Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Montreal, Turkey, IRL to RACE Daytona?!?)

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Elkhart Lake is back on the CCWS sked for one simple reason: Fan demand. It's safe, maybe as safe as Indy.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

I loved that Cleveland airport race, particularly in the rain.

Good point, Bubbler, about the Canadian sponsors and drivers.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

I figured that in when figuring Montreal and Toronto would stay.

They're Canada's two largest cities, and where the vast majority of the Canadian media/business (and population) are based.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

There's too much to settle to get this done for '07, and the techie aspects -- turbos or not is one question -- are as complicated as scheduling, which ABC will have a huge say in.
Elkhart Lake and Milwaukee could co-exist -- they're already offering a joint ticket package -- if far enough apart on the calendar. Motegi stays to keep Honda happy. Mexico City stays to keep Gerry Forsythe happy. Kansas and Chicagoland stay because each track sells a joint IRL-NASCAR two-weekend ticket package (plus IMS owns about a third of Chicagoland). Fontana gets back on the schedule, maybe as the finale. but no later than the end of September, if that late.
If all this happens for '08, maybe the long-dormant Triple Crown comes back, with Michigan and Fontana running 500s. IRL people liked the idea, and wanted to find a corporate sponsor for it a few years ago, but couldn't even keep a title sponsor for their series. Whatever happened to Northern Light, anyway? (Not to mention Pep Boys.)

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

ABC will have *a lot* to say about the scheduling, which is why most (all) of it will be done before Labor Day and the NFL/CFB seasons start (as well as the ABC Chase for the Nextel Cup broadcasts).

In talks about common car/engine specs over the last several years, Champ Car teams have been willing to give up turbos (IIRC, CCWS is the only major racing series that still uses them, as F1 and the IRL have gone to normally aspirated and NASCAR has never used turbos). Scheduling will be a lot more difficult than the tech aspects.

What will probably happen for '07 if unification talks continue and something is announced soon: CCWS clears May and the two series begin to either a) let certain race contracts expire and/or b) re-work contracts to allow for a joint schedule. In '08, there would be one series.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Honda owns Suzuka, and the Grand Prix of Japan is moving to Toyota-owned Fuji Speedway next year.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Didn't Honda also own Motegi?

I wish the open-wheel guys would stop whining. NASCAR's main reason for popularity is that there's a race almost every week, February to November. You know you'll see a race Sunday afternoon or Saturday night. An open-wheel series with races almost every week from late February (what about a race at a track semi-near Daytona during Speedweeks? draw some of the stock-car fans already down in Florida) to mid-September, with the obvious May break for IMS, likely would do better. Now, the schedule is hit-or-miss, it seems.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Yeah, and that's kind of my point. Suzuka's a much more interesting track than Motegi. It's the same idea (amusement park + race track), but not as sleep-inducing. More accessible from Tokyo, as well.

No question. Season starts too late and ends too early.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

If a combined CC/IRL series really wanted to make a splash in the racing world, they'd do whatever they had to do in order to run a real race on the Nordschleiffe. Ratings would be huge in Europe, everyone would want to see it.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Won't happen. The original Nurburgring is too bumpy for modern open-wheelers (and if it was too dangerous for F1 after Lauda rammed the cliff at Bergwerk, it's too dangerous for anybody to race it now).

Besides, I think the European experiments are over for American open-wheel series.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Correct. Too much money lost in England and Germany.

As for the schedule, they'll probably never do more than 16-18 races anymore. But there's no reason they couldn't do them in, say, a 22-week period from April 1 to Labor Day.

That way they have no college hoops, football or NASCAR Chase to contend with. Plus summer is most of NASCAR's worst races: Dover, Michigan, N.H., Pocono, etc.

And make every open-wheel race - except maybe Indy - at exactly the same time.

Promote the shit out of Marco, Danica and any other American kid they can find.

It would work if the powers that be got their heads out of their asses.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

They need to have more races than 16-18. 20-22 should be the number -- 8 ovals, 8 road courses, 6 or 7 street courses.

And FWIW I like seeing Indy cars at Richmond and liked them at Dover. Nice to see them in non-traditional markets and non-traditional tracks -- and with a combined series and most of the moving chicanes gone, there'd be some really good racing.