Learning to Turn Right (Slowly)

As expect for some time, the IRL's 2005 schedule,announced yesterday, included two road courses: Sears Point (still won't call it Infineon, sorry) and Watkins Glen, the two road courses also visited by NASCAR's Nextel Cup series. However, they won't run the exact same courses. At Watkins Glen, at least, the IRL guys will run the full "grand prix" circuit, not the truncated course NASCAR uses. No indication yet whether the IRL will run the full course at Sears Point as well, although that's less likely. It would allow direct comparison with the ALMS guys, which would not be flattering for the IRL.

Just so we're clear, this formally marks the end of the IRL as it was originally promoted. The drives for up and coming American oval races never materialized, Toyota and Honda brought their high-budget engine leases with them from CART, and now the all-oval concept has bit the dust as well. I wonder what that says about the golden era of CART? That it was cut short by the power quest of a greedy Tony George? BINGO!