986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

Ronzi · 02-20-2006, 11:47 AM

Ref. "So why aren't the ratings off the chart for WRC? These guys roll down cliffs and hit trees."

Maybe because car brands like Citroen and Peugeot are a joke in the US and can not possibly be considered able to produce anything but the endless string of hopeless loser cars imported here during the '60s and '70s.

The demise of CART is of course traceable directly to a power struggle between Tony George and the CART team owners. Tony held the ace-in-the-hole in the form of the Indianapolis Speedway and the Indy 500. The one thing the CART guys could never overcome was the importance of the 500 to sponsors and advertisers. When they were in effect shut out of the 500, it initiated a slow desertion of teams to the IRL.
The CART/IRL war seems to be about over, with the IRL and Indianapolis the ultimate victor, although the 500 was almost destroyed in the process.
CART certainly was mismanaged and that played a big part in their problems, but I think the bottom line was the Indy 500. It was the only race the public gave a damn about, so it ultimately was the one race the car owners HAD to be able to run.

02-20-2006, 11:47 AM	#5
Ronzi Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Denver CO Posts: 748	Ref. "So why aren't the ratings off the chart for WRC? These guys roll down cliffs and hit trees." Maybe because car brands like Citroen and Peugeot are a joke in the US and can not possibly be considered able to produce anything but the endless string of hopeless loser cars imported here during the '60s and '70s. The demise of CART is of course traceable directly to a power struggle between Tony George and the CART team owners. Tony held the ace-in-the-hole in the form of the Indianapolis Speedway and the Indy 500. The one thing the CART guys could never overcome was the importance of the 500 to sponsors and advertisers. When they were in effect shut out of the 500, it initiated a slow desertion of teams to the IRL. The CART/IRL war seems to be about over, with the IRL and Indianapolis the ultimate victor, although the 500 was almost destroyed in the process. CART certainly was mismanaged and that played a big part in their problems, but I think the bottom line was the Indy 500. It was the only race the public gave a damn about, so it ultimately was the one race the car owners HAD to be able to run.