Tracy to Drive a Crapwagon! Merger DONE (say’s Robin Miller)
Written by Josh Katinger · February 19, 2008
The man who famously declared he would never drive an IRL “crapwagon” is supposedly being fitted for a seat in just such a vehicle later this week. Yes folks, Robin Miller of SPEEDtv.com is reporting that at long last, Champ Car will merge with the IRL!
SPEEDtv.com: REPORT: Champ Car/IndyCar Deal Done
A few key teams, drivers and races will migrate over from Champ Car and become part of the IRL. Paul Tracy being one of them. However, as some irascible bloggers have noted this isn’t official yet. Why do I allow myself to be teased like this?
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Poor ChampCar! If it’s true it falls into the worst possible hands. I think we need more genuine American road-racing for a change. What can Tony offer? A couple of road courses a season? Then, why would I want to watch this poor copy of NASCAR? Only to see the same old italian scrap instead of stocks? Nah, he won’t lure me this way.
Irascible bloggers?
Hey watch it, I resemble that remark!
And besides I have more than the less than reliable Robin to back up the IRL/CCWS Coitus Interruptus story.
As for Tracy in a crapwagon, who cares he’s about as relevant as Motor Mouth Jacques about now.
Driver8, word is the “new series” will consist of 11 ovals a 4 road courses including the Gold Coast event in Australia.
I have been waiting for this Amalgamation. If we lose Road America this year it will be a shame.If your a Road America fan post up.
Does the word: Dilution, mean anything to anyone?
I think that if there was to be a reconcilation, then there would be a little Champ Car and a little IRL.
Sounds to me like a whole lotta IRL and no more Champ Car.
Or to put it in different terms: Yaawwnn!
Nothing quite like listening to a bunch of v8’s (although a little higher strung then NASCAR) going by.
No more pop of the overboost valve, no more watching the cars get super squirrelly leaving the corners. Just an Open Wheel version of the Door Slammers.
Boy, do I have something to look forward to!
Having been one of those that saw Danny Ongais leave Moss Corner at Mosport (yes, I have been watching racing THAT long) in a full on broad slide and disappear up the straight, or standing next to the fencing at Michigan while Nigel was qualifing, I doubt that this “merger” will win any of my racing event money.
I’ve been waiting for this amalgamation too. Too bad it is nothing compared to the Indycar series we had at the beginning of the 90s. Do you guys remember those ford cosworth and chevrolet turbo engines on lolas and penskes? and later reynards, hondas, toyotas, mercedes? How about Fittipaldi, Unser, Andrettis, Mansell, Sullivan? Those top speeds over 230 mph? At some point I was ok to miss a F1 race, but never a indycar race. I know nothing lasts forever, things change, people change. But, for this amalgamation to reach the spectacle we had years ago in open wheel racing there is a long long way to go. I hope I am wrong. Last year I didnt miss any race in f1, missed several indycar races, and champcar, well, watched a couple of them when they were not hidden on one of those espn channels.
Oh come on Vincent, while I’m with you on the chassis/engine, right now it’s all we’ve got. Let’s embrace a reunification & cross our fingers for the future.
2008 is going to be a forced marriage & while 11 ovals + 4 road courses (with the existing Dallara in road conversion mode) does not exactly get my adrenaline flowing - like your recollection of Nigel in the NH Lola does ‘ I’m all for being optimistic about the future. I’m going to try to forgive (but not forget) the past and just hope TG has the acumen to drive this ship to fair waters.
As for my race event money, I am willing to give Surfers Paradise a go this year”..I did not bother last race.
What I would give to recapture those glory days of the late 80’s - 90’s. :-)
We’ve all said that the sponsors were waiting for one series to “get back in the game”. Now we’ll find out, won’t we? Even TG doesn’t have the resources to endlessly support teams.
2010 will be the year sponsors flock back……..or not.
Who cares about sponsors george? I can’t remember the last time I went to a race to see the Beatrice car run a race.
What I care about the most is a good race.
So in the interest of bringing good racing back to mostly US soil, I propose we all send our pennies to Phony George so he can buy the greatest driver back from NASCAR to(it needs a new name) the Indy Car Boring Series, ICBS. Bring back Jerques Villanova.
Peterg:
You are placing a lot of faith on Tony. I don’t think that he really knows how to do much of anything. Let’s look at his history:
Fragments Champ Car, just when it was starting to take business away from F1.
Starts IRL. (nuf said)
Has to bring in NASCAR and F1 to save the Indy Speedway.
Sounds like he doesn’t know how to run a series, but that he does know how to hire one.
As for who needs sponsers mo ron:
Just think what Champ Car could have done with the money that Marlboro spends on Ferrari each and every year?
Or with the money that Toyota flushes down the toilet every year on their own team?
Sponsers, we all need them stink’n sponsers!
LET ME JUST SAY HOW DISSAPOINTED I AM!! I GREW UP WATCHING CART ALONG WITH MY FAMILY AND HAD TICKETS TO THE BRICKYARD FOR OVER 30 YEARS…THEY WERE SOME OF MY BEST MEMORIES!!! GORDON JOHNCOCKS 2″ FINISH, MICHELS 1ST INDY RACE, DANNY’S SPIN AND WIN…THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!! I HAVE NEVER BEEN BACK TO INDY SINCE AND PROBLY NEVER WILL. I CANT STAND NASCAR (Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks)!!! AND F1 JUST DOENSNT HAVE THAT “AMERICAN PRIDE” SO I GUESS IM LEFT WITH GOING BACK TO THE BASICS FOR MY RACING ADDICTION I.E. LOCAL SHORT TRACK, DRAG RACES, ETC… THIS IS TRULY A SAD DAY FOR ALL TRUE CART FANS.
At least in TG’s series the cars aren’t pretending to be something they aren’t. The only difference in NASCAR are the decals. IRL needs to run more road courses than ovals.
“Just think what Champ Car could have done with the money that Marlboro spends on Ferrari each and every year?”
So Vincent what your saying is you pay money to go see Marlboro cars racing against Toyotas? Gee I always go to see my Favourite drivers in my Favourite cars racing against each other. I could care less who sponsors them. I despised, oops I meant was mildly un-happy with, Marlboro cars when they were powered by Honders and won almost every race in 88′.
So your saying that with proper sponsorship Chumpcar would have thrived?
Seems to me they had tons of money until recently but failed because of poor leadship, kinda like Toyota in F1.
It sounds like Driver 8 and some others are stuck in the 90’s
If you have not noticed
We are in the year 2008
and Racing has to make changes and this is a change from the past, Change is good, Try and remember that, Stop living in the past
mo, relative to your sponsor comment, I can’t believe you don’t understand that without sponsors there is no racing, it’s as simple as that. Who watches sponsors? The TV viewers, which AC Nielsen counts, and thus allows TV advertisers to pay more for the air time.
It’s not about the track people seeing sponsors, it’s about the value of the TV exposure. See NASCAR sponsorship for an example.
And JIMMY, your NASCAR interpretation is one I’ve never seen before (Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks), and when I use it I’ll give you full credit. It’s a beautiful thing!
But it’s the cash that makes the world go round, in any sport. The reason there are no current sponsors in Champs is because they have no TV exposure or ratings. With a unified series comes a better product, with better tv exposure and along come the sponsors.
Forget NASCAR, do you think Marlboro pays Ferrari $100 million a year for nothing? And most of the time they don’t even get to show their brand!
That’s where OWR here needs to get to. Sponsors who pay for the privlige of having their name on a car and the team can actually PAY a top driver.
Who cares about Paul Tracy any more just a gray haired old man. not a racer any more.
Once the merger takes hold (give it about a year), the more savvy owners like Penske, Ganassi, and Newman-Haas will start steering things to a more interesting format, perhaps with multiple engine and chassis manufacturers and more road courses (how can you NOT include Long Beach, Laguna, and Elkhart Lake?). This is just the first step toward what IndyCar racing used to be: The most diverse and tracks and the widest variety of driver backgrounds in the world. The first year or two will be less than satisfying, but we’ve lived thru this ugliness for over ten years now, and there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel.
Well I think Fanbelt get’s it, Give it some time, There are some that don’t understand Racing and don’t GET IT, you have to make changes to keep things fresh and this is the best thing to happen,
mo ron:
What makes F1 so well exposed is the marketing ability of Bernie et al. The failure of Champ Car was really the loss of Indy. The failure of IRL was the loss of Champ Car and Tony trying to make it an oval series only.
The only thing that saved Tony was NASCAR (lots of sponsers) and F1 (ditto).
Marlboro spends what they do on Ferrari because of the tv time that they get, period.
Just look at the cost of a 30 sec spot during the SuperBowl (2.6 mil). then take that type of coverage, multiply it times all the countries that watch F1, and add that to the amount of camera time that Ferrari gets per race. If a Ferrari gets 20 mins per race (a little low) for 17 races. That is equal to
$1,768,000,000 in advertising.
Pretty good deal for the $200,000,000 that they are reported to spend.
when Champ Car and IRL fragmented the available dollars had to figure out where to be spent. NASCAR won…
I guess if they merg and they are using IRL cars, then Cart is totaly gone no matter what Cart’s managment says. The egotistical F—en prick won and has gotten his way and killed Cart. I will never watch the IRL!
I really cant see the point . I was a die-hard cart fan for many years.I’m also a die-hard Penske fan so when Roger took his team I followed. Its been a great experiance. I think it will be great to see the other guys come over and race my guys. Lets get together and make this year a year to remember American open wheel.
Vincent how do you explain all of the sponsors that stuck with Chumpcar after the split?
They had most of the OW sponsorship still following them until the early double knot era. But with all of this sponsorship money they stll lost market share, most likely due to poor management. There was division amongst the owners as to how the series should be run which lead to the migration to the oft hated Insanely Ridiculous League. The sponsors followed, the rest is history.
I understand the importance of a great leader (Bernice?), but I personally followed F1 long before the ringmeister and his cronies tapped the great TV well. I don’t beleive it was his sheer genious that lead F1 down the road to wealth, he was just in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the huge potential that was waiting.
I do understand that all racing takes money to operate. But as Chumpcar proved money doesn’t solve everything.
But can’t we all just get along?
At least for a little while until our own great ringmeister has a chance to prove his point. No matter how dull that point may be.