How the 1996 Indy Racing League began the Split with CART

The 1996 Indy Racing League began the split in American open-wheel racing that lasted twelve years. Its first season was three races long and ended at the eightieth Indianapolis 500 in May, where Scott Sharp and Buzz Calkins were declared co-champions. The rivalry it started with CART had lasting negative effects on the sport.

Where did the Indy Racing League come from?

The series was the initiative of Tony George, the president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. George had left the CART board of directors in January 1994 after disagreements about the direction of Indy car racing, and he wanted the marquee race to be removed from the CART calendar. The new championship would be sanctioned by the United States Auto Club and would run only on ovals, a format its backers hoped would reverse a slump in Indy car racing.

The series name was made public on July 8, 1994, with its first rulebook following later that year. The rules met criticism and resistance from the established team owners who formed CART and from their drivers, who dismissed the concept as a power grab by George.

The IRL still hoped that CART drivers would enter some of its events, because the early schedules had no conflicts. That hope did not last, because CART's own schedule soon clashed with the IRL's.

Three races, a lockout rule and a championship shared between two drivers.

How was the first calendar built?

On January 23, 1995 the IRL announced that the Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando would host the first event on January 27, 1996. On April 3 Phoenix International Raceway, which was switching from CART, and the then under-construction Las Vegas Motor Speedway were added. New Hampshire International Speedway completed the five races planned for 1996 when it switched alliances on May 30, 1995.

CART's own 1996 schedule clashed with the IRL dates. The Road America race fell on the same day as the IRL event at Loudon, and the rounds at Rio and Australia were placed either side of the IRL race at Phoenix. The result was a travel problem that no team could solve while racing in both series.

The IRL also tried to adapt its rules to the rival series. Talks between the two sides delayed the new IRL rules until 1997, and CART chose a lower-downforce chassis for 1996 that resembled the delayed IRL rules, except for the engine downsizing the IRL had planned.

What was the 25/8 rule?

On July 3, 1995 the IRL announced that its top 25 drivers in points would have guaranteed starting positions for the 1996 Indianapolis 500. The rule was meant to encourage participation at Orlando and Phoenix, but it left only eight positions open for at-large competitors. Most CART teams read it as a lockout of their 26-car field.

CART answered by scheduling a second 500-mile race at Michigan International Speedway in direct competition with Indianapolis. It also decided that any team competing in an IRL event would lose its voting rights on the CART board of directors. As a result almost all of CART's established drivers and teams stayed away, although Galles and Walker entered extra cars at Indianapolis without their regular drivers, in deference to their sponsors.

Who was on the grid in 1996?

The IRL aimed to be a low-cost alternative for American drivers, who were being pushed aside by the influx of foreign drivers that CART's road racing focus attracted. It also hoped to take in short-track stars who had found Indy car racing too expensive. Only 11 of the 33 starters from the 1995 Indianapolis 500 returned in 1996.

Among the entries were one Indianapolis 500 winner, Arie Luyendyk, and two former race winners. Only two full-time teams and drivers from 1995 had returned. Rookies made up half the field, with 17 out of 33 starters new to the race, which led detractors and most of the media to describe the event as a watered-down affair.

The points were staggered to reflect how many events each driver entered. The points for each race were multiplied by the number of events a driver had entered, so a driver who ran all three races had the third race multiplied by three. Despite the short season, fifteen drivers competed in all three events, and Ford Cosworth supplied most of the V8 engines, while the rest of the field used stock-block V6 units from Buick or Menard.

Which teams joined the series?

A. J. Foyt Enterprises was the only full-time Indy Car team to join the IRL for its inaugural season. The team ran two or more cars at each race, something it had not done since Roger McCluskey became Foyt's teammate in the 1969 USAC Champ Car season. Fred Treadway, Andreas Leberle and Jonathan Byrd formed a one-car team, which took a Reynard 95I from Walker Racing and a 94I that had been Jacques Villeneuve's backup at Team Green.

That 94I would become the pole-sitting, record-breaking car at Indianapolis. Leberle later stepped out of the partnership, and the team was known as Byrd-Treadway Racing, while Project Indy competed independently.

Four teams that had raced part-time in Indy Car also entered. Team Menard bought two new Lola T95s for a two-car programme, having run a stock-block Indy 500 effort for a decade. Hemelgarn Racing ran only Ford Cosworth engines and bought two Reynards from Chip Ganassi Racing. Pagan Racing switched to Ford Cosworth because Mercedes declined to lease its Ilmor engines outside the Indianapolis 500. Beck Motorsports partnered with The Zunne Group, although the two split in February and the cars stayed with Zunne.

Two teams came from junior series. Bradley Motorsports, a family-run operation, was set up by the owner of Bradley Petroleum. Della Penna Motorsports had taken the 1995 Atlantic title and also contested a partial Indy Car schedule. Team Scandia, an IMSA GT outfit led by Andy Evans, arrived alongside Cunningham Racing and Leigh Miller Racing, while Blueprint Aircraft Engines entered as Team Blueprint.

PDM Racing formed only three weeks before the opening race, after chief mechanics Paul Diatlovich and Chuck Buckman bought the assets of the defunct Leader Card team. Tempero-Giuffre Racing, backed by Frank and Dominic Giuffre, was the only driver-owner team from the American Indycar Series able to start an IRL race. ABF Motorsports was registered on February 26 under the leadership of Art Boulianne.

Which drivers were signed first?

Team Menard announced the first driver on September 21, 1995, when it signed Eddie Cheever for one of its cars. Cheever had lost his full-time seat with A. J. Foyt Racing a month earlier. On October 3 Scandia kept Eliseo Salazar, who had finished twenty-first in his debut Indy Car season.

On November 9 Byrd-Leberle-Treadway announced Arie Luyendyk, the 1990 Indianapolis 500 winner, for the No. 5 entry. Davey Hamilton, a multiple supermodified champion who had failed to qualify for that year's Indianapolis 500 after two scratched entries in earlier years, was signed for the No. 14 car on November 28.

Team Menard filled its second car with Scott Brayton on November 29. He was the reigning Indianapolis 500 pole sitter and the most experienced Indy Car driver in the field, with 148 starts. Richie Hearn, 25 years old and the winner of the 1995 Atlantic Championship with Della Penna, was announced on December 2 for the No. 4 entry.

Several names came from the American Indycar Series and sports car racing. Michele Alboreto, a former Ferrari driver with 15 seasons of Formula One behind him, drove a dual IRL and IMSA programme for Scandia in the No. 33 car. Bill Tempero entered himself at 52 in the No. 15 car, having run 25 Indy Car races in the early 1980s and won the American Indycar Series title a record four times.

Other entries were less familiar. Butch Brickell, a Hollywood stuntman, broke two vertebrae in a testing crash on January 13 and never raced in the series. Jim Buick, an airline pilot, entered at Walt Disney World but never took to the track. Rick DeLorto failed his rookie tests, and Tony Turco withdrew from the race because he had no sponsor.

The early 1996 announcements filled the remaining places. John Paul Jr., the 1983 Michigan 500 winner, joined PDM Racing on January 8 for the No. 18 entry. Lyn St. James was signed for the No. 90 entry, and Buddy Lazier, who had three top-ten finishes in 55 starts, took the No. 91 car for Hemelgarn.

Scott Sharp, a former SCCA champion, joined A. J. Foyt Enterprises on January 15 for the No. 41 entry, and Tony Stewart, the first driver to win the USAC Triple Crown, joined Team Menard on January 19 for the No. 20 car. Stewart was combining the IRL with a partial NASCAR Busch Series programme.

How did the Walt Disney World opener come together?

Walt Disney World Speedway was finished in time to host the first race of the IRL on January 27, 1996. Testing ran from November 28 to December 8, 1995, and produced a tentative entry list of 18 drivers, several of whom never raced in the series.

The opening event was therefore put together through a season of last-minute deals. Pagan Racing signed Roberto Guerrero, the two-time Indianapolis 500 pole sitter, for the No. 21 entry, the same car he had driven at Indianapolis in 1994 and 1995. Hemelgarn signed Stephan Gregoire for the No. 9 entry, a driver whose only Indy car experience was a nineteenth-place finish at the 1993 Indianapolis 500.

Bradley Motorsports fielded Buzz Calkins for the No. 12 car. Calkins had finished sixth in Indy Lights, and the team had been formed around him by his father to help his racing career.

How did the Indianapolis 500 field take shape?

The Indianapolis 500 entry list was unveiled on April 15, and Team Menard put Mark Dismore in the No. 30 car. Dismore had won the 1993 24 Hours of Daytona for Dan Gurney's All American Racers, and he had suffered injuries in a crash in 1991 after failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

Walker Racing and Galles Racing entered the 500 because of sponsorship commitments, and Galles had the only Mercedes-Ilmor engine in the field. Lyn St. James took the No. 45 entry for Zunne Group Racing, and unlike Robbie Buhl and Randy Tolsma she used Goodyear tyres.

On May 16 Brickell Racing announced Danny Ongais for the No. 77 entry, because Butch Brickell had not been medically cleared to race. Ongais was about to turn 54, had six Indy Car wins to his name and had not raced since 1987.

The biggest blow came on May 17, when Scott Brayton was killed in a crash during practice after suffering a basilar skull fracture. Brayton had been the fastest qualifier, so Tony Stewart started from pole. Two days later Team Menard named Ongais as Brayton's replacement, and Brickell then turned to Tyce Carlson, a dirt-track driver who had competed in all three of USAC's national series the previous year.

Late changes continued. Team Scandia fielded Joe Gosek in the No. 43 entry on May 19 after he left Tempero-Giuffre, and Fermin Velez moved to the No. 34 car. Scott Harrington signed a last-minute deal to switch to the back-up car for Della Penna after damaging his chassis in a practice crash on May 16.

How did the first season end?

The championship finished in a tie, with Scott Sharp and Buzz Calkins level at the top. The series had no tiebreak rule, so it declared the two drivers co-champions. The result was a fitting end to a season in which the field had been assembled in a hurry.

The three-race season was over, but the consequences ran much further. The Split kept two rival series competing at the top level of American open-wheel racing for twelve years, and it left lasting negative effects on the sport.

Notable entries for the 1996 season