😡 F1's forgotten FEUD with IndyCar

F1 and IndyCar could hardly be considered rivals today, but that wasn't the case in the early 1990s, when Bernie Ecclestone took shots at the US series after Nigel Mansell left F1 to race Stateside instead

#f1 #indycar #1990s #indy #indy500 #nigelmansell #formula1 #formulaone #f1history #classicf1 #indianapolis #bernieecclestone #grandprix #therace

[blazi]

"He assumed Bernie has been grossly misquoted"

Nah it's just the average batshit insane take by Bernie 😂

[sdx]

Then there was Nico Hulkenberg who won Lemans overall on a one race deal with the Porsche LMP1 team. After this victory more drivers wanted to give it a go such as Button, Dani Ric, and Alonso. Iirc, Bernie didn't like this so he scheduled a GP that took place at the same weekend as lemans which prevented that possibility..

[bluemutt]

"You're not a real sport"
"Alright race us"
"Sorry that's too dangerous for us"

[azazc]

The CART / IRL split was the worst thing to happen to open wheel racing. In the mid 1990s to early 2000s, CART was a fantastically entertaining series with beautiful cars, close racing, a mix of legendary old drivers and young drivers, super speedways and road courses and street circuits, an international driver roster, and a North American base of venues with a few international drives.

[TeganCantEven]

It cannot be overstated how popular IndyCar was in the early 90s

[donaldfedosiuk]

For a brief shining moment, CART was truly a premier, world-class series. IRL -- not so much. Thanks a lot, Tony George.

[casscroute]

Ecclestone is also the reason the WSC (WEC's father who existed since the 50s) ended

[Rubenlagriculture]

As an f1 fan I think IndyCar is quite interesting. I like it

[billcurnew]

Indy racing didn't "split in half". One man, Tony George, the owner of the IndianapolisMotor Speedway, left and formed his own series. None of the existinfg teams left CART. They continued to race, as usual, but had to make do without their marquee event, the Indy 500. Eventually, a couple of teams went to race at Indianapolis as this was hugely important to their sponsors. They dominated the event from then forward, but the removal of Indy from the CART schedule proved too big a blow for that series to survive. This whole affair soured fans and even though the racing is still excellent, it's been a slow climb to return the fan base. The "split" was one man vs everyone else, and the end result was bad for everyone.

[_bstr_ct]

Ah, yes. F1, the real sport that would never use artificial ways of closing up the field.

[jkim]

2.65 liter turbocharged methanol burning v-8s like the Cosworth DFX and Illmor were monsters.

[PeterKKraus]

I had the Nigel Mansell Indy Car game for Sega Genesis back in my 30's lol. Did anyone else here play it?

[kylemitchell]

He effectively did similar things to sports car racing and Le Mans as well. There were plenty of times where Le Mans was viewed as the pinnacle. Now people barely remember it's still running even though this year will have the biggest class of Top class prototypes in 30 years.

[samthompson]

"you aren't a real sport"
"ok come try it"
"nah g that's too dangerous"

[Moregano]

An early 90s f1 vs indy race would have been awesome

[KayJblue]

CART was a beautiful series. Modern Indycar is great but pales in comparison

[SkunkworksProps]

The coverage of Indycar in the 90s was great, really enjoyed watching it.

[freeski]

A head to head Indy-vs-F1 race would be epic. As for road course vs oval, that's simple. Repair the oval at Monza, and race the full course like they used to.

[NDN_FTR]

CART in the 90s was some of the best racing.

[ZontarDow]

Wouldn't have been the first time the two raced together in an exhibition race, also wasn't the first time F1 considered CART a threat given they nearly formed an all oval open wheel world championship to go directly head to head with it.

At the time CART was a real threat to F1 given it was an all privateer development series that was less then half the cost of F1 while producing better racing and a more well rounded schedule of race disciplines. Tragic the split happened.