The IRL Turning Right - Is It Just Wrong?

By all accounts, it looks like the IRL's first foray into left-right racing on the street circuit at St. Petersburg this weekend was a success. I have to admit, the racing was about what you'd expect from open-wheelers on a street circuit. The cars are still fugly (who decided to make them flat?), but they didn't sound as bad as they do on the ovals. And the field, while not super deep (Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV? They're the best this series can do? Jeez!), won't be greatly upstaged by the Champ Car grid in Long Beach this weekend. The stands were (fairly) full, certainly more so at Phoenix and Homestead. Even ESPN's picture-in-picture ad scheme works for racing (but it sucks for soccer - no more, please).

Still, is Robin Miller correct that this was a step in the "right direction" for the IRL? Maybe. But is it the right direction for American open-wheel racing? The last real distinction between the IRL and Champ Car is about gone. The only difference now is the emphasis (IRL favors ovals over road racing, Champ Car is the opposite). As Miller points out, the IRL has become everything CART was when Tony George took his Speedway and went home back in 1996. If all the IRL's road racing events go this well in 2005 and they add more for 06 (Road America, anyone?), Champ Car could go the way of the dodo. Killed by the ghost of it's own past.