Hinton is dead on in this article. My favorite bit:
"Never would the fallen prince of Indy, Tony George, have split up Indy car racing if not for war chests filled with ticket and TV revenues from the NASCAR race here. He once admitted as much to me.
So the 400 is the race that gutted the Indy 500 of its prestige, and nearly destroyed major open-wheel racing in America all together.
And with NASCAR came all its commercial vulgarity, e.g., the practice of selling traditional race names to corporate sponsors. Indy, which had never remotely considered selling the name of the Indianapolis 500, profited for some years by calling its NASCAR race the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Next July the strip-mining of Indy's dignity will only intensify, with a so-called "super weekend" of racing that really amounts to a cluster of minor league support events.
The good news is, Sunday really did mark the last Brickyard 400 by that name. The bad news is, the torture will continue next year under the most awkwardly commercial race name ever in American motor racing: The Crown Royal Presents "Your Hero's Name Here" 400 at the Brickyard.
No offense to the American military or American heroes in general, but a paid promotion for whiskey by whatever inserted name is still a paid promotion for whiskey."
