"slow Eddy" Huntress posts to this newsgroup for many years have shown beyo nd a shadow or a doubt that the immense popularity of IMSA racing in the 80 's, where the rules and interest in getting as many manufacturers to compet e was the key to it's popularity with sports car racing fans, is completely beyond his grasp.
I use to love going to Lime Rock, CT, Riverside, CA, Watkins Glen, NY, etc. to see IMSA GTP cars race. Being able to talk to drivers, mechanics and ow ners in the paddock was also awesome.
"slow Eddy" has made it clear over the years that he disdains stock block, push rod engines in favor of underpowered SCCA "sports cars". Back in his d ay the SCCA was largly made up of pompous stuck up assholes wearing Bermuda shorts.
Now one of the most respected men in Indy car says stock block engines are a big part of what Indy car needs to save it. I couldn't agree more. Indy c ar racing is so lame that I don't even bother to watch it anymore.
"It's sad to see what's happened over the past ten or more years," McGee re marked. "The way it's going, sooner or later it's going to crater, and it m ay be sooner rather than later.
"It's a shame. It just makes you sick when you think about it. There are so many people I've known for so long who are very worried about the sport's future. We've all spent most of our lives in it and it's sad to see the tro uble it's gotten itself into. Indy isn't Indy anymore. A lot of people have tried hard to bring about some change, but I'm afraid it's not going to ch ange."
McGee has no doubts about the roots of IndyCar's failure.
"Indy car racing has gotten away from what made it successful, which was in novation and diversity," he observed. "For most of the forty-five years I w orked in Indy car racing you couldn't wait to see what your competition was going to come up with for new cars and new ideas. That was the way the spo rt was from the beginning back in the early 1900s. Now, there's no exciteme nt because you know what's coming and nothing is coming.
"I think the new car was a big mistake. They need diversity rather than jus t another uninteresting spec car. By going down the spec car road they've k illed the thing that always made the sport what it was. Another thing that' s a big mistake is the engine leasing program. That was a big mistake from the start."
McGee believes CART and then IRL/IndyCar made tremendous blunders by going to engine leases and sealed engines.
"That's one thing you have to say about NASCAR, they've kept it so that ind ependent engine builders continue to be involved in the sport," McGee comme nted. "In the CART days we used to have guys like Franz Weis who would rebu ild your engines, or you could do it yourself, and that was the way it was for many years through the AAA and USAC days when the Offy was king.
NASCAR has been able to keep that criteria and that was a big mistake in In dy car racing when they went to engine leasing and drove out the independen t engine builders. The powers-that-be in CART decided they didn't want anyb ody looking at the technology from Ilmor and Cosworth. That was one of the reasons for going to engine leasing.
"Well, NASCAR has taken the engines apart in front of everybody for years a nd laid them out on the table so everybody could see. NASCAR's attitude alw ays was, if you wanted to bitch about it, that's tough. Then go somewhere e lse to race. And that's been one of NASCAR's strengths. You can't cater to the owners and the engine manufacturers. You've got to stake out your own g round and do what's best for the business."
McGee believes IndyCar should switch to stock-block engines given its weak position in the contemporary sports market and the difficulties in selling sponsorship.
"I think it's just plain stupid for them to say they don't want to run stoc k-block engines," McGee remarked. "You've got to do what the times require. There are a lot of different engines out there from different manufacturer s that you could run that would fit the bill. There are plenty of engines o ut there today that put out 700, 800 or even 900 horsepower that you could buy from a car company. You can buy a Corvette engine that puts out 800 hor sepower and there are many other manufacturers with similar engines.
"Why are they spending all this money on these so-called racing engines whe n there are other engines out there that would produce the same or even bet ter performance at a cheaper price? You could get a bunch of the car manufa cturers involved and the cost to the competitors would be a third or less t han it is right now."
Very gullible, plain stupid and often a liar is exactly what "slow Eddy" Hu ntress is.