Over the last decade, IndyCar’s heritage of racing on ovals began fading due to an increase in the number of road and street courses making their way on the calendar. But such was not the case when the series was created. The American open-wheel racing series is rooted in the 1990s, when the Indy Racing League (IRL) was founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s president Tony George. The new series was introduced as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which would have been focused exclusively on oval tracks, in response to the increasing prominence of road and street courses on the CART schedule. According to George, CART had began losing the American racing traditions that had made its history: too many road courses and few ovals, high costs, and drivers who gave more importance at the high prizes. Throughout the years, the IRL was able to develop an engine package and chassis rules that allowed spectators to witness some of the closest finishes in any racing series. The ...