[Jeff Higgins]

Auto racing as a whole peaked out long ago. The early innovation that set venues like Indy apart is no longer meaningful, much less allowed. We know how to make cars go faster than they should by all rights be raced, so there is no room left for creative ideas that add to their speed. That, and the daredevil nature of it, used to be the attraction at Indy in particular, and racing as a whole. That is all gone now, replaced by generic cars regulated to specific performance levels. The only thing different is the paint jobs. Drivers are no longer perceived as being at much risk, so the heroic daredevil aura that used to surround them has vanished. People yawn at 200+ mph laps at Indy; it all take place in such a sterile, cookie-cutter clone car/team/driver environment today. There are no more Andy Granatellis, Smokey Yunicks, et.al. sparking public interest with wild innovation (and personalities to match). The luster is gone from Indy, and probably won't ever return.