CART U.S. 500 1996 Michigan Start Crash

[PCCphoenix]

I remember seeing this with my grandfather on live TV. This race clearly wanted to "make history," but clearly NOT like this.

[nicoffspring4500]

the champ car miss !!!

v8 turbo 750,800 hp these cars were very beautiful. 240 mph!!!

irl I find less attractive 600 650hp 225 mph

[HollywoodSheen]

this was the beginning of the end of CART.

[crvorhees]

I was at the Indy 500 when this happened. I was listening to this race on a walkman and I couldn't help but laugh. The announcers were talking about how this was the race to be at and the greatest drivers in the world were there. Then they destroy the field before the race even started.

[manthing43]

@crvorhees I was there. They got their back-ups out and had a great race. I came home & watched the Indy 500 on videotape and it was atrocious. Indy car racing has never recovered from this awful year.

[AmerkFlack]

Yeah rookies were at the INDY 500? Who were these cats?

[cheese2507]

Nowadays, that would be the whole field.

[allstarchris1]

CART and IRL both lost in the open wheel war cause all it did was make NASCAR the more popular form of racing here in the U.S.A. Thank you Tony George you A-HOLE!!!

[erasetoimprove]

@allstarchris1 who cares which one is more important? What's important is that ALL forms of American Auto Racing succeed. If just one succeeds, that's not a good thing. Indycar will climb its way back one day. Never in the history of motor sports has a series dominated for more than a couple decades. We've seen F1, Indycar/Cart, NASCAR, Road Racing.... it's all been at the top at one point or another. That's just how the wheels turns in racing. 

[allstarchris1]

@erasetoimprove I hope Indycar will climb back, they need to have a race again at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ where I live only 10 minutes from there. Indycar needs to have a presence in the NJ/NY market something that Nascar does not have if they want to get more fans interested in the there form of racing. Don't get me wrong I'm a huge Nascar fan and F1 fan but what Tony George did was wrong.

[andrewlawrence2209]

Why wait for Lap 1 before a multi-car crash? Why not have one before the race even starts.

[rodentcafeteria]

This was a total embarrassment.

[nitroboy1212]

see, this is what happens when u fuck with the irl, and have the race on the same day and time as the 500.

[C0LL1N]

NOOOOO!!!

[skcoop80]

Finally...one series!!

[TheCarlsonsRaiders]

CART used to be awesome, hell, even the crashes were better than the IRL! A shame it had to die off, as it was fun while it lasted.

[pcgeekamd]

Geez you cart blowhards still have sand in your vagina's for losing the war get over it and move on. FYI Indycar gos back to turbos in 2012,with

Chevy,Honda and lotus as engine suppliers.

[giallorosso86]

CART failed because they failed to market their 'post-indy' stars adequately, be that the fault of FedEx, Target, Kool, Honda or any other party richly involved in the series.

Subsequently, TV ratings dipped, and eventually Phillip Morris decided the Indy 500 was more important than a CART season. But without the bad ratings and the alienation of Honda during '01, CART could have thrived and dominated.

Ask yourself, "why do casual sports fans watch NASCAR?" Because of the DRIVERS.

[ajworthington84]

LOL, the "Stars and Cars" at the U.S. 500!

[darakii]

This really was embarrassing for CART I don't like CART or IRL. I think both had some part in the war. It takes two to tango!

[neiana]

I wonder how things would have turned out had this incident not taken place. Firstly to challenge the Indianapolis 500 was a stupid move as it destroyed open-wheeled racing in the US. Second to go with a three-wide start against knowledgeable opposition due to strong and legit safety concerns. Third, the first two together bringing about this mess + a 3 hour delayed start, sudden rules change to allow the race to 'restart', etc.

Perhaps CART would have had been stronger.

[pajasa62]

CART, IRL or whatever...I sure miss the Michigan 500.

The IRL is imploding these days and has more ROAD courses in this years schedule than ovals!....and their 60 mph pit speed limit is a joke!... What? they don't trust THEIR OWN drivers?

[itsmebatman]

@pajasa62 Yeah well too many sub standard drivers in IRL. While the front runners are great racers there are some people in there I would be afraid to drive on the same track with to be honest.

CART was great while it lasted. Extremely fast, intense and very dangerous. I remember crossing my fingers for Greg Moore. Those were the times. Today American open wheel racing is a joke compared to back then. :-(

[pajasa62]

@itsmebatman

I hear what you are saying. someone like Milka Duno simply does not deserve to be out there. You might be able to say that there have been "Milkas" in every era of racing. But at least someone like say, Howdy Holmes or Josele Garza didn't stink up the place!

Next year the IRL is running 4 road courses and no ovals before the Indy 500...I guess they want to celebrate the 100 anniversary of the race with alot of empty seats.

[therrydicule]

It is truth that the level was higher at the Michigan but I have to say that Matsushita, Krosnoff and Bettenhausen were not this good... 9 or 10 drivers at indy could have been better then these one (I think about Stewart, Salazar, Cheever, Guerrero, Jourdain, Alboreto, Luyendyk, Hamilton, Jones and Sharp).

[bgcatfan]

My two cents.... I think the Indianapolis 500 is a great race. My preference was towards CART (not to say I didn't like IRL). I would've liked there not being this horrible crash at the start, as this was a huge race with the best drivers. I don't know how much more of an impact that would've made on the Indy 500, though.

[33skoalbandit]

Die faggot die

[xy1000ch]

I like how they always crash into each other long after yellow. Dont say they cant stop, because they can stop like 100m and the cars sliding almost 100m so if you dont want to gain places you can always stop unless its happening next to you. Why isn't there a rule which says, after a crash the field have to pile up in the order the round before, so no one would try to race into the crash because its dangerous and he would not gain anything.

[richdeveau24]

The day American open wheel racing went down the toilet. Thanks Tony George for ruining the sport we love!!!

[AmerkFlack]

That yr was funny. I remember someone telling me at the track, that a huge crash happened with the "non rookies" in Michigan!

They called IRL "rookie league" yer in Michigan, woooops!

crowd roard at the track (INDY)

[Dietpepsivanilla]

Had they raced at Indy, the world would have never heard of Buddy Lazier. Hey, they still haven't despite the fact he won the 500.

[BadWolf762]

I was at that race and was laughing my ass off when the best drivers in the world knocked themselves out. I wanted to go to Indy but the rest of the gang hated Tony George and the IRL so we ended up in Michigan. Sitting in the parking lot before the race everyone had the radio tuned to Indy, and whenever there was a crash a cry of derision would ring out from the open wheel purists, and they would all say the real drivers were at the US 500 that day. I'd say they got their cumupance.

[THEkingjaymz]

This is a foreshadow of CART's future

[plankboi]

the thing that cracks me up is everyone suggets this was a disaster and payback for trying to take on IRL. this was some damn good publicity and made for an exciting race day. more exciting than the dull and boring world of irl at the indy 500. it took the cart drivers to go back to irl for it to get exciting again. this race was genius and exciting. in spite of what andretti may have said. accidents happen. its racing.

[satrain18]

The 12 cars invoved in the pile-up symbolizes that CART (ChampCar) has 12 year to live.

[kingofrunescapepking]

yup

[coolerindy]

peckernecks.i loved it

[crvorhees]

lol.. i went to my first indy 500 in 95. then the split happened. in 96 i was in the first turn and someone who was listening to this stood up and shouted that they had stacked up a good bit of the field. you should've heard the clapping. my favorite part was when the announcers were talking about how this was the race and all of the best drivers were there. classic.

also the fact that it was the US 500 and they used a mercedes as a pace car was nice as well.

[BSNFabricating]

This is similar to the start of the 1982 500...when Kevin Cogan smacked into AJ Foyt and wound up taking a bunch of cars out before they even got the green...

And by the way, Mario Andretti said not long after this race that this race should not have been run...

[doctorindy]

Scott Goodyear in probably his first TV gig...he had broken his leg at Rio and sat out most of 1996. Probably the only driver with a good excuse to skip Indy that year.

[PeterMayer]

I was there and despite the wreck, ti was awesome. To see and here those cars at over 230 was killer. I find the IRL cars boring as hell.

[jazzbo1974]

dam jimmy vassar is the reason for this what a idiit

[PeterMayer]

No, Fernandez came down and squeezed him.

[joelapo123]

Thats what they get for, trying to go head to head with the indianapolis motor speedway.

[chief1tooth]

look at all the fans in the stands, that was the end of open wheel racing in america, it will never be as big as it was back then, i think tony george and the cart management had there head up there ass,

[ParagonB]

I think it was an omen...

[1more4theroad]

The year of the Stars and the Cars! I was there. Sure, we were disappointed about a lap 1 crash but I think it is fair to say that it happened at Indy, too. To many times. Same drivers here than at Indy before as well. This was probably one of the last years the stands at MIS were filled.

[crvorhees]

there have been a few first lap crashes at indy.. thoug they tend to actually be under green.

[IndyandNascarsuck]

Bad start to what should have been a great race.

Thanks FTG for killing American open wheel racing and replacing it with the idiot racing leeeeegue.

Any body care for Mindy anymore?

I doubt it!

[harleydog5555]

These guys were suppose to be the superior drivers than those were at Indy that year. Look what a great show the idiots put on. They should of did open wheel racing a favor and close CART down the next day, knowing they could never overcome the loss of THE 500. Instead they lingered for 12 failing years and them folded.

[sinfatus]

The race resume after 1 hour aprox of red flag, with less than half grid. They should never split the Indy. Vasser start the mess, he crash Fernandez and Herta at the wall then was a chain reaction, remember the old Demolition Derby days.

[PerrysburgGuy]

Only Adrian Fernandez was unable to take the restart.

[storma1]

they never have. most american saloon cars are basic compared to european and japanese cars. american cars are easy to use and easy to fix

[evbo21395]

Look at the full stands. Those were the days!!!

[airben3]

Actually the old Cart is pretty much the new IRL. The only difference between the two series is the guy in charge. Either way I'm really glad all parties were able to put their differences behind them.

[MattJones1418]

@airben3 except one allowed superchargers and one doesn't... derrrrp!

[PYLrulz1984]

@airben3

I can agree on that, but it's sad to see though those differences made the sport suffer so bad.

[Harvickfan04]

scott goodyear and bob varsha did a good job.

[DFP1987]

Vasser was asked about this, and he only said: I don´t know, I just turned right...

[Ddmatis]

That crash was right in front of my seats, we went to that race because of the split, fun time but it was no Indy im so glad they are back to one series.

[e521soediv]

its becuase crank engines suck thats why get a real engine when you go to start your car in the morning do you shove a big ass drill in the back of your car to start it. YEAH THATS WHAT I THOUGH.

[guitarswheelies]

F1 is now considering going back to turbos

[FrodothePuppet]

No, Formula One engines are naturally aspirated because of the aerodynamics. The cars are so refined that turbochargers would prompt 5, 6, or even 7 Gs in corners like Eau Rouge and Parabolica. But turbochargers belong in IndyCars. Listen to today's IRL cars, and then listen to the CART IndyCars of the mid-90s, and tell me which one sounds more like a racecar.

[Gordanovich]

I'm really not sure the point you're trying to make. In case you've forgotten you've already posted a comment branding this "the other series where they crash all the time", now you're saying it's both fantastic and it's the IRL? Several of your own videos show Champ Car racing yet you describe them as IRL/IndyCar. Why don't you just come clean; you loved Champ Cars but just don't want to admit it, so now you've resorted to pretending that CART is actually IRL.

[VVT4ME]

Are you a fucking moron?!?!??? The Cosworth 2.65 turbo has been one of the most RELIABLE race engines in the history of motorsports. Get the fuck outta here you goddamn HACK.

[PAXTONF1ob]

What sucks is that more than a merger, it seems that it will be IRL taking over Champ Car, and we only may see a new car (hopefully with turbo engines) in 2010.

[FrodothePuppet]

It most likely will happen for 2009. Newman-Haas are seriously considering defecting in 2009, and if they leave, that should be the signal for the remaining CCWS teams to follow suit.

I'm glad TG plans to adopt Long Beach, Toronto, Surfers, and Mexico (I could take or leave Edmonton), but I hope he also takes Portland, Laguna, and Road America. I'd also like to see Michigan, Phoenix, and Fontana revived (Nazareth, too, but I have no idea what's up with that situation).

Better sounding engines!

[andresab12]

There's no f'ing way Nazareth will come back, since that track is almost demolished, as I know. I never liked Phoenix. And if one of the superspeedways deserves to be back, it's Fontana. Not Michigan. But Laguna and Road America deserves to be back in the future. And yes, Edmonton is an excuse of a race. Cleveland was a better airport race. Hell, even St. Pete is a better airport race.

[hhJACK92]

A merger would be great for both Indy and CCWS. Over the years the number of competitors seems to be getting less and less for both series. They could easily manage a larger schedule, with races outside the US. NASCAR starts 1 month before them, and the season finale is 2 months after the IRL finale. We could see some engine and chassis fights, something we haven't seen for a while. Maybe more than 1 tire manufacturer.

[PAXTONF1ob]

Today has been reported that a merger is close than ever. Even is reported that Tony George will travel to Japan to try to move the Motegi race later the season, to include the Long Beach GP in the calendar of the unified series. They also talk about Edmonton and Surfers Paradise to be included. But if it happens in 2009, we would expect to see more CC races like Road America and Cleveland in the new series.

[hhJACK92]

Yeh i noticed

[racermac1988]

YEAH!!! I SURE HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT!!!

[louieakaslip]

I wonder how many were thinking, I should of raced in the Indy 500.

[PeterMayer]

Yankee pile of shit huh..still can't get over that YA'LL lost the war?

[PeterMayer]

Wow..real impressive you dipshit. Your knowledge of Champ Car, much less any higher tech racing comes through. Sounds like you've fucked a goat, sheep or anyother farm animal more than anyone. Try to stick with the subject. You have not seen Champ Car for more than minute, so how can you comment on it? You don't know squat about racing, do you Gomer?

[racermac1988]

I know the main voice is Bob Varsha, but what is Scott Goodyear doing in the booth, did he not race at either Michigan or Indy that year?

[blueracer6]

According to Wikipedia, he crashed driving for Derrick Walker in Rio and was out most of 1996.

[racermac1988]

Ok thanks. Just wondering. I miss Bob Varsha in the booth doing CART (ChampCar) races.

[PeterMayer]

Right, exactly! How would you know even know about the 2nd lap when you don't watch it? In other words, you talk out your ass. It takes skill to drive around a roadcourse and street course Jethro. Not just "liftin" off the gas.

[PeterMayer]

You don't watch it ever, c'mon. Otherwise, you'd know what you were talking about. You don't. You've never really watched it, You would also know that it is far more physically demanding to race a road course, street course. It requires a bit more skill. Next....

[PeterMayer]

You never watch those boring races, so how the f would you know? You don't do ya....

[PeterMayer]

I was there in it was an exciting and great race. Remember how this new driver named Alex Zanardi was leading with so many laps to go and BLAMO! Engine gone...

[PeterMayer]

Yes TG ruined it. Do we need to pull out clips and evidence to show you or are you that brainwashed and not informed enough to see that?

[sbyork]

Hi open wheel fans. The IRL and Champ Car need to come together as one series! Robin Miller is right when he was saying that both series bring all of their cars to all of the tracks and lets see who the best teams,drivers and cars are. I miss the turbo in the Indy 500 though. Thanks T.G. for taking that away. If the turbo was still used in the 500 we might see speeds of 240. Lets go back to the days of the 60's and 70's and let creativity rule it and not so much the owners.

[oohhoonn]

couldn't agree more. NASCAR needs to follow that advice too and scrap that COT so the manufacturers have some incentive to be involved.

[nitrobob41]

I was at this race I was sitting coming out of turn 4 going into the straightway.. What a crash!! Thanx for posting this

[VooDooRocketry]

I recall the split the USAC-CART split. CART was filling race fields with sprint cars. Penske and Patrick wanted to write the rules to suit them..odd how Penske was one of the first to jump the sinking ship. CART and IRL really have to both get a brain and do what's best. The Cosworth ownership has muddied the waters, so it will be much tougher now than 3 years ago. But if both sides would bag their egos the rebuilding could begin.

It will only happen when one or both are at their wits end.

[toiletsrus]

The IRL is continuing it too.

And even worse, the IRL STARTED it. KK has done nothing but do his job. Tony George is the one who ruined an entire sport.

Tomorrow's race at Michigan wouldn't be the last OW race there ever if it wasn't for TG's greed.

[toiletsrus]

Champ Car surrendering would do nothing. Then we just have 1 crappy series instead of 2 crappy series.

We need a completely fresh start. BOTH CC and the IRL need to die. But neither will, and we'll have 2 crappy series forever. All thanks to Tony George.

[pcpproductions]

Indycar's drivers are only famous (except for danica) because they raced in CART. Champ Car has the wave of the future in Doornbos, Power, Bourdais, Rahal,and others, why should that loser Tony George take over..

[thechad4493]

well bourdais is going to f1 and its rumored for doornbos as well. hopefully tony george quits. hes a unclefucker

[brantfordredsox]

I was there.

1st year of the Cart and IRL Spilt.

Did the race the same day as the Indy 500 to compete with them. Wish They(now Champ Car) would still have the 500 mile race at MIS the same day as the Indy 500.

[racermac1988]

We don't need two series fighting on the same day. WE NEED ONE SERIES, OTHERWISE NASCAR IS JUST GOING TO GET EVEN FATTER. I like NASCAR sure, but every week being stuck with it just gets old.

[reading70]

yes i'm agree with you IRL is more exciting but i think that should be a few more of road track to see a very complete championship with all the kinds of race

[indyfan2]

Nobody likes the sound of a Naturaly Aspirated of an IRL car. They need to have a mix of N/A and Turbo altogether to keep the AOW more of a variety.

I'm slightly doubtful the IRL is making exciting with closer racing, without slipstream.

[LimaCo325]

Champ Car sucks!

[toiletsrus]

So does the IRL. They haven't had a single entertaining race yet this season besides the Indy 500.

Without Indy, the IRL would be nothing. It is a one race joke of a series. Infact, most people probably don't even realize it is a series.

Atleast Champ Car has had more than one exciting race this season. Though they both suck in my opinion. Back in the CART days, every race was great. Thanks a lot Tony George.

[Killerbee80]

The beginning and the end.. Congratulations U.S. open wheel racing (CART, USAC, and Tony george and other morons) ..Great business decision..Thanx for turning my favorite sport at the time into something that I now would not be able to name more than one racer, and i dont even think i could spell her first name right .. Danica??? ..You guys should just quit....

[billytheskink]

Open minds and civility are not widely recognized trademarks of the fans or officials on either side of the fence...

[IndianaSPEED]

Exactly. You just can't get ChampCar fans to open up there minds. 80% road course racing is not the answer to helping Open Wheel Racing in America. 40% road course/street course racing is the max any successful open wheel series ever should go!

[billytheskink]

5 stars for a nice clip of significant racing history.

0 stars for the ensuing ChampCar-IRL pissing match.

[IndianaSPEED]

I totally agree infantry. But, I guess IndyCar fans and ChumpCar fans don't see eye to eye. ChumpCar fans are still mad about what happened to Paul Tracy at the Indy500 in 2002. Rules are Rules, and your in the IRL for the 500 and you shall abide by those rules. You can totally tell that ChampCar is going downhill much much faster than IndyCar. Look at all the poor sponsors ChampCar has compared to ICS's Motorolla, 7 Eleven, Jim Bean, and much others.

[toiletsrus]

Uh, Tony George is the one who started his own league in the first place and ruined CART and American Open Wheel racing in the process. Champ Car and the IRL are both crap compared to what we had before Tony George's idiocy.

[ukynate]

I was in the seats along turn 4. Wow, that is something you won't forget. All you could hear was the sound of tires blowing and metal bending. Thank god nothing flew into the stands.

[Redneck13Leon13]

27 started this race then the wreck after the wreck im not sure the starting number

[gbukUSA]

I remember everyone in the stands (including me) blamed it right away on Vasser.

[danben140]

hey man, how many cars did they have on the grid back then in the 90's???

[IndianaSPEED]

What are you suggesting then... A 50-50 Split? Because eventually you'll get the same result that made the Open Wheel series to split in the first place!

[IndianaSPEED]

The accident symbolizes what CART (ChampCar) future would be. A TOTAL SCREW UP! Sell the company to Tony George, and finally racing will be back to normal in America. I'm tired of all this NASCAR crap!

[pcpproductions]

100% ownership to Tony George would be a bad idea, as he would drag down the series, eventually not gaining enough revenue to make it a support series for NASCAR.. bad idea.

[Beavis055]

uh oh, somebody fucked up

[rayesoflight]

lol

[zomgjabroni]

What a joke that was. The pros couldn't handle the 3 wide start I guess.

[gofastandwynn]

"Call Tony George, sell him your assets and save money, if not open-wheel racing." - Robin Miller to CCWS

[indyfan2]

I think KK went to Anartica and back just to find Ford gone...

[floydthebarber66]

Indyfan2, you are entitled to your opinion. The one thing I know is that I have seen some outstanding racing at Indy since 1995! That said there needs to be one series but that will require burying the egos.

[Roosterpie3]

Goddamn politics caused this shit. 10 years is long enough. 1 Indy car series,PLEASE!

[indyjim1969]

Good thing the guy's in the crash were not racing 250 miles farther south that day, as they would not be allowed to go get their back up cars. Their day would have been done. I was taking a leak outside Stand J that day when someone listening to the US 500 fed us the action at the start. We could not believe it, as the CART teams had talked about Indy having a turn 1 wreck that day.

[tomateiro]

Adrian Fernandes starts it

[danielhanlon19]

Who or what caused this accident. It's really stupid to see a crash before the race started?

[tomateiro]

irl starts to being sucks like in 1996 to 2001

[OWfan]

I thought I had a comment on here.

Anyway, if you have the rest of the race or some highlights, Iced, I'd love to see them.

[AJ1964]

Wow, thats a crashfest! Is that the other series were they crash all the time?

[kirkpatrick321]

No, this is CART (now Champ Car) not the IRL.

[IndianaSPEED]

LMAO! Are you implying that the IRL has the "Crash Fest"? I have barely seen a bad 4 car pile up in a few years in the IRL. I remember a lot more "ChampCar" pile ups over the years. This is what "symbolizes" how bad CART would do by itself without the IndyRacing League. I laughed my Butt off when I saw this after the Indy500.

[toiletsrus]

And I laughed my butt off at the pathetic Indy500 before watching this.

[MixMastaPJ]

totally agree with indyfan, makes me wonder if Villeneuve would be back in Indycar if they never had the split. He's the best American/Canadian active driver IMHO

[tomateiro]

how many cars started on this race?

[indyfan2]

There were 28-cars started this race.

Adrian Fernandez did not start after his crash along with Vasser and Herta, Adrian had no spare-car for this start-over-again race.

[OWfan]

Man, 28 cars for an AOW race outside of Indy. And those sponsors throughout the field! Been too long since I last saw either in an open-wheel race.

Actually, Vasser did start back up and ended up winning.