Champ Car vs IRL 2007

Discussion in 'Automotive' started by the cup, Mar 14, 2007.

  1. CRASH 4 ARSENAL

    Jan 26, 2006
    Chicago
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    It would be a loss to not have them both for the whole season, but I thought Hornish was going to drive the 500 still?
     
  2. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Don't see how. The Coca Cola 600 and Indy 500 are so close together now that doing both races is next to impossible. And there is more money in the 600 than the 500 these days. Both sponsors and purse wise.
     
  3. bda52

    bda52 Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Pittsburgh PA
    Yea, I wish NASCAR would move the 600 to Saturday night so drivers like Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon could run the 500 again.

    Not true.

    Indy payed out over $10 million. Coca-Cola 600 paid $6.5 million. Unless you finished in the top 3 at Charlotte you make more prize money for finishing last at Indy. (Actually 32nd, John Herb made $193,305. That was the lowest payout.)

    At that, the top 3 at Indy paid out $3.01 million. Charlotte's top 3 places paid $0.8 million.
     
  4. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    True, but there is more sponsor money at Charlotte.
     
  5. bda52

    bda52 Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Pittsburgh PA
    I would love to see the article that states that.

    In NASCAR they do not list additional award money (such as pole award, lap led money, fastest lap of the race and so forth) and just include it in the total prize money.

    For the Indianapolis 500 they list additional awards in the next to last column.
     
  6. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
  7. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
  8. CRASH 4 ARSENAL

    Jan 26, 2006
    Chicago
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    In this article Penske says he would want Hornish to still drive the 500.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2922723
     
  9. bda52

    bda52 Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Pittsburgh PA
  10. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's the more likely of the two if money is the issue. But he may still want to OW race for a few years. He can always go into NASCAR later in his career since technically he could race NASCARs for decades into his 60's.
     
  11. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Speedy Dan Clarke has been banned from participating in this week's race in Zolder Belgium due to some aggresive driving in practice that wiped-out three other cars.

    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61709

    Mario Dominguez has been drafted to come in and take his Minardi spot this weekend.
     
  12. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nice on course races in both series this weekend. Off course CCWS seemed to have the better on course attendance at Zolder. Sonoma on the other hand was a ghost town. However IRL definitely had better TV coverage, not just the crappy time of the CCWS race, but the quality of the race coverage was horrible from Belgium.
     
  13. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    I agree.

    First off, I just caught the Belgium race by accident on ESPN2 (I don't have ESPN Classic) while I was flipping through channels late last night. Since I just caught it by accident I missed the first hour.

    I did like how the Champ Car broadcast had almost an old F1 look to it though, but I'll agree that they didn't do too good of a job, there was too much switching to different cameras and missing some of the action. We didn't even get to see if Junquiera was able to hold off Rahal for second place.

    Congrats though to Junquiera and Dale Coyne Racing, their best finish ever.

    The IRL race had very good coverage, but just kind of a so so race. Those IRL cars are just not that good as road courses. They need the "push to pass" to make it more exciting.
     
  14. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
  15. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well I think everyone knows I'm a CCWS fan and only tolerate the existance of IRL out of necessity... but this just sucks...

    www.grandprixarizona.com

    Phoenix was just canceled, leaving CCWS with only 14 races this season and no USA finale.
     
  16. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
  17. Pack87Man

    Pack87Man BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 1, 2001
    Quad Cities
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So a question for you CCWS fans: Is this the beginning of the end? I know the demise of CART started in a very similar manner. Cancelled races, stuff jumping around.
     
  18. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    I certainly hope not, but I can't say too much when it comes to the business end of things in motorsports. I consider myself really a new fan, even though I watched CART and F1 religiously back in the late 90's and early 2000's I really don't know how the money flows or doesn't flow in Champ Car, IRL, or F1.

    I would suspect Champ Car to be very healthy in some respects. The new DP01 car has brought down the cost for the teams while providing a very competitive car for everyone. The Cosworth engine seems to be very reliable again helping keep costs down. And many Champ Car races are very established and well attended events.

    Examples would be Long Beach, Cleveland, Toronto, and Surfer's Paradise. Some of the newer venues also show great promise, those being Mexico City, Las Vegas, San Jose and Mont Tremblant. (We will have to wait and see what the final word is on the two European stops.) The races I wonder about sometimes is Houston, Portland, and Edmonton. I wonder mostly about Portland, that race was boring as hell and seemed to have very very few people in the stands.

    Granted, loosing Phoenix and the debacle in China has given Champ Car a black eye. But I've read in other places that people had their doubts about Phoenix long ago, that it was not going to be a very well laid out track with pretty poor viewing areas for the fans. So maybe loosing it isn't that big of a loss.

    I just don't know though.
     
  19. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    The CCWS can come in Brittany any day ! :)

    Actually, it means : "please, come !" :D

    Why not a race in Le Mans Bugatti circuit though I think one of the most interesting track would be Nogaro in SW France.

    Well, maybe one day even if it's too late for Seb to have a home race in the series.
     
  20. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    While I don't think it's helping matters... I don't think this is the beginning of the end. To start, CC has canceled 3 different races this season, Denver, China and now Phoenix. But they canceled races last year as well. So the race cancellations, while building up, are fairly common for the post-CART era. And leading up to the bankruptcy CART had run out of money to even pay for the race in 2003, which is not what happened here. What we have here is another lame ass promoter failing CC, not CC failing outright.

    And when you consider word on the street is that they'll be expanding to 18 teams next year with Conquest expanding, and several new races in the works at Orlando, and in Europe, along with continuing negotiations to keep Portland and bring China in for 2008... it does appear there are things to be hopeful for. Coupled with increased attendance this year, and increased ratings (yes they're all sub 1.0 ratings, but they've gone up), it appears that CC will be ok.

    The biggest issue Phoenix presents I think is that it highlights that CC is still very unstable in the post CART landscape when compared to competition like NASCAR, IRL, and the AMLS. That could present a continuing problem when trying to secure sponsors and future venues.
     
  21. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Since we're at it. I can't watch CCWS races live anymore. So, if I had to DL the most interesting races of this year, what would they be ?
     
  22. athletics68

    athletics68 Member+

    Dec 12, 2006
    San Diego & San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    San Jose, Vegas, Long Beach
     
  23. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    I would say the best races so far this year have been San Jose, Toronto, and Mont Tremblant.
     
  24. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    [​IMG]

    I'll give credit to the IRL, they have a 3 way battle for the championship coming right down to the last race. Franchitti, Dixon and Kanaan all have a shot at the title after Kanaan wond a wild race in Detroit. (I didn't see the race but have read about it.)

    http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=1&id=3002340
     
  25. the cup

    the cup Member

    Jul 10, 2002
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake

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