IRL owner wants to show NASCAR ‘what real racing is all about’
Quote selected text Published April 1st, 2007 in NASCAR News
One of the Indy Racing League’s longtime team owners is pushing the idea of IRL-NASCAR Nextel Cup combined events.
John Barnes, an owner and the general manager of Panther Racing, thinks that even if the IRL event was positioned as a support race, Indy-style racing would benefit.
“We would make it where we would race on Saturday to replace a Busch or ARCA race, and they would race on Sunday,” he said. “I have no problem being second fiddle to them, I just want to get in front of their fans and show them what real racing is all about.”
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Real racing? Hardly. In NASCAR, you rub fenders, you bump and run, and you trade paint. In IRL, if you try any of that, the effects will be disastrous. Real racing is timing your passes, not pushing a button to do it.
Yeah. Real racing….
yeah i agree with guy up there…nascar is as real as it gets, actually dirt track racing is more real’er. nascar is the top dog of auto racing. there is no other series in the world tht is as popular as nascar. hey IRL take a weekend off (oh wait yall only race 18 races anyway) come down to bristol, or atlanta, or darlington, sit back have a bud light and enjoy a REAL race………………peace
Obviously you guys don’t watch IRL. IRL is NOT like Formula One. IRL actually has some really really good racing in it. Maybe you should try watching it sometime. You might learn something.
Guy and Adam need to watch an IRL race before they can talk about an IRL race like that.
Maybe if they did, they wouldn’t be so ignorant about the topic at hand.
There is a time for bias, and this is not it.
..F1, Nascar Cup, and IRL are the top racing divisions. F1 has some of the most sophisticated cars to ever be made, some of the best drivers to drive. Cup has great drivers, so does IRL .You cant compare the 3. yea you cant touch rub fenders in IRL or F1, thats a discipline that is harder to learn than to lean on each other.
If they put IRL in as a saturday support race, i wonder what Tony Stewart’s race schedule would look like…
Hey lil Benny and blastmaster, if the racing in IRL is so good why are you visiting the nascar sites? Fact is IRL had a shot at most of todays Nascar drivers and they blew it, because NASCAR is where it’s at. The only reason the panther jerk is making those comments is because, they are losing money and fan support over there and it’s a sign of desparation to pull a rabbit out of his hat before the final curtain call. I say good riddance to those arrogant open wheel jerks. Play on your own field. I mean since the racing is sooo good why do they need NASCAR?
ehhhh, Guy… Champ Cars has the push to pass thing, not IRL. Just wanted to point that out to you, so you Nascar guys don’t come off as too ignorant…………..
Let’s see an IRL race at Bristol or Martinsville. The entire field would be in shambles.
Better yet, add in 43 of those open-wheel cars and see what happens on a short track.
OH holy cow, all of these races are exciting, some more then others, I have seen nascar races that were total busts. I watch F1, IRL, Cart, NHRA (talk about excitement), Busch, Arac, Hooters Pro Cup. you name and I watch it. there are great drivers in each class.
If IRL raced on Sat. and Nascar on Sunday, I imagine there would be some nascar drivers in the race on Sat. namely Tony Stewart and Montoya.
sounds like lotsof great racing to me
Hunkerdown up there said it best!.. If you love racing as all of us do. Then we kno what all racing series are out there and we all continue to watch what we watch and I watch and love nascar and local dirt racing and everyonce ina while if it’s on I may watch Open Wheel and there speed is amazing but what series are more popular are popular for a reason cause there better than there other series. We welcome all Open Wheel drivers to race nascar and Montoya has done nothen but bump Nascar drivers as in Mexico and today at Martinsville looks like that is his ONLY way to win in a stock car… which I think is kinda funny… Tune into Nascar on Fox in Texas and watch the Good ol’ Boys ttyl
Hmmm….let’s see Mr. Barnes…let me get this straight on ‘how it’s done’:
You run in a series that is the product of a stupid, ego driven track owner that couldn’t stand not to be the big cheese even thought his race WAS the biggest race in the world and part a flourishing series called CART.
You run in a series that has dismal attendance and even more dismal TV ratings…all because of a terribly mis-guided and mis-marketed product owned by said ego driven track owner (see above).
You run in a series that was created because, again, said ego driven track owner (see above) decided he should start his own series (at the urging of the France family, BTW!!) because the CART series didn’t give him enough control to feed his ego and now said series is a laughing stock in racing.
Mr. Barnes, is this the series you are referring to that would show us NASCAR fans ‘how it’s done’?
Hehe….just checking.
IRL racing is nothing short of amazing. Yes, I do watch NASCAR and enjoy it. But if I am goingo to pay to see a race, i’ll take the IRL.
Good luck Kenneth at the IRL race, you’ll have plenty of seating space to choose from in the never ending wave of empty aluminum seats. I’m sure what ever nascar seats you’d give up will be quickly filled in no time.
Truth is IRL might put on a good race once in a blue moon, but it’s like comparing a high school football “barn burner” of a game to a NFL game, they aren’t even on the same level. You know like we all do, if Montoya wanted instant success he could have easily went to the IRL, but he wanted a challenge. Something Mr. Barnes & Company can’t hold a light to as they do in Nascar. Oh and I’ll take my Busch races on Saturday thank you.
Well, to answer guy, It takes MORE SKILL to run an open-wheel car then a stock car. the IRL does a short track, have you not seen the Richmond races??
I sure would hate to see what that weekend ticket would cost! Yeah I am sure that doubling up would bring alot to light, including the fact that most Nascar fans are not IRL fans. But there are a few out there that love both types of racing. I love open wheel racing…just not that much of an IRL fan. I used to be before the split, but since then well….it just doesn’t do it for me. But on the other hand…the rest of my family still loves IRL. I guess those weekends would bring us together alittle more..ha ha…if we could afford to buy the tickets!
Real racing huh. What about when Tony Stewart and Robbie Gordan ran in the Indy 500 and both
got in the top ten. I know they don’t practice in those cars or had much time in them. I’m
just saing the competition isen’t there in IRL. There cars are fast but that don’t make real
racing.
I think Nascar is getting far away from real racing….
They start 43 cars…….big deal, 36 of them are GAURANTEED a starting spot. Drivers do not have to qualify into the races and this is done for the sponsers, not the sport or the fans.
The lucky dog pass……what part of real racing is that. The leader busted his ass to lap them and they get a free pass? What’s wrong? Can’t the world’s best drivers unlap themselves. 15 caution flags and 15 free passes…..that’s not real racing.
Cars parading around 37 laps down for points. WTF? They are in the way, get off the track!
Points going to the entire field…..BULLSHIT, nobody involved in racing wants to finish 32nd and collect points. Racers want to win. Points should only go to the top half of the field, so it is an actual accomplishment. And you can’t say the drivers qualified for the race they deserve points, because they no longer have to.
The chase for the cup…..stupid!
The COT…….5 steps backwards.
Attendance at races is down, tv ratings are down…wonder why.
Although I am not a big fan of the IRL, they put on a great show at palces like Texas, lap after lap, inches apart. Nascar fans just like the wrecks…………
Rubbin’ is racing….since when?
there are several good points here. first and foremost, that faggot tony george could have everything right now, with nascar still second tier, but he decided that being an arrogant prick is better than that. what is wrong with that guy that thinks that irl and champ car are better off seperated? it would be the best series in the world if they were still together. maybe someday hell get his head outa his ass. second, irl does take more skill. the vehicles are more technologically advanced and go faster, as such it takes more skill to control one. nascar has gotten far to large to support any kind of real racing. just like above, people get in the race on points, the cot looks like a fisher price winged peice of shit, and its all about who has the most money to put on some car. its rediculous. why cant they understand that tredition is important!!! taking away a race at darlington and all the races at rockingham?!!! that is real racin’! talkn about buildn tracks in washington and new york. c’mon people!!! i am not a idiot hick who doesnt appreciate success, but com’on! i grew up one block from IMS, so i saw firsthand all that irl lost when tony george decided to piss everyone off. as far as nascar, maybe some drivers and teams will wake up, split off from the series and decide enough is enough. i love the truck races, but cup is just borderline corny now. i hope is blows up in their faces, realizing it wouldnt have taken much to keep fans like me happy, but that almighty dollar is much more important!! good riddance!!
That would be awesome to big series for the same price! I understand why die hard NASCAR fans dont like IRL.
But in all reality they normally run closer together on 1.5 ovals and at much faster speeds! It would be sweet
to be able to see both in a weekend!
The only reason drivers leave IRL for NASCARS is the money. Those damn cars are so slow that
fans can actually take there time to drink their beer and read all the stickers on those billboards.
Wanna talk about boring racing NASCAR! Lets drive in a circle for three hours and follow each other around
Maybe I can get enough ppl to draft my car so i can pass the other car. LOL bump and run..
thats not a true race driver. Come on guys I mean yea sure it takes skill…but you can’t compare
and open wheel driver to a stock car driver. To race and pass and win withuot having to bump anyone to do it
or rely on a line of cars to push ya to pass some one else…come on now…
yea, i agree with some of you when you say that bumping and trading paint is just a way of one driver leaning on another…real racing should not require “who can hit or spin the best to win the race”, it should be who can drive the best and the fastest using his/her own equipment!!!
Well, with the 6 or so IRL fans telling us why Nascar is so bad on here and how the races are so horrible and how talented the no name drivers are in IRL, I’m smelling a sell out for all future IRL races, don’t you? I mean driving IRL cars are so easy, even a cavemen can do it! or at least Danica Patrick.
November 18, 2006
By Allen Madding
Allen Madding
Much has been said and written regarding NASCAR’s fading TV ratings and the empty seats at a lot of the NASCAR events this season. Until this season, NASCAR’s popularity has been on a rise. Tracks have been on expansion programs, NASCAR redesigned the format for the championship into the “Chase for the Cup”, and ticket prices have gone thru the ceiling. Has the sport done itself an injustice along the way?
For years Bristol Motor Speedway has always had a waiting list for tickets that was at least a year or more long. The wisdom of supply and demand says, have more demand than supply and the seller can dictate the price. Have more product than demand, the buyer sets the price. $150 event tickets certainly detour a significant amount of the general public from taking a family of four or more to very many (if any) races.
But while the rage for the sport was on, ticket prices continued to climb and tracks have shown incredible profit margins on each event. A great many tracks prohibited fans from bringing in their own food and drink and charged unimaginable prices for mediocre hamburgers and cold hot dogs that fans waited in 30 minute lines to buy.
Now there are empty seats. Many tracks have tried to draw fans back by dropping the prohibition on outside food and drink, but once the fans are gone, it is hard to bring them back.
NASCAR kicked off the grand idea of the “Chase for the Cup” with great fan fare and declared it a success at the end of the season. But, Tony Stewart has quietly demonstrated the major flaw in the logic of the Chase. Stewart’s problems early in the season left him on the outside looking in at the 10 competitors eligible to participate in the Chase.
With one race left in the season, Stewart possesses as many wins, top-5s, and top-10s to be third in the points if the sanctioning body was still using the traditional point system. But, with the Chase format, Stewart can finish no better than 11th. Imagine how much real drama there would be under the traditional points system for a driver to have come from 11th in the points with 10 events left on the schedule to 3rd going into the last event versus the hype-induced drama of the Chase.
Dale Junior suggests trimming the schedule and shortening the season to keep the fans on board. There is some merit to his suggestion. Does NASCAR still need to go to the same tracks twice in one season? Especially if the stands are full each trip? And do the fans really want to endure the bore-athon road course events? If NASCAR dropped the two road course events and limited each track to one race a year, they would have a 20-race schedule which would be less of a strain on teams and certainly a bit more easy for the average fan to follow.
Regardless of what avenues NASCAR and the tracks decide to follow to correct the current course of the sport, they need to remember the fans drive the sport. It is their hard earned dollars that have built the sport to the level it is and the lack of their dollars that will bring it to their knees.
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Looks like Neckcar fans are having trouble deciding between WWE and ‘real’ racing……