The impossible just might happen.
No, not Dennis Dixon retroactively getting awarded the Heisman Trophy, or the Mariners becoming American League contenders after trading away their future for Eric Bedard, or Greg Oden shocking everyone by returning from injury right away and dominating like Shaq circa the Lakers (as opposed to Shaq circa the Suns).
Nope. Something even more impossible than that, at least in the eyes of gearheads all around the United States: The Indy Racing League and Champ Car are close to re-merging back into one entity, ending a 12-year schism in American open wheel racing.
I’m sure more than a few of you are scratching your heads, wondering what the hell I’m talking about. For years, the Portland Grand Prix for Indy cars was the largest sporting event in the state of Oregon. Tens of thousands of spectators crammed into the aging grandstands around Portland International Raceway in north Portland for the Father’s Day Weekend tradition, come rain or shine. The race, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this June, was always one of the best attended on the Indy car calendar, and provided many spectacular moments, including one of the closest finishes in open-wheel racing history in 1997.
Watching racing both live and on TV is what I grew up with. No matter my love affair with basketball, football, soccer or baseball now, auto racing is what I’ve known the most and followed the closest since a young age. 10W30 oil runs through these veins.
Some people have fathers who take them to baseball, basketball, or football games; for me, the best bonding time at a sports event from the time I was very young was at the races. Going with my dad for the practice day on Friday of the race weekend was a yearly ritual started before I was in grade school. Out at the track now, I get jealous of little kids who have full over-the-ears noise protection – when I was that young, I had to struggle with foam earplugs that never wanted to stay in properly.
All I want to see is the sport I grew up with succeed. The merger could have come at a better time, especially sooner, but the losses of sponsorship dollars and fans are finally desperate enough to force those involved in open-wheel racing to face the facts. It took this long to wear down the egos involved to the point of accepting open wheel racing’s dire straits.
Races in Portland the last few years have been decrepit. Attendance has steadily declined, and sponsors have gone away. The action on the track is just as good, but the sponsors for Champ Car teams aren’t blue chip companies anymore. The most talented drivers have left – either for the great challenge of Formula 1 racing in Europe, or the greater money offered by NASCAR.
Road racing in the United States is dying on the vine, and this merger could be the best way to kick start it again. This division in open wheel racing has almost killed what was a great sport – the era of Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser, Jr., and Alex Zanardi was popular, competitive, and well supported until the Champ Car-IRL split weakened the sport, and NASCAR’s popularity soared. A resurgence in open wheel racing could save us from boring left turns all day and watered down stock car racing.
It could also save one of Oregon’s great sporting traditions.
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