2006-09-18 15:31:20 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Auto Racing
I hate to say it, but IndyCar is probably a slightly bigger deal than ChampCar just because the IRL has the Indy 500 whhich everybody has heard of. A lot of the people who watch the 500 don't have any idea what series these people drive in, add to that the fact that a lot of ChampCar drivers do the 500 as a one off. Other than that, Tony George's "American series for American drivers" is dominated by foreign drivers and manufacturers. What a joke. He ruined open wheel racing in the U.S. and I want him banned from the world. Then he uses his power to atract F1 to the U.S. which is good, but then gives them a mickey mouse track! F1 should be racing at Road America or any of our other fine racetracks.
2006-09-19 03:44:57 · answer #1 · answered by Sean B 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes. I think aside from the Indy 500 that Champ Car has a more world wide fan following. Rumor has it that years ago Champ Car was actually challenging F1 for TV viewer numbers. Think anyone in F1 might want to help sabotage Champ Car in that situation?
2006-09-19 11:43:09 · answer #2 · answered by Nc Jay 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Champ Car is more prestigious than Indy, once they split in 1996 or 1997 (one of the last champions in the united league was 1997 Drivers' Champion in Formula 1, Jacques Villeneuve), but Formula 1 is more prestigious, because it has wider international reputation than these two. I mean, it has an 18-race season and about half of those races are outside of Europe, 3 of them in America (Canada, USA and Brazil).
2006-09-19 02:52:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tony George started his own racing league and split from CART he wanted- Oval tracks, American Drivers and American sponsors. Since many of the best drivers are not American, this did not last and now IRL is even doing a few road courses.
In the end I think it has been a big failure and degraded open wheel racing. Both racing leagues have lost market share especially to Nascar.
In my opinion Champ Car is more prestigious because it has about equal following in the United States but has not lost it's international flair by including races in Canada, Mexico, and even Australia.
2006-09-18 15:52:49 · answer #4 · answered by famousblue11 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Let's just merge the two leagues and get it over with for the betterment of open wheel racing.
Yes, Tony George was more about American "ideals" but another focus was on affordability of a team. Of course, now in order to compete with Ganassi and Penske you'll need quite a bit of $$$.
2006-09-19 05:04:13 · answer #5 · answered by Stumpy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋