Chris R
20th September 2011, 18:36
first, no, I am not bi-lingual - just a Rush fan.....
I just finished re-reading AJ Foyt's autobiography from 1983 (modestly titled" My life as America's greatest race car driver" :) )
Toward the end he goes on a bit of a rant about the USAC & CART issues of the day and it was very interesting.
At the time (1983) he had no use for either CART or USAC and it sounds like he never thought all that much of USAC if you read the comments he made about his early career.... He said the problem with both was that they did not treat everyone equally. He felt that the larger teams (Penske and Patrick at the time) did everything for their own good and nothing for the good of the sport. He felt both USAC and CART bent to the will of certain individuals or small groups of people and that they generally lacked good leadership. He suggested the only way for Indycar racing to flourish was to adopt a NASCAR type model where a dictator type did not bow to anyone (he thought highly of Bill France).....
Overall, everything he talked about 30 years ago is still true today. I suspect TG did what he did largely based on what AJ had to say (if not in that specific book than in ideology anyway) - the problem is that TG is no Bill France and never was or had the potential to be.....
Today we have two dominant team players who have more sway of the sport than is healthy, poor leadership, etc..... Everything that AJ complained about in 1983 is still a problem today....
The more things change, the more they stay the same.....
Anyway, I thought this was interesting and very relevant to the recent postings about TGBB, the failure of the Las Vegas bonus, the failure of the multiple body kits and the issues with engine makers.....
Clearly the solution requires much more of a "clean slate" approach than most of us have envisioned.....
I just finished re-reading AJ Foyt's autobiography from 1983 (modestly titled" My life as America's greatest race car driver" :) )
Toward the end he goes on a bit of a rant about the USAC & CART issues of the day and it was very interesting.
At the time (1983) he had no use for either CART or USAC and it sounds like he never thought all that much of USAC if you read the comments he made about his early career.... He said the problem with both was that they did not treat everyone equally. He felt that the larger teams (Penske and Patrick at the time) did everything for their own good and nothing for the good of the sport. He felt both USAC and CART bent to the will of certain individuals or small groups of people and that they generally lacked good leadership. He suggested the only way for Indycar racing to flourish was to adopt a NASCAR type model where a dictator type did not bow to anyone (he thought highly of Bill France).....
Overall, everything he talked about 30 years ago is still true today. I suspect TG did what he did largely based on what AJ had to say (if not in that specific book than in ideology anyway) - the problem is that TG is no Bill France and never was or had the potential to be.....
Today we have two dominant team players who have more sway of the sport than is healthy, poor leadership, etc..... Everything that AJ complained about in 1983 is still a problem today....
The more things change, the more they stay the same.....
Anyway, I thought this was interesting and very relevant to the recent postings about TGBB, the failure of the Las Vegas bonus, the failure of the multiple body kits and the issues with engine makers.....
Clearly the solution requires much more of a "clean slate" approach than most of us have envisioned.....