Champ Car vs IRL 2007

[the cup]

I was a big fan of Champ Car back in the late 90's and early 2000's but never paid too much attention to IRL. Well, about the only time I watched an IRL race was to make fun of it since I've always seen the IRL at a rinky dink series surviving off of former Champ Car teams.

Then I stopped watching both of them all together since Champ Car switched their races over to the SPEED channel which I didn't have on my cable package, and then the IRL started copying Champ Car by holding road course races.

I haven't watched either of them for about 3 years now but I think I'm going to give both of them a chance again this year seeing as both of them will have all of their races shown on either NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. And I'm going to try and watch both of them with an open mind and give both of them a fair chance.

[the cup]

April 8 - Vegas Grand Prix - NBC
April 15 - Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach - NBC
April 22 - Grand Prix of Houston - ESPN
May 20 - Grand Prix of Zhuhai (China) - ESPN2
June 10 - G.I. Joe's Grand Prix of Portland - ABC
June 24 - U.S. Bank Grand Prix of Cleveland - CBS
July 1 - Grand Prix of St. Jovite (Quebec) - ESPN
July 8 - Molson Grand Prix of Toronto - ESPN
July 22 - West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix - ESPN
July 29 - Canary Foundation San Jose Grand Prix - ESPN2
August 12 - Grand Prix of Road America - ABC
September 2 - Grand Prix of Assen (Holand) - ESPN2
September 9 - Grand Prix of Zolder (Belgium) - ESPN2
October 21 - Lexmark Indy 300 (Australia) - ESPN2
November 11 - Gran Premio Telmex (Mexico City) - ESPN2
December 2 - First Data Grand Prix Arizona - ABC

[the cup]

March 24 - XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 - ESPN2
April 1 - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - ESPN
April 21 - Indy Japan 300 - ESPN
April 29 - Kansas Lottery Indy 300 - ESPN2
May 27 - Indianapolis 500 - ABC
June 3 - ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225 - ABC
June 9 - Bombardier Learjet 500 - ESPN2
June 24 - Iowa Corn Indy 250 - ABC
June 30 - SunTrust Indy Challenge - ESPN
July 8 - Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix - ABC
July 14 - Nashville Indy 200 - ESPN
July 22 - Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio - ABC
August 5 - Michigan Indy 400 - ESPN2
August 11 - Meijer Indy 300 - ESPN2
August 26 - Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma - ESPN
September 2 - Detroit Indy Grand Prix - ABC
September 9 - Chicagoland Indy 300 - ABC

[the cup]

One place where Champ Car beats the IRL is on the Internet where the Champ Car website puts the IRL website to shame I think. Judge for yourself but Champ Car's is well put together, easy to navigate, nice to look at, and full of content. The IRL's just looks cheap and is weak on content.

www.champcarworldseries.com

www.indycar.com

[the cup]

This year Champ Car will have 17 cars fielded by 10 different teams.

Dale Coyne Racing - 3 cars
Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing - 2 cars
Minardi Team USA - 2 cars
Pacific Coast Motorsports - 2 cars
PKV Racing - 2 cars
Team Australia - 2 cars
Conquest Racing - 1 car
Forsythe Championship Racing - 1 car
Rocketsports Racing - 1 car
RuSPORT - 1 car

Not all of the teams have their livery finalized but it does look like there is going to be alot of black and red colors out on the track this year.

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0058.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0029.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0076.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0062.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0006.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0015.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0080.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070310P_0092.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070309P_0063.jpg

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http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Content/Photos/2007/By400/20070310P_0014.jpg

[kronic160]

minardi might actually win a race...:D

[CRASH 4 ARSENAL]

I think IRL has made up the ground on Champ Car.

This year is going to be more competitive too, with other teams winning a few races, not just Penske or Ganassi all year.

[Pack87Man]

I think IRL has made up the ground on Champ Car.

This year is going to be more competitive too, with other teams winning a few races, not just Penske or Ganassi all year.
It also helps that IndyCar has more cars than Champ Car, along with paying a whole lot more money than Champ Car. I hate Tony George, but having grown up in Indiana, there's nothing like the Indy 500.

[the cup]

The IRL season kicks off tomorrow with Miami's Homestead 300 which will be shown on ESPN2 at 8pm Eastern.

Here are a couple of links to ESPN's John Oreovicz's breakdown of the season and the teams.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/columns/story?seriesId=1&columnist=oreovicz_john&id=2804478

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/columns/story?seriesId=1&columnist=oreovicz_john&id=2805955

[CRASH 4 ARSENAL]

Whelden won in a cakewalk at Homestead. Ganassi had that race figured out. Hopefully AGR can improve on a dismal opener.