The inside story of how open wheel racing in America essentially wrecked itself is incredibly riveting, especially when told from the inside out by legendary racing journalist Ed Hinton. We read the first of a four part series that is running on ESPN.com, and it was one of the best things we have read in years. We’re wanting the second installment already.

It’s a story of massive egos, massive money, and ultimately massive failures on both sides. When the IRL and Cart went to war in the mid-1990s no one could have predicted how bad the whole thing would play out over time. As Hinton was deep inside the culture of the racers, drivers, and owners who were driving the moves made by both series back then, it makes for killer reading. 

We often lament the state of the Indy 500 these days and we do that because we’re familiar with the great history of the race. You don’t have to like open wheel racing to get into this story, in fact, if you hate it, all the better. The next three parts promise to be even better.

UPDATE: Part two has been published and the Tony George love fest continues. This second of four installments focuses on the 1996 Indy 500. That race marked the official start of the “split” between IRL and CART. CART actually had its own race in Michigan on the same day as the Indy 500 and promoted the event as having all the “cars and stars of Indy.” Scott Brayton was killed in testing after winning the pole, Tony Stewart emerged as the young IRL’s face and future, and the shine started coming off the Indy 500 rose. Thus far, Hinton has taken a pro-Tony George stance, we’ll see if that continues in round three. 

Update: Part three has been published. In this episode Hinton looks at the time frame between 1997 and 1999 which saw spectators and drivers die at a clip far beyond any other type of top level racing in America. What had been a decidedly pro-Tony George tone through the first two installments heads right out the window here. Hinton seems to pinpoint the 1997-1999 stretch as the definitive time frame that the Indy 500 “died” in the eyes of the racing enthusiast public. Interestingly, Hinton himself was the biggest story of the 1999 Indy 500 due to the fact that he was banned from the press room for writing a column that took the IRL to task on safety issues. That led to a unified media boycott of the race until the ban on Hinton was lifted and he was allowed to be at IMS. This truly riveting stuff and provides awesome insight into the forces that were pushing open wheeled racing into a deep grave.

Update: The last piece of the series, part four has been published. What began as a story which looked with much positive favor on Tony George, ends with George portrayed as a modern day Pyrrhus. He won the war and ended up in worse shape than he was in when it started. We had never equated the awful decision making made by the open wheel factions as being a major contributor to the rise of NASCAR but Hinton presents a strong case that it played right into their hands. To us, the saddest part of the entire series comes with Hinton’s realization that after a couple of nearly monumental wins by drivers who could have reignited interest in the Indy 500, the race is dead. 

Source — ESPN.com —  Honor, blood, and a brewing battle

            Part two    —  May ’96 Memorable for Wrong Reasons

            Part three —   Divide widens while fatalities mount 

            Part four —   George’s devastating victory