Champ Car Series/IRL skips Toronto in 2008

[Xerox]

I'm pissed. The one year when I will likely get a media pass (covered by the people I take pictures for...otherwise media passes are about $250.00) the league(s) go through this crap and decides to skip Toronto in their schedule.

http://www.wheels.ca/article/191761

[S.F.W.]

I agree it is crap. You should consider going to one of the other stops.

[rktsci]

You really have to look at this as short term hurt for long term gain. The recent years have been nothing like the hey day of the late 90's when you had 150,000 for the weekend. I went to last years race after not having gone for a few years and I was shocked at how poor the attendance and the atmosphere was. I do however think that the Toronto event will be on the 2009 schedule.

I was a big CART/Champ Car fan and am still not sure how I feel about this merger as I despise Tony George. It was his actions that led this to happen in the first place by splitting open wheel racing. I find it completely hypocritical that the basis for the IRL (all american oval racing) has been dropped and the series is now looking more and more like CART/Champ Car did when the split happened...but the on track product is no where near as good as it once was. Now he is effectively in full control.

Its a shame that the DP01 chassis will never be used again as it is a far superior car to the Dallara especially when they've been on the same track simultaneously. During a Bridgestone/Firestone closed door tire test on the same track, the DP01 was reportedly up to 2 seconds a lap faster!

[Cardinal Fang]

I can't believe Edmonton got their race and we lost ours. Be that as it may I think the focus for the new IRL will be ovals and not road courses. Tony George always wanted this and now he won out. So just sit back and watch drivers accelerate, brake, turn left, accelerate, brake, turn left, accelerate, brake, turn left, accelerate, brake, turn left for hours at a time. It's open wheel NASCAR.

</Formula 1 Fan>

[zedtech]

They failed to take into consideration that there will be many fans who won't care to come back after the "hiatus". They dropped the ball huge imo.

[rktsci]

Here is the biggest problem...the unified series will run based on the existing 2008 IRL season schedule so automatically the Champ Car events are up in the air.

The only event from the Champ Car schedule that is guaranteed to happen is the Long Beach race...but even that is a compromise as the old CC teams will run that race with the old CC equipment while the IRL teams are running in Japan that same weekend. Points from both races will be awarded as per the IRL rules.

Edmonton and Australia MAY happen as these are apparantly the only other CC events that don't have scheduling conflicts with the current IRL schedule...except it appears as though the Australia race would be a not-for-points race as the IRLs contract with the Chicago speedway states that it would be the final event in the championship calendar.

[rktsci]

Don't mean to double post but I think this one is warranted.

I just did a comparison on the two schedules and now i'm confused. As it stands now, Edmonton (CC) conflicts with the Mid-Ohio (IRL) event set for July 20th. As Edmonton is a quasi-permanent course I didn't think this date was as flexible...that is unless they are going to move the Mid-Ohio date as it is a permanent course.

The CC events that do not have a conflict with the IRL schedule are:
July 27th @ Portland (permanent road course)
Sept 14th @ TT Assan Holland (permanent road course)
Oct 26th @ Australia (temporary street circuit)
Nov 9th @ Mexico City (permanent road course)

Now I don't necessarily see the IRL going to Holland but I think that they should really have considered Portland and Mexico City. Since they are already considering an exhibition race in Australia I don't see why they couldn't do the same with Mexico City.

[rktsci]

Triple post now...just reading that Paul Tracy will not have a ride for 2008 as Forsythe will compete in the unified series. He can now only be saved if another team offers up a ride.

[ptwonline]

I am disappointed that they won't be in Toronto this year, but in the long-run a single, strong, open-wheel series in North America is good for racing fans. I for one was tired of seeing 8 new Champ Car rookies every year instead of established drivers.

Toronto is also a very strong event, and so I have little doubt that the unified series will come back. Too much money to be made. Fans WILL come back--racing fandom runs strong, and there's not really any local competition to draw fans away.

[zedtech]

Forsythe Nixes IRL Move; Tracy Out Of Ride

If Paul Tracy is to compete in the IRL this season, it won't be with Forsythe-Pettit Racing.

A statement from Forsythe Championship Racing on Thursday confirmed that after 13 years of competition in both CART and Champ Car, Gerald Forsythe will not be making the switch to the rival IRL.

"The team has been unable to secure the necessary sponsorship to be able to compete in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in 2008," said Neil Micklewright, the vice president of operations for Fosythe.

"Forsythe Racing Inc., the parent company of FCR, will participate in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Champ Car finale, with drivers to be announced."

The team issued a separate release, which confirmed it will go ahead with its 2008 Atlantic Series programme with Canadian James Hinchcliffe and David Garza as its drivers.

Tracy had a contract with Forsythe to compete in the Champ Car series through 2011.

Last November, Forsythe announced a partnership with Dan Pettit, who owned the former RuSport operation. Forsythe-Pettit was scheduled to compete in the 2008 Champ Car series with a two-car team. However, there was no mention of Pettit in Forsythe's release on Thursday, so his future in open-wheel racing is unclear as well.

http://tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story/?ID=230787&hubname=

[Unoriginalusername]

glad i went last year now not knowing it would be our last

[Niteshade]

Being a natural cynic, I'm left to wonder whether IRL didn't try to jack up the major sponsorship fees for Toronto and Vancouver and the sponsors balked:complain

[rktsci]

Being a natural cynic, I'm left to wonder whether IRL didn't try to jack up the major sponsorship fees for Toronto and Vancouver and the sponsors balked:complain

Not to burst your bubble but Vancouver hasn't had a race for a few years now as a result of excessive construction where the track was normally. As for Toronto, Champ Car owns (or I guess that should be owned) the assests associated with the Toronto grand prix.

It still comes down to schedule conflict between the two 2008 schedules...as much as it sucks...but there will be the race at Watkins Glen that weekend! Yippee! ;-p

[WLS ZMZM]

I think this is silly. It seems that many of the CC teams won't be able to legitimately contend in the IRL as they don't have the money necessary to compete. Losing a driver like Tracy is also really sad. As for no Toronto date. VERY VERY STUPID... this not only brings in alot of money for the event but also alot of money for the city in the way of tourism. Of course I won't be able to rip it along lakeshore as they are setting it up. *tear*

As for the race fans, just like hockey fans they are loyal however think of how much smaller the fan base was for hockey after the lockout a few years ago. Even myself being a die hard hockey fan was kind of turned off by the lockout while I did come back, its not to the same degree. In principal this seemed like a great idea, but the loss of actual road tracks kills the excitement that is CC racing. I have to agree with Fang where he says its "open wheel nascar" as if Nascar isn't boring enough (sorry to all fans) it seems that CC/IRL is going further away from the whole f-1 style of racing.

Also on a side note... maybe one of the Nascar fans can explain the excitement behind 4 left turns & 2 straightaways for 500 laps??? I just don't get it

[Wild Weasel]

I can explain the excitement of NASCAR, but don't really get open wheel oval racing. The bumping and rubbing is all part of the fun, and you don't get that with the open cars.

For NASCAR, think of crossing car racing with professional wrestling and you start to get the idea. The personalities are a big part of the action. Then you have to get some idea of what's involved in setting up the cars, and negotiating the tracks to get excited about what's going on during a race. If all you see if a bunch of cars going around in circles, then you're missing all the stuff that makes it fun.

If you're really interested, and not just an F1 snob poking fun, then start another thread on this and we can get more into it.

If not, then let me at least suggest that there's nothing exciting about turning right, when everyone just does it in single file. ;)

[WLS ZMZM]

valid point.. I think I'll start the thread... my gf's dad loves Nascar... and I don't have the patience for it... again.. don't fully understand whats so great about it... imo there doesn't seem to be much skill in turning left all the time... I prefer F-1 as I find the tracks are more difficult and require a more skillful driver... the whole single file thing I can understand, but its all about speed and apexing the corners properly to overtake the other car in teh chicane woot woot and nothing beats teh sound of an f-1 car!!

so new thread it is...

[OnkelHans]

Ultimately the merge will be good for racing and for the fans. I'll miss the Toronto race. I guess I also won't be getting my Indy 500 tickets at below face value anymore :reaches deeper into his pocket: but I remember the 500 when I was a kid and how it seemed like 2 or 3 times the number of people compared to recent years.