Champ Car 2005

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Blake

Blake

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haswell00
The 2005 Champ Car season looks like it's finally comming together and it's just over a week until the first race of the season.

Last year Sebastien Bourdias won the championship over his team mate Bruno Junqueira, who finished 2nd in the championship for the 3rd year in a row. Forsythe racing grabbed the 3rd and 4th positions with Patrick Carpentier and Paul Tracy respecitively.

The year everyone is of course chasing Newman/Haas, but their are many other people who have a great chance of being competetive, including 2002 Champion da Matta, so it looks like another tight season.

These are the driver line ups for the 2005 season:

Newman/Haas
Sebastien Bourdais
#1 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Bruno Junqueira
#2 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

Forsythe Championship Racing
Paul Tracy
#3 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Mario Dominguez
#7 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

HVM (Previously Herdez Competition)
Bjorn Wirdheim
#4 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Ronnie Bremer
#55 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

Rocketsports Racing
Timo Glock
#8 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Ryan Hunter-Reay
#31 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

PKV Racing
Jimmy Vasser
#12 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Cristiano da Matta
#21 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
Andrew Ranger
#27 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Nelson Philippe
#34 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

RuSPORT
Justin Wilson
#9 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
A.J. Allmendinger
#10 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

Team Australia Racing (Previously Walker Racing)
Marcus Marshall
#5 Ford-Cosworth / Lola
Alex Tagliani
#15 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

Dale Coyne Racing
Oriol Servia
#11 Ford-Cosworth / Lola

Discuss anything to do with Champ Car here, Race Results, News etc.

Blake
 
There's only 15 drivers confirmed, so number aren't quite up their yet, they still need 3 more to get minumum numbers. HVM will bring 2 drivers in, but I dunoo what will happen to get the minimum 18 ... either Dale Coyne will have to run 2 cars or a bigger team will have to run 3 like Forsythe did last year.

Blake
 
Yea, the Champ Car World Series was pretty dead last year.

I didn't see any races on network TV. Many teams and drivers also left for the Indy Car Series over the past few years. And a few great Champ Car drivers (like Juan Pablo Montoya) have also left for Formula 1.
 
Yeah, in Australia we see it on Free to air TV, mind you it's on at about 2am but still, that's what tapes are for.

The races last year were pretty exciting and I think the series is getting back on its feet which is always a good thing :sly:

This year we have Da Matta returning so there will be a fair few skilled drivers out on the field now and looks like the racing is going to be as good as ever.

I'm looking forward to next year though, it will be the first time in a fair while that the cars specs will be changed, can't wait :D

Blake
 
From what I've heard there will be multiple engine manufacturors again, more chassis manufacturors, so the specs should rise a bit.

Blake
 
A lot of what happens in CART next year will hinge on what teams are still going to be in CART next year.

While Rocketsports, PKV, and Forsythe are all going to hang in there, it's considered very likely that Newman-Haas will go IRL if the IRL road racing package proves effective (which I'm paying close attention to this weekend at St. Petersburg). With a Newman-Haas defection, it'd run the talent leak to IRL dry as that would mean all four powerhouse teams (Newman-Haas, Chip Ganassi, Penske, and Rahal-Letterman) would be in IRL.

I hope it happens. Just desserts for the organization that screwed over American open wheel when they divorced the Indy 500 from its USAC open wheel roots in the 80's.
 
It isn't called CART anymore :rolleyes:

Also only one of the owners of Newman/Haas wants to go IRL (I forget which one) the other is completely loyal to Champ Car, so if the Newman half splits from Haas then there will still be a team in Champ Car.

I'm also hoping Champ Car can triumph over IRL as Champ Car will be a much better series once everything gets settled down again, at least IMO.

Blake
 
Blake
It isn't called CART anymore :rolleyes:

Also only one of the owners of Newman/Haas wants to go IRL (I forget which one) the other is completely loyal to Champ Car, so if the Newman half splits from Haas then there will still be a team in Champ Car.

I'm also hoping Champ Car can triumph over IRL as Champ Car will be a much better series once everything gets settled down again, at least IMO.

Blake
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Next time Champ Cars are in town(Portland, Or/USA), I'm going to go see them. I've never been to an racing event, so I can't wait!

P.S. I prefer Champ over IRL also. 👍 Our city tried to ditch Champ and went after IRL, only to get rejected(HA!).
 
I'm going to try and get some tickets for the Indy 300 in Queensland, it would be great to go up their :D

Blake
 
Blake
It isn't called CART anymore :rolleyes:

Also only one of the owners of Newman/Haas wants to go IRL (I forget which one) the other is completely loyal to Champ Car, so if the Newman half splits from Haas then there will still be a team in Champ Car.

I'm also hoping Champ Car can triumph over IRL as Champ Car will be a much better series once everything gets settled down again, at least IMO.

Blake
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Newman-Haas is Paul Newman (actor road racing dude) and Carl Haas (actual car owner). Haas, the one who is watching Champ Car turn into the world's fastest spec series and watching his sponsors run away as if chased by plague infested vermin, is the one who wants to go to IRL and survive.

Newman, the one who keeps the sponsors around, says stay in CART. Newman won't form a team should Haas defect.

I don't want you to get the impression I'm an IRL supporter. The only thing I approve of that the IRL has done is continue the Indy 500 (still the world's most important single motor race) and the initial move to production based engines.

I'm a USAC supporter. I'm one of the multitude of fans, drivers, team owners, and mechanics who've grown up in USAC's stronghold - the American midwest - and who still dream of Indy. USAC's finest races, finest drivers, and finest minds all are in the shadow of the 500. Names like Richmond, Johncock, Rutherford, Gibson, Warren, and on down the list have all come from the USAC ranks to claim glory in the 500. Even those that don't win, that don't even qualify, they still return to our ranks as conquering heroes.

My home track is Sandusky Speedway, a 50 year old 1/2mile oval in Ohio. We've seen several of our champions go to the Brickyard; Timmy Richmond, Gordon and Nolan Johncock (Nolan was unfortunately killed at Sandusky in 1971), "Double O" Joe Gosek, Todd "Flintstone Flyer" Gibson, Bentley Warren, and on down the list.

CART, when they split from USAC in the early 80's, betrayed the very roots of Indy car racing. What CART created was spitting in the face of icons like Vukovich, like Rathman, like Rose, like Sachs. When the IRL split in 1996, those of us who'd watch Indy become home to F1 hasbeens (or never was's) and watched OUR drivers end up in NASCAR rides thought that finally things were going to be set right. The first time any of us heard an Aurora fire up, it sounded almost like an Offenhauser. Finally, it seemed, things were going to go back to the days of wheel to wheel racing and once again there'd be that common thread between the open wheel stars of the short tracks and the glamour of the Brickyard.

Boy were we wrong to get our hopes up. Sure they tried at the beginning. Joe Gosek, Davey Hamilton, Tony Stewart, all were short track stars who gave it the old college try only to get shunted out for the money of the rest of the world's racing baggage. The USAC to NASCAR flood continued, Indy became Honda and Toyota's non-production playground, and CART on ovals was created.

Both organizations can kiss my ever-loving @ss. The best open wheel racing in America is in USAC, followed very closely by ISMA Supermodifieds. CART screwed us over in the 80's. IRL in the 90's.

I hope to god that USAC's new superspeedway Silver Crown car is a success and gets the cameras turned back on real drivers in real cars putting on real racing. No more aero sensitive carbon arrows without even enough bodywork to put a driver's NUMBER on. CART and IRL, stuff it and end it. Give Indy back to the people who made it the Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing!

49689_dsc_6739.jpg

800-4-Joey-Payne.jpg
 
Indy 500 (still the world's most important single motor race)
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That could be debated. It's America's most important motor race, I'll give you that, but outside of the USA not many people really give a toss about the Indy 500, at least I don't think I've ever heard anyone who's not an American mention the Indy 500.... :indiff:

Blake
 
Blake, have you forgotten that it was Graham Hill and Jimmy Clark who led the rear engine revolution at Indy in the 60's?

How about the winning Indy drives of Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Jacques Villeneuve?

Do you forget that Montoya's Indy win was crucial to his resume upon being considered for the seat at Williams and that Sir Frank commented highly on his cold tire car control as evidenced by his 500 win?

Or that when Sir Frank was looking to replace Montoya this season, one of the first names he considered was 2004 Indy 500 champion Buddy Rice?

How about the throngs of South Americans who travel each year to Indy to watch and dream of joining Helio Castroneves, Emerson Fittipaldi, Gil De Ferran, and Arie Luyendyk on the Borg-Warner trophy?

Then there was the period in the 50's when the 500 actually counted as a round of the World Driver's Championship. Ferrari even built a specialized version of their F1 cars and sent Alberto Ascari to the 500 to compete in 1952.

ascari-qual.jpg


Indy was, is, and forever shall be The Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing. There is no single race that carries more prestige for a driver (let us not forget that Le Mans is prestige and glory for cars and constructors first) than Indy.
 
When the Indy 500 was a round in the F1 world championship it was just a gift to America. Only Americans (in American cars) ever one there, it was just so the US could say we host a round of the F1 championship.

It is the longest running motor race (1911-present, excluding years during WWII) and it is very imporatant race. "The Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing" is bull, it's just a little catch phrase, I can think of numerous races that are more spectacular that are held every year.

From now on can we please keep on the topic of "Champ Car 2005", if you would like to discuss this further please create an appropriate thread.

Blake
 
HVM Inc. is proud to announce its 2005 Champ Car drivers, F3000 Champion Bjorn Wirdheim of Sweden and 8-time Karting Champion, Ronnie Bremer of Denmark.
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Wow, no American or Mexican drivers...well it's always good to see Champ Car grabbing world talent 👍

Blake
 
Blake
Wow, no American or Mexican drivers...well it's always good to see Champ Car grabbing world talent 👍

Blake
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No offense, but Champ Car NEEDS to get more American drivers ASAP (especially since many good American open-wheel drivers have either retired or gone to NASCAR). Only 3 out of the current 17 Champ Car drivers are American. Doesn't look right for an American racing series.

Open-wheel racing has gone downhill in the US ever since the CART/IRL split. TV ratings and attendance for Champ Car and IndyCar stink compared to NASCAR.

The people who manage the Champ Car World Series need to remember that they're still an American racing series. Both the Champ Car needs to bring back American fans if they want to survive.

Less fans = less sponsors = less money = less racing.

I really hope Champ Car learns from their mistakes because I love Champ Car racing, and I'd hate to see it dissapear.
 
Back in the days of CART it used to be a series held in international regard due to the fact that it did go overseas a fair bit. It had a big international audience and I think that is how Champ Car neds to survive.

Blake
 
Why? Indycar is offering every CART offered. A mix of road courses and ovals (with a strong chance of taking over the Long Beach event for 2006 since CART's contract is up) and save for Newman-Haas, every major team from CART now competes in Indycars.

Heck, Indy even offers a variety of chassis (Dallara or G-Force/Panoz) and a variety of engines (Honda, Chevrolet, Toyota) as opposed to a spec series (save for the remaining but woefully outdated Reynards).
 
Layla's Keeper
Why? Indycar is offering every CART offered. A mix of road courses and ovals (with a strong chance of taking over the Long Beach event for 2006 since CART's contract is up) and save for Newman-Haas, every major team from CART now competes in Indycars.

Heck, Indy even offers a variety of chassis (Dallara or G-Force/Panoz) and a variety of engines (Honda, Chevrolet, Toyota) as opposed to a spec series (save for the remaining but woefully outdated Reynards).
Click to expand...

As of now, IRL only has 3 road courses.

Now I don't have anything against oval racing or IRL (in fact, I watch IRL races), but the IRL isn't offering everything Champ Car does.
 

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