RM On The IRL

[Indy500'79]

TG has always been smart enough to NEVER put himself in that position. Those who work for the IRL work for the IRL, and not independent outlets.

It's the difference between running a business professionally and running it like you were running a campaign for college class president.

well said

[Roninho]

Maybe i'm missing something, but imho the numbers Miller is mentioning don't add up.

George complaining about paying up to $90 million on purses for the irl up to 2003? Looking @ the driver earnings page on indyracing.com, the irl payed somewhere around $140.000.000,- - $150.000.000,- on earnings up to 2003, and $120.000.000,- - $130.000.000,- up to 2002. So that nr. seems of base.

Also, and imho more importantly, talking about the money spend on purses and marketing is only one side of the story. What about indy-attendance, the tv-deal, chevy, toyota & honda's-fee's, sanction fees, etc.?

I have no idea if and how much money the irl has lost, but simply quoting "$90 million on purses and $50 million on marketing" and implying these are losses seems a bit one-sided to me.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I have no idea of knowing what Tony makes or doesn't make, but I must say Robin likely has a good source. That is what a good journalist does. He uses reputable sources to assimilate the story, and in the case of columnists such as Hinton or Miller, they can pretty much say what they want and back it up based on what they have been able to put together. People whine, but last time I looked, Miller was never charged with defmation of character, or slander.

Robin's take on the IRL is pretty much as damning as his opinion of Champ Car. Why would he do that? Simple, he loves the sport but he wont stand by while idiots blow it up.

It is why he lost his job at the Star, it is why he lost his spot with ESPN, it is why he lost his position writing PR pieces for Champ Car. Robin tells as it is. People don't like it. People try to shoot the messenger. I think Robin's track message, on both the IRL and CCWS has been proven that he is right more often than not.

His take is, and God knows I wouldn't want to say I am 100% sure on this, but is that OW has been mismanaged and screwed up by both Tony and the folks at CCWS. Robin is a Hoosier boy, grew up on the Indy 500 and the history of that great race, but he also gets that there is more to racing than the glorification of the 500 at the expense of any other race. He said in 1996 that TG was going to screw up the 500 and OW racing and he is now saying the people running Champ Car are making it a mess.

Some of you may like this, some of you may disagree, but the way I see it, it is pretty hard to say he is wrong. The results ( and that is what really counts, not what we all wish for) are OW has less ratings, less prospersity, and less interest than it did a decade and a half ago. What is more, NASCAR has pretty much doubled in impact and size, and this has all been fortold by Robin's columns over the years.

IN short, if more people paid attention to these guys like Miller who wont just suck up to the governing bodies (ever see a NASCAR story that is real critical of their screw ups lately? ), maybe the fans and the sport would be better served.

[djparky]

I read that article in Autosport a few weeks ago (the one about the IRL)- and agreed with every word of it- I saw his spleen venting about the state of CCWS and agreed with every word of that as well- this is a man who has an opinion and likes to air it- and good on him- much better than being a "brown nose creep arse"- a phrase a colleague of mine came up with a few months ago

he is passionate about OW racing in the USA and I can understand his frustration at watching "Indy Car" racing ripped apart with the IRL-CART/CCWS war- in the last 10 years Indy racing has gone from one thriving series to two virtually irrelevant series- all thanks to ego's, mismanagement and money- not to mention the turncoat team owners, manufacturers and drivers who stabbed the series they made their living off in the back a few years ago

it's all done as far as OW racing in the US is concerned- it's totally irrelevant outside the Indy 500- if both sides realised that then perhaps they could put it together again- 17-18 cars for CCWS and about the same for IRL- wow both sides are doing brilliantly aren't they?

[cache]

Maybe i'm missing something, but imho the numbers Miller is mentioning don't add up.

George complaining about paying up to $90 million on purses for the irl up to 2003? Looking @ the driver earnings page on indyracing.com, the irl payed somewhere around $140.000.000,- - $150.000.000,- on earnings up to 2003, and $120.000.000,- - $130.000.000,- up to 2002. So that nr. seems of base.

Also, and imho more importantly, talking about the money spend on purses and marketing is only one side of the story. What about indy-attendance, the tv-deal, chevy, toyota & honda's-fee's, sanction fees, etc.?

I have no idea if and how much money the irl has lost, but simply quoting "$90 million on purses and $50 million on marketing" and implying these are losses seems a bit one-sided to me.

I agree ,nobody knows the financials of the IRL. But if you talk about what IMS generates in income, you also have to realize that IMS costs money to operate.A simplistic way of looking at it is, not only does TG and Co. run a track business, they also run a league. He has 2 businesses that need to make a profit. On top of that, the 500 is an IMS race, so they are responsible for that too.Sanction fees can be ate up by purses. TV deals can cover the cost of running day to day and race events at IMS.TG pays F1 and Nascar sanction fees too. Not to mention the extra teams and cars needed to fill the grid at Indy.

No doubt ,IMS makes money to support the IRL, but we wonder how IMS satisfies its profit margin if they use it to keep the IRL afloat? Maybe someone here knows more about it than I do.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Cache, it is simple. TG and his family don't sell shares on the open market. They don't have to disclose their profit or loss margin to anyone but the IRS. IF they choose to take their considerable profits from the IMS and plough it into the IRL, it is their choice and their money. It is that simple. It is why Tony wont let go of the IRL and his desire to control OW racing, and it is why he thought he could do it in 1995 in the first place.

This has always been about a guy who thought he had the biggest draw in the sport being able to steer the sport, and the team owners who thought they had the answers. At some point, the team owners hired idiots and let their own selfish interests get in the way of their sport, while a selfish and often naive track owner with a lot of money on the other side went to war.

It has been a fiasco by any definition, and there are lots of villians on both sides of the equation trust me....

[Easy Drifter]

And the fact he wants a Moto GP indicates he may need more $

[Jonesi]

And the fact he wants a Moto GP indicates he may need more $

Also why would he have sold IMS' half of the Chicago track to partner ISC if he hadn't needed money?

[gofastandwynn]

And the fact he wants a Moto GP indicates he may need more $

If he needed money he would ne be paying millions to reconfigure the course for the bike, and it would easier to just drop Formula 1 and the loss that the the Speedway take on it.