very overrated IndyCar driver, I do think he was better than Hearn. And Alonso is an all-time legend while Ed Jones is pretty bad. I think they made the right call both times. There are many, many examples of this. They chose Jackie Stewart over eventual winner Graham Hill in 1966 because Stewart showed more dominant speed and Hill kind of backed into it. They chose Mark Donohue over Peter Revson in 1969 because he was faster even though he finished lower. They chose Teo Fabi over Al Unser, Jr. even though Unser was the only rookie to get a top ten because Fabi won the pole and led while Unser was a non-factor. Rick Mears and Tomas Scheckter won ROTYs even with their DNFs because of their strong runs (although 2002 was a mess because the fastest rookies Scheckter and Kanaan both crashed, while Barron backed into a top five and would have backed into the win on fuel mileage had Scheckter not crashed, I believe. Kanaan and Franchitti won nothing at all but easily had the most enduring careers. That's what happens when all the CART drivers come back at once...) The one I'd argue was the worst was 2014 when they chose Kurt Busch over Sage Karam. Busch finished 6th and behind all three of his teammates that finished (and Hinchcliffe was also outrunning him before he crashed) while Karam put a Dreyer & Reinbold car in 9th. I think Karam had the much better drive, but he ended up never living up to his potential and got worse every year after that, so whatever. I think that one was political because they were hoping if they awarded it to Busch they could get more future participation from NASCAR drivers. It didn't work though.
@@arenasnow Back in 1996, it was all politics. Stewart started on pole by default, led some laps, and blew up. Hearn and Della Pena have said the ROY vote went to Stewart only because the folks voting didn't want a renegade team and driver from CART to be awarded it over the IRL's poster boy. The biggest difference between Alonso and Stewart is Alonso was a legitimate threat to win at the end until his engine blew late. Stewart was long gone by the end of the 1996 race and everyone knew he would never be a serious threat because the Buick was never strong enough nor reliable enough to finish, let alone win. I understand that there are those who feel Ed Jones was robbed in 2017 but Ed was not really a threat to win like Alonso. I personally thought in 2017, that Alonso and Jones should have been co-rookie of the years. In 1996, imo, Stewart didn't do much to deserve ROY, other than being one of the IRL's chosen ones for that 1996 inaugural season. I don't really disagree with what you have said other wise. Depending on who or how many rookies run can make for an interesting debate. 1981 had Josele Garza win it though Kevin Cogan and Geoff Brabham came home as the highest finishers in 4th and 5th. In 1984, Guerrero was a no brainer in 2nd but he shared the award with Michael Andretti who finished 6th but finished behind another rookie, Al Holbert, in 4th. Holbert was basically ignored.
I also came to this comment to mention Alonso and Hill. And no disrespect to Alonso, but his departure was also too early to be considered a threat for the win IMO.
@@The52carAlonso dropped with 21 to go. He was definitely a threat. He didn't dominate like Michael Andretti did in 1992, but Fred was definitely in position to win and had the horses until his engine let go.
ISC didn't let the Michigan 500 succeed. It was one of the best races of the year (any series), but ISC didn't promote it, lest it threaten the NASCAR races.
Penske has a lot to answer for for selling out his tracks to ISC in the late '90s. That was in my opinion *the* moment that fully cemented NASCAR's dominance and made it impossible for IndyCar to recover and compete with them. We've learned in the decades since that whoever owns the key racetracks holds the power, which is a major reason for NASCAR's dominance although I know NASCAR and ISC are technically different corporations. And also why Tony George technically won the war although he didn't end up winning much of anything. In the decade after Penske sold Michigan, Fontana, Rockingham, and Nazareth, it caused a lot of problems for both IndyCar and NASCAR. Nazareth was effectively demolished (and in a nasty way), Rockingham was almost instantly dropped from the Cup schedule, Fontana was tapped to replace the Southern 500 which alienated many of the long-term fans, and the Michigan/Fontana IndyCar races were quickly removed because they didn't draw enough of a crowd, even though those tracks were always much better for IndyCar than they were for NASCAR. If Penske had held on to those tracks, he could have kept oval racing as an important IndyCar presence and selling his tracks out was the beginning of the end for oval IndyCar racing even though it didn't *really* become apparent until The Great Recession cratered the attendance for everything. I think maybe Penske buying IMS is an attempt to correct for his '90s mistakes (and honestly, I think selling those tracks effectively to NASCAR may have been a bigger and more damaging mistake with regard to IndyCar racing than the U.S. 500 was.)
Only guy to be allowed to win a 500 mile race after crashing his qualified car on the Pace Lap and benefiting from a CART loophole that never existed at Indy and never should have existed period.
Been waiting for this every day since part 2. I was born in Indianapolis and my dad was a staunch IRL loyalist. I love learning why all this stuff happened. I was born in 99 so this stuff is ancient history to me. Crazy to think my first Indy 500 was the firsr reunion at the 500 between Cart and IRL
These videos are fantastic! Love how you use both the race tv footage and audio from the radio broadcast. Interesting to hear Robby Gordon talking after that wreck with Derrick Walker on pit road. Would love to see him in the Indy 500 again. Can't wait until part 4!
Great retrospective on a huge part of IndyCar history. I just have to comment how much I miss the cars from that era. The speed and shear power of the high revving turbo V8s along with the glorious noise and the fact there were 4 engine suppliers (well, Toyota just starting out in CART in 1996 made it 4, also had Mercedes, Honda and Ford Cosworth), the great look of the cars from that era, multiple chassis makers (Reynard, Lola, Penske and later we'd see Swift and Gurney AAR join CART). The 1996 Indy record lap speeds have not come even close to being approached or beaten since. In 97 IRL went with its new formula with bulky, not so great looking cars and "production-based" normally aspirated engines that were rev-limited and made far less power than the high-strung turbo V8s CART would still use for many more seasons. CART would set the closed course speed record in 1997 at Michigan's twin track, Fontana/California/Auto Club speedway with a lap average above 240 mph by Mauricio Gugelmin. In 98, CART would mandate drag-creating wings called the Hanford device to slow the cars down while engine power kept climbing every year. By the year 2000, the closed course speed record would be broken again despite having the wings designed to slow the cars down, that's how rapid aero and engine development was in the late 90s into the early 2000s. In 97, they were just starting to approach 800 hp. By 2000, they were closer to 1000 hp. Drivers reporting if they hit a bump off turn 2 just right at Fontana, they could get wheel spin.... at 220 mph. Let that sink in. Champ Cars were insanely fast beasts. I had a massive amount of respect for the drivers in CART of that era. Those cars were ridiculous.
Right on my man. This modern IndyCar with these identical crap Dallara spec cars is a farce. Indycar is now but a pale shadow of the great CART years. Lotus, McLaren, March, Lola, Reynard, Chaparral, Coyote - Penske all gone!
The speeds are coming back up though. This year's pole speed was less than 2mph slower than the record Brayton set in '96. There's talk of 240+mph in the next-gen engine due to launch in 2023. This year's 500 was fantastic, really competitive racing, and only two cautions. The rest of the season has been really great too.
CART screwed up by not sending their teams to Indy to expose the 25/8 rule for the fraud that it was. If CART would have done that, TG's toy series would have been killed off before it ever got off the ground.
Much anticipated... Glad it's here, settleing in for 34 minutes of information, excitement, & Memory lane of 'the dark days'. You know all these years later I'm still not stirred by the names of Billy Boat & Jimmy Kite.
Dude, I had NO IDEA Salazar's blocking move against Davy Jones was a team order! After watching the 96 Indy 500 at least five times, it always got my attention that Salazar, not very well-known for being an aggressive driver, would make such a dangerous move! Still, that crash going out of the pits with Luyendyk looked absolutely intentional and weird for a guy that, at the time, was 41 and had raced for many years.
RIP Scott Brayton, I remember that day like it was yesterday.., watching the coverage before his death was announced. I always loved watching everything indy during the month of may. I also remember seeing Greg Moore , and Jeff Krosnoff accidents and knowing they were fatalities right after they happened. All of them were great Talents gone way to soon .
With the mention in the video about his kissing the bricks celebrating his pole in 1995, it definitely makes me wonder if Dale Jarrett's starting the tradition of kissing the bricks for NASCAR's Brickyard 400 later in '96 was intended as a tribute.
NASCAR is often credited as the "winner" but problems started to crept up immediately with the rise of "cookie cutter" intermediate ovals designed to accomodate both open wheelers and stock cars.
@@FMecha indeed. But auto racing as a mean of mainstream entertainment has dwindled. Indycar is still going for racing above everything but nascar is slowly fading into a dangerous path
Victors of war rarely apologize. The western Allies did war crimes in WWII and while it's not as massive as the crimes the Axis did, the perpretators have never been brought to justice in this life.
The sheer hubris of CART believing they could compete head-on with the Indy 500, that everyone would just up and abandon 80+ years of tradition and prestige because they supposedly had the better drivers is absolutely hilarious. Tony George was no saint either, of course, but CART 100% deserved everything they had coming.
They should have sued Tony George and IMS for the 25/8 rule but I guess they were still playing the lawyers for the 1979 USAC/CART split. So they choose to try to have a new race but we’re sacred of having a court fight with IMS lawyers. If they had real balls they would all have come to IMS and demanded a shot in the 96 500 if Tony George locked them out and demanded they join the IRL then CART should have sued IMS for Tony George having to much unilateral power and being arbitrary.
@@robertmusgrave9236 Actually, their smartest move would have been to just show up at WDW and Phoenix and in effect make the whole 25/8 rule irrelevant because the CART teams would have been the ones locked in. But they really thought Indy was so irrelevant in the big picture that they weren't smart enough to use what would have been their biggest weapon against the IRL to stop it at the beginning.
And now Tony George sold the series to Roger Penske and is being run like it's CART-Lite. Tony George's dream failed and is being carried on by what made CART great on a smaller budget. There was also an interview with CART CEO Andrew Craig a year ago in Racer Magazine stating that the idea of going up against the Indy 500 on the same day was from the sponsors that were locked out of Indy.
Great series!! I was much younger and a hard-headed dirt track fan (Lawrenceburg, IN/Jeff Gordon/Tony Stewart/Kenny Irwin), attended the Indy 500 every year, and there was only one side to me then. I watched F1 for road courses & high-tech. Watching your series as a much older person is very enlightening. Thanks!!
Josh Revell, made a video about the Hawaiian Super Prix on his TH-cam channel pretty interesting stuff typical late 90's early 2000's CART incompetence.
When I was young I went to see CART the two times they raced at Rockingham Oval here in the UK. I had no idea of this history or story. I even asked my uncle because I remember seeing both logos on merch and stuff but all he said was that there was a rivalry. So interesting!
Vasser wrecking on the parade laps in Michigan was absolutely hilarious. I’m glad everything was ok. The fact everyone in Indianapolis was laughing too made it that much more enjoyable. Buddy Lazier became a star that day and Cart looked like a monkey fucking a football
His footwork wasn't 100% with his leg injury from Orlando and he stabbed the throttle more than he meant to, which made the car lurch hard left. At least that's the explanation Eliseo apparently gave afterward.
How ironic that USAC's decision to ban rear-engined sprint cars wound up creating a problem that was one of the reasons Tony George created the IRL in the first place, to give sprint car drivers a chance to make it to Indy. Had USAC not done that, there may well have been more of those guys showing up to Indy and making the transition more easily, because they would have had experience with rear-engined cars.
This was a dark year at the 500. Its hard to call it a success when someone died and accidents hurt so many. Great series though, thanks for doing these!
Scott Brayton crash impacted Justin Bell. He got uncompetitive ride at Indy and left the team quickly. He was on the headset when Brayton had his tragic crash. He never returned back to Indy ever. Source: Marshall Pruett podcast episode 1003
Awesome video series, NASCARMan and Brock. Each time I remember this story I think "what would Bob Varsha have though on 24:45 after all his compliments to the CART grid, just to see the most embarrassing crash in the history of the sport?"
Given that NATCC was supported by CART, that could also be an interesting side chapter on the AOWR wars (in addition to an attempt to bring European Supertouring racing to North America).
Is it a compliment to say how interesting but difficult that was to watch? What amazing races '96 to 2001 would have been if everyone had checked their egos and realised what they were throwing away and where they'd all end up.
As entertaining as this video series might be, none of them come close to explaining what specifically caused the split in the first place. The problem was CART teams doing business with IMS and Tony George specifically. CART had accomplished a lot of great things after dumping USAC in 1979. They'd created a diverse series with Super Speedway, short oval, road course and street courses, a strong same day TV package and brought international attention with international races as well as international drivers as well as many nationally and internationally known sponsors. In order to accomplish this meant the need to wine and dine the elite which correspondingly meant hospitality and catering. Many teams had budgets specifically allocated to hospitality as well as feeding their crews over the course of the CART season. However, any team going to Indy for the "month of May" had to allocate a separate budget just for IMS as outside catering was banned from the premises. Keep in mind back then it truly was a month with a week of practice, Pole weekend qualifying, another week of practice and then Bump Day the following Sunday. Then of course Carb Day and the race itself. While the smallest race day purse pay out was in the neighborhood of $110,000-$130,000 much of that money went right back to IMS to cover the high expenses to accommodate the cost of catering over the course of the month. Imagine the costs to the team that was 34th fastest and did not receive a purse check!!!! Not only that but catering wasn't cheap by any means, a $5.00 8oz carton of milk, a $10.00 lemon for garnish, $50.00 pot of coffee, the inflated prices for food went up from there. Those who worked the hospitality areas of IMS can attest to the inflated pricing. It was CART that initially threatened to boycott Tony George over the expenses they were having to pay annually to IMS. When one flippant comment was made by a CART board member, George latched onto it with a vengeance knowing knowing CART was otherwise about to squeeze his nuts. This is what brought about the split more than anything that happened on the race track itself. Fun videos but none of the content explains what caused the split, not even close.
@ryanmckeever3308 To Quote Smokey Yunick Tony Stewart Wouldn't Got Goddamn Ride Indycar He probably Would Bypass Indycar And Went Straight Into Nascar because Andrew Greg and Tony George Repeat the fifth Grade for twenty nine more years just to get an idiot's license That How Tony Was Able To Compete in indy 500
I have to be totally honest about the split. I still hate both sides for allowing this 3 ring circus to not only take place, but last over a decade, all the while dwindling the importance of open wheel racing in the US as a whole. That all being said there is a silver lining in every situation, and from Chaos comes Opportunity... I give you the stellar career of one Tony Stewart that may have never happened if not for the opportunity created in the IRL for short track drivers.
what is really underappreciated in this series, as a none american, who loves racing and watches all he can rn on youtube is that the commentators immediately switched in 96. That is a huge point when u listen to the cart 97 coverage vs indy car its day and night, the cart commentator w/ no clue about anything that sounds like he reads of a projector! Like that commentary team made a huge difference i bet on tv watchers!
Scott Goodyear always sounded like commentating was the last thing he ever wanted to do, but he was also a past Michigan 500 winner and 2 time Indy 500 runner up. What made a bigger difference is not everyone had ESPN 2 back then.
@@xSoccerxCorex in my defense, I was 3 when this race was going on, meaning NASCAR quickly gobbled up the media attention after CART and the IRL humiliated themselves.
@@christopherwall2121 Check out the ceremonies for the 2020 Indy 500, David Letterman gives Sato a big hug for winning! It's at 28:10 in this video: th-cam.com/video/V5MxwIhDdsY/w-d-xo.html
These are well-done videos, great work. Honestly, IRL should have run the US 500 on July 4th, or on that weekend. That would have been perfect, but I still don't think it would have attracted much more attention.
Great documentary, very professional. IRL "Indy Rookie League". Hard to believe we had drivers like Nigel Mansell racing at Indy in 1994. Tony George should be ashamed of himself because he achieved NOTHING and in the end sold the speedway to Penske.
Great vid as always! Love the attention to detail. Can anyone help me ID the music right at the beginning of the video? Been searching for the title for years now! And if it's actually the first song in the credits, then I can't find it anywhere on the internet. If you have this, please please help! Thank you!
Great upload. I had to stop video when the death of Scott Brayton appeared. Because I was a Junior in High School when that death happen. I was flipping through the channels that day after I finish my homework. Suddenly on espn 2 breaking news and the announcement of Brayton's death. It hurt me very much because he pretty good driver and also when I started watching IndyCar racing in 1988. During those years and watching old races on youtube now. I got a kick of watching the three Scott's, Pruett, Goodyear, & Brayton. Thinking about it now it was weird because sometimes all three be racing together for position. Crazy, but fun times. Now back to the video I watched some of the 1996 Indy 500, but It wasn't the same without the teams & drivers of CART. I watched the US 500. I recorded the race on audio cassette. Because I didn't have VCR in my room in that time. Thinking about now I might have to look through my baskets to see if I still got the tapes. Also I like what Jimmy Vasser said at the end of the race, Who Need Milk. I love every minute of it. At the end of all this happen. Tony George won the battle, but he lost war.
Jesus Christ I'm young. I saw Rahal, Herta, and Fittipaldi and my brain went to Graham, Colton, and Christian. For reference, on Sunday May 26, 1996 I was almost 2 months old
I had no idea about motorsports until 1999 thanks to Montoya, but as a Colombian, watching Guerrero's bad luck still hurts like it was a live broadcast.
10:28 Just a note, Villeneuve is pronounced Veelnuv. Look up f1 races from his championship year and you can hear Murray Walker and all the rest of them say that.
Tony George’s quote a day after that. “And then couldn’t get to the green flag” A year later 1997 Indy 500 I laughed even harder than I did in 96. Lmao
Roger Penske now owns it all. I miss the glory days of the early 90s. That was the best racing on the planet, better than F1. Nigel Mansel running and Senna on his way over, can you imagine the 1996 season that should have been.
One of the worst things about this division was we missed the natural evolution of the best racing cars in history. IndyCars from the mid 90s to 2001 are the most brutal, challenging and beautiful racing cars ever. PLUS the fastest racing cars of the world at top and average speed. The split create two kind of cars for very specific purposes and none of these catches the real IndyCar old feel.
I always find it a little odd just how much CART got railed for that startline crash, as if the Indy 500 didn't have several crashes themselves before cars got to turn 1. Perhaps they should have marketed their drivers as 'AS GOOD AS' and not 'BETTER than Indy'
It’s Because the casual viewer only has a 2 minute attention span. That crash just happened to be in that window. The driver/pit errors at Indy happened throughout the race. That 1996 race became more like a freak show because there was more anticipation for a crash than for skilled driving. And again, that attracts the casual viewer. Personally, I think the IRL was lucky there wasn’t more than one fatality during that month.
Yes, Penske made American racing a business. But it was inevitable. And look, he succeeded. The last time a Foyt car won a championship was Brack in 98.
For those who do not understand how much of a drop there been since the 1990s... McLaren went for a photoshoot on the phoenix oval in 1991 and had the track for a few hours. Their time, in Hockenheim configuration, would have been midfield in IndyCar that year. Ok this is an F1 on an oval without the right configuration. Still... That McLaren was pretty good, however not as advanced as the William that year (basically it was a weird year where everything faster than McLaren wasn't as reliable and everything as reliable wasn't quite as fast). Today's F1 cars have 1000 horsepower, and DRS. They can hit 235 mph at Baku, and that's not the lowest drag set-up. During the race, F1 could have a problem with the electric motor and braking, because the battery would be empty. However, the electric motor is about 16p horsepowers, so if they were allowed to remove that... Basically IndyCar now compete with formula 2 for talent.
The racing equivalent of 'two bald men fighting for comb'
I can imagine Bill France Jr. laughing maniacally at both broadcast while waiting for Charlotte 600
Fact is, that Bill told tony george to do this. So he thinked about, how he can screw up indy car and make nascar the better series.
Thought.
You know that talk about Penske is funny today considering he now owns IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Penske dont own the speedway.
@@notabot7787 They bought it in late 2019.
@@notabot7787 sounds like youre late to the party.
@@notabot7787 I'm not even that big a fan of IndyCar and NASCAR and even I knew that.
Penske was playing the long game to tank the value so he could buy
A.J Foyt diplomatic as always.
Right around the time he smacked down AL in victory lane in Texas. Wild man.
He and Tony should go to the U.N. we would get some stuff done. Haha
The sarcasm is not lost on me. I'm not sure anyone would ever put "Foyt" and "diplomatic" in the same sentence, LOL.
he must hate the Andrettis lol
@@josephgabello3214 he'd get us nuked by Belgium
Once again brilliant work. So many wounds reopened watching this. Actively watching the sport kill itself in this way is nothing but pain. Its so hard to imagine how anyone involved thought it would end well, instead it was the fans who suffered. As much as I appreciate what Penske is doing for Indycar now, he and Tony George are equally to blame for this and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. RIP Scott Brayton
Roger wasn't the one that tore the sport in half. All he ever did was try his best to win. That and run three really great racetracks.
@@weemissile scott brayton is here in heaven,we will never forget the crash at INDY #INDY500
@@weemissile This year's Indianapolis 500 would erase the memories of the 1996 U.S. 500 Opening Lap Crash
@@weemissile Roger's arrogance and the arrogance of other elite team owners like Carl Haas and Pat Patrick is what created the problem of escalating costs and other factors that caused the split. That can't be ignored. Do you think the whole IRL movement gains traction if costs had been brought down? Not likely. All CART had to do was recognize that they weren't perfect and for that they've only got themselves to blame.
"Actively watching the sport kill itself in this way is nothing but pain. Its so hard to imagine how anyone involved thought it would end well, instead it was the fans who suffered."
God, every word of that applies so thoroughly to NASCAR right now. That series played a big part in making cars a lifelong obsession for me, and even now shapes my tastes in cars (High-revving, naturally aspirated engine addict, here. I blame those damn pushrod motors...). It used to be that NASCAR was a respectable series with drivers who could reasonably be called some of the best in the world. Track variety could have been better, and the charter system was still a thing, but it all pales in comparison to watching total idiot after total idiot tear the sport apart by treating it like a circus rather than a sport.
It hurts, man. I used to fantasize about being a NASCAR driver. Now I actively avoid watching the races.
Meanwhile, NASCAR was just sitting back enjoying the Coca-Cola 600 weekend while open-wheel racing cannibalized itself, lol.
Solid job as always guys. Looking forward to Part 4!
The author of this video is like a magician. Weaving together footage and storyline, even Jim Neighbors song and Tom Carnegie's voice for the dramatic moments at the track and funeral.
“The best drivers in the world, Formula 1 and Sportscar World Champions, 7 INDYCAR titles, 131 INDYCAR wins”
*Doesn’t even make it past turn 4*
Jeez bro
Yep, the announcer's jinx struck hard here.
You hate to see it.
God I forgot how savage Tony Stewart was when he was in Indycar, what a legend.
One of the greatest catastrophes of Indycar's division and decline in that era was losing Stewart to NASCAR.
The guy that should've have been a generational talent for Indycar becoming their biggest what-if.
@@DalleDayulAt least he still went on to become a NASCAR legend. Better than fading into obscurity in some sports car series.
I miss Paul Page, a world class commentator.
@Legend Stewart totally agree, Paul Page & Bobby Unser were a brilliant combo, as was Walker & Hunt.
Agree...He should be the PERMANENT announcer for IMS Radio
16:17 Oh god. I was a 19-year-old in Battle Creek at the time, living with my parents. My mom knew Brayton's sister. I will *always* remember that front page of the Enquirer... it had been such a surreal week.
“And it’s a newwww trrraack rrrecord!” That gives me chills right there
I thought it was cringy
Just letting everyone here know. Indycar uploaded the 96 U.S. 500 onto their channel yesterday.
That feels like Captain's jab at George. Lol.
IndyCar Media knows Nascarman History has a big youtube presence.
Best part about that race was the crash at the start. I still laugh at the "real stars in the real cars".
@@sunnybeech74 Watched the race again. Of course the delay was bad and the broken start was a mess, but CART was prepared, they repaired or brought replacement cars within 1 hour which is a remarkable effort from the Teams, mechanical marvel.
IMS handling of F1 in 2005 is much more of an embarassement imo, they ignored signs from 2004 where Ralf Schumacher already had those issues lurking in the corners and Michelin wasn't giving in either so that Bridgestone would supply the majority of the field. If the Split didn't happen in 1996 and Firestone would've had those issues under CART sanctioning there would not have been ill will or animosity to use Goodyears to supply the field in order to race, Both Firestone and Goodyear were competetive in 95 and it wasn't a warzone. Sure the Michigan 96 Race was delayed but still started and was enjoyable after all. It's just as some said attention span from many viewers is too short and the damage was done immediately.
In the dying stages of CART, the Texas debacle of course was also very bad but Part IV elaborates that a lot of things went wrong behind the scenes due to various reasons. But imo up until reunification in 08/09 both sides were on the decline.
I knew that Brayton was racing his teammates car when he crashed, but for some reason I never put together that it was Tony Stewart’s car. That could have been Tony. Wow.
One of the saddest deaths in racing history.
I never knew that, interesting facts
I was a young kid during the split. I had no introduction to motor sports from anyone so watching these races as a kid, usually alone I heard the words about “the split” but I was way too young to understand the politics behind it. These 3 videos have been awesome to watch because now as a person in my mid 30’s this makes a lot of sense to me now. Thanks you for making this and I am awaiting the 4th installment.
Not covered in this video is the fact that the IRL's poster child, Tony Stewart, won the 1996 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award. This despite the fact that Richie Hearn finished 3rd in John Della Pena's Reynard. The bias towards this award was quite strong since Hearn and Della Pena was running a split schedule of CART and IRL races but mainly CART races in 1996. Hearn also won the 1996 IRL race at Las Vegas, if I am not mistaken. Hearn probably would have been the 500 ROY in any other year.
I wouldn't say that was politics. They always award the ROTY to who they think had the best run, not necessarily who had the best finish. They've always preferred a driver who fights for the lead or wins a pole or leads large chunks of the race over a driver who backs into a high finish due to attrition. The same exact thing happened in 2017 when Ed Jones finished 3rd and Fernando Alonso finished 24th (the exact same positions) but they chose Alonso. I guess the question is whether you're evaluating the best driver or the best performance, but I honestly agree that leading is better than getting a good finish because leading is the best predictor of eventually winning. And while Stewart is a very overrated IndyCar driver, I do think he was better than Hearn. And Alonso is an all-time legend while Ed Jones is pretty bad. I think they made the right call both times.
There are many, many examples of this. They chose Jackie Stewart over eventual winner Graham Hill in 1966 because Stewart showed more dominant speed and Hill kind of backed into it. They chose Mark Donohue over Peter Revson in 1969 because he was faster even though he finished lower. They chose Teo Fabi over Al Unser, Jr. even though Unser was the only rookie to get a top ten because Fabi won the pole and led while Unser was a non-factor. Rick Mears and Tomas Scheckter won ROTYs even with their DNFs because of their strong runs (although 2002 was a mess because the fastest rookies Scheckter and Kanaan both crashed, while Barron backed into a top five and would have backed into the win on fuel mileage had Scheckter not crashed, I believe. Kanaan and Franchitti won nothing at all but easily had the most enduring careers. That's what happens when all the CART drivers come back at once...)
The one I'd argue was the worst was 2014 when they chose Kurt Busch over Sage Karam. Busch finished 6th and behind all three of his teammates that finished (and Hinchcliffe was also outrunning him before he crashed) while Karam put a Dreyer & Reinbold car in 9th. I think Karam had the much better drive, but he ended up never living up to his potential and got worse every year after that, so whatever. I think that one was political because they were hoping if they awarded it to Busch they could get more future participation from NASCAR drivers. It didn't work though.
@@arenasnow Back in 1996, it was all politics. Stewart started on pole by default, led some laps, and blew up. Hearn and Della Pena have said the ROY vote went to Stewart only because the folks voting didn't want a renegade team and driver from CART to be awarded it over the IRL's poster boy.
The biggest difference between Alonso and Stewart is Alonso was a legitimate threat to win at the end until his engine blew late. Stewart was long gone by the end of the 1996 race and everyone knew he would never be a serious threat because the Buick was never strong enough nor reliable enough to finish, let alone win. I understand that there are those who feel Ed Jones was robbed in 2017 but Ed was not really a threat to win like Alonso. I personally thought in 2017, that Alonso and Jones should have been co-rookie of the years. In 1996, imo, Stewart didn't do much to deserve ROY, other than being one of the IRL's chosen ones for that 1996 inaugural season.
I don't really disagree with what you have said other wise. Depending on who or how many rookies run can make for an interesting debate. 1981 had Josele Garza win it though Kevin Cogan and Geoff Brabham came home as the highest finishers in 4th and 5th. In 1984, Guerrero was a no brainer in 2nd but he shared the award with Michael Andretti who finished 6th but finished behind another rookie, Al Holbert, in 4th. Holbert was basically ignored.
I also came to this comment to mention Alonso and Hill.
And no disrespect to Alonso, but his departure was also too early to be considered a threat for the win IMO.
@@The52carAlonso dropped with 21 to go. He was definitely a threat. He didn't dominate like Michael Andretti did in 1992, but Fred was definitely in position to win and had the horses until his engine let go.
Smoke was the only decent driver in the IRL - the others were all field fillers
I just want that Michigan back to the todays Indycar series
I wish they'd make a return to both Michigan and Pocono
ISC didn't let the Michigan 500 succeed. It was one of the best races of the year (any series), but ISC didn't promote it, lest it threaten the NASCAR races.
Yes, better racing than anything on the schedule today.
@@NotSteveCook yes, ISC is such a pos organization.
Penske has a lot to answer for for selling out his tracks to ISC in the late '90s. That was in my opinion *the* moment that fully cemented NASCAR's dominance and made it impossible for IndyCar to recover and compete with them. We've learned in the decades since that whoever owns the key racetracks holds the power, which is a major reason for NASCAR's dominance although I know NASCAR and ISC are technically different corporations. And also why Tony George technically won the war although he didn't end up winning much of anything. In the decade after Penske sold Michigan, Fontana, Rockingham, and Nazareth, it caused a lot of problems for both IndyCar and NASCAR. Nazareth was effectively demolished (and in a nasty way), Rockingham was almost instantly dropped from the Cup schedule, Fontana was tapped to replace the Southern 500 which alienated many of the long-term fans, and the Michigan/Fontana IndyCar races were quickly removed because they didn't draw enough of a crowd, even though those tracks were always much better for IndyCar than they were for NASCAR. If Penske had held on to those tracks, he could have kept oval racing as an important IndyCar presence and selling his tracks out was the beginning of the end for oval IndyCar racing even though it didn't *really* become apparent until The Great Recession cratered the attendance for everything. I think maybe Penske buying IMS is an attempt to correct for his '90s mistakes (and honestly, I think selling those tracks effectively to NASCAR may have been a bigger and more damaging mistake with regard to IndyCar racing than the U.S. 500 was.)
"Who needs milk!".....Jimmy Vasser while in victory lane at 1996 US 500. 🤣
Only guy to be allowed to win a 500 mile race after crashing his qualified car on the Pace Lap and benefiting from a CART loophole that never existed at Indy and never should have existed period.
Man, the 90’s was a magical time for motorsport
Been waiting for this every day since part 2. I was born in Indianapolis and my dad was a staunch IRL loyalist. I love learning why all this stuff happened. I was born in 99 so this stuff is ancient history to me. Crazy to think my first Indy 500 was the firsr reunion at the 500 between Cart and IRL
These videos are fantastic! Love how you use both the race tv footage and audio from the radio broadcast. Interesting to hear Robby Gordon talking after that wreck with Derrick Walker on pit road. Would love to see him in the Indy 500 again. Can't wait until part 4!
I would love to see the finale of the nascarman History IndyCar Split documentary series on the path to reunification
Great retrospective on a huge part of IndyCar history.
I just have to comment how much I miss the cars from that era. The speed and shear power of the high revving turbo V8s along with the glorious noise and the fact there were 4 engine suppliers (well, Toyota just starting out in CART in 1996 made it 4, also had Mercedes, Honda and Ford Cosworth), the great look of the cars from that era, multiple chassis makers (Reynard, Lola, Penske and later we'd see Swift and Gurney AAR join CART).
The 1996 Indy record lap speeds have not come even close to being approached or beaten since. In 97 IRL went with its new formula with bulky, not so great looking cars and "production-based" normally aspirated engines that were rev-limited and made far less power than the high-strung turbo V8s CART would still use for many more seasons.
CART would set the closed course speed record in 1997 at Michigan's twin track, Fontana/California/Auto Club speedway with a lap average above 240 mph by Mauricio Gugelmin. In 98, CART would mandate drag-creating wings called the Hanford device to slow the cars down while engine power kept climbing every year. By the year 2000, the closed course speed record would be broken again despite having the wings designed to slow the cars down, that's how rapid aero and engine development was in the late 90s into the early 2000s.
In 97, they were just starting to approach 800 hp. By 2000, they were closer to 1000 hp. Drivers reporting if they hit a bump off turn 2 just right at Fontana, they could get wheel spin.... at 220 mph. Let that sink in.
Champ Cars were insanely fast beasts. I had a massive amount of respect for the drivers in CART of that era. Those cars were ridiculous.
I miss that era, tears in my eyes.
Right on my man. This modern IndyCar with these identical crap Dallara spec cars is a farce.
Indycar is now but a pale shadow of the great CART years.
Lotus, McLaren, March, Lola, Reynard, Chaparral, Coyote - Penske all gone!
The speeds are coming back up though. This year's pole speed was less than 2mph slower than the record Brayton set in '96. There's talk of 240+mph in the next-gen engine due to launch in 2023.
This year's 500 was fantastic, really competitive racing, and only two cautions. The rest of the season has been really great too.
"Part: 3"
*33 minutes and 54 seconds long*
Here we go boys.
No bathroom breaks allowed.
@@darknessesdarknesses2492 started on the toilet
MOARRR
@@dyslexofficial2798 always here for us.
@@The52car more over and over again
CART screwed up by not sending their teams to Indy to expose the 25/8 rule for the fraud that it was. If CART would have done that, TG's toy series would have been killed off before it ever got off the ground.
It was exposed the next year tbf
Had cart went to that race and their 8 cars out ran IRL’s 25 it would’ve killed the IRL before it ever got off the ground
@@loganbolton8148 well yeah maybe
@@tobiaskress2964 yeah, but at that point the damage was already done.
@@tobiaskress2964 The U.S. 500 could have been scheduled to the 4th of July Weekend
These are some of your guys’ best work. I’d love to see more in-depth projects like this in the future among all kinds of racing!
9:37 Whoever thought at that time that, going into the 2021 race, that that would be the last time that we would hear those words? RIP Tom Carnegie.
Much anticipated... Glad it's here, settleing in for 34 minutes of information, excitement, & Memory lane of 'the dark days'. You know all these years later I'm still not stirred by the names of Billy Boat & Jimmy Kite.
Dude, I had NO IDEA Salazar's blocking move against Davy Jones was a team order! After watching the 96 Indy 500 at least five times, it always got my attention that Salazar, not very well-known for being an aggressive driver, would make such a dangerous move!
Still, that crash going out of the pits with Luyendyk looked absolutely intentional and weird for a guy that, at the time, was 41 and had raced for many years.
RIP Scott Brayton, I remember that day like it was yesterday.., watching the coverage before his death was announced. I always loved watching everything indy during the month of may. I also remember seeing Greg Moore , and Jeff Krosnoff accidents and knowing they were fatalities right after they happened. All of them were great Talents gone way to soon .
Gonzalo Rodriguez as well.
@@tomanderson6335 yep, if my memory is correct he was testing for team Penske and crashed at the top of the cork screw at Laguna Seca. Such a shame
With the mention in the video about his kissing the bricks celebrating his pole in 1995, it definitely makes me wonder if Dale Jarrett's starting the tradition of kissing the bricks for NASCAR's Brickyard 400 later in '96 was intended as a tribute.
The ironic timing of the official Indy Car channel just uploading the 1996 US500
POV: Tony George hacked into Indy's YT account and uploaded that race.
Indian Like Beggar I’ve always wondered if Tony George ever had a burner account on Crapwagon.com
IndyCar knew this video (PART III) was coming.
Even back in 1996 Tony Stewart was this savage. You love to see consistency
A great piece of documentary, enjoyed every single second put together. Unfortunately was a war that waged no victors
NASCAR is often credited as the "winner" but problems started to crept up immediately with the rise of "cookie cutter" intermediate ovals designed to accomodate both open wheelers and stock cars.
@@FMecha indeed. But auto racing as a mean of mainstream entertainment has dwindled. Indycar is still going for racing above everything but nascar is slowly fading into a dangerous path
As is the case with most wars.
The use of archive footage for this series is spot on!! Thanks for the upload, I imagine it must've taken hours to put together
This has been a damned good series.
Nearly 30 years later, Tony George still has not apologised for what he did
Victors of war rarely apologize. The western Allies did war crimes in WWII and while it's not as massive as the crimes the Axis did, the perpretators have never been brought to justice in this life.
@@taufiqutomo some winner. He got booted out of his company and his track.
and now roger penske is ruining indycar transforming it in a woke show
@@LIGIERJS111979 roger penske? woke? lmfao get real the man supported trump in 2020
@LIGIERJS111979 Whereas anything you do in life which is just a moron show
Rookie Smoke: I'm about to send this man's career to Michigan
The sheer hubris of CART believing they could compete head-on with the Indy 500, that everyone would just up and abandon 80+ years of tradition and prestige because they supposedly had the better drivers is absolutely hilarious. Tony George was no saint either, of course, but CART 100% deserved everything they had coming.
They should have sued Tony George and IMS for the 25/8 rule but I guess they were still playing the lawyers for the 1979 USAC/CART split. So they choose to try to have a new race but we’re sacred of having a court fight with IMS lawyers. If they had real balls they would all have come to IMS and demanded a shot in the 96 500 if Tony George locked them out and demanded they join the IRL then CART should have sued IMS for Tony George having to much unilateral power and being arbitrary.
@@robertmusgrave9236 Actually, their smartest move would have been to just show up at WDW and Phoenix and in effect make the whole 25/8 rule irrelevant because the CART teams would have been the ones locked in. But they really thought Indy was so irrelevant in the big picture that they weren't smart enough to use what would have been their biggest weapon against the IRL to stop it at the beginning.
And now Tony George sold the series to Roger Penske and is being run like it's CART-Lite. Tony George's dream failed and is being carried on by what made CART great on a smaller budget. There was also an interview with CART CEO Andrew Craig a year ago in Racer Magazine stating that the idea of going up against the Indy 500 on the same day was from the sponsors that were locked out of Indy.
Great series!! I was much younger and a hard-headed dirt track fan (Lawrenceburg, IN/Jeff Gordon/Tony Stewart/Kenny Irwin), attended the Indy 500 every year, and there was only one side to me then. I watched F1 for road courses & high-tech. Watching your series as a much older person is very enlightening. Thanks!!
Damn, the drama behind the scenes is more interesting than the racing.
I wonder if you’ll explore Driven and the failed Hawaii Super Prix in a later episode?
Brock Beard (the narrator) did make a video on Driven on his channel btw
Josh Revell, made a video about the Hawaiian Super Prix on his TH-cam channel pretty interesting stuff typical late 90's early 2000's CART incompetence.
@@FMecha story on indycar,nascar,imsa and many more is here by brock beard and josh revell
@@robbyburns yes,it is
I’ve been checking everyday for the 3rd part.
When I was young I went to see CART the two times they raced at Rockingham Oval here in the UK. I had no idea of this history or story. I even asked my uncle because I remember seeing both logos on merch and stuff but all he said was that there was a rivalry. So interesting!
Vasser wrecking on the parade laps in Michigan was absolutely hilarious. I’m glad everything was ok. The fact everyone in Indianapolis was laughing too made it that much more enjoyable. Buddy Lazier became a star that day and Cart looked like a monkey fucking a football
These videos are AWESOME. Please keep telling this story with more episodes
24:29 I've never understood what happened here with Salazar. Did he lose traction with cold tires?
No, he was driving stupid the entire race.
His footwork wasn't 100% with his leg injury from Orlando and he stabbed the throttle more than he meant to, which made the car lurch hard left. At least that's the explanation Eliseo apparently gave afterward.
@@stevenkilsdonk2046 Salazar sure was injury prone in the IRL.
@@matthewedson7380 Broken leg in 96, all smashed up at Dover 1998, missed half the 2002 season after an IMS testing crash...
@@stevenkilsdonk2046 Plus ANOTHER testing accident at Orlando in 1997. Probably felt a bit of relief after it was removed from the calendar.
This series has been fantastic.
How ironic that USAC's decision to ban rear-engined sprint cars wound up creating a problem that was one of the reasons Tony George created the IRL in the first place, to give sprint car drivers a chance to make it to Indy. Had USAC not done that, there may well have been more of those guys showing up to Indy and making the transition more easily, because they would have had experience with rear-engined cars.
I absolutely love your videos. You’re a good narrator, then You find a good topic and play real archived content to make it flow together.
That music in the very beginning-opening! Brings back lotta memories. Great work NASCARMAN and Brock!
Roger Penske has always been an "I want it MY way" type of guy.
When dealing with that kind of money, you almost have to be.
The huge pile of wheels and tires at 12:10 is amazing.
That would badly come back to bite them 2 years later.
This was a dark year at the 500. Its hard to call it a success when someone died and accidents hurt so many. Great series though, thanks for doing these!
Your series on this topic is first class!
Been waiting forever for part 3!
Awesome series, can't wait for the rest of the videos.
thanks for the video. loved it. i'm from Pakistan and lives in Indy since 2000 and passes IMS every single day my way to work.
this series needs more than 4 parts
Scott Brayton crash impacted Justin Bell. He got uncompetitive ride at Indy and left the team quickly. He was on the headset when Brayton had his tragic crash. He never returned back to Indy ever. Source: Marshall Pruett podcast episode 1003
Awesome video series, NASCARMan and Brock. Each time I remember this story I think "what would Bob Varsha have though on 24:45 after all his compliments to the CART grid, just to see the most embarrassing crash in the history of the sport?"
The 1996 U.S. 500 full race was uploaded to IndyCar's official TH-cam channel a couple of days ago.
Given that NATCC was supported by CART, that could also be an interesting side chapter on the AOWR wars (in addition to an attempt to bring European Supertouring racing to North America).
I would love to see more NATCC!
Great information about THE SPLIT. Love open wheel racing.
Really fabulous video. I think this is the best part you have made so far. Can't wait for the 4th installment :)
Thank you so much
These are fantastic videos. Great mix of historic clips and a very good narration. Well done !
Is it a compliment to say how interesting but difficult that was to watch?
What amazing races '96 to 2001 would have been if everyone had checked their egos and realised what they were throwing away and where they'd all end up.
18:07 - "The other races are on road or street courses, and they are ridiculous and boring."
Every motorsports fan outside the US: "WHAT???"
As entertaining as this video series might be, none of them come close to explaining what specifically caused the split in the first place. The problem was CART teams doing business with IMS and Tony George specifically. CART had accomplished a lot of great things after dumping USAC in 1979. They'd created a diverse series with Super Speedway, short oval, road course and street courses, a strong same day TV package and brought international attention with international races as well as international drivers as well as many nationally and internationally known sponsors.
In order to accomplish this meant the need to wine and dine the elite which correspondingly meant hospitality and catering. Many teams had budgets specifically allocated to hospitality as well as feeding their crews over the course of the CART season. However, any team going to Indy for the "month of May" had to allocate a separate budget just for IMS as outside catering was banned from the premises. Keep in mind back then it truly was a month with a week of practice, Pole weekend qualifying, another week of practice and then Bump Day the following Sunday. Then of course Carb Day and the race itself.
While the smallest race day purse pay out was in the neighborhood of $110,000-$130,000 much of that money went right back to IMS to cover the high expenses to accommodate the cost of catering over the course of the month. Imagine the costs to the team that was 34th fastest and did not receive a purse check!!!! Not only that but catering wasn't cheap by any means, a $5.00 8oz carton of milk, a $10.00 lemon for garnish, $50.00 pot of coffee, the inflated prices for food went up from there. Those who worked the hospitality areas of IMS can attest to the inflated pricing.
It was CART that initially threatened to boycott Tony George over the expenses they were having to pay annually to IMS. When one flippant comment was made by a CART board member, George latched onto it with a vengeance knowing knowing CART was otherwise about to squeeze his nuts. This is what brought about the split more than anything that happened on the race track itself.
Fun videos but none of the content explains what caused the split, not even close.
Keep up the great work you had me worried because part 1 and 2 came out so soon but it was worth the wait!
The 1996 INDY 500 rookie class could have been Greg Moore Tony Stewart and Alex Zanardi damn were we all robbed . Should have worked together
@ryanmckeever3308 To Quote Smokey Yunick Tony Stewart Wouldn't Got Goddamn Ride Indycar He probably Would Bypass Indycar And Went Straight Into Nascar because Andrew Greg and Tony George Repeat the fifth Grade for twenty nine more years just to get an idiot's license That How Tony Was Able To Compete in indy 500
I have to be totally honest about the split. I still hate both sides for allowing this 3 ring circus to not only take place, but last over a decade, all the while dwindling the importance of open wheel racing in the US as a whole. That all being said there is a silver lining in every situation, and from Chaos comes Opportunity... I give you the stellar career of one Tony Stewart that may have never happened if not for the opportunity created in the IRL for short track drivers.
This is a good series... I watched both IRL & C.A.R.T. and thought they put on good racing.. I also thought the US500 became its own punchline.
Can't wait Part 4 it's really interesting
what is really underappreciated in this series, as a none american, who loves racing and watches all he can rn on youtube is that the commentators immediately switched in 96. That is a huge point when u listen to the cart 97 coverage vs indy car its day and night, the cart commentator w/ no clue about anything that sounds like he reads of a projector!
Like that commentary team made a huge difference i bet on tv watchers!
Scott Goodyear always sounded like commentating was the last thing he ever wanted to do, but he was also a past Michigan 500 winner and 2 time Indy 500 runner up.
What made a bigger difference is not everyone had ESPN 2 back then.
Okay, I'm new to this period of motorsport history, did not know Letterman co-owned a team. That was the most surprising thing I learned today.
He still does. Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan.
@@GenoSalvati huh!
@@christopherwall2121 lol he's always owned a indycar team. where have you been?!?!? lol
@@xSoccerxCorex in my defense, I was 3 when this race was going on, meaning NASCAR quickly gobbled up the media attention after CART and the IRL humiliated themselves.
@@christopherwall2121 Check out the ceremonies for the 2020 Indy 500, David Letterman gives Sato a big hug for winning! It's at 28:10 in this video: th-cam.com/video/V5MxwIhDdsY/w-d-xo.html
truly spiffing content
These are well-done videos, great work. Honestly, IRL should have run the US 500 on July 4th, or on that weekend. That would have been perfect, but I still don't think it would have attracted much more attention.
Great documentary, very professional. IRL "Indy Rookie League". Hard to believe we had drivers like Nigel Mansell racing at Indy in 1994. Tony George should be ashamed of himself because he achieved NOTHING and in the end sold the speedway to Penske.
I'd love to finally see the 1996 Indy 500 in broadcast quality!
Great vid as always! Love the attention to detail. Can anyone help me ID the music right at the beginning of the video? Been searching for the title for years now! And if it's actually the first song in the credits, then I can't find it anywhere on the internet. If you have this, please please help! Thank you!
Such a fantastic series Nascarman!
Great upload. I had to stop video when the death of Scott Brayton appeared. Because I was a Junior in High School when that death happen. I was flipping through the channels that day after I finish my homework. Suddenly on espn 2 breaking news and the announcement of Brayton's death. It hurt me very much because he pretty good driver and also when I started watching IndyCar racing in 1988. During those years and watching old races on youtube now. I got a kick of watching the three Scott's, Pruett, Goodyear, & Brayton. Thinking about it now it was weird because sometimes all three be racing together for position. Crazy, but fun times. Now back to the video I watched some of the 1996 Indy 500, but It wasn't the same without the teams & drivers of CART. I watched the US 500. I recorded the race on audio cassette. Because I didn't have VCR in my room in that time. Thinking about now I might have to look through my baskets to see if I still got the tapes. Also I like what Jimmy Vasser said at the end of the race, Who Need Milk. I love every minute of it. At the end of all this happen. Tony George won the battle, but he lost war.
Jesus Christ I'm young. I saw Rahal, Herta, and Fittipaldi and my brain went to Graham, Colton, and Christian. For reference, on Sunday May 26, 1996 I was almost 2 months old
Thanks Brock!
Love that Roger now owns the ClabberGirl
🤣🤣🤣🤣 Well, not exactly! B&G foods bought Clabber Girl from the Hulman trust fund kids in 2019. About the same time that Penske bought IMS from them.
I had no idea about motorsports until 1999 thanks to Montoya, but as a Colombian, watching Guerrero's bad luck still hurts like it was a live broadcast.
Outstanding work as always
I'm loved this video and the series. Now I want too see the rest.
10:28 Just a note, Villeneuve is pronounced Veelnuv. Look up f1 races from his championship year and you can hear Murray Walker and all the rest of them say that.
Seeing those two scalpers struggling to break even on their "investment", that put a smile on my face. :)
25:02 I think I laughed way too hard than I needed like.....WTF?!
Tony George’s quote a day after that. “And then couldn’t get to the green flag”
A year later 1997 Indy 500
I laughed even harder than I did in 96. Lmao
Anyone who couldn't foresee a points tie in a three race schedule should be immediately fired
I remember watching both races on tv. Freaking stupidity starting the field at Michigan three wide.
Roger Penske now owns it all. I miss the glory days of the early 90s. That was the best racing on the planet, better than F1. Nigel Mansel running and Senna on his way over, can you imagine the 1996 season that should have been.
Yup. Alex Zanardi and Greg Moore never got to race at Indy.
24:56
Here for everyone
God. Some of the soundtracks used in this are masterful. Almost as masterful as the video itself
Any track names?
Read the credits at the end.
@@The52car yep! Just finished it.
Should of broadcast on Fox!
You can tell that the announcer got tired of saying "New track record"
One of the worst things about this division was we missed the natural evolution of the best racing cars in history.
IndyCars from the mid 90s to 2001 are the most brutal, challenging and beautiful racing cars ever. PLUS the fastest racing cars of the world at top and average speed.
The split create two kind of cars for very specific purposes and none of these catches the real IndyCar old feel.
I always find it a little odd just how much CART got railed for that startline crash, as if the Indy 500 didn't have several crashes themselves before cars got to turn 1. Perhaps they should have marketed their drivers as 'AS GOOD AS' and not 'BETTER than Indy'
It’s Because the casual viewer only has a 2 minute attention span. That crash just happened to be in that window. The driver/pit errors at Indy happened throughout the race. That 1996 race became more like a freak show because there was more anticipation for a crash than for skilled driving. And again, that attracts the casual viewer. Personally, I think the IRL was lucky there wasn’t more than one fatality during that month.
Yes, Penske made American racing a business. But it was inevitable. And look, he succeeded. The last time a Foyt car won a championship was Brack in 98.
For those who do not understand how much of a drop there been since the 1990s...
McLaren went for a photoshoot on the phoenix oval in 1991 and had the track for a few hours. Their time, in Hockenheim configuration, would have been midfield in IndyCar that year.
Ok this is an F1 on an oval without the right configuration.
Still... That McLaren was pretty good, however not as advanced as the William that year (basically it was a weird year where everything faster than McLaren wasn't as reliable and everything as reliable wasn't quite as fast).
Today's F1 cars have 1000 horsepower, and DRS. They can hit 235 mph at Baku, and that's not the lowest drag set-up.
During the race, F1 could have a problem with the electric motor and braking, because the battery would be empty. However, the electric motor is about 16p horsepowers, so if they were allowed to remove that...
Basically IndyCar now compete with formula 2 for talent.