What to do with that Champ Car sticker on my car?
Written by Scott Keller · February 21, 2008
As I walked back to my Xterra this afternoon after work, I realized that my Champ Car sticker in the back window is going to have to go.
Much like the CART stickers and the Robby Gordon #5 stickers that I used to have on my Mazda that I had in the late 90’s, by Champ Car sticker is going the way of the buggy whip. What a strange racing world we live in these days. Jacques Villeneuve and Dario Franchitti, two of my favorite drivers in the 90’s CART era are now driving tin-tops, and the IRL that started with names like Buzz Caulkins and Racin Gardner is now going to swallow a series that was once considered a thread to F1.
I’ve got the razor blade on stand-by until Friday. That sticker is staying on until a press conference happens, because you just never know what might happen.
I also have to wonder: “Do I go ahead and get tickets for Long Beach?” I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get GA tickets this year, catch the ALMS race and see if the Dallaras impress me. Honestly, I’ve never seen an IRL race in person. Shoot, hell could have frozen over before I’d go see an IRL race…..but maybe hell is about to freeze over?
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23 Responses to “What to do with that Champ Car sticker on my car?”
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Hey Scott, call Al Gore.
Tony George just stopped global warming!!!
I guess we’ll find out if Long Beach drew Champ Car fans or people who just want to party near race cars.
I’ve been going to the race since the F1 days and doubt if I’ll attend this year.
Hey Tony George - you may have won, but what at what price? The IRL, aside from the Indy 500, gets no TV ratings and the tracks are half sold. It was so hard to find Champ Car on TV, I gave up.
Come on F1 - I need my open wheel fix.
Dave
Hey Scott - Go NASCAR
The US had a great open wheel car program (CART) and the greatest race (Indy). After this week Tony will have destroyed both. Open wheel racing in the US will be 3rd class.
Looks like it’s time to put a NASCAR sticker on your car!
A NASCAR sticker on my car?! Perish the thought! What’s next, a WWE sticker?
(Just kidding….i enjoy watching NASCAR. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine.)
To bad Roger Penski didn’t buy or run Champ car. I suspect Tony would have been successfully defeated, and open wheel racing would have survived.
If Champ car dies this week, maybe we can bring more F1 races to the US.
Hey Dave: Lets make Long Beach a F1 race Again! I’m in the same boat.. I won’t go to Long Beach until they put real cars on the track.
Better racing is all I want now. I do enjoy Nascar because its racing but the fastest car with a great driver can only win with help. The dancing that goes on in the pack can be incredible but I want to see the side by side racing of old, like Al Jr and Fittipaldi at Indy in turn 3.
raceonsunday.com
I agree …I was there for the Al Jr vs Fitapaldi Indy race. The only moment better than that was the Indy turn 1 move by Danny Sullivan on Mario. It resulted in a spin, but he still came back to win the race.
I’m not normally a NASCAR fan (I prefer open wheel) but Daytona now rules as the #1 US race, and I did watch the race from the midle of the desert, via satalite. It was a great finish.
As far as Long Beach, I’m glad I didn’t buy my tickets this year. Looks like they will be selling for $10 on E-bay!
I have a Champ Car sticker on my laptop.For now I’m slapping an IRL sticker over it.See you at the track.
Seems fitting.
I like road racing, which IRL gave little of. CART-CHAMP was a better fix. NASCAR is the personality club with left turns and some road racing. F1, the elite. You can’t really have the past, I know, I’m older, but what if Tony and Roger had never had their tisk about the purse? Would NASCAR been able to get where they are today? What if Michellin hadn’t screwed up two years ago in INDY, would we have F1 here today? There was trouble in pardise before that race.
This season will roll out, let’s see what is in store next year, such a long way off don’t you think.
Personaly, I’m going to peel off my Champ sticker and put it next to my “McGovern for President” pin, hidden in a drawer. I can now say I’m ashamed for having supported either the guy or the league.
What a let down! But it is all for the best, let’s hope Tony doesn’t foul this up. He’s made the move he should have done two years ago, better late than never I guess.
it would be good if the great Mario Andretti will never give george
even the least bit of satisfaction by going over to the dark side and tainting his name by having any association with someone who uses the great American Institution as the INDY 500 as a tool of extortion to form his own league.
What’s to become of those fantastic new Panoz chassis with “real” Cosworth racing engines (they sound so good compared to the sickly hondas in IRL).
Scott, I think I will bite the bullet & attend the Surfers round this year. While I agree that the road conversion of the IRL Dallara hardly inspires - unlike the GP2 or WSbR Dallara’s! - At the moment it’s all we’ve got. I am prepared to accept that 08 will be a ‘building’ year & will take what is offered. Let’s hope that when the new unified series gets around to placing specifications for a new chassis it will be a beast for the driver to tame.
I think it’s a great thing to see them come back together. I really hope they can keep their differances aside and out of racing, a full feild for the Indy 500 wow my dreams are about to come true. I do wonder if Danica Patrick will be able to keep up or will she try to jump to ARCA and then NASCAR. I think she will have alot of trouble. Will be really funny to see her throw a fit when things don’t go her way and she stomps down pit road again.
I agree with Ed about George using the 500 as an extortion tool but then again George is a tool himself. Well the only open wheel series in America now is the Top Fuel cars in NHRA(don’t get any stupid ideas Tony)
Good point… NHRA TF still has Nitro & Boost.
With the loss of Champ car, it’s only naturally aspirated from here on out. That’s one reason why Champ car was better to watch than IRL & even F1.
This will be a step back in technology. Maybe the next IRL rules will have carburetors like NASCAR…Ha
Ah, Earth calling Open wheel fans. ….
You sport has been dead for years & your drivers are wising up and going Cup racing. So come Memorial day. Put down the milk, And get a ice cold Coke for the Coca Cola 600 instead….
Uhh,hey Mr.nascar fan (tiger), there are a gazillion more Open Wheel fans in this world then your puney little roundy round series! hahaha
Hey Ed, funny how as we get older our minds seem to forget, Mario ran a IRL car once till he went air born and said it was time to stop driving!! Get with the times (2008) racing changes with the times, Open your mind up to new things, the old days are gone
Good point BOB, ten years from now we’ll be looking back at the last dozen years as an aberration, and we’ll be living a new “good old days” era of racing.
I know there is a sea of racing fans out there who never have expressed their emotional involvement in the recent “troubles” and will now flock back to the sport.
“Flock back to the sport?” That reminds of the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch….
Are Cart race fans just resting or pining for the fiords???? Reruns of Hawaii-Five-O would do better than IRl. Sorry boys this bird is expired….
Well said Tiger
“Flock back to the sport?” Was that Toney George that said that? Now that’s a “Field of Dreams” statement.
I do agree that at this rate the NEW OW series will take 10 years to get back “Happy Days”.
I thought the main goal of racing is to move fast.