2002 IRL race in California

[GrandPrixKing62]

Welcome back to the Indycar schedule, Auto Club Speedway! Hopefully the new cars will make the 2012 race as good as this race a meer 10 years ago

[MortifiedPenguin275]

God I miss coming to see this. Thank god its coming back to ACS next year.

[nsc337]

welcome back california speedway to the 2012 IICS schedule

[jethrosesc]

Formula 1 on Ovals!

[easleyrider]

Jeeze how many laps did Hornish draft cheever and couldn't pass. CART you would think a head, set it up, draft and hang on for dear life while sling shotting around. This looks like Current day Indycar speedway racing. I hate it and can't wait till 2012 when racing becomes exiting again.

[FrodothePuppet]

Great segment with Helio interviewing the drivers! The sidepod camera MUST return soon!

Shigeaki "Caw Swide" Hattori is totally incompetent.

[cle17930]

Vasser was in Indycars back then?  I did not know that.

[FrodothePuppet]

@cle17930 JV drove for Rahal in 2002. He won The 500 at California later that November, in the fastest 500 mile race ever.

[cle17930]

@FrodothePuppet

Ok thank you, i'm happy that JV is still involved in Indycar racing with his team. Hoping for a better 2011 than they had in 2010 though.

[BrookssRobinsonn]

paul page & indycar forever

[LolaJudd]

Why "IRL" in the title? Why not call it indycar? When will VERSUS have an TV show on indycars? SPEED has become a joke.

[F1Electro]

@LolaJudd CART still had Indycar naming rights in 2002. Until naming rights ended, to distinguish the two series, CART used Indycar and IRL used...well, IRL. Thats my understanding anyway.

[dot350]

@F1Electro CART and the IRL went to court over the IndyCar name and it was ruled that CART could use it until the end of 1996 but the IRL could use it after the end of the 2002 season. Thus why 1996 was still the PPG IndyCar World Series and 1997 it was the PPG Cup and in '98 it was CART FedEx Championship Series. Also thus why it went from IRL in '02 to IndyCar Series in '03.

They called this video IRL because CART also held a race in 2002 at California, that's my guess at least.

[rocky4tube]

Shows exactly why the Indycar series needs to keep a nice mix of ovals with some longer races mixed in. Road and street courses are fun to watch in person but not the greatest usually on tv......This was a great race with some intense side by side action. Loved all the in board cameras and radio communications. I wished Versus would use more of that to tell the pit strategy story and communications between the crew.

Keep posting the races as these are fun to watch!

[HappyJack01]

I remember that year. That was the year that Jeff Ward drove for Ganassi and won for him for the first time in a regular IRL race and got the best finish for him out of four team cars at Indy and then was let go at the end of the season. After this year almost all the IRL drivers were black balled out by the CART owners. Talent meant nothing in 2004 driver selection. It was all political. It was when they started to loose me as a fan.

[eduardogeorgenews]

Bring Michigan, Fontana and Paul Page back!!!

[ChiTownJib]

that was such a great race, i watched the whole thing, i hope they come back since nascar lost a race there

[gnomebtc]

1 hour 44 - I miss engines going dramatically like that. stupid sole engine supplier with only 600 hp ...

[HappyJack01]

@gnomebtc Infiniti engines in the Cheever/Red Bull cars died as they miscalculated fuel mixture and went a bit too lean. It got a bit more power, but the pistons get too hot and about 300 miles they failed. Other than issues like that 2002 was a very reliable year for engines when teams did not cheap out and run them too long. No engine failures at Indy and 24 of 33 running at end. Seven were wrecked and two others were gearbox failures. Those were the days.

[pgice]

@gnomebtc how many hp in those indycars?...700-750 ?

[anthony0358]

another great IRL race! I love it !

Thank you!

[apm78229]

One of the lame excuses for the small crowd was that the Oscars were going on across town that same day.

[richdeveau24]

Could this be a hint that this track will be a surprise addition to next year's schedule? I'm just saying.

[KDSN]

@richdeveau24 Probably, with NASCAR dropping a California date.

[lookatthedarkmoon]

Thanks

[franticfury]

Notice the CART teams like Ganassi, and Team Rahal all experimenting with the IRL before they made the official move to the series in 2003

[gamrguy101]

Every time they passed turn 2 i thought 1999 =(

R.I.P. Greg Moore!

Other than that great race!

[Willbrse]

Amazing race!!!

[HollywoodSheen]

wow there's literally no one in the stands

[jy8crazy6]

Would someone please bring Paul Page back to the Indycar broadcasts on either ABC or Versus or both?!? That guys voice will forever be in my brain as the voice of open wheel racing.

[HollywoodSheen]

@jy8crazy6 I second that

[Savvrawr]

@jy8crazy6

Paul Pages voice is also etched into my brain, he is the shit when in comes to calling open wheel racing!!

Vote up to bring Paul Page back to calling open wheel races!!

[FrodothePuppet]

@jy8crazy6 Paul succeeded Jim McKay as the "Voice of the IndyCars" without competition. What a stupid move by ESPN/ABC to replace him with that unknowledgeable lightweight Todd Harris (who?), and currently with NA$CAR shill Marty Reid! Hire a better on-air crew and MAYBE ratings would improve!

I just hope that Paul knows he still has alot of fans!

[crazyful123]

this makes me sad because michigan isnt on the schedule

[HollywoodSheen]

@crazyful123 ya michigan needs to be on the schedule, it was such a great track that put out some classic races

[crazyful123]

@HollywoodSheen it was like a restrictor plate race for nascar, so closely packed. I think it was safety concerns

[icollectstuffdude]

Great treat, thanks for the race! :)