Memorial Day weekend is a special weekend to all Americans, especially those who have served or have family members that have served in the armed forces.   For sports fans, it’s also as prime a time can be without football.  The NBA and NHL playoffs are into their most exciting stretches.  Baseball is starting to hit the dog days of summer.  However, there was once a time when all of those events took a backseat on Memorial Day Sunday.

The Indianapolis 500 will be run this Sunday, like it has every year since 1911 (with a few exceptions because of little things called WWI and WWII).  “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” was once one the biggest events in the American sports landscape.  I remember being a child and having a huge class of milk with whoever won each year.  It was great, and like many others, it was the only race my family and I ever watched.   I still remember being 6 years old and watching Danny Sullivan win.  I was so excited because my best friend at school was also named Danny!  I’ve drank milk with Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears, and Al Unser just to name a few.

Of course, like all sports organizations and events do, the “500” got a little too big and rich for its britches.  In 1994, Tony George created the Indy Racing League to compete with the already formed CART series.  This did not become the “death blow” to the “500” until he announced that most of the starting spots in the race would be reserved for the IRL drivers.  Of course, most of the bigger named drivers (Fittipaldi, Rahal, Mears, etc.) were still under contract with CART teams.   

Then the boredom began.  People like Jacques Villanueve, Kenny Brack, and Juan Pablo Montoya were kissing the bricks.  I don’t want to drink milk with those guys.  I didn’t when they won, and I definitely don’t now!  Sure, CART tried the U.S. 500 at Michigan to compete with Indy, but everyone knew that was not going to be successful.

Tony George’s quest for more power and money has not only damaged the popularity of the “500”, but it has made it the second most popular race on Memorial Day Sunday!  NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte is now a much more popular event.

NASCAR historians will look back at the mid to late 90’s as the time when NASCAR leaped into the mainstream.  They will hypothesize that it was the style of Dale Earnhardt that led the stock car revival, or the young upstart Jeff Gordon that ushered the circuit into superstardom.  If they want the real answer, the answer they’ll never admit, look no further than the CART/IRL split.  NASCAR does not owe its success to the Intimidator or the Rainbow Warrior.  NASCAR owes it all to the greed of Tony George.