Indy cars at Talledega?

[formercrewguy]

Ok, I gotcha with that headline! But seriously, with this whole Chi-Com virus BS going on now when cars should be at Indy getting ready for the 500, do any of you remember in 1979 when USAC and CART split? I ran across this video a few minutes ago and had to share it. This explains that whole situation better than almost anyone. And yes, they almost ran Talledega. Enjoy.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K433p727f-0

[CIRF]

I'd never seen this video, fcg. Thanks for posting the link.

The information contained in this video really hits home for those of us who believe it was Dan Gurney, Pat Patrick, Roger Penske and a few others who killed Indy Car racing as it was known in the late 1960's. That was way before my time but I've done enough research to know the real beginning of the end for Indy Car racing was when the aforementioned car owners were less than enthusiastic about having to run the 1 mile dirt tracks to be crowned Indy Car National Champions. The result of USAC knuckling under to Gurney, Patrick and Penske was the separation and creation of the Silver Crown Series from the rear engine pavement cars. Beginning in 1971 the Silver Crown Championship Dirt Cars were relegated to their own series. Prior to 1971 for a driver and team to become National Champion they had to compete on both the pavement in the rear engine cars and on the 1 mile dirt tracks in the front engine dirt cars. Gurney, Patrick and Penske didn't like going to places like the Indy Mile, Springfield, Syracuse, Sacramento and Du Quoin, all 1 mile dirt tracks. This kind of racing was beneath their pay grade. Gurney outlines his disdain for the 1 mile dirt tracks and how that style racing had held open wheel racing down in his famous White Papers which he wrote and circulated back in 1978. I've read the White Papers and personally I think they're elitist bullsh!t. There are those who would take umbrage with my sentiments.

In most peoples' minds THAT split was what started Indy Car on it's path to today's relative irrelevance and domination by foreign drivers and cars in subsequent years. I tend to agree with that theory.

What happened later in the late 1970's was an escalation of what began in 1970. This has been argued and hashed over at least 100,000 time over the years and will create controversy to this day, as you can see here!