Could this be the future for Champ Car? The following ESPN article says that the two recent European Champ Car races were promoted as "American Formula 1." http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/columns/story?seriesId=5&columnist=oreovicz_john&id=3016350 It's obvious that Champ Car's future will be more foreign races, there just aren't enough fans in the US to guarantee a healthy future. But could Champ Car legally change it's name to American Formula 1? If not I'm surprised they could be promoted that way. I like the name Champ Car but American Formula 1 has a nice ring to it too.
Seems like that would be a poor strategy. F1 isn't exactly popular in the US. And it's not like American F1 fans are clamoring for an alternative. If Americans want to watch F1, they can just watch F1. And by next year Champ Car might have as few as three races in the US.
Champ Car won't exist within the next 5 years if they keep going the way they are. Europe found them to be an interesting distraction, but Bernie will never let them get more than a small foothold there. Definitely not enough to survive on. And the US has just about rejected them. I mean seriously, San Jose, Phoenix, Denver all canceled already, with Vegas and Portland likely to follow and Houston, Road America, and Cleveland all rumored to be in jeopardy. (not to mention the China and Korea losses). No race series can survive this kind of track attrition for long. To say nothing of losing their only real star driver to F1. So far the only course they've managed to put a band aid on was San Jose, with Laguna Seca. But even then, Laguna Seca while pretty does nothing to enhance the series since no one showed up there in the first place. No CCWS is on it's last legs. As a former fan it's hard to say that, but IRL has won. There isn't much left to IRL either, but at least they're still breathing even if on life support. CCWS is on the table flatlined, being zapped by the docs at this point with the crash cart. Barring a miracle, they'll have to call it soon.
Let's not panic just yet. I agree that it is going to get to the point that Champ Car may only have a few races here in the US and that the IRL has won the battle between the two. But that doesn't mean Champ Car is done, they do still have some bright spots they can build on. One thing they have going for them are popular drivers. Rahal, Doornbos, Clarke, Heylen, Wilson and Power. Plus, we may get Speed from F1, Da Matta might make it back, even Zanardi may give it a try again. http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/62298 Their biggest problem is getting their schedule worked out. I'd like to see them go to a F1 type schedule with races every other week for say 7 1/2 months so they could get up to 15 quality races. Maybe something like a total of 2 in Asia, 3 in Canada, 4 in Europe, 1 in Mexico, and 5 in the US. To be honest, some of the US races sucked and I don't think it's a loss to see them go. Those being Portland and Houston. It is sad to see San Jose go, that was an amazing race, but if the City is building in the area the track was then that is the fact of life with a street circuit and it is going to be lost. If it came down to 5 races in the US we would have those with Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Las Vegas, Cleveland and Road America. Champ Car needs to circle the wagon around those 5 and protect them and build them up. Plus you always have a new track here in Utah that is being touted as one of the best road courses in the world that Champ Car could have as a back up plan if they needed. www.millermotorsportspark.com Canada's current 3 races seem to be pretty solid. With a Mexican driver now in the series (for the moment anyway) hopefully Mexico City will stay a strong race. Get China worked out and you have Surfer's Paradise and China as the two Asian stops. Finally in Europe, Zolder and Assen seem to have potential. Get two more races, maybe one in the UK and another maybe in Italy or Germany and things could be set. I agree Champ Car is on thin ice right now but the ice hasn't broken yet. Alot is going to depend on next year's schedule and if they can avoid these huge chunks of time with no races. Start mid-March, go through October, one race everyother week and things should go much smoother.
One counter point to your argument about SJ having construction. It was a lie. The Mercury News for all their anti-soccer articles is very good at smelling out BS from the city government. And there is no construction planned for the Gold Grandstand area. Either for when the 2008 race is or anytime in the forseeable future. It was just some lame excuse the promoters used to dump the race they didn't want to lose money on anymore.
Plenty of people showed up before Chris Pook changed Laguna Seca's date from September/October to June. Attendance went down because it went down everywhere, as the racing went down the shitter because of the TG/3A bitchfight. Street festival racing is crap, no one wants to watch cars go around grid systems below 100 mph. Laguna Seca is a proper racing circuit, they should go there and stay there. They should be bringing in some ovals now.
Won't happen. Infact latest rumor I've heard around some racing boards is that CC has asked IRL to hold off on announcing their schedule until October. This same source also predicted the SJGP's cancellation a month before it happened as well as the Mid-Ohio move in IRL. So this could very well be the final two races of CC coming up.
Since IRL and Champ split up, I thnk I've watched all of 8 Champ car races, 4 the first year to compare, and about 1 per year or less since (0 this year). I prefer the racing in IRL if I'm watching open-wheel. That may just be because they race on tracks I recognize half the time, and the drivers have more personality than the cars. I prefer NASCAR to both of them as the races are more competitive (at least for now, but they are going to giant $$ corporate teams and forgetting their "racing" roots as well lately).
I agree with Nascar being better of late. But I don't know that they're "going" to large corporate teams. They've been that way for quite a long time in the cup.
I don't know about that, I highly doubt the IRL and CC even talk about anything together. Whatever the rumor though it doesn't matter, the IRL announced their 2008 schedule today. Everything is about the exact same as this year except for Michigan missing of course due to the earlier announcement this year that the IRL and MIS couldn't come to an agreement about a race date. Date Track Sat 29-Mar Homestead-Miami Speedway Sun 6-Apr Streets of St. Petersburg Sat 19-Apr Twin Ring Motegi Sun 27-Apr Kansas Speedway Sun 25-May 91st Indianapolis 500 Sun 1-Jun The Milwaukee Mile Sat 7-Jun Texas Motor Speedway Sun 22-Jun Iowa Speedway Sat 28-Jun Richmond International Raceway Sun 6-Jul Watkins Glen International Sat 12-Jul Nashville Superspeedway Sun 20-Jul Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Sat 9-Aug Kentucky Speedway Sun 24-Aug Infineon Raceway Sun 31-Aug The Raceway at Belle Isle Sun 7-Sep Chicagoland Speedway
TG/3A loathe each other and it's a real shame nobody can come in and put a stop to this. Mario is killing himself trying to, while all the other OW legends have taken sides like Penske and Gurney. It sucks so much. A 16 race schedule of 4 intermediate ovals, 4 super speedways, 3 street circuits and 5 permanent road circuits would have tremendous appeal. I think the public is a little bored by NASCAR and good numbers would watch an OW series if it was run correctly and had the personalities and style to put together a different product.