32 cars in a non indy 500 race. Absolutely incredible. If you measure the health of a series by truly anything. Entry, attemdance, ratings this was the golden age of Indycar racing. This is when it peaked. It all went downhill after 1995 and I mainly blame that on one man: Tony George. Everything was going great and he decided to destroy everything. What a fool, seeing a problem where there was none in his american egoism. He said he wanted to perfect oval racing and export it around the world, my ass. CART did try excactly that the year the split happened and in years to come. They tried in Brazil, they tried in Japan, they tried in britain, they tried in Germany but nothing quite worked out and you know why, because the rest of the world does not care about Oval racing. And they did make a good effort. All ovals outside the US they went to had something unique and they were build for indycars. Most of them where fairly flat but most of the great indycar ovals are. Pheonix, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Pocono, Gateway
Whilst true on the attendance incomes (?) eventually killing all the “foreign” ovals that is all so a bit harsh … Rio oval was my all time favourite indycar track ever ( just ahead off Indy ,Cleveland,road America and Portland) simply because how unique it was as a oval with 2 flat out corners and two hard breaking road course style corners meant the cars were in half oval half road course settings … but it wouldn’t have survived post Rio Olympics anyway as they took half the track out to build facilities over 🥲 it’s a big shame really but in hindsight it was a super dangerous track back then that blundell was lucky to walk away from but if indycar ever had the money to rebuild an oval anywhere in the world I pray that they would rebuild the Rio one except with modern safer walls /re pro walls and deep chained tire walls …also indycar would have eventually had to leave the oval anyways … Japan was similar case in that it would have to be ended eventually also ( but in this case due to earthquake damage) but had attendance been high enough could still have used the ovals sister road course (?) and as for British and German ovals it was terrible luck the first year they raced this European doubleheader it was the triple hit off 1. The split in indycar years so European interest was far lower than early 90s 2. Alex zanadi s terrible accident and most importantly 3. Both races in the same month as 9/11 attacks … really killing the vibe …… had that uk oval been used during the Mansell years it for sure been sold out many times over and indeed it’s a shame the early 90s rumours off sliverstone building a square oval track layout specifically for indycar never came to pass … i believe it would basically be a cross between the 50s gp layout and an outer perimeter track that would be 3/4s oval with mild banked corners but still possibly using the classic fast, maggots and beckets , corners sections ? Now Had that track have come off in 93/94 even 95 after Mansell had left the series that also would have gained a big sliverstone crowd !
My home track! Spent me days with dad walking around the pavement trying to score driver autographs. I still have this big CART flag in my garage that was signed by a ton of guys, even the late Greg Moore. Good times, really hoping Indycar comes back to Portland.
Awesome race to watch. 32 cars started at Portland & 25 cars finish the race. Emmo only shot to win this race if Little Al was really bottled up in traffic. With Team Penske dominating this race, you would think it was boring race. But a great race with battles in the top 10 & the leaders gaining or losing time in traffic. Fun times!!!!
LOL at Mikey hitting Vasser going into the Festival Chicane! And the thing is, they were involved in the exact same situation the following year, just with different teams! I swear, Mikey was a great driver, but he was also amazingly impatient at times....
