Paradoxically, the announcement that there will be a unified open wheel series for the U.S. could be the kiss of death for the Denver Grand Prix. Autosport magazine is reporting that as many as nine of the current CART races could be on hold for 2008, with longstanding races such as the Toronto GP waiting in the wings to be reinstated for '09.

Denver organizers were hoping to return after this year and to attract a title sponsor for their CART-sanctioned event. Now CART will fold, the economy is tanking and local sponsorship is just a memory of the past. Things aren't exactly shining through! The unified Indy Car series might just put hopes for a resurrection in our hometown race down for good.

 

I heard the other day that Indy and Cart were merging. Tend to get news a little late over here. Sadly, it looks like NasCrap, sorry I was never good at spelling, is taking over the US's motorsports. However, I thought a read a rumor some time back that F1 was looking at a Denver and Las Vegas to replace Indy? Something where they would like to throw the challange of higher elevation to the F1 teams.

 

That "takeover" happened quite awhile ago. NASCAR rules the U.S. motorsport scene economically. Even this merger for open wheel racing won't reverse that trend. As for sports car racing? HA! Don't even ask...

Robert, you've got to stop smoking that camel's hair! Rumors aside, there's no way in HELL that F1 would ever in a bazillion years schedule a race in the Mile Hi City. Oh wait- if we could throw a bazillion dollars, er, euros at Bernie and company, they might come. On second thought, everyone else is already throwing a bazillion euros at them to hold a F1 race in their backyard, so there's nothing to entice the F1 circus to even come to the U.S. any more.

 

Bummer about CART the real Indy cars having to merge with the IRL imitation racing cars, so it looks like a Denver race is history. Bummer because this is the only race in my time zone. The funny story about F1 coming to Denver right, they formerly raced in Phoenix a market 2 times the size of the Denver market and were not able to keep the F1 pockets full enough to keep the race in the US at thah period of time.

 

Both CART and the IndyCar series use spec cars currently. Apparently IndyCar will give every CART entrant a Honda engine contract and Dallara chassis (value over $1.3M) to race this year. So my question is what happens to all those Champ Car (Panoz) chassis and Cosworth turbo engines? Lots of money being spent (or wasted) to make this happen.

I never liked the Phoenix F1 race- the street circuit lacked character and the drivers hated the layout. Same for Lost Wages- they actually used a parking lot to hold a F1 race back in the 80's. IMHO the best locales for the USGP was Watkins Glen, Long Beach and Indy, in that order. But now I'm not sure F1 will be back in the U.S. for a long time.

 

Ooh... F1 @ Watkins Glen would be sweet!!!

 

I too agreee with you Phoenix was a bust!!!! Maybe the F1 cars can run at probably the best US natural terrain track, the place where the MOTO GP bikes and Super Bikes also run yearly. Yes.....Laguna Seca, I am dying to see if some of the worlds best have the nuts to pass in the corkscrew.

Realistically this will not come to fruition, Bernie Eccelstone requires too much $$$$ and control of a track at whick he is just a visitor & not the owner. Don't get me wrong I love F1 but, in America too few of us enthusiasts regularly follow F1, races start at 5:30 MST for me. Thank god SPEED CHANNEL show the races on Sunday eves.


I believe "the whiner" Tony George orignally stated he started the imitation racing league to give AMERICAN DRIVERS a arena to showcase their talents (Tony Stewart, by the way he is from Indiana), seems after a couple of years Stewart gave George the finger in favor of the circle driving redneck crowd. If you look at the driver lineup for irl it looks like the majority of the drivers approx 80% are not Americans. I was under the impression that CART was formed because in the early 70's USAAC (Tony George & Indy 500) were GODLIKE in dictating rules for tracks that they also did not own or even manage.

Seems Roger Penske and some of the other teams decided to break free of the Indiana GODS, and start CART. I personally have no respect for Roger Penske any longer, he bowed to the pressures of the sponsor Marlboro, you know the lung cancer people. If you stand up for teams & drivers that are being hurt by the sanctioning body in the 70's why bow down AGAIN like a pu$$y in the 90's.

Being a realist I know that 2 open wheel racing divisions were tearing open wheel racing fans apart. Maybe this is part of the reason the redneck circle driving racers saw rating numbers rise in the late 90's till approx 2004, since then the redneck circle drivers have seen the rating numbers drop. Either way I am happy for the unificaion just to see the great teams, and the upcoming american racers 2nd gen. go at it wheel to wheel (Graham Rahal & Marco Andretti).

Just hoping that Roger Penske will grow his ***** back again and break free of Tony George if certain conditions are not met:

Multiple chassis in the new racing league

Multiple engine manufactures in the new league

Adding road racing to the wannabe be cirle driving redneck copycat racing league & not 1 or 2 more. How about a 50/50 at the start with the emphasis to move more towards road racing.


Less power for Tony George & the Indiana GODS


THE 4 ITEMS ABOVE ARE THE SAME RESONS THE TEAMS, OWNERS AND DRIVERS FORMED CART IN THE 70'S

 

that's hilarious! passing in F1?

 

Just to clarify a few points: while Indy Car would like American drivers, the reality is WHOEVER can foot the racing bill is welcome to drive. If I'm a driver from Whozbecastan with only 30% talent and 100% of the funding, I'll get the drive vs. the next great U.S. star with 100% talent and only 30% funding! There are exceptions, but they are few and far between. Penske is just doing business as usual- at least he hires good drivers to race for him.

If you're waiting for multiple chassis with engines from several different manufacturers, get ready for disappointment. Dallara chassis with Honda engines, that's it, end of story for this spec car series! Road racing will be a part of the IndyCar series, but only a small part. Don't expect IndyCar to rival F1 for your 5:30 AM viewing attention...

 

I personally saw passing on every F1 race last year, at the standing starts to begin the race & in the pits. Remember you are talkng about F1, rarley do you see on track passing but when it happens it gets my attention.