ChrisB
05-18-03, 10:22 AM
Here's a cut + paste of some stuff I posted in this thread. (http://66.223.17.243/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=026781&p=2) Basically the premise is that if there were ONE series, because of the historical close association between RE formula cars and road-racing, it would be in the best interests of the Indy 500 for this mythical ONE series to be nearly all road-street (plus Indy) with heavy ties to the SCCA.
Whether we call them "Indy cars" or "Champ cars" the reality is that they are RE formula cars... and RE formula cars are a product of, and more closely associated with, the road-racing world.
What's best for the Indy 500 is a series that attracts the most fans, and right now, and for the foreseable future, that's formula road & street racing. Aside from the 500, the best attended (real paid attendance, not comps or Nascar tie-ins) CART or IRL races are on road-street circuits. The ovals have become "filler".
The most popular single Indy-Champ series would be (nearly) ALL ROAD-STREET RACING + the Indy 500 with as many American drivers as possible.
And as I've said before, the best place to find upcoming American RE formula car drivers is the SCCA-Pro.
When the Indy hard-cores ask "What does CART have worth merging with?" I have to say: Formula car road-racing culture. The overwhelming majority folks who wanna watch RE formula cars wanna see road-racing.... and the majority of folks who wanna see oval racing want Nascar!
However, there seems to be a lot of general paranoia among the Indy fans about street races. Let's review the existing races: The non-street races are: Elkhart Lake, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Montreal, Portland, Mexico City, Monterrey, Brands Hatch... and Cleveland (which is an airport circuit). That's 9 non-street races. With a healthy single series, it would probably be worthwhile to do the upgrades at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.. so that's 11. They could also run the road courses at Lausitz and Motegi (which are both supposedly very good circuits) instead of the ovals, so that makes 13 so far without yet touching a street circuit.
What street races are worthwhile? St Petersburg is a good track. The LBGP and Toronto Molson Indy are OK circuits, but they do get HUGE crowds. Surfers Paradise has usually been a good race, despite the last rain-out disaster. Forget Miami, Denver, Houston, and Vancouver.... I agree those circuits aren't up to par.
So that's 17 worthwhile road-street circuits so far (and street circuits are actually in the minority). Add Phoenix ("tune-up for Indy") and Milwaukee (the traditional follow-up) as the "token ovals" plus Indy as the lone superspeedway 500-miler and there's a decent 20-race series built mostly on succesful road-street races! What's the problem?
I'd also wanna mention to run as many SCCA-Pro races throughout the weekend as possible... that's where the next American RE formula drivers are going to come from!
Also, the cars could stand a little modification to improve the show on road-street. Shorten the wheelbases from the current ~120" (sheesh, that's longer than Nascar WC!) back down closer to just over 100" (they used to be 96" in the 60's) for better turning radius, and lighten the chassis weight within reason for better acceleration/braking. I suppose it wouldn't be too expensive to use special 3.0L engines for the Phoenix/Indy/Milwaukee trifecta and more powerful 3.5L for everything else on road-street.
The fans who go to road-street races are the ones who will be most interested in RE formula car racing... and that's what's best for Indy!
Whether we call them "Indy cars" or "Champ cars" the reality is that they are RE formula cars... and RE formula cars are a product of, and more closely associated with, the road-racing world.
What's best for the Indy 500 is a series that attracts the most fans, and right now, and for the foreseable future, that's formula road & street racing. Aside from the 500, the best attended (real paid attendance, not comps or Nascar tie-ins) CART or IRL races are on road-street circuits. The ovals have become "filler".
The most popular single Indy-Champ series would be (nearly) ALL ROAD-STREET RACING + the Indy 500 with as many American drivers as possible.
And as I've said before, the best place to find upcoming American RE formula car drivers is the SCCA-Pro.
When the Indy hard-cores ask "What does CART have worth merging with?" I have to say: Formula car road-racing culture. The overwhelming majority folks who wanna watch RE formula cars wanna see road-racing.... and the majority of folks who wanna see oval racing want Nascar!
However, there seems to be a lot of general paranoia among the Indy fans about street races. Let's review the existing races: The non-street races are: Elkhart Lake, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Montreal, Portland, Mexico City, Monterrey, Brands Hatch... and Cleveland (which is an airport circuit). That's 9 non-street races. With a healthy single series, it would probably be worthwhile to do the upgrades at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.. so that's 11. They could also run the road courses at Lausitz and Motegi (which are both supposedly very good circuits) instead of the ovals, so that makes 13 so far without yet touching a street circuit.
What street races are worthwhile? St Petersburg is a good track. The LBGP and Toronto Molson Indy are OK circuits, but they do get HUGE crowds. Surfers Paradise has usually been a good race, despite the last rain-out disaster. Forget Miami, Denver, Houston, and Vancouver.... I agree those circuits aren't up to par.
So that's 17 worthwhile road-street circuits so far (and street circuits are actually in the minority). Add Phoenix ("tune-up for Indy") and Milwaukee (the traditional follow-up) as the "token ovals" plus Indy as the lone superspeedway 500-miler and there's a decent 20-race series built mostly on succesful road-street races! What's the problem?
I'd also wanna mention to run as many SCCA-Pro races throughout the weekend as possible... that's where the next American RE formula drivers are going to come from!
Also, the cars could stand a little modification to improve the show on road-street. Shorten the wheelbases from the current ~120" (sheesh, that's longer than Nascar WC!) back down closer to just over 100" (they used to be 96" in the 60's) for better turning radius, and lighten the chassis weight within reason for better acceleration/braking. I suppose it wouldn't be too expensive to use special 3.0L engines for the Phoenix/Indy/Milwaukee trifecta and more powerful 3.5L for everything else on road-street.
The fans who go to road-street races are the ones who will be most interested in RE formula car racing... and that's what's best for Indy!