The IndyCar Split: The Path To Reunification | Part 4 

9:32 "And in 2001, Alex Zanardi suffered career-ending injuries." In case anyone was wondering what nascarman was meaning by "career-ending", the man lost *BOTH OF HIS DAMN LEGS* in a crash where the front of his car got sheared off by another. The man's now a paracyclist on the Italian Special Olympics hand-cycling team. The guy also had crashed into a truck while training in 2020 and was put into a coma, but came back out of the hospital in December of 2021. The dude is a tank in human form.

These 4-part splits of Indycar is just beautiful, informative, emotional. It's worth the time.

If IndyCar kept the type of schedule it had in 2010, the series would be near perfection. Obviously swap some tracks in and out, but the balance was great.

Think Indycar is on the upswing. Some of the best racing and talent America has to offer!

Ive never seen Rusty Wallace that humble.

Holy! Brock, Nascarman once again knocking it out of the park! Purely visually its hard to see the late 90s IRL cars side by side with the CART cars and not see it as a B-type series. That racing though, WOW. There is definitely something to be said about how the IRL developed real oval talent. These days the drivers don’t race ovals enough to pull off something like that. I don’t know if I love the pack racing now knowing how it all ended.. I still think about that 2015 race at Fontana though. Seeing Dan now hurts. A full-stop at the end of an era. RIP Dan Wheldon. It can’t be understated how hard Tony George tried to make his idea work. As absurd as it sounds, US Open Wheel Racing might not exist today if he hadn’t. 2003 was definitely that turning point and I’ve always seen it as the ‘start’ of the healing. The comparison to Nascar popularity is interesting. I believe a lot of net-new racing fans make up some of that difference. Racing Sports as a whole BLEW UP in the late 90s - early 2000s and many new fans started watching racing. Indy/Cart definitely lost fans, but I believe Nascar gaining fans make it look even worse than it was. I used to be upset about the PT finish, but… knowing who he is these days its tough to feel bad. Thank god for the Safer Barrier. Every racing series in the world is in debt to that amazing development. I think the series is as popular as its been in the last 10 years. Will we ever reach 1993 Mansell Mania ever again? Probably not. But I think Indycar is established as a serious racing series and deserves it spot in the top 2 series of the United States.

Man, already 10 years from the DW fatal crash? I remember that day as yesterday, the feeling and the crying inside. Those couple of weeks with Simoncelli was painful for Motorsport

One more thing, about the international races. I always loved when Champ Car went to other countries. Especially as Europeans and Australians really seemed to enjoy watching them. It was just pretty cool that the American series was becoming international, too many people don't think beyond the states. I want the series that represents where I live to be international, and have the best drivers, not just be a national series everyone ignores.

Watching Dan Wheldon's Interview before the vegas crash makes me emotional

Correction, Brock. The IRL cars were slower, but they were not safer, at least not at first. No deaths, but a lot of people sent to the hospital. The early cars had very hard gearboxes that wouldn't obsorb energy. Sharp, Salazar, Guthrie all suffered major injuries. Glad they got those fixed.

Ironically the IRL/INDYCAR now has more in common with CART than ever before. The only difference is the lack of multiple chassis manufacturers. Foreign born drivers mostly dominate the series (Except for Newgarden), most of the races are held on former CART road courses, and the series is as hard to be competitive in for a small team as ever. Not saying that it is a bad thing that this is the case, but all of the reasons for the split have returned. And now that sponsorship is getting harder to find, I expect that it will be even harder for the smaller teams to survive. And with NBC Sports shuttering at the end of the year INDYCAR is going to be looking for a new tv package as well.

You can talk shit about how bad the Chase/Playoffs has been to Nascar and it's popularity. It doesn't even hold a candle to all the toxic decisions leading up, during, and after the Indycar split.

What irony! Tony George spend family´s fortune to fund series that at the end had less american flavour than the original CART in early 90s and he had to sell the series and the track to the person they blamed in early 90s for what CART had become - Roger Penske. And RP went from most hated man in Indianapolis to most beloved because he literally saved the sport and the Indy500 in covid year... I really hope he'll be around for many years because if there is a man who can grow this sport, it's Roger Penske. We can only imagine where IndyCar would be right now, if George instead of starting IRL decided to sell the IMS to Penske, CART or somebody else in early 1990s....

That Michael Schumacher quote is depressing in hindsight.

RIP dan wheldon can't believe it has been 10 years. I think 2021 will be a bumper year for the sport romain has brought a lot of f1 fans to the sport

Entertaining, informative and deeply respectful. Thank you.

Today is Memorial Day 2024 and I'm watching the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since the Cart / IRL split. It has been quite entertaining.

I will always wonder what would had happened if Continental became the official and exclusive tire supplier of IndyCar. Just one of those "What If" sort of scenarios...

I actually really enjoyed this 4 part series. It’s given me a new perspective on Indycar as a whole. I gained a whole lot of knowledge about it too, and found it fascinating. Thanks Brock for sharing this series with all of us

Thank you Tony George for getting the ball rolling on the SAFER Barrier Saved so many lives

These 4 videos are really good !!!! However I think this part 4 could be two episodes , one from 96-2003 and the other explaining reunification

Man as an European F1 fan who's been really interested about Indycar really only since last year, these kinds of videos are fantastic. I knew about the split but this 4-parter is amazing. Great great videos! Thank you!

5:32 when ur running the soundboard and the play hits the climax and you forget to turn the music up

In that newspaper Article called "Why allow an appeal if you can't appeal? There's a paragraph that starts [SNORT] You had to be there.

Met Tracy's parents after the 500 controversy and they said they were privately told that because Helio was on the inside he was closer to the finish line even with Tracy being ahead side to side and that was why he was counted as being the leader. It was 100% political.

Well done on this four part series. I could watch over and over again and still wouldn't get tired of it.

indycar is slowly but surely returning to the international spotlight it once achieved

I've been looking for the document that would explain the reasons behind that split for some time and I found it. Great job. Over 100 minutes of good documentary. Thank you Nascarman and Brock

To answer the question, maybe. Now that Roger Penske is the definitive man on control of the series and track, I think it can become popular again, but they need to reclaim a lot of tracks that defined the CART era. Tracks like Michigan Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile. Penske used to own Michigan, and the Milwaukee Mile is up for grabs. Use the State Fair grounds to make an Indyfest where people can come meet and greet current and former drivers. Bring in some rides and food vendors. Make a huge event out of it. I think they need to start thinking outside the box to grow the sport. So much competition as far as entertainment goes these days. You need to give people more incentive to come out of their house and down to the track. Especially these days.

Watched the first part of this series like months ago and finally got around to watching the final part now. Thanks so much for this, was a really fascinating and insightful look into The Split.

Another brilliant installment. Amazing job and thank you so much

I've enjoyed this series, great documentation of one of my favorite sports. I was always on the CART side of the fence, but was lucky enough to attend the 1996 Indy 500 which was still an amazing event to witness in person as a young teenager.

The tides starting to turning on AOWR Civil War... This series should be included as an essential introduction for new IndyCar Series fans, to learn more about the sport we love

What a great series of videos. Thank you so much for producing this !

Man this 4 part series was so well done. I tip my hat to you for the time and focus. I'll say it again this was a beautiful series congratulations.

Michael Schumacher "I'm not going to risk my life to have a good time" -goes skiing-

Bravo @nascarman History. This has been a very fun series to watch. I grew up as a CART fan watching and going to races. Those were some of the best times I can remember.

I loved this series!!!! great job!

Great series. I was never really an Indy fan, but remember vaguely the back and forth between the series over the years with no real idea of what went down. You did a great job or laying it all out for a feller like myself. You narration is also top notch.

This guy I tell you just when you think he’s done BAM comes out with another banger. I have to thank you for this series I was always interested in the split but could never get the whole story until now

Renna's crash might be the most horrific ever and it's dumb luck that it didn't happen in front of an audience.

Been loving this series, started watching indycars right after it

Excellent series, thanks for putting this together. Nostalgic and emotional at the same time. My father passed away a few years ago and is the one who got me into all forms of racing. This brought up many fond memories of watching Indycar/Cart with him over the years.

Fantastic series! Great work on these.

Thanks for sharing! I am honestly a NASCAR fan first and foremost, but I also enjoy watching IndyCar Series races. I definitely think it was cool for CART (and later Champ Car) to include international races, as it gave some of their international drivers a chance to run on home soil.

2021 will be a pivotal year for IndyCar. Despite COVID wreaking havoc, the series has gained some serious off-track momentum, which stems from its truly all-star driver lineup consisting of the standard regulars, sports car stars, V8 Supercars stars, F1 stars, and even a NASCAR icon in Jimmie Johnson. Fans from every side of the racing world will be tuning in, I can guarantee that. This is a circumstance I don't know if American open-wheel racing has ever been in, and they desperately need to capitalize on it. If they do then I see the popularity coming back, albeit not to pre-split levels most likely. I'm glad IndyCar is essentially a second coming of IROC. The series needs the kind of names and talent it has for it to grow. Hopefully the pendulum swings into their favor. After all, it's been a long while since they've caught a live-saving break. As for the CART/IRL unification, that in itself was massive. Everything American open-wheel racing is today wouldn't be such without the split unifying. It's also interesting to see the different methods of both parties integrated into a single series, and that in itself has taken a life of its own based on what I just said above. Extremely fascinating stuff. Hopefully we don't see another split anytime soon. From the looks of it, IndyCar is in good hands w/Penske. You love to see it.

Excellent series. A totally needless civil war killed American open-wheel racing. Now Formula 1 is on a growth march in America that threatens to snuff out any chance of IndyCar recovering.

Awesome videos dude! Enjoyed every single one of them!

Thanks for making this series. Really well made.

The push for driver safety didn't come not when Greg Moore died in 1998.. not when Adam Petty and two other drivers died in the year 2000. It took Dale Earnhardt dying to shake up the entire racing world. Then it took the horrifying death of Dan Wheldon to bring safety back to the fore front.

Amazing job, thanks a. Lot for the hard work put on the videos. Really love your videos. I wish you would continue with the “who was” type of videos, talking about perished drivers

Really enjoyed this four part series, thanks! Interesting how the series has almost gone back to a CART style schedule with roads and less ovals. And you could even say the cars resemble those late 90s CART cars in a more modern fashion.

Thanks for a detailed story on the whole split. I havent really found something this informative and in-depth about the subject. Liked and sub'd 👍

Thank you for a very fair-minded overview of this subject. I enjoyed it immensely.

That was an excellent series, thanks for clarifying the Indycar craziness

Fantastic job on this documentary.

Another awesome video!

You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this. I’ve rewatched part 1-3 a few dozen times and now I’m gonna rewatch them again for this. I can’t get enough of you my man!

I know nothing about racing, I just found this interesting!

After helios 4th indy win, the popularity has definitely surged upward again

Foyt: *slap* hahaha that tickled me Great series, thank you. You have a new subscriber... Keep up the good work.

If Daniel Ricciardo doesn’t find himself a F1 championship contender in the next 2-3 years I hope he finds a home in Indycar with an expanded Mclaren works effort. That move would help the sport as much as Mansell’s move to CART.

Good work on the series! Very well done.

Very nicely done.

Mate, that's was a brilliant work! Amazing from the start to the end. Your narration married perfectly with video footage and images. Your storyline nailed it. Some time ago I read 15 long-read texts about the split in a Brazilian Indy blog and both your works were awesome. Anyone, familiar with Indy or no, can understand what happened. I wasn't aware about this oval tradition in Indiana which comes from midgest and sprints cars. I understand Tony George worried about what to offer to those guys coming from oval experience on their youth, on the other hand young American racers could race at Formula Atlantic and Indy Lights before graduate to Indy Cars. Here in Brazil CART was very popular back in 90s, as many drivers from here were chasing for wins and titles, meanwhile in F1 we were struggling just after Senna's death. This made TK, Hélio, Christian Fittipaldi, Cristiano da Matta, Raul Boesel, Maurício Gugelmin, André Ribeiro and Roberto Moreno local heroes for a generation. And as the races were broadcast on open TV, this represent a chance to see good and eventful races probably won by a Brazilian. This CART heritage kept even Champ Car popular for a while, but in 2007 the series was a hipster thing and the IRL has become the mainstream. I went to São Paulo Indy 300 in 2013 and it was amazing. Four years later I went to Indy 500 and double header at Detroit. On this last one almost no one in the city was aware about the races. Hugs from Brazil!

Great series

IMO they need to get indycar to Daytona Road Course during Speedweeks, that'd be a great help for it methinks

Great video series

I was out with Indycar for a few races, the summer of 2018. Mid-Ohio, Indy 500, And the Sonoma finale, the energy was much better than any race I had attended, in 20 years prior. The air is electric again.

I feel like the continuous removal of oval tracks on the schedule is a big mistake. No offense to IndyCar, but the oval racing is what made it unique and frankly, if I want to watch an open wheel road course race, I watch F1, not IndyCar.

Given the state of Formula one I’ve definitely watched way more IndyCar this year.

Looking forward to part 5

Great video

I think the popularity will return, if for no other reason than F1 is getting more popular. I grew up in rural North Carolina, so NASCAR was all I knew growing up. Early in the pandemic, I watched Drive to Survive and got hooked on F1, and from there I've branched out into tons of other motorsports including Indycar.

I’m an F1 fan that, for the first time, will also be following IndyCar full time this year so this introduction to the history of it all is awesome! Thanks for putting this together.

The fact that NACAR season ticket holders in Texas were forced to buy IndyCar tickets explains a lot. I attended several IndyCar races, starting in 2003, where there were thousands of pissed off drunk people in Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, etc. gear, dragging giant beer coolers, non-stop bitching about how boring IRL was, and how bad it sucked. I always thought to myself, "Why are you here?" Now I know. Granted, I am speaking only about those NASCAR fans that aren't racing enthusiasts. I like NASCAR myself. Speaking of the people that are just there for crashes, chaos, and most of all alcohol.

What a fascinating 4 part documentary! As a Brit who has been a massive F1 fan for decades, the past few years I’ve really got into Indycar since it started being shown on the SkyF1 channel in the UK. Alonso & Grosjean have made European motor racing fans interested in ovals! F1 will always remain my first love (!) but Indycar is a close second for me now due to great drivers & great tracks.

Brock, I love your content, I love this channel, and I have loved every minute of this mini series. You’ve done a great job putting this all together. But please don’t do my boy Alex Zanardi dirty by describing his injuries as “career ending”. His accident was horrid, but he recovered to achieved four victories in WTCC using hand controls and then became an astonishing Paralympic athlete racing hand bicycles. Four Olympic golds. His career is simply racing, and it seems he was damned well determined it wasn’t going to end just because of what happened at Lausitz. For those interested, Alex is currently in a long rehabilitation following a training accident in 2020 and appears to be making slow but marked progress. Looking forward to what you make next dude!

Yeesh....anybody else cringe at the irony of Schumacher's statement in hindsight?

Great series. I watched F1 and Cart in the 80s diligently and checked out after the split in 96 and just kept with F1. F1 is far better and more exciting but after watching this maybe I'll give Indy cars another go. Again great series!

I was born in 94, so grew up during the split. As a result, I don't treat Indy with the same worship that older fans do. I understand the history a lot better these days, and recognize that, but there's still some sort of block, because I didn't grow up loving it, I grew up as a champ car fan. Indy was for the boring cars.

I really hate remembering how Bernard was treated in wake of Vegas. He didn't create the huge problem that somehow the IRL avoided since its inception. It is truly a miracle the open wheel death toll from 1996-2011 was as low as it was. It was unbelievably sad that Dan had to pay the price for such a stupid concept in motorsports, but it certainly was no fault of Randy Bernard. I think most of that blame sits at the foot on Tony George and his hairbrained idea of a spec all oval open wheel series pushing 200mph everywhere they went. Insanity.

I still think that the split was two sides squabbling over shrinking territory. If they came to a compromise, I think they wouldn't have lost much.

Micheal Schumacher said he wouldn't risk his life for a good time. Dang that's ironic.

I think Indycar is gaining popularity today. I keep seeing comments along the lines of "The more I watch Nascar, the more I like Indycar." I have been a huge Nascar fan for years but honestly I feel the same way at the moment.

Excellent 4 part series, thank you. No the popularity will not return. What once was an American racing series is now loaded foreign drivers. NASCAR for all its faults, is still uniquely an American racing series with predominantly American drivers. With the consumer having less and less time to sit for a race on TV, NASCAR with more drama, and USA born drivers, pulls the viewers.

One thing about that fateful las vegas race. iRacing ran a contest for free tickets and a money prize for that race.

25 years and things have gone full circle. Only this time Penske is the Emperor and not just a representative. I just hope that in the coming years Indycar can return to pack racing on mile and a halves especially since SMI has two of em that don't have any races scheduled.

Omg that continental tire offer.. wow

Any chance you'll make a similar series on the American sports car split between the ALMS and Grand-Am?

For me as a Race Fan, it was equal which one i watched. I wanted to see Racing and both series done that well.

Brilliant series thank you . CART was awesome until 2000 then it slowly declined ,very sad. Indy car is now the same series but I just can't get into it the cars appear too weedy.

If they stay on the current trajectory with mostly road courses and mostly European drivers, IndyCar will continue to be looked at as a second rate version of F1, but the danger to both drivers and fans is much lower. They can't risk going back to the intermediate ovals due to the danger and the fact that they can't get anybody to show up to races outside of the 500 anyway. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place and I don't know how they can make people actually care about IndyCar when F1 is becoming as popular as it is in the US.

While I still love the Indianapolis 500 and everything about it, the IndyCar Series hasn't been the same for me since that Las Vegas race. It's tough for me to become fans of drivers after having two of them (Earnhardt and Wheldon) taken from me. I still watch most of the IndyCar races, but I'm not GLUED to the TV like I once was. I haven't had a "favorite" driver in years. I've tried, I really have. It's just not been the same. I am thankful that the series is safer than it was a decade ago.

The music had been done so well in this series of videos but theres a few glaring moments in this video where they get so loud for seconds at a time, so strange

As someone who lives a half hour away from watkins glen and as someone who absolutely hates NASCAR with a passion I hate that Indy cars dont race there anymore

Paul Tracy got screwed. I still can't believe that result happened like that.

I'm an eternal optimist, prividing the sport can find the right venues, balancing history, viewership and breaking into new markets, I can see Indycar growing to what it could have been if it hadn't split in the 90's. I have followed F1 since 1996 and there are times when I think, if only Indycar had some races here in the UK, which has a big connection to the building of the cars and in general loves Motorsport, it would be positive from a PR perspective. If that failed, I would, when times and finances allow, happily cross the pond to watch racing in the US :)

The grand finale of the nascarman History IndyCar Split documentary series focused on the 11-year odyssey to the American Open-Wheel reunification that came after the fallout from the terrible Memorial Day Racing War between the 1996 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was produced by Focal Media Arts, Inc. for the Radio Philippines Network, Inc., the principal national broadcaster for NCAA March Madness, and the Radio Mindanao Network, Inc., and the inaugural U.S. 500 at the Michigan International Speedway, which was jointly produced by Television and Production Exponents, Inc. and SilverStar Communications, Inc. for GMA Network, Inc., the principal national broadcaster for NASCAR in the Philippines. The IndyCar Split documentary series finale focused on the years leading to the reunification

Indycar needs more engine manufacturers and multi-chassis rule. Honda and Chevy is not enough and somehow the series promoter missed out on interested manufacturer like Porsche.