The CART-IRL Split

open wheel racing’s second civil war

 

Author's note: This article appeared in print in The Classic Racing Times. To subscribe to this excellent publication, visit http://www.theclassicracingtimes.com/

 

 

Several years after the contentious split with the United States Auto Club (USAC), in 1983 the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series began to include the results and award points from the Indianapolis 500-mile race. This was an odd arrangement as the ‘500’ was still sanctioned by USAC, but this unlikely marriage continued until the second American disastrous open-wheel racing civil war which erupted after the creation of the Indy Racing League (IRL).

 

The IRL was the brainchild of Anton “Tony” George President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). George was racing royalty, as the son of the 1957 American Automobile Association (AAA) Sprint car series champion Elmer George and the grandson of IMS Speedway’s savior Anton “Tony” Hulman. After he assumed the role of President of IMS in 1989 following the death of Joseph Cloutier, George used as the leader of world’s most famous auto racing course to push for changes in CART rules and the series’ direction.

 

 

During early 1991, George attempted to buy CART, but in his own words he later admitted that his offer was “too low and poorly presented.” After his offer failed, George floated a proposal to CART Chairman William Stokkan a former Playboy executive to reorganize the CART board from its frequently unworkable 22-member board to a six-member board comprised of three groups.

George suggested the board made of representatives of car owners, sponsors and race promoters, with the latter group to be represented by George. On November 15, 1991, following a meeting with the CART owners, Stokkan sent George a letter that rejected the offer which CART characterized as a “counter proposal,” but George branded it as a “complete failure of CART to do what was promised.”

In the middle of 1992, some peace was achieved when Tony George was placed on the reorganized CART five-man board as a non-voting member. In his new role George advocated that CART series become American-based, with lower costs and a schedule with more oval course races.  George became frustrated by CART’s direction the made championship car racing a more world-wide road racing sport and refusal to accept more track owner input. Even worse the CART board subsequent expanded back to 16 members which diluted George’s influence.

William Stokkan’s turbulent three-year reign ended on January 7, 1994 when CART hired British marketing executive Andrew Craig as the new CART President and Chief Executive Officer. George quit the CART board that same day; an IMS press release claimed that George's resignation had nothing to do with Craig’s hiring, that instead George was dissatisfied with CART's organization.  Steve Horne, himself a former CART board member told the New York Times that George’s resignation was “not a good sign; you can't make up with your wife if you're continually divorcing her."

On March 11, 1994 George announced the formation of the IRL as a “lower-cost, American-based oval series” set to begin competition in 1996.  In explaining his actions George explained that he felt that “the long-term protection of the ‘500’ depended on a solid series of top level open-wheel, oval track races. To that end, this league was created because CART provided no long-term guarantees to the ‘500’ or to oval track racing.” George also cited CART’s lack of long-term stability, as he pointed out that CART had “four different board voting structures and four different chief executives over just five short years.”

While the racing world was processing the implications of the new series, the team owned by one of CART’s original founders Roger Penske pulled off a stunning upset at the 1994 Indianapolis 500-mile race.  To fully understand the Penske coup, we must first review the history of the USAC “stock block” engine rule.

In some ways reminiscent of the American Automobile Association (AAA) 1920’s “junk formula,” for thirty years the USAC rulebook included a provision for "stock-block" pushrod engines limited to two valves per cylinder actuated by pushrod and rocker arms. The rule was promulgated under the guise of encouraging participation by automobile manufacturers, smaller teams and independents.  

Through the years, traditional "stock block" engines such as fuel-injected small-block Chevrolet engines were fielded by independents on occasion joined by factory funded attempts by Plymouth and American Motors, but a new “stock block” arrived at Indianapolis in 1984 – the 209-cubic inch turbocharged Buick V-6.

 

The Buick engines returned to Indianapolis year after year, and while the engines generally were fast over short runs due to the higher allowed turbocharger boost levels, the Buick engine’s reliability always remained a problem due to the mechanical stresses on components from those boost levels.

In 1991, USAC relaxed its previous rulebook requirement that “stock block” engines must use some production parts, intended to help the Buick teams to develop more robust parts to extend their durability.  As an unintended consequence USAC rule 1107 also opened the door for a purpose-built pushrod engine, but since USAC only sanctioned one race a season the construction of such an engine was not considered economically viable.

 

 

In an audacious effort during late 1993 and early 1994, Penske Racing in partnership with Ilmor Engineering designed built and test a “clean sheet” pushrod engine that carried the Mercedes-Benz nameplate. As related in Jade Gurss’ book Beast, the Mercedes 500I 72-degree V-8 engine was developed by Penske Racing in secret and was unveiled to the public just a month before the 500-mile race.

Upon arrival at Indianapolis, the dominance was obvious from the moment that the Mercedes-Benz powered Penske PC-23B cars appeared on track on the first day of practice. The dayglow orange and white PC23B cars consistently exceeded 244 miles per hour (MPH) in the back straightaway speed trap. The 209-cubic inch engine, with 10 inches more boost then the competing double-overhead cam racing power plants, developed 1000+ horsepower and over 580 foot/pounds of torque at 8000 revolutions per minute (RPM).

At the drop of the green flag on May 29, 1994 Mercedes powered cars of pole sitter Al Unser Jr. and outside front row starter Fittipaldi ran away and hid from the rest of the field, and “Little Al’ led the first 23 laps before he pitted. Unser stalled his engine in the pits which allowed Fittipaldi to assume the lead and “Emmo” eventually lead 145 laps.

 

At one point Fittipaldi the defending Indianapolis ‘500’ champion had Unser Jr. down one lap, but Unser battled back and unlapped himself on lap 183. On lap 185, Fittipaldi attempted to re-pass Unser and crashed hard into the outside retaining wall in turn four. Unser Jr. then cruised home to claim his second and Penske Racing’s tenth Indianapolis 500-mile race victory. Roger Penske had pulled off the ultimate ‘Unfair Advantage.’

In August 1994 Roger Penske already perturbed by the pending CART-IRL split was further angered when for the second time in three months, the USAC rule makers reduced the allowable maximum boost level for purpose-designed pushrod engines for the 1995 Indianapolis ‘500.’ USAC’s moves relegated the Mercedes-Benz 500I engine which had won the 1994 Indianapolis ‘500’ in dominant fashion to museum status after just one race.

In July 1995, the IRL announced its “25/8 rule,” which guaranteed 25 spots in the 1996 Indianapolis 500-mile race for the top IRL drivers, and no CART teams entered the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500.’ The CART teams claimed they were effectively locked out by new Indianapolis qualifying rules. While IRL stalwarts countered that the CART teams were boycotting the ‘500,’ in truth the IRL one-season carry-over rules package for the 1996 ‘500’ would not allow CART teams to use their 1996 Penske, Reynard and Lola chassis.

 

 

In December 1995 CART retaliated and announced plans for the inaugural “U.S. 500” race at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) to be held on the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500.’ Looking back through the lens of history, there was much ugliness exhibited by both sides leading up to Memorial Day but in the end neither race was an artistic success.

In qualifying for the 1996 Indianapolis 500-mile race, the apparent pole position winning car driven by former champion Arie Luyendyk was disqualified for being underweight.  On May 17 a pall was cast over the race when pole-sitter Scott Brayton was killed in a practice crash. With the 33-car starting field comprised of ex-CART Lola and Reynard chassis, only nine cars finished the race itself won by second-generation driver Robert “Buddy” Lazier who drove the race with a broken back suffered two months earlier in an IRL crash at Phoenix International Raceway.

The starting field for the competing CART ‘U.S. 500’ which aired live on cable television channel ESPN2, featured only 27 cars, as two cars driven by Teo Fabi and PJ Jones were withdrawn before the race. A  crash before the initial start involved eleven cars and in a bizarre turn of events, CART officials allowed five of the drivers involved in the accident to start the race in their original position in their back-up cars.

The 250-lap CART ‘U.S. 500’ race, contested on the wide high-banked MIS 2-mile oval, was also marred by a remarkably high attrition rate as eleven cars experienced engine failure. Pole-sitter Jimmy Vasser won the race and the Vanderbilt Trophy replica by eleven seconds over former Formula One driver Mauricio Gugelmin in the only two cars to complete the entire 500-mile distance.

 

CART officials considered the 1996 “U.S. 500” a success with a reported 120,000 fans in attendance but CART never again scheduled the ‘U.S. 500’ directly against the Indianapolis 500-mile race and instead scheduled the race in late July through the 1999 season after which the race dropped from the schedule.

In January 1997 the IRL unveiled its new cars and engines - competitors had the choice of a Riley & Scott, Dallara or G-Force chassis and the choice of an Oldsmobile Aurora or Nissan Infiniti V-8 naturally aspirated powerplant. On May 17, 1997 days before the running of the 1997 Indianapolis ‘500,’ the Indy Racing League abolished its controversial rule that guaranteed 25 of the 33 ‘500’ starting positions to IRL regulars of the new series, but still no CART regulars entered the Indianapolis ‘500’ until 2000 after CART became a publicly traded company stockholders and competitors began to complain about series mismanagement.

CART car owner Chip Ganassi, who had driven in the Indianapolis ‘500’ five times between 1982 and 1986, assembled a two-car team to compete in the 2000 Indianapolis 500. The Ganassi team sponsored by Target department stores dominated the race as winner Juan Pablo Montoya led 167 of the 200 laps. Although a CART regular team won the race, public sentiment became that the tide had turned and that the IRL was now winning the championship racing sanction war.

Two other CART regular teams entered the 2001 Indianapolis 500-mile race - Team Penske (formerly known as Penske Racing), and Team Kool Green, while Chip Ganassi returned  with a four-car team with a driver line-up that included NASCAR regular Tony Stewart, Jimmy Vasser, and rookies Bruno Junqueira  and Nicolas Minassian. 2001 marked the first appearance of a Penske race car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) after a five race absence.

Penske’s 2001 Indianapolis driver lineup in the Oldsmobile-powered Dallara chassis included the 2000 CART champion Gil de Ferran who had driven in 1995 “500’ paired with Brazilian Helio Castro-Neves who had two years of CART experience but was an Indianapolis rookie.  In a startling result, Team Penske claimed the top two finishing positions, as Castro-Neves claimed his first of three Indianapolis ‘500’ wins.

Beginning with the 2002 season, Marlboro Team Penske competed exclusively in the Indy Racing League, and the championship was won by Castro-Neves. Team Penske’s defection as followed by Ganassi Racing and Andretti/Green Racing for 2003 after the package forwarding company Federal Express pulled their sponsorship of the CART series at the end of the 2002 racing season, and engine suppliers Honda and Toyota switched from the CART to the IRL series after the 2002 season. CART reportedly lost $100 million during the 2003 season and declared bankruptcy in early 2004 with the assets of CART scheduled to be liquidated.

IRL President Tony George made a serious attempt to purchase certain CART assets (the Long Beach race, the safety operation and the series’ engine contract) at the bankruptcy auction. George’s plan to acquire only select CART assets was designed to cripple the series and eliminate competition for the IRL

However, George’s effort was opposed by a trio of CART owners - Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, and Kevin Kalkhoven. George's bid of $13.5 million was not accepted as Southern District of Indiana United States Bankruptcy Court Judge Frank Otte ruled in favor of the three car owners who bid $3.625 million because their plan intended to continue the series which would satisfy the many vendors and sponsors still holding long-term contracts. 

 

 

The CART series, rebranded as the Champ Car World Series (CCWS) celebrated its’ 25th anniversary season in 2004 and carried on through the 2007 season, While the IRL concentrated on holding races at American oval track venues the CCWS staged races at tracks around the globe, that included races in Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Mexico. In its final season of 2007, the CCWS series only averaged seventeen cars at 14 races with the cancellation of two races during the season.

While CART supporters derided the IRL series as a “spec series” with all the competitors piloting visually identical cars, the CCWS series became no different all the competitors in the 2005 and 2006 CCWS series all drove English-built Lola chassis powered by Ford Cosworth engines and in its the final year after the loss of Ford Motor Company as the series sponsor, all the CCWS cars were Panoz chassis powered by Cosworth XFE engines.

Following the troubled 2007 season, CCWS filed for bankruptcy on February 14 2008 and on February 22 2008, the CCWS and IRL series were reunited under the banner of IRL. The IRL purchased certain races (such as Long Beach) and assets from the CCWS with the remaining assets sold at auction on June 3, 2008. Most significantly for racing historians, as part of the agreement IRL became the owner of all CART and CCWS so all CART/CCWS history became part of the AAA-USAC-IRL history timeline.

For the 2008 racing season, after twenty-nine years of turmoil, American open-wheel racing was finally reunited under a single banner. Peace was restored in the top rung of open-wheel racing, but the Indy Racing League would experience growing pains in the coming years.

The 2001 Dallara Indianapolis winner

 

 

The fourth IndyCar car included in the 50th anniversary tribute to Penske Racing at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis is the Dallara IR2 owned by the Team Penske Collection. This car was driven to victory in the 2001 Indianapolis 500-mile race by Helio Castroneves.

This was the first Penske race car to reappear at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a five race absence due to the second American open-wheel racing split which began with the creation of the Indy Racing League (IRL) on March 11, 1994 to begin competition in 1996.

 

 

IMS President Tony George began to agitate for changes in November 1991, and he continued to push for changes as a non-voting member of the CART board from 1992 to1994.  Eventually frustrated he quit the CART board and formed the IRL 

Roger Penske already unhappy with the split was further  angered when in August 1994 United States Auto Club (USAC) the sanctioning body for the Indianapolis ‘500’ for the second time in three months reduced the allowable maximum boost level for purpose-designed pushrod engines. USAC’s moves relegated the Mercedes-Benz 500I engine which had won the 1994 Indianapolis ‘500’ in dominant fashion to museum status after just one race followed by Penske Racing’s humiliation of failing to qualify for the 1995 Indianapolis ‘500.’

 

 

The nineteen seventies Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART)-USAC split was very divisive, but the CART-IRL split reached new levels of rancor.  No CART teams entered in the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500’ as CART teams claimed they were effectively locked out by new Indianapolis qualifying rules which guaranteed starting positions to the top 25 drivers in IRL points. Although the IRL countered that CART teams were boycotting the ‘500,’ the IRL one-season carry-over rules package for the 1996 ‘500’ would not allow CART teams to use their 1996 Penske, Reynard and Lola chassis.

In retaliation, in December 1995 CART announced the inaugural “U.S. 500” race at Michigan International Speedway to be held on the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis ‘500.’ Neither race was an artistic success, as the Indianapolis ‘500’ 33-car starting field was comprised of 1995 and 1995 Lola and Reynard chassis most of which were bought from CART teams.

The apparent ‘500’ pole position winning car driven by Arie Luyendyk the only former ‘500’ race winner entered was disqualified for being underweight, then a pall was cast over the race when pole-sitter Scott Brayton was killed in a practice crash on May 17. Only nine cars finished the 1996 ‘500’ won by second-generation driver Robert “Buddy” Lazier who drove the race with a broken back

The starting field for the “U.S. 500” which aired live on ESPN2, featured only 27 cars, as two cars withdrew before the race. A nine-car crash before the initial start eliminated at least seven cars and in a bizarre turn of events, CART officials allowed six of the drivers involved in the accident to start the race in their back-up cars. The 250-lap race contested on the wide high-banked 2-mile oval was marred by a remarkably high attrition rate as eleven cars experienced engine failure. Jimmy Vasser won the race and Vanderbilt Trophy replica by eleven seconds over former Formula One driver Mauricio Gugelmin as theirs were the only two cars to complete the entire 500-mile distance.

CART officials considered the 1996 “U.S. 500” a success with a reported 120,000 fans in attendance but never again scheduled the “U.S. 500” directly against the Indianapolis 500-mile race. In January 1997 the IRL unveiled its new cars and engines; competitors used either a Riley & Scott, Dallara or G-Force chassis and had a choice of an Oldsmobile Aurora or Nissan/Infiniti powerplants.

Days before the 1997 Indianapolis ‘500,’ the Indy Racing League abolished its controversial rule that guaranteed 25 of the 33 ‘500’ starting positions to IRL regulars of the new series, but still no CART regulars entered the Indianapolis ‘500’ until 2000. In 2000, after CART became a publicly traded company and competitors began to complain about series mismanagement.

CART car owner Chip Ganassi, who had driven in the Indianapolis ‘500’ five times between 1982 and 1986, assembled a two-car team to compete in one IRL sanctioned race- the 2000 Indianapolis 500. The Ganassi Target team dominated the 2000 ‘500’ as winner Juan Pablo Montoya led 167 of the 200 laps. Although a CART regular team won the race, public sentiment became that the IRL was now winning the championship racing sanction war.

Two other CART regular teams entered the 2001 Indianapolis 500-mile race - Team Penske (formerly known as Penske Racing), and Team Kool Green, while Chip Ganassi returned  with a four-car team sponsored by Target department stores with a driver line-up that counted  NASCAR regular Tony Stewart, Jimmy Vasser, and rookies Bruno Junqueira  and Nicolas Minassian. 

 

 

 

Penske’s 2001 Indianapolis driver lineup in the Oldsmobile-powered Dallara chassis were 2000 CART champion Gil de Ferran who had driven in 1995 “500’ paired with Brazilian Helio who had two years of CART experience but was an Indianapolis rookie.  The 121-inch wheelbase Dallara IR2 (Indy Racing League second generation) was built in Parma Italy of carbon fiber and aluminum honeycomb construction with aluminum wishbone suspension front and rear.  

The 244-cubic inch all-aluminum Oldsmobile Aurora V-8 engine was based on the production engine used in the short-lived (1995-2003) Aurora luxury sedan. The methanol-burning race engine with four valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts which teams purchased from one of four engine builders for $80,000 produced over 700 horsepower at 10,500 RPM (revolutions per minute).

 

The red square object attached to the rear of the transmission case is

the attenuator designed to absorb the energy of a direct rear engine contact  

 

Both Penske cars appeared in Marlboro-themed livery (neon red and white) sans the Marlboro name and logo at the request of the Indiana Attorney General.  In In time trials, de Ferran who the year before ran the fastest official IndyCar lap ever at over 241 MPH at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California qualified his #66 in fifth place, while teammate Castroneves qualified eleventh and was the fastest rookie in the 33-car starting field  

After a start led by John Mellencamp’s then-wife Elaine behind the wheel of an Oldsmobile Bravada sport-utility vehicle (SUV), the early stages of the 2001 Indianapolis 500 were marred by three crashes in the first twenty laps which eliminated four cars. Rain fell on lap 107 and the field was slowed under caution flag with CART regular Michael Andretti in the lead. After the race resumed De Ferran took the lead for the first time and held on until lap 136 when he made a pit stop under caution.

On lap 148 rains returned with Tony Stewart in the lead but he pitted the following lap under the caution flag which handed the lead to Castroneves.  The rain then became heavy enough that it brought out the red flag and officials stopped the race for seventeen minutes on lap 155 with Helio’s #68 in the lead. After the lap 157 restart, Robbie Buhl grandson of legendary mechanic and car builder Floyd “Pop” Dreyer battled Castroneves for the lead, but Buhl spun and hit the wall on lap 166.

 

Buhl’s elimination moved De Ferran into second place and when the green flag flew again the two Penske drivers cruised through the final laps to complete a sweep of the top two positions. Castroneves’ ‘500’ win was the ninth for a rookie driver and Roger Penske’s eleventh. After his victory lap, Helio stopped on the main straightaway and climbed the outer crash fencing. CART drivers took the top six finishing positions in the 2001 Indianapolis ‘500.’

For the 2002 season, Team Penske competed with the Indy Racing League, followed by Ganassi Racing and Andretti/Green Racing in 2003 after Federal Express pulled their sponsorship of the CART series at the 2002 racing season.  Honda and Toyota switched their engine supply from CART to the IRL after 2002. CART declared bankruptcy after the 2003 off-season and the assets of CART were liquidated.

 

 

The Champ Car World Series (CCWS) continued on after CART’s failure until CCWS’ bankruptcy in 2008 and its assets were sold at auction on June 3, 2008. For the 2008 racing season, after twenty-nine years of turmoil, American open-wheel racing was finally reunited under one banner.

The Dallara IR2 /Oldsmobile on display at the PRI show is part of the Team Penske Collection and is usually shown in the Penske Racing Museum in Scottsdale Arizona.     

All photos by the author