Franchitti to go to NASCAR - Is it time for a unified Champ Car?

[halfcolours]

http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=9884

omg seriousl God help american open wheel racing!

With neither series being able to hold onto its top drivers (Dario to NASCAR and Seb to F1) one must ask where to now? With a mix of ovals, road courses and street circuits a unified champ car would be a major rival to F1, or at the very least a definite 2nd level of open wheel championship. With the world's richest motor race as its crown jewel and cars that are far cheaper than F1 we could have a real successful mix here. With the IRL moving to place more road courses into its calendar the difference between the 2 series is growing less and less.
Is it time for some unity?

[Jack Stand]

...............these 2 will never be together again...........ego, greed and just plain poor decision making are the obstacles. One or both of these series will just fade into oblivion.

It is a shame as it would be a great series.:cry:

..just my $0.02 and worth every penny.

[Revvin]

I voted yes but also believe it will never happen which is a shame.

[JL51]

Glad to see everyone who's done this pole has some sense. I'm a Kiwi and therefore a supporter of Mr. Dixon, and as a race driver myself it's a hands down yes from me. then again, Revvin is absolutely right with his comment. There's too much bad blood between those who run the two series', and there's no way in hell the hierarchy at the Brickyard are gonna bow down to ChampCar.

Pity, it really would be an amazing thing to see 30 or more cars at breakneck speeds across the USA, but hey, that's life. Whoever said politics and sport don't mix is a muppet. Nuff said.

[Husky42]

One thing, The IRL fans are sad to see Franshitti go. Us Champ Car fans are damn happy to be rid of Bourdais. It is not a matter of us being able to hold onto our top driver. Seb's goal was F1 from day 1. He's had to do a lot to get his ride and just when he thought it wasn't going to happen, he got the deal. All we see when we look at seb is a whiny bitch who can only complain complain complain when he doesn't win.

We still have Wilson, Power, Bobby D!

The IRL has what? A bitch who complains and the wimpiest andretti I've ever seen.

If there were to ever be thought of any type of Merger Tony George would have to go, the Indy Cars would have to go, and only a few of the teams should be allowed the transition.

It doesn't take a fool to see that the Indy 500 has been turned into a sham of races and unification if even just for that day (imagine two chassis, two engines ) Rival teams from separate series.. man that would be great. Tech specs could be easily met by the panoz i suspect. So with that - The 500 could save open wheel racing in America if Tony would get his head out of his ass. He's already destroyed it, so why not take some chances.


Merger talk is done with. Champ Car provides the best racing. But I'm never opposed to more cars and more teams.

[Greg_888_V8]

WILL POWER in Champ Car rocks !!! whooooooo !!!

are we talking about the combining of IRL and Champ Car ???

[gazman]

the one that comes to Australia will die they only have like 15 cars, they would bite of their noses to spite their face. everyone goes to see V8 supercars when they come to the Goldcoast. Once they had the whole race under yellow flags it was a joke..

[scca1981]

Its all about money. Driving to these guys is a job and going to nascrap is a promotion.

[lowndes888]

Whining or not - he beat the CRAP out of everyone in ChampCar.

Just look at his win percentage in the CCWS and then talk **** about Sebastien

[spin_doctor]

Since Tony split them up in the first place to make more money for Tony's oval, it is unlikely to change until he retires or passes from the scene. CART/Champcar was always the better racing show and we did have 30 cars at Road and Oval events. IRL was and still remains a canned series designed for TV money. There are talented teams and drivers in both and they always had attitude going back to Foyt's 1st USAC Indy win and beyond.

The point here is that regardless of our desires or insights big time racing in any form is dominated by corporate money and that is what controls who goes where and how complicated or simplistic the competition is. The creativity and competitive drive that sparks a good team or driver still makes a winner. But we are only going to see the kinds of competition that the big money wants us to see to sell its version of reality. F1 has been a joke most of the last 10 years. Many of the races were effectively over once qualifying was done. Anyone who has seen a GP2 or F2/ F3000 race can tell you which has more passing for the lead, let alone any other scoring position. You only need to look at the recent so-called spying incident to see how much influence money and business politics have over F-1 "sport". The same could be said for the Tour de France, World Cup Football (soccer), not to mention nearly any other televised sports including Olympic anything. It goes without saying that the majority of televised sports in the US are shaped by the same dynamics and the same dollars.

Just my 2 cents worth (sic)...........

[Husky42]

the one that comes to Australia will die they only have like 15 cars, they would bite of their noses to spite their face. everyone goes to see V8 supercars when they come to the Goldcoast. Once they had the whole race under yellow flags it was a joke..

Oh thats the biggest crock of shit and you know it.

Surfers is a huge race. There are plenty of Aussie Champ Car fans and the atmosphere at the race is all champ car. So dont give me that bull. And yes I know what the atmosphere is for fact and general chatter at the race tends to be Champ Car. The stands are full for the Champ Car race. The V8's are a big event as well of course but Champ Car still kicks ass. And the new Chassis used this year is proving to be quite the car.

The grid, unfortunately the grid is lacking. Only 17 cars but this is the first unsubsidized year. However i would have liked it to be 20-22

Calling Champ Car a joke is pretty sad if you haven't seen more then the one race.

It is a series that is struggling but IMO doing better then the IRL. The IRL just keeps going downhill where Champ Car shows some signs of life from time to time.

Both are on a slippery slope though, and unfortunately either Kevin will have to run more combined schedule races (with ALMS or Grand Sham) to split track cost or Tony will get his head out of his ass and get the merger going by hanging up his coat.

As for seb - he is still a whining pissant who has done nothing for the series but won in it. He is a very poor person to have as a star driver kinda the Kimi of Champ Car but Kimi says more then seb. Bourdais just complains whenever he is on air. And he STILL owes me a damn beer. After two years he hasn't repaid me the beer he spilled. He's had 6 Chances now. Yea he's a winner and he deserves his ride in F1.. but he is a European Driver who bitches at the littlest bit of blocking... he's going to fail in F1 and the world will see how much of a bitch he is. The sooner he gets me my beer though, the sooner I say nicer things :)

[lowndes888]

Oh thats the biggest crock of shit and you know it.

Surfers is a huge race. There are plenty of Aussie Champ Car fans and the atmosphere at the race is all champ car. So dont give me that bull. And yes I know what the atmosphere is for fact and general chatter at the race tends to be Champ Car. The stands are full for the Champ Car race. The V8's are a big event as well of course but Champ Car still kicks ass. And the new Chassis used this year is proving to be quite the car.

The grid, unfortunately the grid is lacking. Only 17 cars but this is the first unsubsidized year. However i would have liked it to be 20-22

Calling Champ Car a joke is pretty sad if you haven't seen more then the one race.

It is a series that is struggling but IMO doing better then the IRL. The IRL just keeps going downhill where Champ Car shows some signs of life from time to time.

Both are on a slippery slope though, and unfortunately either Kevin will have to run more combined schedule races (with ALMS or Grand Sham) to split track cost or Tony will get his head out of his ass and get the merger going by hanging up his coat.

As for seb - he is still a whining pissant who has done nothing for the series but won in it. He is a very poor person to have as a star driver kinda the Kimi of Champ Car but Kimi says more then seb. Bourdais just complains whenever he is on air. And he STILL owes me a damn beer. After two years he hasn't repaid me the beer he spilled. He's had 6 Chances now. Yea he's a winner and he deserves his ride in F1.. but he is a European Driver who bitches at the littlest bit of blocking... he's going to fail in F1 and the world will see how much of a bitch he is. The sooner he gets me my beer though, the sooner I say nicer things :)

OK I assume you're some kinda weirdo from this post so I won't bother discussing the issue

[Husky42]

OK I assume you're some kinda weirdo from this post so I won't bother discussing the issue

No I'm not some kind of weirdo. And even after he repays my beer he spilled i'll still probably talk the same about him. Everything I said is the truth in regards to his attitude. I was rather being a smart ass with my final sentence in the last post.


As for the beer.

Two years ago I was at a Champ Car race in the pit area. I was sitting there holding my beer talking to a person about the cars or something or another and around the corner Bourdais comes flying on his mini scooter, now if he would have taken the corner wide I would have had time to react, as would he have but he was driving like the bloody driver he is and really came inside that corner, well i was standing just on the other side of that corner I saw him and moved as fast as i could but i still was nicked by the side of the scooter and spilled my beer.

He did not apologize or anything just kept driving. It is in that view he owes me a beer. Or at least acknowledgment. If it was Bruno or somebody like that I'd probably not care as I've had friendly words with most drivers on the grid and I know most would have stopped, apologized or when I brought it up to them again later in the year as i did with bourdais they would have said something. He just ignored it.

[musky]

It most certainly is time for a Unification. If it doesn't happen soon, there may not be any series to unite!

However... some things to think about...


Indy Car and Champ Car are aired on the same TV network, ESPN/ABC

Champ Car uses Bridgestone tires while Indy Car uses Firestone... though the names are different, they are the same company.

Both series have their Die Cast cars made by GreenLight. (Or at least Indy Car has for a while and Champ Car just announced an agreement with them.)

IRL is starting to pick up old CART road courses. (St. Petersburg, Mid-Ohio, Belle Isle)


The chances are still that they won't reunite any time soon, but if it is going to happen, cost-wise, this would be the best time.

Oh and I don't know what kind of drugs Tony George was taking when he split the series... maybe birth control pills... Lol.

Thats what I have to say.

musky

[musky]

Oh and theres a comment on the IRL website I read once that said that maybe they could have two series but with identical tech specs and run 2 different schedules, but both series would run the Indy 500...

This would be OK but a complete merger would be better.

Oh and by the way, I know Sebastain Bourdais is a great driver, but he makes the series boring and when he doesn't win, he whines and comlains.