Rebooting the Triple
Crown – even with the Pocono race only 400 miles – can differentiate IndyCar
and perhaps give it a boost.
One key point of the
original Triple Crown – Indianapolis, Pocono and long-gone Ontario – was that
each race was anchored around a national holiday. Indianapolis was tied to
Memorial Day, of course; Pocono was held around Independence Day and Ontario
had Labor Day.
The Pocono date quickly
shifted to middle or late June (sort of close to July 4, I suppose), then
mid-August to off the calendar completely after the 1989 event.
Pocono – like
Indianapolis – also was caught in the crossfire of the original CART-USAC split
from 1979-81, resulting in lawsuits, confusion, disgruntled competitors and angry
fans. (Sound familiar?)
The 1981 race is
notable for being A.J. Foyt’s last IndyCar win and because it included eight
dirt cars to round out the field.
Ontario Motor Speedway
was dogged by financial troubles almost from the start and could not maintain
the momentum from a promising debut in 1970 (Pocono’s first race was in 1971).
For two years (1974
and ’75) the California 500 was run in March, but for the most part the race date
was consistently in late August/early September.
Both Pocono and
Ontario borrowed some key Indianapolis traditions – 33-car lineups, separate
qualifying weekends, queens.
Pocono in particular
mirrored many of the Indianapolis non-racing activities with a mayor’s
breakfast, festival queen’s ball and victory dinner (or bruncheon, as noted in
the 1971 program).
My earliest memory of
Pocono was the 1973 race. I remember our family listening to the race on the
radio (probably on WIBC) and groaning when Roger McCluskey ran out of fuel on
the last lap, handing the win to Foyt.
Twenty-four years is a
long time to be away, but the early indications are promising. Let’s hope
Sunday’s race opens a new chapter at this one-of-a-kind triangular track.
