Who knows. If it was popular, it would be sanctioned by a pro club, simply because they would want to be involved. It's the " Nothing big can happen without our says so. " sort of thing. Just like clubs sanctioning the Indy 500 over the years.

PLN_ Fan - 17 November 2009 12:06 AM

Look at the landscape now. Plenty of sponsors for series that do not rely in the Indy 500. I suspect, "back in the days " the same thing happened. What was the point of Bob's Auto Service sponsoring an entry in the 500, when no one would see it, as the race was on radio only ? Local and regional sponsors must have existed, just as they do now.

You would be wrong. "Back in the day" there wasn't as much sponsorship as you would think. Drivers and car owners made their money by winning. Howard Keck owned what many recognize as the most successful car to ever run at Indianapolis and it was named the Fuel Injection Special. Keck and his team named the car after their friend Stuart Hilborn's fuel injector. That car never ran anywhere else but Indianapolis. As for the local sponsors, most of the time they were car owners, drivers, drivers that worked for the company or just someone who wanted to be a part of a team at Indianapolis. Other cars, by the way, were named after the owner and included popular entrants such as the John Zink Special, Ken Paul Spl., Jim Robbins Spl. Bill Forbes Spl. Dean Van lines was another owner who named his car after his business. Like most of these owners, they were in racing because their business success afforded them the opportunity to do it. Very much like club racing except the payoff/purse for those times made it worthwhile. Penske would fit in with these guys quiet well.

It may be that it is not enough to have one big race to make a racing series (IRL) successful. It may well be the opposite. Recent history would seem to indicate that a successful season long series may be what is needed to maintain popularity of the big race at Indy, rather than the other way around. The track is both impressive and historic, but the downfall of open wheel racing and the IRL seem to be dragging the Indy 500 down with it.

Winning the peace over the last 15 years may have been more important than winning the war. The speedway may now be the victim of a divided fan base. This may be the rational logic behind the action of the board to remove the symbolic figurehead of the IRL from his position of responsibility. It was time for Tony to take one for the team.

To be fair, NASCAR attendance is way off as well this year. Did you ever think you would see entire sections of empty seats at a NASACAR event?

"That car never ran anywhere else but Indianapolis."

Then that owner/driver didn't have to think about making it for the whole season by his winnings at Indy, which was the idea proposed by the OP. For the guys they did race for the season, they had to get the money somewhere. Not all were independently wealthy enough to run out of their own pocket.

PLN_ Fan - 18 November 2009 02:24 AM

For the guys they did race for the season, they had to get the money somewhere. Not all were independently wealthy enough to run out of their own pocket.

More than you'd like to believe were "independently wealthy" enough to run the season and/or operate with their winnings. For every Howard Keck who ran only Indy there was also a John Zink, an extremely wealthy industrialist, who ran their race teams out of their own pocket for the year because they enjoyed the sport. That was "back in the day" and you should look it up instead of speculate.

It must be pointed out, it did not cost a fortune to own and run a car.

If there were so many wealthy guys, and it did not cost a fortune to own and run a car, then they must not really have needed the 500 to pay the bills for the rest of the season.

Look it up , instead of speculate ? If everyone did THAT, this forum would be a ghost town !

Where exactly so you suggest I do my research, JohnMC ? Is there a "Life and Times of the average AAA or USAC racer " book at Amazon ? If so, I will take a look.

PLN_ Fan - 18 November 2009 11:12 PM

Where exactly so you suggest I do my research, JohnMC ? Is there a "Life and Times of the average AAA or USAC racer " book at Amazon ? If so, I will take a look.

When you read this post that means that you are on the internet! Try using it for something other than posting on message boards and playing games.

NoviVespa3 - 16 November 2009 12:54 AM

PLN_ Fan - 15 November 2009 11:50 PM

And racing would still be going on, if it did. It was certainly a good day in SPEEDWAY history.

No it would not. Back then, all the teams built cars for one race. The Indianapolis 500. They raced the rest of the season, more than likely losing money. But, finishing good in the 500 paid for the rest of the year. Without the 500, many teams would just fold. And, then, the Championship Trail would be a thing of the past. Just about all the sponsors of cars only wanted one thing, to be in the 500. No 500, no sponsors of cars.

Sounds real similar

You know, the internet is good at a lot of things, but documenting stuff that happened before the mid 90s isn't one of them. I don't think I need to spend hours typing in every possible version of " drivers stories from the early days of auto racing " to find the stuff that is condensed into one or two books.