Will A IRL / CHAMP Merger Hurt Nascar

muggle not

muggle not

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This is not a flame, just thinking of some possible discussion.

There have been many articles written recently about a possible merger between the IRL and CHAMP. Finally, it looks like there may be a possibility of it happening. Do you think that a merger would hurt Nascar.

There have been some rumblings and discontent recently by the Nascar fans. Not all are happy with the direction that Brian is taking them. The points system, cookie-cutter tracks, etc.

I think that a IRL/CHAMP merger may attract some Nascar fans. It doesn't necessarily mean that Nascar would "lose" fans but who knows in the longer run if the fan base growth may be slowed. I would possibly watch a good openwheel race in place of one of Nascar's cookie-cutter races.

What do y'all think.
 
that's what TiVo is for.

besides, IRL is based here and champ car is based in europe- it'd be hard for them to merge without some problems. But i watch any race i can anytime, too.
 
Magnethead said:
that's what TiVo is for.

besides, IRL is based here and champ car is based in europe- it'd be hard for them to merge without some problems. But i watch any race i can anytime, too.
Click to expand...

Weren't the two series created from a split?
 
i thought champcar was based in europe? I never hear of any races here....
 
This is a very interesting thread for me as it shows that there are many people who know very little about racing history in this country.

Some years ago, before the popularity of NASCAR skyrocketed, the biggest race held in America was the Indy 500. Yes, it still has a reputation to uphold and for the most part it does, but that one race was tops. All the drivers were American, if not in name...such as Andretti. That race was run under the sanctioning body of USAC, United States Auto Club. With the popularity of that race came more races being sanctioned by USAC and like today's NASCAR, it grew into a powerful TV force. The downfall in my opinion, came when the body began to import foreign drivers and like NASCAR, money from sponsors drove the sport into something very expensive. Those owners with the biggest piece of the pie were able to outspend and beat those little operations that used to be the mainstay of the sport. Roger Penske was a part of that royal group. Tony George, the owner of the Indy racetrack could see into the future and decided to try and put a limit on the spending by limiting the cars in many way. Those high dollar car owners could see that this could put a crimp into their winning and decided to split with the sanctioning body and start their own series and named it CART for Championship Auto Racing Teams. For Tony George, he needed something for his track to use as a sponsoring group and formed the IRL, or Indy Racing League. When that happened, the Indy 500 lost much of it's importance in the world because now instead of having those greats that ran at the track, newer, unknowns would be leading the race. Some of the top drivers were indeed sick and even though CART tried to schedule a race either on the same day, or on the same weekend, the one thing they couldn't do was to make people forget the Indy 500. Soon, drivers began to leave CART so they could once again race in the big race.

It's been hard for both series to continue but what happens will depend on the audience for either. It's clear that they need to set a goal and work towards that goal and if they can make an entertaining product that can grab some NASCAR viewers, all the better for them. At present, I don't see that happening for a plethora of reasons. And while it's true that there are a lot of fans that don't like the direction that Brian is taking NASCAR, that's been true now for a good 10 to 15 years. As long as they continue to fill the stands at most of the races, move races from places that don't to places that will, keep getting new TV contracts, the sport will continue to grow. I do predict that at one point, the sport will become saturated and interests will wane. At that point, I think that NASCAR will begin to try some very strange changes in order to combat the situation. I really think that we will all be able to see that when the time comes.
 
I never thought of champ car (cart went bankrupt, i guess they're different?) as an americal series- i've always associated them as a european sport (maybe the names and mfgr's, never really thought of it), with nascar and IRL being USA based and F1 and champ cart being european/worldwide. I just checked the website, and it says they go to houston. I NEVER hear anything of it...or any of the races.
 
Whizzer said:
Just for the record, what constitutes an "American" driver ???????????
Click to expand...
You know exactly what I mean here. I do believe you are just trying to stir things up a bit.

Look at what consists of CART, or the former CART series and who among them are citizens of the US? The same can also be said of the IRL to an extent. In 1972, tell me who drove in the Indy 500 that was not a citizen of the US.

My opinion is that when those series started going international, interest in the racing began to go down hill. You may believe differently.
 
Buck old friend,
You really need to take a bit of a longer look at the history of racing in this country. Long before USAC, which was formed in the mid 1950's, there was the AAA, IMCA and other bodies sanctioning racing all across the land. Everything from stock cars to all out, purpose built machines. Indy hosted drivers from all over the world and many of the earliest races were won by foreign manufacturers products; indeed the famous Offenhauser engine which was based on the equally famous Miller design, was an improved copy of the Puegot and Ballot engines which were brought to Indy from France prior to the 1920's and Maserati's (sp?) were still competitive up into the early 1950's.

The current Champ car series resulted when Tony George, owner of the Indianapolis Speedway, got sick of being dictated to by the team owners and started a seperate league, the IRL, which was supposed to draw its talent from short, circle track drivers instead of foreigners who had experience in the rear engine cars.

Champ Car went their own way, racing mostly on road and street courses while the IRL for the most part ran the ovals. Now there is talk of a merger of some sort, but...
They've got a long way to go to knock NASCAR back into the weeds, that's for sure.
 
boB, of course, you're right. I was just condencing the version just a bit. :) And I agree with you that they have a long way to go before they upstage NASCAR, if they ever do. There could be something totally different that comes along and wooes the fans. Quite possibly something like drag racing or boat racing. But then again, maybe something else. But NASCAR is far and away ahead of all other forms of racing here in the US.
 
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