Without stars, IRL is racing into oblivion
The IRL and RIR annually overlay their lettering in late June. It's the track's whine-and-grease alternative to those two thunderous NASCAR weekends when all the Jeffs, Tonys and Juniors come to town.
The NASCAR races routinely sell out.
The IRL is a harder sell.
And getting harder by the nanosecond.
Some (male) IRL drivers have grumbled about Danica Patrick stealing the show. By next June 28 when the circuit comes to Richmond, she might be the whole show.
Literally.
OK, maybe not quite literally — but it sure seems that way. Dario Franchitti, the Indy 500 winner and 2007 IRL points champion, is out the door (well, cockpit) and headed for NASCAR as soon as he can wiggle free from Andretti Green Racing. Sam Hornish Jr., who won the 500 and series championship in 2006, is within a snap of car owner Roger Penske's fingers of switching to NASCAR, too.
They'd join 1997 IRL champ Tony Stewart and open-wheel expatriates Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya and J.J. Yeley, among others, on the NASCAR tour.
Oh, and when Formula One pilot Jacques Villeneuve hits Daytona next January, he could give NASCAR four Indy 500 winners — Montoya also having swigged milk in 2000 at the Brickyard — on the starting grid.
Will the last hot-rodder to leave the garage please turn out the lights.
"The open-wheel series are struggling, and NASCAR is on the rise," is how Newman explained the tilt when he talked with reporters last week. "It's obviously a great way to make a living." More at Richmond Times Dispatch
Related article from 2005: That sucking sound you hear is NASCAR