Who's idea was the Vanderbilt Cup in '96?

[ChrisB]

I was poking through the "history of the split" sticky at the top of the Biz section on TF, and saw these 2 old articles about the Vanderbilt Cup when it was re-introduced in '96 for the US500.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=5154&FS=CHAMPCAR
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=5153&FS=CHAMPCAR

I've asked before, and to this day, I've never found out... *WHO* was the person who was the main force in reviving the Vanderbilt Cup? Who's idea was it? Who made it happen? There must have been someone in CART who had enough grasp of American racing history to come up with this idea, but who? (I doubt that it was Andrew Craig)

[High Sided]

bobby rahal???

[OW]

Great Refreshing post!!!

Excerpts from wikipedia..

The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904

RollForward....

The Vanderbilt Cup name disappeared for another 36 years until 1996. In recognition of William Kissam Vanderbilt's place in automotive racing history, a copy of the original cup was created as the trophy for the CART U.S. 500 race. In 2000, CART designated the Vanderbilt Cup as its series championship trophy.

BUT YOU ARE RIGHT CHRISB....WHO......WAS THE PERSON???? Obviuosly it was the NEW CART organization at the time.... But I think you are digging further.....

Love the Question....

*High Sided*..may be right..

OW

[High Sided]

Great Refreshing post!!!



*High Sided*..may be right..

OW

may be not, bobby had it become the series cup in 2000
http://www.autoracing1.com/htmfiles/2000/0729Vanderbilt.htm

[Sean Malone]

Interesting question and I would also love to know the answer. I would also like to know if the name 'Champ Car' was ever trademarked prior to the current.

It's weird searching through old internet archives of press during the 'split'. This piece mentions that Indy was sold out months in advance of the '96 race. That's the sad thing about rich guys and their hobbies, they don't care if it breaks.

(I don't meant to hi-jack th ethread. Just thought this was interesting while looking for V Cup clues).

US 500 press (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E3DC1439F93AA25751C1A9639582 60&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2)

[robot9000]

Wasn't it invented (or resurrected) after PPG split? It used to be the PPG Cup that eveyone went for. No PPG, no PPG Cup.

[eiregosod]

Interesting question and I would also love to know the answer. I would also like to know if the name 'Champ Car' was ever trademarked prior to the current.

It's weird searching through old internet archives of press during the 'split'. This piece mentions that Indy was sold out months in advance of the '96 race. That's the sad thing about rich guys and their hobbies, they don't care if it breaks.

(I don't meant to hi-jack th ethread. Just thought this was interesting while looking for V Cup clues).

US 500 press (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E3DC1439F93AA25751C1A9639582 60&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2)

from that NYT article
"The immediate financial risks for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are reduced by the fact that all of the approximately 300,000 seats for the 1996 race were sold months ago"


carry on

[pchall]

It was most likely Penske. He's got the kind of connections and clout to arrange a replica of the Vanderbilt Cup for a race trophy. Or at least he did back then. Now I think he's getting senile. Why else would he decide to become the importer for the Smart cars?