France / George family feud caused MIS axe

Management at Michigan International Speedway has determined they will not be made out as the bad guys and have gone public with the reasons why there will be no Indy Racing League race at the track next season. Curtis says he will not allow the Indy Racing League to make it look like MIS dumped open wheel racing, when it was the IRL that fed MIS a deal it couldn't swallow.

It's business, and it's a feud between America's ruling racing families. Indianapolis Motor Speedway's date for the Brickyard 400 got changed by NASCAR. NASCAR is run by the France family. The Indy Racing League, which is run by third generation Indianapolis Motor Speedway heir Tony George, changed the Indy Car date at Michigan International Speedway.

One of our readers, Tim Wohlford of Jackson, has analyzed the Indy Car problem at Michigan International Speedway and come to another conclusion:

"If you look at the map, there are 27 top-flight races (NASCAR, IRL, CCWS, NHRA and F1), selling well over 2 million seats, within a day's drive of MIS. The IRL alone has 10 of those races, trying to sell well over 600,000 seats. Might I suggest that our motorsports market is saturated, even before we look at ARCA, Truck and Busch races?" Detroit News