Reunification: Much Hype, Little Results

Watching the travails of the Indy Car Series over the past decade has definitely left me scratching my head on more than one occasion. Last year the hype was over "reunification" -- the agreement that finally brought the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series back together. Robin Miller was consistently talking about its necessity on Dave Despain's TV show. But to what end?

As much as the IRL had struggled in recent years, I couldn't really see what Champ Car brought to the table, except maybe a couple of teams to help fill out fields. I don't think Champ Car racing (or the IRL for that matter) is particularly attractive to the average American race fan.

So here it is, 2009, everyone's back together, and what do we have? Very little difference in my estimation. And by that I mean the obvious: very little interest from most racing fans with very little opportunity for growth.

That, I think, is the key. I have seen some very close finishes in recent IRL oval races -- three-wide for the win and the like. But, to be honest, even they never really generated much excitement in me. It's hard to be excited about a series where the drivers have almost no fan base. And contriving a false "Danica-Mania!" isn't going to cut it.

There is a lot of talk in Indy Car circles about sponsors and teams and car owners and venues... but I've seen very little focus on finding ways to generate enthusiasm amongst fans, sans maybe a couple of ill-fated advertising campaigns ("I am INDY", anyone?). What we have seems to be a series that has relegated itself to "club" status -- racing for each others' money and that's about it.

With the growing number of entertainment options available today, it's hard to see how the Indianapolis 500 is going to survive this poor leadership long into the future.