Leonard

CART has been on the brink of bankruptcy for a couple of years. IRL hasn't been anything but a remake of nascar (ovals) with open wheel cars (Minus the carnage because open wheel cars can't play bump and run).

I'm watching the F1 Spanish Grand Prix on CBS right now. It's great racing to watch this year (because it isn't the ferarri and the also ran's show).

I think this may be it for CART and the IRL.

mofugga

open wheel racing is dying over here because of the huge popularity of nascrap & the millions of dollars being spent by sponsors & such. why would they want to leave a known money making machine to a floundering series?


there may be an american f1 driver soon enough tho, scott speed or something like that

RoadRacer

open wheel is in a lull... IRL still can't grab a good audience even with most of the money and big names.... and CART can't get traction because... well no money and not many big names. I wouldn't be surprised to see AJ Allmendinger is F1 in a year or two.... he is sponsored by Red Bull

Rosko

It's not dead yet. I only became a race fan a year or two ago, and just this year caught my first IRL and Champ Car race. I've heard the reports that they're having trouble, but have seen nothing to indicate that their doom is inevitable. Additionally, we have Infiniti Pro Series and Star Mazda. So once again, no, American open wheel racing is not dead yet.

Is F1 better? Yes, I think so, but I probably say that because I'm much more familiar with it. Why do you suppose they have to race in Indianapolis in the U.S.? It's just a crappy infield track. Wouldn't Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta or another purpose built road racing track be better?

Speaking of superior racing in Europe and Asia, I have a question, but I think I'll start a new thread so as not to hijack.

RoadRacer

They racer at Indy because Tony George and Bernie Ecclestone are buddies.... and George spent a lot of money in order to get F1 to come back to the States.

I would love to see an event at the Glenn or Laguna (Mazada Raceway)

Leonard

Those are both support series. If IRL and CART go away, they'll disappear.

Rosko

Agreed, they are both support series. Infiniti Pro is supported by IRL. However, Star Mazda is almost entirely a support event for ALMS. Nonetheless, I get your point. They are not in the big leagues like CART and IRL. And they are both known as feeder series.

Agreed x 10. If Nascar is only going to grow in popularity, I wish they would at least put the hype machine to work on their other series - Grand Am Cup. It's not open wheel, but it's good, solid road racing on actual production based cars.

I've heard this name dozens of times in the past few months. I really hope he ends up in a F1 car. American driver = more American interest = more TV coverage for F1.

Lola56

Nascar is headed on a downward slope in regards to popularity. The cars don't look like anything on the road, at most tracks the racing sucks. Take a look at the stands, few races are sell outs.

IRL is a joke, they couldn't draw over 6000 at Phoenix this year.

Cart has suffered from poor management.

Few drivers in any series are paid to drive. Most of them have to bring sponsership to the team in order to get a seat.

And yes, you can own your very own open wheel series. It seems that Skip Barber is selling all the cars in one of his series.

http://www.race-cars.com/carsales/re...15382226ss.htm