It's a good primer. NASCARMAN did a couple deep dives on both wars and even a precipitating event to CART's creation and split from USAC. I comped the relevant vids into a playlist for convenience: th-cam.com/play/PLFYTvhaFaK7Z8EbkA8U99iAHIu8nHRwez.html
The saddest thing about the CART/IRL split is that when you really knuckle down and analyze the underlying issues, it becomes clear that the two organizations could have coexisted peacefully and cooperatively, and it would have been MASSIVELY beneficial for them to do so. But in the racing world, egos reign supreme.
Yep. When you look at what were the driving issues that led Tony George to initiate the split, specifically the overabundance of road courses, the dominance of the series by non-Americans, and the dominance of the series by Roger Penske, it seems even more pointless. After all, all of those traits are still defining features of IndyCar today. So, the split completely tore American open-wheel racing apart, destroyed its popularity, and took what was America's favorite racing series down to 3rd at best today, and all that was ultimately for nothing.
@@Christopher_TG You have to mention the costs as well though, which was a legit concern in the CART series. Today's largely-spec series is much more competitive, where even though Penske is having a pretty strong season, they lost the championship lead at Barber.
@@UNHchabo The biggest irony of the split is despite Champ Car/CART going bankrupt they still effectively won the war. Cars are far closer to CART cars than the bulky IRL cars, the schedule as you said, and now Roger Penske owns the series effectively making it similar to how CART was run by the teams.
IndyCar's biggest problem is competition. The reason their split in the 90s was so devastating was because NASCAR was perfectly positioned to pick up the fans sickened by the petty bickering and politics of the split. The reason their current renaissance is not quite catching fire is because Formula One is stealing all that thunder with their Netflix-driven popularity surge. It's a real shame.
Indy also doesnt push their drivers and teams enough to fully utilize social media. TH-cam channels with 200,000 subs get more engagement than all of the team and driver channels, plus the Indycar channel, combined. Romain's channel is the exception to this, and really only his channel is bringing in new, international fans. This ties into another large reason of limited success; the lack of international races, which draws in so many more fans.
@@lucignolo8333 What does that have to do with what I pointed out? I said "Sure duh" to that. There is more to racing and a series then just how fast a car can go. Also, on an oval the indycar would win but that's neither here nor there, it's different and doesn't count.
@@lucignolo8333 When was the last time F1 car ever goes near 400 km/h? How many horsepowers it needed for F1 car to even goes near that speed? Why did F1 "so-called GOATs" (Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton, and Verstappen) pussied out of oval racing? Why did Tony Stewart WIPED the floor against Michael Schumacher in equal cars during 2007 IROC? Why did Alonso got his ass eliminated by a Carlin(!) car in 2020? Exactly.
It cannot be overstated how popular IndyCar was in the 80s and 90s. You could find toy diecasts at Target, Kmart, and Toys R Us. The drivers were in commercials all over ESPN. Cars had major sponsors, and each race would draw massive crowds. It’s depressing to me how much the sport fell out of mainstream consciousness. IndyCar is my favorite.
I remember tuning into the US 500, and David Letterman literally said on TV, "My God, what are we doing here?" Or something along those lines. Yes, he co-owned a CART team, but you could tell he'd have rather been at Indy.
@@christopherwall2121 Letterman is a native Hoosier, and Indy for him was the most important race in the world. That he's won it twice probably means more than any Emmy he's won
He also however backed CART because while Tony ran the Speedway, and had money, he didn't understand the business of the sport. The teams didn't understand him either to be fair, but it was clear this was his ego challenging theirs
@@marklittle8805 Tony didn't understand it nor did the top CART teams, who were suckering in the little teams to be backmarkers every week. The split was inevitable as the teams egos and Tony's ego were way too big for one room. Thankfully with Roger Penske buying the series, I don't think we'll have any issues with egos any time soon. And if we do, it damn well won't be because of Roger.
My father was a fan of Letterman back when he hosted the Late Show. The day he hosted after the weekend he won while still in that position, he had the greatest smile on his face and asked the audience, “So how was your weekend?”
This year will be my first time atrending attending the Indy 500 and I can't wait. Growing up me and my dad watched CART religiously and went to many races. Three years ago he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer which developed into stage 4, and he's been battling it ever since. He got to a good place with his treatment and we decided this was the year to go. Everyday I count my blessings, and am so thankful I'll get to see this race with him.
Good for your and your father. Make memories together before you can't. I lost my father when I was just 19 years old, just after the Tigers won the World Series in 1984. We talked about going to see our first Tiger game the following year. I never had the chance.
The first time I went in 2018 it was a dream come true! Having watched the race on TV since 1982, to finally be there was a surreal feeling. It was the happiest moment of my life! This year will mark the 4th time I've gone & I'll probably go a few more times before it gets to be too much (I'm currently 48, so hopefully I can make it into my mid-50's or so). Get there as early as you can and soak as much of it in as you can. Especially with your dad. I'm sure it's not a matter of whether the experience will be awesome with the 2 of you (it will be), but how much more awesome it can get every time you look around another corner. Enjoy!!!
If you have the time you should try and go for the full week! There’s practices held at the track all week, Carb Day on Friday is a full day of competitions, events and pageantry on Friday and there’s concerts in the track Friday and Saturday. Best week of the year
@@williamhoeper2740 we won't be there for the week before, but the week after we're doing some camping in Michigan and catching the Belle Isle Grand Prix, and the week after that the Road America Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake, WI
Would like to add that the broadcast team at NBC does an amazing job broadcasting the races as well for indycar. They can make a relatively uneventful race seem very exciting.
Have to 100% on the “front engine is better for dirt” point. Rear engine is actually much better and when people started showing up with rear engine sprint car and beating everyone into oblivion, USAC banned them. Effectively, cutting the tie between local short track racers and top level open wheel racing in the US.
@@dkmotorracingnz8010 I heard that Pavement the Mid Engine Sprints were fast. Team owners complained, and USAC banned them or changed rules to make them uncompetitive.
@@cat-le1hf To be fair, rally and dirt oval racing are so far apart the comparison barely holds up. Quite a few teams messed with mid-engine designs in rally back in the 80s and the heyday of Group B racing, and a few famous examples were doing it even before then (The Lancia Stratos comes to mind)
This was an amazing video! I’m not biased to any series. Grew up watching mostly Nascar because of my dad. I’m not sure why there’s so much hostility and defending of your favorite series. If you’re a fan of motorsports then you should like all forms of racing. The last 2-3 years in Formula 1, Nascar and IndyCar have given us some amazing racing & championship battles and they all check a different box for what makes them enjoyable.
I agree 100%. We all have our favorite, but motorsports, as a whole, needs to stay healthy, or we'll lose it. And you're right, the last couple seasons have been EPIC in Formula 1, IndyCar is on an upswing (helped, in my opinion, by American drivers like Colton Herta, Newgarten, and welcoming guys like Rosenquist and Grosjean), and, so far, the NASCAR NexGen has opened the door for smaller teams to be successful (GO, ROSS CHASTAIN!!!) To those that haven't yet, check out a form of racing you're not familiar with....you may be pleasantly surprised!!!
I understand this for the most part. I love nascar. Rally and Indycar have both found their own places in my heart. I think dirt racing is cool as hell. F1 though is to me a high speed parade where gaining 5 positions in a race is seen as an incredible thing. F1 right now also has toxic ass fans thanks to them being a bunch of people who got into it through drive to survive and not from an enjoyment of watching the actual racing
@@connorbingel7134 for the most part, I agree. But, there have been some GREAT F1 races the last season or 2. Lewis Hamilton coming from LAST TO WIN at Brazil last year, for example, and Red Bull and Ferrari have FINALLY caught up to Mercedes. I'm a dirt track guy myself, so I understand what youre saying. Maybe I should have said "it's better than it was 5 years ago".
connor bingel there is nothing bad with gaining 5 places, though. NASCAR is like basketball, scoring is ubiquitous but doesn’t really matter till the last quarter. F1 is like football - goal on first minutes can be as important as the one on the last. It creates suspense, you have to pay attention to the whole race, not just stage 3. Also, having only 20 drivers makes it easier to follow the whole drama during the race - even battles for 10 can be exciting if you know the stakes. I think people should just realize that NASCAR and F1 are widely different forms of motor sports and you can enjoy both of them if you can notice the subtleties.
Indianapolis native here. I can't adequately express how happy I am to see the IndyCar renaissance that's currently unfolding. I've long preferred their flavor of open-wheel racing to that of F1, and am glad to see more and more people are paying attention to it. They just need to continue working on their marketing. I will say, I think IndyCar should borrow a tactic from F1; I think they should film a "Drive to Survive" type of docuseries and put that up on Peacock, similar to what Netflix has been doing the last few years. Just my two cents.
The racing in NASCAR is vastly improving, but the sport seems lost in many other ways. Expressing political views and trying so many new things at once makes it lose its sense of identity. I'm sure it felt similar in the late 90s/early 00s with the introduction of 1.5 milers at the cost of short tracks.
@@sgtpepper6379 NASCAR's been more on the Sports Entertainment route more than the actual racing itself. The dying breed of the Purists, like me, have turned to ARCA for the actual racing and not gimmicks to try to keep us entertained.
Great video sir. It is well worth noting that since NASCAR has emasculated itself by running stage races, the Indy 500 is now the ONLY uninterrupted 500 mile race left in all of motor sports. I hope that NEVER changes and that it will always be just as it is. A 500 mile competition. It only cements the reason why the Indy 500 remains the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
This bears repeating. NASCAR itself is a formerly great racing series with its own incredibly rich history. Stock car racing and IndyCar are the two biggest reasons why motorsport in the United States is so joyfully, incredibly unique. But as NASCAR has seemingly sought to kill off any momentum it once had (and Formula One seems set to try and do the same across the pond), IndyCar now stands alone. As a series, it's still not very big, and the cars are based around spec chassis. But I honestly cannot think of another series anywhere in the world right now that still gets the basics of a good auto racing competition dead right as often as IndyCar does.
@@agreenmountain805 Sure, the Rolex is a classic race too. My point is that the 500 mile distance has always been a marquee distance. Time, as in 24 hours on the other hand, is also a race 'distance' that should be preserved. The race gods would crap their pants if the Rolex were broken up into "stages" or shortened. To wuzzify that too would be 'criminal' to tradition.
It would also have to be 40 minutes long,because Sportscar racing, even in abridged form is, to quote S1ap, "one hell of a rabbit hole". It's some of the greatest racing even at the grassroots in the USA and it's influence is starting to creep into NASCAR but it's a massive ecosystem
Dude seriously and sincerely thank you very much for this piece. Thank you for showing the love and respect for IndyCar and encouraging others to check it out. I absolutely love IndyCar and will be attending Gateway again this year. ☮️❤️🎵🌍🤗🏁
Great video S1ap! Love seeing IndyCar get the recognition it deserves, it's a great series and I highly recommend it. Couple of minor corrections though: the reason USAC Championship cars (what Indy cars were called back then) stayed with a front-engined layout on dirt isn't because that layout is better than rear-engined on dirt, but actually quite the opposite. It was far superior but teams threw a fit because it meant they would all have to build new dirt cars to be competitive. A similar discussion was happening with USAC's sprint car series at the same time, and they were really worried about the smaller teams being able to afford the new, expensive style of cars. So USAC decided to draw a line in the sand and stick with the traditional front-engined layout. Around that time, the Championship Car series was already migrating away from dirt for the same reason NASCAR did at about the same time: they viewed the glitz and glamor of asphalt racing as better, and considered dirt less fitting for a high profile series. And I want to stress that the sprint cars and Championship cars back then weren't the same. They definitely looked similar but had existed in parallel for decades by that point. In fact if you wanted to run in the Indy 500, you probably cut your teeth in midgets and sprint cars before you made it to the big time. But you weren't gonna run a sprint car at a USAC Championship race on dirt or asphalt; the car you needed was bigger, had a longer wheelbase, and could carry a lot more fuel on board for the longer races. Sprint cars had a lot in common with Championship cars, but they were designed for short sprint races. When USAC decided to take their top level series away from dirt, the cars that remained eventually turned into what we now call Silver Crown.
Awesome to see you venture a bit into IndyCar and still hold your quality high as always. I am swedish and grew up watching Kenny Bräck take home a championship as well as the Indy 500, and we now have 2 swedes in the top series and 2 young guys in the road to indy which is very promising for the future. Only thing I really wish for is that they would add some more ovals back into the rotation. There is room for it as the series is very short compared to F1 and NASCAR and I think that short season hurts the series a bit.
there is room on the schedule, but they aren't there because fans don't buy tickets to ovals and IC doesn't have what nascar has (the money to keep running ovals in front of deserted stands) as paul newman said, you go where you're wanted. and most ovals don't want them there, especially now that nascar owns almost all of the good ones
@@xSoccerxCorex If the product on track is good and they actually manage to market that, the fans will come. IRL had some truly awesome oval racing going on, and the stands were well attended but that was 20 years ago so who knows. NASCAR wont be too hard to persuade if they can sell more tickets for their venues as not every oval has 2 dates for NASCAR anymore. In any case, oval racing is what separates IndyCar from other formula-style racing series for me. If they scrub them completely then the only thing separating them from other open wheel series is the aeroscreen.
I grew up watching IndyCar racing ... rooted hard for the Andretti's in particular (and often coming away sad). Then the schism happened, and my interest dropped, shifting to NASCAR and rooting for Earnhardt and company.
I LOVE this channel. So much history but not at all boring or condescending. Entertaining but informative. Plus, I can’t help but reminisce about Sunday’s with dad in the 80’s and 90’s when I see the old races. Thanks for all of your work. Well done.
Still not sure why the MSM hasn't thrown a semi full of money at you to do their content but sure hope you never stop doing these. This is more information, more informative and better content that every motor sport channel I have ever watched. Great job as always and keep up the great work.
I grew up on indycar with both my parents being Hoosiers. I was just a preteen when the split happened and I can’t tell you how gutting it was watching Indy’s star fall. Nobody knew about the heroes I raved about to friends. But the rebirth has been a long slow but enthralling journey. As someone who has studied the history of Indy since I could read I’ll be glad to chip in on any future videos. While nowadays my profession is commentary on sim racing, I used to be a professional editor. So I can offer a triple threat of knowledge on the sport, understanding of good storytelling and good voice to convey it. Would absolutely love to help you out because I’m a big fan of your channel
I've been a big IndyCar fan for about 20 years. I love the racing they put on. Every year, including today, I go to the IndyCar race in Alabama (Barber). I enjoy going there every year.
I remember the split and the reunion, but I never knew of the "US 500" 🤔 How different would things look today if guys like Stewart and Gordon had stayed in open wheel?? If Johnson went from trophy trucks straight to IRL?
Jeff Gordon going to NASCAR or Indy is one of those crossroads of destiny moments where this one decision could shape the course of motorsports history. Like, if Gordon doesn't jump to NASCAR, does Tony George kneecap CART just to satisfy his ego?
@@gaffneyrailroading1982 we only heard about it later that night as we were watching Buddy Lazier cross the row of bricks at the Speedway in P1. Sure the series suffered a big loss of star power, but then we would have never had Crest sponsoring Dr. Jack Miller, the driving dentist!
A S1apSh0es video on Indycar, hell yes! And it's a really good, I'm amazed at how comprehensive you can be at covering the sports 130(!!) year history in just 13 minutes.
Back when I was a kid, I always thought absolutely NO racing league could touch NASCAR. They were the gold standard in terms of everything. From the racing product to how a champion was crowned to everything else. There was nothing topping it. And then in 2007, I was introduced to IndyCar with, you guessed it, the Indy 500. I've witnessed all kinds of history happen since. And yes, I *am* a fan of IndyCar who can name more than 2 tracks and can name all the drivers and teams. I now view IndyCar as the gold standard of American Motorsports and I hope it surges into an international powerhouse one day.
My Dad and his Dad would attend every Indy 500 they could for over a decade and even now my Dad doesn't miss the race on TV if he can help it. While I grew up on NASCAR I can certainly appreciate Indycar for what it is and since they are the only major league to pay Iowa Speedway a visit they have kept the track afloat for now and have my thanks for it. I look forward to possibly attending the race myself this year.
Really good video for newcomers wanting to get into IndyCar! Also a little thought of mine, but I would absolutely love to see you do a video about the history of the famous IROC series, because I'm not sure anybody else has done so before, and it was such a fun series where great racers and champions would come together for 4 exciting races a year! :)
Dude I’ve seen A LOT of people confuse IndyCar and nascar. They’re race cars with gas engines that sometimes race on ovals and the comparisons stop there. It’s funny how often they get them confused. By the way, great video!
IndyCar doesn't have have "Gas engines". Internal combustion engines yes....but they run on Methanol. It burns cooler has a higher flash point than gasoline and when it is burning, you can hit it quick with water and it goes out. Gasoline fires do not. After some really horrific deaths in the 60's, Indy went to Methanol for good in the 70's
IndyCar is my favorite extant racing series. The first big-league race I attended was an IndyCar race, and I hope the last one I attend is, too. I love NASCAR, IMSA, WEC, and Formula One as well, but I have some kind of a sick obsession with IndyCar. I am so happy this video exists now to help new fans find the series. Thanks, S1ap!
Back in the 30’s and 20’s my family used to be a constructor for Indy Car(along with being a regular car manufacturer). I’ve got some old photos of my Great-grandfather and his racer with the car. Great video
Love that you cover the history and impact that the series has and not just a dry explanation of the series. Really makes you appreciate it that much more.
These videos are genuinely some of my favorite because i always learn something new about certain racing divisions, even if it's one i already know a fair bit about
Started following Indycar in 2018 after I got invited to a race in Portland Oregon on a whim. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the cars are the stars they are incredible. Since then I’ve watched every race, F1 is my favorite motorsport but Indy is my #2.
Awesome video. I've been an IndyCar fan for a long time, even through the split era. I got to St. Pete every year since it's basically in my backyard, and I will admit that even though my dad and I still watch NASCAR, some of the things they've done lately - and by lately I mean for the last ten years - have me feeling like they don't have any clue which direction they want to go, whereas IndyCar seems to definitely be on an upswing. If you haven't been to an IndyCar race, go and grab a paddock pass. You won't be disappointed.
As someone who goes to St Pete every year as welll....i have to say...this year was wayyyyyy more crowded than i ever remember it being. Thats good for the sport....bad for us who were there before it was 5 deep at all the fences lol
@@Posirep That's why we go Saturday and watch the race from the couch. ;) It is great though. Even had a great crowd Saturday. We might go to Barber next year too...not that long of a drive.
@@Nitron2097 I come in from CT...i guess i could watch from the hotel but what's the point then? In any case...its still an amazing time and its good to see an IndyCar race with crowds that large...even if it makes the expansion less great
Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin racing in IndyCar is so cool, two great race car drivers from NZ, a country with only 5 - 6 million people. Dixon is a legend 🇳🇿
One of the things that frustrates statisticians, namely for F1, is that due to the Indy 500 being an official round of the World Championship between 1950 and 1960, despite many of the regular season drivers not even attempting it (indeed, only Alberto Ascari and Ferrari in 1953, his second championship winning season, even attempted the Indy 500), drivers like Bill Vukovich and Roger Ward are officially F1 race winners. My favourite Indy 500 story centres on Jim Clark's first attempt. Nobody took this British built, rear engined Lotus driven by a softly spoken Scottish farmer who wasn't interested in fame, just the love of driving cars fast, seriously. Yet, their jaws were on the floor as not only did he hold his own at Indy, but the rear engined car handled better than the established Indycar teams of the day. He finished second that day in 1963, two years later, he won by 2 laps :)
I think I’m right in saying the Indy date always clashed with Monte Carlo so most F1 drivers just preferred to race there? Even accounting for the time difference, hopping over the Atlantic probably wasn’t too easy in the 1950’s. The race was probably slower then than it is now too, leaving even less room for any potential double duty.
@@garyskippracing the difficulty in crossing the Atlantic I understand, and the clashing of the Monaco Grand Prix I get, indeed, Monaco was the only race Jim Clark missed enroute to his second title in 1965. However, with the Indy 500 being an integral part of the world championship, it would seem bizarre to not have a clash of date. Then again, given how wild the early days of F1 were, I guess it could be possible
@@garyskippracing the dates started to clash in 1974 (well after the 500 got kicked out of F1). Before that it was held on May 30 and not on a Sunday (so Monday May 31st if May 30 is on a Sunday)
@@SiVlog1989 the indy 500 wasnt a championship round after 1960 so im guessing it wasnt nessacary to keep the dates separate like they did from 1950 to 1960. The indy 500 was only included initially in these first years so the FIA could justify the "world championship" label. It wasnt until 1953 that there was a world championship race outside of Europe.
And despite missing Monaco in order to run the Indy 500, Clark took the 1965 World Drivers' Championship - making him the only driver in history to win an Indy 500 and the WDC in the same year. This is one of my favorite bits of racing trivia.
just a minor note at 7:38: USAC split the championship dirt cars into it's own series - which is now known today as Silver Crown. While the cars might look similar to a sprint car, there is some large differences that separate them - which have stayed in-line since they were apart of the combined national championship (heavier weight, longer wheelbase / larger cars; race length; tracks etc.)
I got to see Silver Crown cars run the dirt mile at the Hoosier Hundred a few times and you get the sense you're experiences the absolute roots of IndyCar racing back to its earliest days.
Being from Nazareth, PA I'm of course a huge Andretti fan. My dad had been going to races at Nazareth speedway for about 20 years before it closed down. I only made it to about a handful due to young age (was born in 1991). This video definatly gave the history of Indy and motorsports in general it's proper justice. Keep up the great work s1ap 👍🤘💪
Thank you for this because I am a die hard indycar fan and almost no one even knows that's the real name they just say they thought that was the name of the race. And thanks for putting in the effort to give this series the respect it deserves. Keep up the good work
I was there for your first video. You came a long way. This is just great content with a great presentation. I am the guy who never watched NASCAR but always watch you videos. Good job.
I know you put a TON of time in your videos, between research, script writing, editing, etc...but, MAN, I wish you had more!!! LOL!! YOU are , in my opinion, the BEST racing content creator on TH-cam!!! Glad to see you talk about Indy. I'm a NASCAR guy, but the more people involved, the better motorsports as a whole will be. KEEP THEM COMING, BUDDY!! CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU DO NEXT!!!
Great video as always, and thank you for helping spread the Indycar gospel! However, there was one quick correction I wanted to make. Penske did, in fact, run the Ilmor Mercedes 500I engines exclusively in the 1994 Indy 500, as was the plan from the beginning (at least, that's the narrative behind the project). They definitely became paperweights after that race, though.
I've been involved in the Sprint Car scene for nearly 12 years, and I had no idea that they derived from Indy Cars. I would love to see a video dive more into the history of Sprint Car Racing sometime in the future.
Dude I’m in the sprint car scene to. Non wing in California. Sprint cars have always had connections to IndyCars. Ask the guys in your scene and they should know some things for sure. What part of the country do you run in
Especially the big Silver Crown cars, they're basically just the old Indy roadsters. Still running the 1 mile tracks, 100 mile races, handheld starter motors, giant fuel tank. All of that stuff can be traced back to the Indy roadsters.
It was always midgets, sprints, and the big cars (from like post-war era). Except big cars went in two directions after 1970, rear engine indycars, or front engine silver crown cars.
Damn what a great video. Always enjoy your stuff though I’m more of an open wheel F1 fan so this was great. Always wondered on IRL split how much Bernie and the Frances were in Tony George’s ear egging him on.
I just have to say thank you thank you thank!!! A few years ago I started trying to research The evolutionary history of my favorite racing series the “ World of outlaws”. I knew most of what was in your video, but it is probably the most concise and beginner friendly explanation of USA Open wheel racing. By the way I like that you used Williams Grove footage, I track that I probably go to 3 to 4 times a year.
To see a NASCAR fan pay tribute to Indy Car racing like this is awesome. I constantly watched Indy races when I was young, and while NASCAR is entertaining, I still gravitate towards the open wheel cars, both Indy and F1. I thoroughly enjoyed this video and the respect paid to open wheeled history. Thank you!
Went to my first Indy500 with some friends last year and it was electric! Going again with the same guys this year and I cannot wait. Only a few weeks away!
This is more and better IndyCar content than the entire IndyCar series social media team has done in the last 5 years. S1ap….I’d go hit up The Captain about a job.
Myself following motorsports since the 1960s, the overview on the evolution of Indy Cars in this video is impressive; well said! A couple of aspects that hurt the IRL in its early years was the talent of the drivers that led to many crashes; and the Olds Aurora naturally aspirated engine that had a high rate of failures. The Olds engine was based on a mass-production vehicle design, where the IRL rules allowed for teams to work on their own engines [as opposed to CART, where the leased engines from the manufacturers didn't allow for any tampering whatsoever].
Great video, but I suspect you might have been confused about the differences in engine regulations between CART and what was allowed at Indy. Penske invested in the Mercedes engine for '94 because under Indy rules a "stock block" motor could run more turbo boost. The same rule did not apply to CART sanctioned events. Penske slaughtered the field in '94 with that Ilmor developed Mercedes powerplant.
The Indy Dirt Cars didnt form into sprint cars, but instead to the Usac Silver Crown series. The sprint cars have always been around and been different from the Champ Cars. Actually in the 1981 Pocono race there wasnt going to be a full field, so they allowed the Silver Crown cars to race against the Indycars (which were totally different at this point).
YOOOOO IVE NEVER SEEN THIS VIDEO TODAY that is my great grand father Bayliss in the 24 Indy car pic, holy shit I love your channel, if you want more info please hit me up, made my freaking week man THANK YOU!
I was the biggest CART/Champ Car fan ever from the mid 90s to the early 2000s. That 1997 title decider at Laguna Seca is one of my favorite racing memories ever. They were also racing at a lot of cool tracks around the world like Surfer's Paradise and Mosport.
Good video, but I have one correction to make. Mid/rear engines caught on in F1 6 years before Jim Clark's Indy 500 win. Clark himself won a WDC in a mid-engined car prior to 1965.
From what I always read CART was originally supposed to be an advocacy group for the team owners but USAC didn't want to listen to any of their suggestions and that's what caused the split.
My father (who's gone to the 500 since 76) has a much different view on the split and watching this gives me good perspective. I've been going since 2012 and it is by far my favorite form of motorsport.
You should get into IndyCar....they have a young hot shot Dutch driver Rinus van Kalmthout. Finished 3rd yesterday. Only 21 years old. Won a race last year too. Hes already in his 3rd year making his debut at 19.
Absolutely awesome video. The race yesterday in Alabama was super exciting too. A lot of close racing, hard fought battles, pit strategy, it had it all.
I'm from Australia and even I watch the Indy500 some of the races I've seen just to watch Scott McLaughlin is elite. It's superb driving. Super underrated motorsport.
I love your videos, Slap. I'm especially interested in this one, because though I do have plenty of knowledge about IndyCar, admittedly I don't know much about it. I know IndyCar has been around almost as long as racing itself (due to the cars being the same as F1 and Sprint cars... technically those early races were IndyCar races), but I don't know the nuances about the sport or it's cars. Just your first factoid has made this a must-see video. Thanks again for what you do! Edit: only 4 minutes in and I've already been hit with so many interesting facts I'm sharing this video out immediately
Few minor notes... 1-AAA's last race in 1955 and USAC's first ever event in 1956 were held less than 2 weeks apart in Fort Wayne, IN indoors at the Allen County War Memorial Colisuem... A building where A-I do side video work for, and B-Indoor racing continues to this day in the adjacent Expo Center. 2-When the USAC "National Championship" went away from being dirt and pavement and being pavement only with the rear engined cars, it didn't lead to the dirt cars being Sprint Cars as Sprints had been a thing and morphed largely from Super Modifieds (another great video of yours)... Instead the legacy of the Dirt Champ Cars morphed into what continues now as USAC Silver Crown... Or fully known now as "USAC Silver Crown Champ Car National Championship" (I do a good amount of video work for them still.) 3-Only two dirt miles are left on the USAC calendar, both the Springfield Mile and DuQuioin Mile in Illinois as the Indy Mile was recently converted to a hardened surface horse track last summer. 4-On May 26, 1996 the Indy 500 and U.S. 500 did run the same day, and somewhat same time... However, Indy went green at Noon ET, and Michigan didn't fire off originally at 2. The red flag at Michigan was convenient to where, if you so chose to do so, you could have seen the CART teams wreck, seen Lazier win Indy, and be back for the initial restart for Michigan, see Vasser win Michigan and not even miss the green at Charlotte for the 600 since it was delayed by rain. Ironically, TBS had an expanded 2-hour pre-race for the 600 in an effort to try and lure people away from watching either Indy or Michigan.
I didn't see one black in this video son. I'm a black fyi so if you wanna have a go at comparing growlers I'll throw down son. My bee whole is tight and my growlers are thick boy. Or you can apologize right now.
Great video, S1apSh0es. IndyCar is an amazing series with great racing, very fast cars, and terrific fan engagement. My family and I have been to several IndyCar races and no series is more welcoming to its fans, even in the garages. I love NASCAR too but, dollar for dollar, IndyCar puts on a better show.
Great timing! Was just at Barber today to watch and INDYCAR race today. Y’all check it out! It’s got really good racing all around. Still love nascar as well
IndyCar is #1 in my book. Anything dirt track racing is a very close #2, and NASCAR right on their heels at #3. I wish IndyCar would add a couple more oval track races to their schedule, but I do enjoy watching their road and street courses.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
This should be the quintessential "Indycar for Dummies" video. Top notch work, S1aP
There's definitely been a need for that kind of video for a few years now.
It's a good primer. NASCARMAN did a couple deep dives on both wars and even a precipitating event to CART's creation and split from USAC. I comped the relevant vids into a playlist for convenience: th-cam.com/play/PLFYTvhaFaK7Z8EbkA8U99iAHIu8nHRwez.html
I've had to explain the difference between Nascar and F1 to someone
The history of indycar would have been better.
nope... indycar for "everyone else " maybe... cause in the rest of the world, theres no such thing as indy or only oval races.
The saddest thing about the CART/IRL split is that when you really knuckle down and analyze the underlying issues, it becomes clear that the two organizations could have coexisted peacefully and cooperatively, and it would have been MASSIVELY beneficial for them to do so. But in the racing world, egos reign supreme.
Yep. When you look at what were the driving issues that led Tony George to initiate the split, specifically the overabundance of road courses, the dominance of the series by non-Americans, and the dominance of the series by Roger Penske, it seems even more pointless. After all, all of those traits are still defining features of IndyCar today. So, the split completely tore American open-wheel racing apart, destroyed its popularity, and took what was America's favorite racing series down to 3rd at best today, and all that was ultimately for nothing.
It’s all about money. It’s never been about anything else.
@@meangreen99 It was about egos. If it was about money, they would have worked together.
@@Christopher_TG You have to mention the costs as well though, which was a legit concern in the CART series. Today's largely-spec series is much more competitive, where even though Penske is having a pretty strong season, they lost the championship lead at Barber.
@@UNHchabo The biggest irony of the split is despite Champ Car/CART going bankrupt they still effectively won the war. Cars are far closer to CART cars than the bulky IRL cars, the schedule as you said, and now Roger Penske owns the series effectively making it similar to how CART was run by the teams.
IndyCar's biggest problem is competition. The reason their split in the 90s was so devastating was because NASCAR was perfectly positioned to pick up the fans sickened by the petty bickering and politics of the split. The reason their current renaissance is not quite catching fire is because Formula One is stealing all that thunder with their Netflix-driven popularity surge. It's a real shame.
Indy also doesnt push their drivers and teams enough to fully utilize social media. TH-cam channels with 200,000 subs get more engagement than all of the team and driver channels, plus the Indycar channel, combined. Romain's channel is the exception to this, and really only his channel is bringing in new, international fans. This ties into another large reason of limited success; the lack of international races, which draws in so many more fans.
F1 also had probably one of the best championship battles in decades last year
@@lucignolo8333 Technologically, sure duh. Seeing celebs at races and the rich is the stands, definitely. Every other possible way? nah.
@@lucignolo8333 What does that have to do with what I pointed out? I said "Sure duh" to that. There is more to racing and a series then just how fast a car can go.
Also, on an oval the indycar would win but that's neither here nor there, it's different and doesn't count.
@@lucignolo8333 When was the last time F1 car ever goes near 400 km/h? How many horsepowers it needed for F1 car to even goes near that speed? Why did F1 "so-called GOATs" (Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton, and Verstappen) pussied out of oval racing? Why did Tony Stewart WIPED the floor against Michael Schumacher in equal cars during 2007 IROC? Why did Alonso got his ass eliminated by a Carlin(!) car in 2020?
Exactly.
It cannot be overstated how popular IndyCar was in the 80s and 90s. You could find toy diecasts at Target, Kmart, and Toys R Us. The drivers were in commercials all over ESPN. Cars had major sponsors, and each race would draw massive crowds. It’s depressing to me how much the sport fell out of mainstream consciousness. IndyCar is my favorite.
I remember tuning into the US 500, and David Letterman literally said on TV, "My God, what are we doing here?" Or something along those lines. Yes, he co-owned a CART team, but you could tell he'd have rather been at Indy.
Even in the interviews building hype for the US 500, Letterman seemed very bitter that this was life now.
@@christopherwall2121 Letterman is a native Hoosier, and Indy for him was the most important race in the world. That he's won it twice probably means more than any Emmy he's won
He also however backed CART because while Tony ran the Speedway, and had money, he didn't understand the business of the sport. The teams didn't understand him either to be fair, but it was clear this was his ego challenging theirs
@@marklittle8805 Tony didn't understand it nor did the top CART teams, who were suckering in the little teams to be backmarkers every week. The split was inevitable as the teams egos and Tony's ego were way too big for one room. Thankfully with Roger Penske buying the series, I don't think we'll have any issues with egos any time soon. And if we do, it damn well won't be because of Roger.
My father was a fan of Letterman back when he hosted the Late Show. The day he hosted after the weekend he won while still in that position, he had the greatest smile on his face and asked the audience, “So how was your weekend?”
There really should be a film or mini-series about the split, it's ripe for a dramatic character study.
Holy shit its the double Shambles Championship Champion.
Holy shit, whatre you doing here??
Daddy S1ap getting in on IndyCar content!
I'm very proud
You got me into Indy so thanks
Remind me what you know about IndyCar again?
@@penske369 he’s been into Indy for a bit now
@@legorobotics1017 appearing in a video with a "media member" IndyCar despises doesn't really count.
This year will be my first time atrending attending the Indy 500 and I can't wait. Growing up me and my dad watched CART religiously and went to many races. Three years ago he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer which developed into stage 4, and he's been battling it ever since. He got to a good place with his treatment and we decided this was the year to go. Everyday I count my blessings, and am so thankful I'll get to see this race with him.
Good for your and your father. Make memories together before you can't. I lost my father when I was just 19 years old, just after the Tigers won the World Series in 1984. We talked about going to see our first Tiger game the following year. I never had the chance.
Have an excellent time!
The first time I went in 2018 it was a dream come true! Having watched the race on TV since 1982, to finally be there was a surreal feeling. It was the happiest moment of my life! This year will mark the 4th time I've gone & I'll probably go a few more times before it gets to be too much (I'm currently 48, so hopefully I can make it into my mid-50's or so). Get there as early as you can and soak as much of it in as you can. Especially with your dad. I'm sure it's not a matter of whether the experience will be awesome with the 2 of you (it will be), but how much more awesome it can get every time you look around another corner. Enjoy!!!
If you have the time you should try and go for the full week! There’s practices held at the track all week, Carb Day on Friday is a full day of competitions, events and pageantry on Friday and there’s concerts in the track Friday and Saturday. Best week of the year
@@williamhoeper2740 we won't be there for the week before, but the week after we're doing some camping in Michigan and catching the Belle Isle Grand Prix, and the week after that the Road America Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake, WI
Would like to add that the broadcast team at NBC does an amazing job broadcasting the races as well for indycar. They can make a relatively uneventful race seem very exciting.
I love Leigh Diffey in the booth! He can make anything exciting!
NBC needs the full NASCAR season too.
Really? Ive tried watching some coming from F1 and really have nothing good to say about the broadcast in comparison.
If they could cool it with the commercials it'd be pretty good
Less ads?
On American sports?
*man you know how to make a good joke*
Have to 100% on the “front engine is better for dirt” point. Rear engine is actually much better and when people started showing up with rear engine sprint car and beating everyone into oblivion, USAC banned them. Effectively, cutting the tie between local short track racers and top level open wheel racing in the US.
Yes, but did they do well on dirt or was it only on pavement where they won?
@@dkmotorracingnz8010 I heard that Pavement the Mid Engine Sprints were fast. Team owners complained, and USAC banned them or changed rules to make them uncompetitive.
100%?
@@dethkillerspiral 100% disagree if im reading correctly
@@cat-le1hf To be fair, rally and dirt oval racing are so far apart the comparison barely holds up.
Quite a few teams messed with mid-engine designs in rally back in the 80s and the heyday of Group B racing, and a few famous examples were doing it even before then (The Lancia Stratos comes to mind)
Nice to see S1ap Talking about IndyCar this Time. You Love to See it
Ain't that the truth
Honestly S1ap could make a video about the Pinty's series and I'd be happy.
This was an amazing video! I’m not biased to any series. Grew up watching mostly Nascar because of my dad. I’m not sure why there’s so much hostility and defending of your favorite series. If you’re a fan of motorsports then you should like all forms of racing. The last 2-3 years in Formula 1, Nascar and IndyCar have given us some amazing racing & championship battles and they all check a different box for what makes them enjoyable.
I agree 100%. We all have our favorite, but motorsports, as a whole, needs to stay healthy, or we'll lose it. And you're right, the last couple seasons have been EPIC in Formula 1, IndyCar is on an upswing (helped, in my opinion, by American drivers like Colton Herta, Newgarten, and welcoming guys like Rosenquist and Grosjean), and, so far, the NASCAR NexGen has opened the door for smaller teams to be successful (GO, ROSS CHASTAIN!!!) To those that haven't yet, check out a form of racing you're not familiar with....you may be pleasantly surprised!!!
I understand this for the most part. I love nascar. Rally and Indycar have both found their own places in my heart. I think dirt racing is cool as hell. F1 though is to me a high speed parade where gaining 5 positions in a race is seen as an incredible thing. F1 right now also has toxic ass fans thanks to them being a bunch of people who got into it through drive to survive and not from an enjoyment of watching the actual racing
@@connorbingel7134 for the most part, I agree. But, there have been some GREAT F1 races the last season or 2. Lewis Hamilton coming from LAST TO WIN at Brazil last year, for example, and Red Bull and Ferrari have FINALLY caught up to Mercedes. I'm a dirt track guy myself, so I understand what youre saying. Maybe I should have said "it's better than it was 5 years ago".
connor bingel there is nothing bad with gaining 5 places, though. NASCAR is like basketball, scoring is ubiquitous but doesn’t really matter till the last quarter. F1 is like football - goal on first minutes can be as important as the one on the last. It creates suspense, you have to pay attention to the whole race, not just stage 3. Also, having only 20 drivers makes it easier to follow the whole drama during the race - even battles for 10 can be exciting if you know the stakes.
I think people should just realize that NASCAR and F1 are widely different forms of motor sports and you can enjoy both of them if you can notice the subtleties.
Yes, I've been getting into F1 as of late.
Indianapolis native here. I can't adequately express how happy I am to see the IndyCar renaissance that's currently unfolding. I've long preferred their flavor of open-wheel racing to that of F1, and am glad to see more and more people are paying attention to it. They just need to continue working on their marketing. I will say, I think IndyCar should borrow a tactic from F1; I think they should film a "Drive to Survive" type of docuseries and put that up on Peacock, similar to what Netflix has been doing the last few years. Just my two cents.
Look up "100 days to Indy"
My interest in IndyCar has grown exponentially ever since NASCAR has been heading down the tubes as of late.
The racing in NASCAR is vastly improving, but the sport seems lost in many other ways. Expressing political views and trying so many new things at once makes it lose its sense of identity. I'm sure it felt similar in the late 90s/early 00s with the introduction of 1.5 milers at the cost of short tracks.
WEC, IMSA
@@soisaidtogod4248 Fanatec GT World Challenge
@@sgtpepper6379 NASCAR's been more on the Sports Entertainment route more than the actual racing itself. The dying breed of the Purists, like me, have turned to ARCA for the actual racing and not gimmicks to try to keep us entertained.
🤦♂️
Great video sir.
It is well worth noting that since NASCAR has emasculated itself by running stage races, the Indy 500 is now the ONLY uninterrupted 500 mile race left in all of motor sports.
I hope that NEVER changes and that it will always be just as it is. A 500 mile competition.
It only cements the reason why the Indy 500 remains the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
This bears repeating. NASCAR itself is a formerly great racing series with its own incredibly rich history. Stock car racing and IndyCar are the two biggest reasons why motorsport in the United States is so joyfully, incredibly unique. But as NASCAR has seemingly sought to kill off any momentum it once had (and Formula One seems set to try and do the same across the pond), IndyCar now stands alone.
As a series, it's still not very big, and the cars are based around spec chassis. But I honestly cannot think of another series anywhere in the world right now that still gets the basics of a good auto racing competition dead right as often as IndyCar does.
Rolex 24 and other endurance racing?
@@agreenmountain805 Sure, the Rolex is a classic race too. My point is that the 500 mile distance has always been a marquee distance. Time, as in 24 hours on the other hand, is also a race 'distance' that should be preserved.
The race gods would crap their pants if the Rolex were broken up into "stages" or shortened. To wuzzify that too would be 'criminal' to tradition.
Oh my God. That makes Pocono even more of a tragedy than I thought.
This is the good stuff, thanks for it!
Ikr
Vintage racing footage never fails to make me say "holy shit"
Also one of the "Big Three"
Monaco GP
24hr Le-mans
Indy 500
well now this was a treat. I wonder could the next video in this series be about Sports Car Racing like IMSA and the SCCA? That would be interesting.
Yea the ALMS and Grand-Am
That would be awesome
It would also have to be 40 minutes long,because Sportscar racing, even in abridged form is, to quote S1ap, "one hell of a rabbit hole". It's some of the greatest racing even at the grassroots in the USA and it's influence is starting to creep into NASCAR but it's a massive ecosystem
Dude seriously and sincerely thank you very much for this piece. Thank you for showing the love and respect for IndyCar and encouraging others to check it out.
I absolutely love IndyCar and will be attending Gateway again this year.
☮️❤️🎵🌍🤗🏁
I watched the whole Indy/CART split series, and now this video. So much information about a racing league that I never knew... I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT
Great video S1ap! Love seeing IndyCar get the recognition it deserves, it's a great series and I highly recommend it.
Couple of minor corrections though: the reason USAC Championship cars (what Indy cars were called back then) stayed with a front-engined layout on dirt isn't because that layout is better than rear-engined on dirt, but actually quite the opposite. It was far superior but teams threw a fit because it meant they would all have to build new dirt cars to be competitive. A similar discussion was happening with USAC's sprint car series at the same time, and they were really worried about the smaller teams being able to afford the new, expensive style of cars. So USAC decided to draw a line in the sand and stick with the traditional front-engined layout. Around that time, the Championship Car series was already migrating away from dirt for the same reason NASCAR did at about the same time: they viewed the glitz and glamor of asphalt racing as better, and considered dirt less fitting for a high profile series.
And I want to stress that the sprint cars and Championship cars back then weren't the same. They definitely looked similar but had existed in parallel for decades by that point. In fact if you wanted to run in the Indy 500, you probably cut your teeth in midgets and sprint cars before you made it to the big time. But you weren't gonna run a sprint car at a USAC Championship race on dirt or asphalt; the car you needed was bigger, had a longer wheelbase, and could carry a lot more fuel on board for the longer races. Sprint cars had a lot in common with Championship cars, but they were designed for short sprint races. When USAC decided to take their top level series away from dirt, the cars that remained eventually turned into what we now call Silver Crown.
Awesome to see you venture a bit into IndyCar and still hold your quality high as always. I am swedish and grew up watching Kenny Bräck take home a championship as well as the Indy 500, and we now have 2 swedes in the top series and 2 young guys in the road to indy which is very promising for the future.
Only thing I really wish for is that they would add some more ovals back into the rotation. There is room for it as the series is very short compared to F1 and NASCAR and I think that short season hurts the series a bit.
there is room on the schedule, but they aren't there because fans don't buy tickets to ovals and IC doesn't have what nascar has (the money to keep running ovals in front of deserted stands)
as paul newman said, you go where you're wanted. and most ovals don't want them there, especially now that nascar owns almost all of the good ones
@@xSoccerxCorex If the product on track is good and they actually manage to market that, the fans will come. IRL had some truly awesome oval racing going on, and the stands were well attended but that was 20 years ago so who knows. NASCAR wont be too hard to persuade if they can sell more tickets for their venues as not every oval has 2 dates for NASCAR anymore.
In any case, oval racing is what separates IndyCar from other formula-style racing series for me. If they scrub them completely then the only thing separating them from other open wheel series is the aeroscreen.
CART: "we have the best drivers! Unlike those scrubs over in Indianapolis..."
Also CART: *can't even start the race without wrecking*
We don’t talk about that event among polite company.
@@lostalone9320 I’m not even a big F1 fan and I laughed at this one.
Stewart, Jones, Salazar. Best of the best in 96
That day qualifies under the term "Shit Happens".
I do wonder how things would have turned out if they don’t crash on Lap 1
I grew up watching IndyCar racing ... rooted hard for the Andretti's in particular (and often coming away sad). Then the schism happened, and my interest dropped, shifting to NASCAR and rooting for Earnhardt and company.
Andrettis
I LOVE this channel. So much history but not at all boring or condescending. Entertaining but informative. Plus, I can’t help but reminisce about Sunday’s with dad in the 80’s and 90’s when I see the old races. Thanks for all of your work. Well done.
Still not sure why the MSM hasn't thrown a semi full of money at you to do their content but sure hope you never stop doing these. This is more information, more informative and better content that every motor sport channel I have ever watched. Great job as always and keep up the great work.
Homie really had a chitty chitty bang bang intro 😂 I’m 100% here for it
I grew up on indycar with both my parents being Hoosiers. I was just a preteen when the split happened and I can’t tell you how gutting it was watching Indy’s star fall. Nobody knew about the heroes I raved about to friends. But the rebirth has been a long slow but enthralling journey. As someone who has studied the history of Indy since I could read I’ll be glad to chip in on any future videos. While nowadays my profession is commentary on sim racing, I used to be a professional editor. So I can offer a triple threat of knowledge on the sport, understanding of good storytelling and good voice to convey it. Would absolutely love to help you out because I’m a big fan of your channel
I've been a big IndyCar fan for about 20 years. I love the racing they put on. Every year, including today, I go to the IndyCar race in Alabama (Barber). I enjoy going there every year.
I remember the split and the reunion, but I never knew of the "US 500" 🤔 How different would things look today if guys like Stewart and Gordon had stayed in open wheel?? If Johnson went from trophy trucks straight to IRL?
Jeff Gordon almost did but lacked the money
Jeff Gordon going to NASCAR or Indy is one of those crossroads of destiny moments where this one decision could shape the course of motorsports history. Like, if Gordon doesn't jump to NASCAR, does Tony George kneecap CART just to satisfy his ego?
@@christopherwall2121 Yes! I agree 👍
I remember the US 500 and what a mess it was.
@@gaffneyrailroading1982 we only heard about it later that night as we were watching Buddy Lazier cross the row of bricks at the Speedway in P1. Sure the series suffered a big loss of star power, but then we would have never had Crest sponsoring Dr. Jack Miller, the driving dentist!
A S1apSh0es video on Indycar, hell yes! And it's a really good, I'm amazed at how comprehensive you can be at covering the sports 130(!!) year history in just 13 minutes.
Back when I was a kid, I always thought absolutely NO racing league could touch NASCAR. They were the gold standard in terms of everything. From the racing product to how a champion was crowned to everything else. There was nothing topping it.
And then in 2007, I was introduced to IndyCar with, you guessed it, the Indy 500.
I've witnessed all kinds of history happen since.
And yes, I *am* a fan of IndyCar who can name more than 2 tracks and can name all the drivers and teams.
I now view IndyCar as the gold standard of American Motorsports and I hope it surges into an international powerhouse one day.
So you've never heard of Formula One? Wait, you grew up in America....so of course you hadn't.😅
@@stevemurrell6167 indy car beats f1 in speeds
@@stevemurrell6167 read it again, slowly
"Standard of american motorsports"
F1 isn't an american motorsport
@@fargeeks and that's just it, F1 beat indycar laptimes everywhere except ovals
@@fargeeks Eventually.😉
I went to the Indy 500 for the first time this year. The only way I could possibly describe the event is “absolutely insane”
My Dad and his Dad would attend every Indy 500 they could for over a decade and even now my Dad doesn't miss the race on TV if he can help it. While I grew up on NASCAR I can certainly appreciate Indycar for what it is and since they are the only major league to pay Iowa Speedway a visit they have kept the track afloat for now and have my thanks for it. I look forward to possibly attending the race myself this year.
ah, you'd love to see someone talk about an Indy car on TH-cam
hopefully there can be more youtubers talking about indycar
*bursts through door*
I HEARD SLAP UPLOADED AND CAME AS FAST AS I COULD
Really good video for newcomers wanting to get into IndyCar! Also a little thought of mine, but I would absolutely love to see you do a video about the history of the famous IROC series, because I'm not sure anybody else has done so before, and it was such a fun series where great racers and champions would come together for 4 exciting races a year! :)
Dude I’ve seen A LOT of people confuse IndyCar and nascar. They’re race cars with gas engines that sometimes race on ovals and the comparisons stop there. It’s funny how often they get them confused. By the way, great video!
IndyCar doesn't have have "Gas engines". Internal combustion engines yes....but they run on Methanol. It burns cooler has a higher flash point than gasoline and when it is burning, you can hit it quick with water and it goes out. Gasoline fires do not. After some really horrific deaths in the 60's, Indy went to Methanol for good in the 70's
@@marklittle8805 Ethanol. They havent run Methanol is like 20 years
@@Posirep I stand corrected but the principles of dealing with the fires are the same
IndyCar is my favorite extant racing series. The first big-league race I attended was an IndyCar race, and I hope the last one I attend is, too. I love NASCAR, IMSA, WEC, and Formula One as well, but I have some kind of a sick obsession with IndyCar. I am so happy this video exists now to help new fans find the series. Thanks, S1ap!
Back in the 30’s and 20’s my family used to be a constructor for Indy Car(along with being a regular car manufacturer). I’ve got some old photos of my Great-grandfather and his racer with the car. Great video
Love that you cover the history and impact that the series has and not just a dry explanation of the series. Really makes you appreciate it that much more.
These videos are genuinely some of my favorite because i always learn something new about certain racing divisions, even if it's one i already know a fair bit about
Started following Indycar in 2018 after I got invited to a race in Portland Oregon on a whim. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the cars are the stars they are incredible. Since then I’ve watched every race, F1 is my favorite motorsport but Indy is my #2.
This is one of your best videos. Discovered your channel recently and have been binging this week.
Awesome video. I've been an IndyCar fan for a long time, even through the split era. I got to St. Pete every year since it's basically in my backyard, and I will admit that even though my dad and I still watch NASCAR, some of the things they've done lately - and by lately I mean for the last ten years - have me feeling like they don't have any clue which direction they want to go, whereas IndyCar seems to definitely be on an upswing. If you haven't been to an IndyCar race, go and grab a paddock pass. You won't be disappointed.
Glad you make the GPSP. See me at the show cars by the Mahaffey Theater next March. Peace!
As someone who goes to St Pete every year as welll....i have to say...this year was wayyyyyy more crowded than i ever remember it being. Thats good for the sport....bad for us who were there before it was 5 deep at all the fences lol
@@Posirep That's why we go Saturday and watch the race from the couch. ;) It is great though. Even had a great crowd Saturday. We might go to Barber next year too...not that long of a drive.
@@Nitron2097 I come in from CT...i guess i could watch from the hotel but what's the point then?
In any case...its still an amazing time and its good to see an IndyCar race with crowds that large...even if it makes the expansion less great
Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin racing in IndyCar is so cool, two great race car drivers from NZ, a country with only 5 - 6 million people. Dixon is a legend 🇳🇿
Slap, you did it again! A lot more people should watch this vid and get into IndyCar ASAP. Good timing on dropping this vid to start the Month of May.
Wooo S1apsh0es finally doing Indycar content!
Really great rundown of the complicated history of Indycar.
It’s a series that is really on the rise and I couldn’t be happier to see it.
One of the things that frustrates statisticians, namely for F1, is that due to the Indy 500 being an official round of the World Championship between 1950 and 1960, despite many of the regular season drivers not even attempting it (indeed, only Alberto Ascari and Ferrari in 1953, his second championship winning season, even attempted the Indy 500), drivers like Bill Vukovich and Roger Ward are officially F1 race winners.
My favourite Indy 500 story centres on Jim Clark's first attempt. Nobody took this British built, rear engined Lotus driven by a softly spoken Scottish farmer who wasn't interested in fame, just the love of driving cars fast, seriously. Yet, their jaws were on the floor as not only did he hold his own at Indy, but the rear engined car handled better than the established Indycar teams of the day. He finished second that day in 1963, two years later, he won by 2 laps :)
I think I’m right in saying the Indy date always clashed with Monte Carlo so most F1 drivers just preferred to race there? Even accounting for the time difference, hopping over the Atlantic probably wasn’t too easy in the 1950’s. The race was probably slower then than it is now too, leaving even less room for any potential double duty.
@@garyskippracing the difficulty in crossing the Atlantic I understand, and the clashing of the Monaco Grand Prix I get, indeed, Monaco was the only race Jim Clark missed enroute to his second title in 1965. However, with the Indy 500 being an integral part of the world championship, it would seem bizarre to not have a clash of date. Then again, given how wild the early days of F1 were, I guess it could be possible
@@garyskippracing the dates started to clash in 1974 (well after the 500 got kicked out of F1). Before that it was held on May 30 and not on a Sunday (so Monday May 31st if May 30 is on a Sunday)
@@SiVlog1989 the indy 500 wasnt a championship round after 1960 so im guessing it wasnt nessacary to keep the dates separate like they did from 1950 to 1960. The indy 500 was only included initially in these first years so the FIA could justify the "world championship" label. It wasnt until 1953 that there was a world championship race outside of Europe.
And despite missing Monaco in order to run the Indy 500, Clark took the 1965 World Drivers' Championship - making him the only driver in history to win an Indy 500 and the WDC in the same year. This is one of my favorite bits of racing trivia.
Well written, well spoken, and well edited. Great work as always man. Really wish more people would make content regarding indycar racing.
just a minor note at 7:38: USAC split the championship dirt cars into it's own series - which is now known today as Silver Crown. While the cars might look similar to a sprint car, there is some large differences that separate them - which have stayed in-line since they were apart of the combined national championship (heavier weight, longer wheelbase / larger cars; race length; tracks etc.)
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I got to see Silver Crown cars run the dirt mile at the Hoosier Hundred a few times and you get the sense you're experiences the absolute roots of IndyCar racing back to its earliest days.
Being from Nazareth, PA I'm of course a huge Andretti fan. My dad had been going to races at Nazareth speedway for about 20 years before it closed down. I only made it to about a handful due to young age (was born in 1991).
This video definatly gave the history of Indy and motorsports in general it's proper justice. Keep up the great work s1ap 👍🤘💪
May is here! Thanks for this one Slap!
Most people have no idea just how long and fascinating the history of IndyCar is.
Thank you for this because I am a die hard indycar fan and almost no one even knows that's the real name they just say they thought that was the name of the race. And thanks for putting in the effort to give this series the respect it deserves. Keep up the good work
I was there for your first video. You came a long way. This is just great content with a great presentation. I am the guy who never watched NASCAR but always watch you videos.
Good job.
I know you put a TON of time in your videos, between research, script writing, editing, etc...but, MAN, I wish you had more!!! LOL!! YOU are , in my opinion, the BEST racing content creator on TH-cam!!! Glad to see you talk about Indy. I'm a NASCAR guy, but the more people involved, the better motorsports as a whole will be. KEEP THEM COMING, BUDDY!! CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU DO NEXT!!!
Great video as always, and thank you for helping spread the Indycar gospel! However, there was one quick correction I wanted to make. Penske did, in fact, run the Ilmor Mercedes 500I engines exclusively in the 1994 Indy 500, as was the plan from the beginning (at least, that's the narrative behind the project). They definitely became paperweights after that race, though.
Even though NASCAR is #1 on my list
IndyCar is a Very Close 2nd when it comes to my favorite Motorsports of all time
nascar honestly is having underlying issues themselves
Same
@@GoatedAtNFS yea they have some issues but the racing is good again and that’s a step in the right direction
I've been involved in the Sprint Car scene for nearly 12 years, and I had no idea that they derived from Indy Cars. I would love to see a video dive more into the history of Sprint Car Racing sometime in the future.
Dude I’m in the sprint car scene to. Non wing in California. Sprint cars have always had connections to IndyCars. Ask the guys in your scene and they should know some things for sure. What part of the country do you run in
Especially the big Silver Crown cars, they're basically just the old Indy roadsters. Still running the 1 mile tracks, 100 mile races, handheld starter motors, giant fuel tank. All of that stuff can be traced back to the Indy roadsters.
It was always midgets, sprints, and the big cars (from like post-war era). Except big cars went in two directions after 1970, rear engine indycars, or front engine silver crown cars.
Damn what a great video. Always enjoy your stuff though I’m more of an open wheel F1 fan so this was great. Always wondered on IRL split how much Bernie and the Frances were in Tony George’s ear egging him on.
NASCAR TH-camrs finally giving Indycar some love. It's enough to make a grown man cry
Finally a good IndyCar Video! All we need is an IndyCar rules like yours from Nascar and the circle is complete
Maybe if the rules were better in nascar dale earnhardt wouldn't have smacked the wall like he did.
I just have to say thank you thank you thank!!!
A few years ago I started trying to research The evolutionary history of my favorite racing series the “ World of outlaws”.
I knew most of what was in your video, but it is probably the most concise and beginner friendly explanation of USA Open wheel racing.
By the way I like that you used Williams Grove footage, I track that I probably go to 3 to 4 times a year.
To see a NASCAR fan pay tribute to Indy Car racing like this is awesome. I constantly watched Indy races when I was young, and while NASCAR is entertaining, I still gravitate towards the open wheel cars, both Indy and F1. I thoroughly enjoyed this video and the respect paid to open wheeled history. Thank you!
Went to my first Indy500 with some friends last year and it was electric! Going again with the same guys this year and I cannot wait. Only a few weeks away!
This is more and better IndyCar content than the entire IndyCar series social media team has done in the last 5 years. S1ap….I’d go hit up The Captain about a job.
Myself following motorsports since the 1960s, the overview on the evolution of Indy Cars in this video is impressive; well said!
A couple of aspects that hurt the IRL in its early years was the talent of the drivers that led to many crashes; and the Olds Aurora naturally aspirated engine that had a high rate of failures. The Olds engine was based on a mass-production vehicle design, where the IRL rules allowed for teams to work on their own engines [as opposed to CART, where the leased engines from the manufacturers didn't allow for any tampering whatsoever].
Thank you Slap for this masterpiece. Since NASCAR starts to dump his things, Indycar got my attention again.
You deserve every viewer you have and then some. Gahbless king. Great video
Great video, but I suspect you might have been confused about the differences in engine regulations between CART and what was allowed at Indy. Penske invested in the Mercedes engine for '94 because under Indy rules a "stock block" motor could run more turbo boost. The same rule did not apply to CART sanctioned events. Penske slaughtered the field in '94 with that Ilmor developed Mercedes powerplant.
The Indy Dirt Cars didnt form into sprint cars, but instead to the Usac Silver Crown series. The sprint cars have always been around and been different from the Champ Cars. Actually in the 1981 Pocono race there wasnt going to be a full field, so they allowed the Silver Crown cars to race against the Indycars (which were totally different at this point).
YOOOOO IVE NEVER SEEN THIS VIDEO TODAY that is my great grand father Bayliss in the 24 Indy car pic, holy shit I love your channel, if you want more info please hit me up, made my freaking week man THANK YOU!
@Slapshoes today I run non wing sprint cars following in his shoes man I’m freaking rn so cool thank you
I was the biggest CART/Champ Car fan ever from the mid 90s to the early 2000s. That 1997 title decider at Laguna Seca is one of my favorite racing memories ever. They were also racing at a lot of cool tracks around the world like Surfer's Paradise and Mosport.
Subbed. Great video, presentation and narration.
Good video, but I have one correction to make. Mid/rear engines caught on in F1 6 years before Jim Clark's Indy 500 win. Clark himself won a WDC in a mid-engined car prior to 1965.
True
I always look forward to seeing a notification that you uploaded something, but I LOVE these history videos the most man. Keep up the amazing work!
Even my train-loving, non racing, but lifelong lover of the state of Indiana mother liked this one! Nice job S1ap!
From what I always read CART was originally supposed to be an advocacy group for the team owners but USAC didn't want to listen to any of their suggestions and that's what caused the split.
That was indeed the case. Dan Gurney was the driving force behind it's formation, with the support of major teams at the time.
@@colindarmody yep. Gurney, Roger Penske and Pat Patrick were pretty much the founding fathers.
My father (who's gone to the 500 since 76) has a much different view on the split and watching this gives me good perspective. I've been going since 2012 and it is by far my favorite form of motorsport.
As a Dutch fan of the channel, I really love the music and the series 'what exactly is ...' to get a better understanding of american auto racing.
You should get into IndyCar....they have a young hot shot Dutch driver Rinus van Kalmthout. Finished 3rd yesterday. Only 21 years old.
Won a race last year too. Hes already in his 3rd year making his debut at 19.
Absolutely awesome video. The race yesterday in Alabama was super exciting too. A lot of close racing, hard fought battles, pit strategy, it had it all.
To be honest, the Indy car series has been FAR more interesting to follow the last few seasons than F1 has. 🤷
I'm from Australia and even I watch the Indy500 some of the races I've seen just to watch Scott McLaughlin is elite. It's superb driving. Super underrated motorsport.
Man, you seriously do incredible work.
Best nascar TH-camr by far, and the other Motorsport videos are awesome as well. Thanks for being awesome S1aP
Yes! An indycar history video not even David land could compete with
This is fantastic. Well put together!
I love your videos, Slap.
I'm especially interested in this one, because though I do have plenty of knowledge about IndyCar, admittedly I don't know much about it. I know IndyCar has been around almost as long as racing itself (due to the cars being the same as F1 and Sprint cars... technically those early races were IndyCar races), but I don't know the nuances about the sport or it's cars.
Just your first factoid has made this a must-see video. Thanks again for what you do!
Edit: only 4 minutes in and I've already been hit with so many interesting facts I'm sharing this video out immediately
Few minor notes...
1-AAA's last race in 1955 and USAC's first ever event in 1956 were held less than 2 weeks apart in Fort Wayne, IN indoors at the Allen County War Memorial Colisuem... A building where A-I do side video work for, and B-Indoor racing continues to this day in the adjacent Expo Center.
2-When the USAC "National Championship" went away from being dirt and pavement and being pavement only with the rear engined cars, it didn't lead to the dirt cars being Sprint Cars as Sprints had been a thing and morphed largely from Super Modifieds (another great video of yours)... Instead the legacy of the Dirt Champ Cars morphed into what continues now as USAC Silver Crown... Or fully known now as "USAC Silver Crown Champ Car National Championship" (I do a good amount of video work for them still.)
3-Only two dirt miles are left on the USAC calendar, both the Springfield Mile and DuQuioin Mile in Illinois as the Indy Mile was recently converted to a hardened surface horse track last summer.
4-On May 26, 1996 the Indy 500 and U.S. 500 did run the same day, and somewhat same time... However, Indy went green at Noon ET, and Michigan didn't fire off originally at 2. The red flag at Michigan was convenient to where, if you so chose to do so, you could have seen the CART teams wreck, seen Lazier win Indy, and be back for the initial restart for Michigan, see Vasser win Michigan and not even miss the green at Charlotte for the 600 since it was delayed by rain.
Ironically, TBS had an expanded 2-hour pre-race for the 600 in an effort to try and lure people away from watching either Indy or Michigan.
Damn I love your content Slap. Never stop making such quality content
💜 Move love for covering the dark side! We have cookies!
I didn't see one black in this video son. I'm a black fyi so if you wanna have a go at comparing growlers I'll throw down son. My bee whole is tight and my growlers are thick boy. Or you can apologize right now.
Great video, S1apSh0es. IndyCar is an amazing series with great racing, very fast cars, and terrific fan engagement. My family and I have been to several IndyCar races and no series is more welcoming to its fans, even in the garages. I love NASCAR too but, dollar for dollar, IndyCar puts on a better show.
Amazing video as usual, S1ap!
Nice to see you expanding to IndyCar content. Keep up the awesome work, buddy.
Every single one of your videos is 10 out of 10.
First video I've seen on this channel 👍. Excellent work!
Great timing! Was just at Barber today to watch and INDYCAR race today. Y’all check it out! It’s got really good racing all around. Still love nascar as well
For all of the years I was involved in NASCAR and drag racing I am hard put to know who’s who nowadays! I haven’t followed Indy for 25 years!
IndyCar is #1 in my book. Anything dirt track racing is a very close #2, and NASCAR right on their heels at #3. I wish IndyCar would add a couple more oval track races to their schedule, but I do enjoy watching their road and street courses.