As the IZOD IndyCar Series puts the Indianapolis 500 behind it, Your Humble Examiner would like to close with some May epiphanies.
Is Indy back? Actually, YHE rejects the premises of the question. Fundamentally, American motorsports underwent a major realignment 15-20 years ago. Prior to the late 1980’s/early 1990’s, NASCAR was still heavily rooted in the American Southeast. This had started to change by 1990, but The Split certainly heightened and accelerated it. Either way, once NASCAR become nationally mainstreamed, well, that was that. NASCAR is, and barring monumental bouts of stupidity, will now always be the “Alpha Dog” of American motorsports. IndyCar racing will NEVER return to whatever version of the “glory days” you may hold dear.
That epiphany occurred to YHE during a dramatic qualifying weekend. More surprising, though, was this liberating feeling that one gets when this realization finally sinks in. No, the Indy 500 won’t ever capture the zeitgeist like it once did. How could it, with NASCAR’s domination now so entrenched? But so what?
The past may not be dead, as Faulkner would say, but it need not cloud or otherwise ruin the present or future. If you cannot accept anything less than the “glory days,” well, I’ve goy bad news for you. On the other hand, if you understand that the American racing landscape has irrevocably (and, yes, regrettably) changed and are interested in the real future (as opposed to delusional wishes of overtaking NASCAR), then the future is much more interesting than on first look.
Ultimately, what matters is whether the 500 is consequential, at least in racing circles. The drama of May 2011 is fairly definitive proof that “it matters.” One of the common refrains post-Indy has been something along the lines of “It seemed to matter more/the buzz is back.” Maybe it started with Alex Tagliani winning the pole, beating the super teams. Maybe it was the craziness of Bump Day. Whatever it was, “it mattered” this year moreso than in the last several years. As Paul Page once said nearly 20 years ago, it seemed, once again, like “racing’s ultimate test: 500 miles on a Sunday afternoon in Indiana.” For YHE, that is what really matters.
Perhaps the defeat of both Penske (in humiliating fashion) and Ganassi added something to the experience. Either way, it occurred to YHE that we may be entering a post-Ganaassi/Penske dominance era. How long this lasts is far from clear (THIS is a bad sign), but the struggles of Team Penske at Indy seemed like something of a watershed. Perhaps they’ll dominate in Texas, but for now, the rise of genuine competition to the two juggernauts is a very pleasant development.
Speaking of increased competition, YHE now declares The Split well and truly over. Didn’t it end three years ago? Of course it did, officially anyhow. But the Champ Car teams were simply uncompetitive on the oval. On lap 113 of the Indy 500, that seemed to finally be put to rest.
No one else will remember it, but on that lap, Oriol Servia, driving for Newman-Haas, passed Dario Franchitti for the lead. The strongest Champ Car team (post-2001) passing one of the IRL/IndyCar giants for the lead at Indy? Unthinkable in ’08, reality in 2011. An otherwise insignificant moment (Servia still finished a solid sixth) was, in reality, a major shift in the IndyCar world.
The Final Epiphany: Your Humble Examiner might not be that smart, after all.
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