Disappointing IRL Season Ends In Comparative Bang

The 2006 IRL Season ended at Chicagoland in early September and it brought to an end a very disappointing season. The Chicago Indy 300 lived up to its reputation and showcased again what is good about the IRL, but it also crystalized what is wrong with the IRL right now.

The biggest disappointment of the season was the closed loop that was the battle for the championship. Penske Racing and Ganassi Racing had the entire year to themselves with only occassional upsets from the Andretti-Green team. Chicagoland crystalized this in gruesome fashion as the Ganassi and Penske tandems put everyone else a lap down.

IRL's struggle to hold onto factory backing has left Honda the lone engine supplier, and the result showed in the league's lack of competitive depth. Andretti-Green made little noise, and longtime series regular Panther Racing endured its first winless season. Vision Racing didn't light much up, Rahal Racing endured another winless season, and the decline of A.J. Foyt Racing remains a black spot on the sport.

The racing itself rarely lived up to its potential; there was the astonishing finish to the Indianapolis 500, but Chicagoland was almost the first race all year to have really good combat for the lead, as the Ganassi cars fought it out lap after lap and thus salvaging both the season's competitive dignity and the integrity of the sport by eschewing the team-order mentality that exists in other racing series.

IRL's decision to take some drag out of the rear wings of its cars made the draft less effective, and this hurt ability to pass. Given the struggle the league now has to attract fans and TV viewers, lessening ability to pass is never anything but a shortsighted decision.

Dan Wheldon's hard-fought win and Sam Hornish's league-record third championship are worthy of congradulations, but the overall subpar level of the season made 2006 a year to forget for IRL. The league has issues to deal with and it needs to deal with them to get back competitive depth, get back the kind of ferocious sidedraft racing that has made IRL racing must-see racing, and to further strengthen open-wheel racing in America.