Collapsing from within: racing was hailed as the "sport of the seventies," but given its current...

The greatest threat racing faces is internal. Take Indy car racing. The Indy Racing League (IRL) was founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway head Tony George when the deaf, dumb, and blind team owners running CART wouldn't cut him in on their deal. The team owners that ran CART were certain their series--CART ran head-to-head with NASCAR on TV, and paid out decent purses--was bigger than a single race, even if that race was the Indianapolis 500. What could go wrong?

The team owners laughed as George morphed his series into a restricted chassis/restricted engine series wi