What Happens Next?

Ok. The World Motor Sport Coucil met yesterday, Wednesday Oct. 24, and approved the Formula 1 schedule for 2008, news of which was released by the FIA. See http://www.autosport.com

Now, we will see how long it takes for Champ Car. See if the holdup really is the FIA/World Motor Sport Council.

Sorry I'm skeptical about the reason(s) for the delay in the release of Champ Car's 2008 schedule. Actually, I have no reason to believe that it'll be released any time before the first "scheduled" race of 2008. We didn't know who most of the drivers were going to be and who they were going to race for until they went out for first practice that weekend. Why should I expect anything different for 2008?

And please, this is not doom-and-gloom. Just being realistic based on all past performances by the series.

Me too, Chap....I don't either.

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Originally Posted by DrJackMiller

So, now that we are all back to waiting an eternity for the next race we can all go back to pondering "what happens next".

We all have seen the hard denials by both sides of the wild rumors coming out of Australia about an unlikely V-8 Super Car and Champ Car mega-alliance that some hoped was being forged as the lastest "plan" to resurect the Champ Car World Series.

But don't fret! This week we have two potentially scary events: The JDS Uniphase Class Action lawsuit (see the Autoracing1.com homepage), has started and is scheduled to run another 17 days. Then there is the FIA World Council meeting in Paris on Wednesday (tomorrow) where I imagine Champ Car will give some clue about the schedule and International events.

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Next week its AAPEX and SEMA. Will Champ Car be there again this year?

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Originally Posted by pits4me

Next week its AAPEX and SEMA. Will Champ Car be there again this year?

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They aren't listed as an exibitor.

Looking at the the celebs list, the only two CCWS-related participants listed are Graham Rahal (can't remember where he was) and Paul Tracy, who is at the Sherwin Williams booth right after Michael Andretti.

By the way, someone with at least a basic knowledge of web-based database applications needs to take a serious look at the SEMA site. That's terrible! Some of the pages I looked at took over 10 minutes to load, and my ISP seems to be clicking along pretty good tonight.

In keeping with the original theme of this thread, "What Happens Next", well I see a lot of posts referring to confirmed races for 2008.

So, indeed it does look like there will be 2008 season. However, does anyone know if the schedule has been officially released or are the other posts just speculation and rumour?

Some tracks and ALMS have announced schedules but CC has said nothing.

By all accounts Champ Car is holding nothing back for the season finale in Mexico City. So if Champ Car has the biggest awaited news of the Fall, it would makes sense to me to announce it there.

Hi Everyone, long time lurker, first time poster….and I’m a Champcaroholic.

First let me state for the record, I have never watched an entire IRL or NASCAR race.

This thread sure has taken some twists and turns, but Dr. Jack’s question remains “what happens next”. I’m not an insider, just a long time fan. I watched the series last year with child-like glee, it reminded me of the early 90’s. The Tracy/Tags/Seb antics, the great AJ story, Kat’s scary crash and subsequent smile’n wave…great stuff. Things were looking good for CC, I really thought so anyway. Heck, they were even on mainstream TV sometimes. The plan was coming together!

In one year the series went from that….to where we are now. Sure, there were some negatives last year - cancelled race, lost AJ to the dark side – but things were looking good, or maybe ignorance was bliss in my case. New cars were on the way, higher car count promised, new races (Vegas streets no less) and new sponsor deals in the works. What we got instead was more cancelled races, more lost drivers, less cars on track, less sponsors and a team shutting down. Sure the new car is good, but the intention was to bring in more new teams as well as better racing. Ok, maybe this year is just a set back. Maybe this time next year we’ll look back and say “wow, things were really bad there for a while, sure glad Kevin knew what he was doing” But I don’t think so.

I’ve always thought CART/CC would be there forever, this year is the first time I have ever questioned that. It is truly sad what’s become of the once mighty IndyCar series, but that doesn’t change what I see as the inevitable. Only one top level AOW series can exist, there just isn’t room for two. Whose fault it is for this predicament doesn’t really matter anymore does it? TG, Bernie, the France family, the Amigo’s, they all played their part I suppose. From a fan’s perspective I don’t really care. All we want is good racing at good venues with good drivers that we know and can cheer for, period.

IMO what should happen next is the much talked about merger, not a take over. What shouldn’t happen is for the two sides to sit around and wait until one or the other goes out of business. That doesn’t make sense. Both series have something to offer right now, and both would benefit from a merger. One side may have more to offer than the other, leave that to the arbitrators to decide. If KK and TG really care about AOW then they should do what’s right. It’s time to heal, they were all family once…years ago. Like an awkward family squabble, both side need to swallow their pride and do what’s right. For the good of the sport and out of respect to the fans, I hope they can find a way to make it work.

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Originally Posted by calacan

...IMO what should happen next is the much talked about merger, not a take over. What shouldn’t happen is for the two sides to sit around and wait until one or the other goes out of business...

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Actually, is there a good reason for TG to not sit around & wait for CC to go out of business, even it means risking the IRL?

Think about it. As I remember, the idea for CART came around, in part, because Tony Hulman had no interest in helping to promote the rest of the Championship series because he thought that it would detract from Indy.

If BOTH series die, then what are we left with? Just the I500. Right where we started before CART came into existence. TG wouldn't have to help prop up the IRL anymore.

What would be the downside for TG?

IMO, they won't BOTH go out of business. TG founded the IRL as a series centered around the "500" and that point hasn't changed. CC picked up the assets of CART and is doing its thing...for better or worse, that point hasn't changed, either.