Feature: A Eulogy for CART

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History

CART was formed as a company owned by the racing teams and inspired by the success enjoyed by the Bernie Ecclestone led FOCA in Europe; The Formula One Constructor’s Association. FOCA ensured that the Formula 1 teams received a bigger share of the revenues generated by the F1 races and began the mass-media revolution that was to lead to F1 becoming the biggest television hit in sports, only topped every four years by The Olympics and the World Championships in Football, or Soccer, whichever term you prefer.

Papyrus' IndyCar Racing 2

Papyrus' IndyCar Racing 2

FOCA negotiated the television rights and Dan Gurney saw this and thought, "hey, that is a good idea... let’s do this in the USA" so he drafted a proposal. A so-called white paper suggesting that a similar set up should be adopted in the States.

Long story made short, the sanctioning body, United States Auto Club (USAC) did not wish to adopt this new scheme (thank you very much) so CART was born as a new independent sanctioning body for the future CART races.

Looking back at the stats, by one name or the other, CART lived for 29 seasons, from 1979 to 2007, 2007 being the last full season. The most winning teams were indubitably Newman-Haas, Penske and Ganassi, who share 21 championships between them.

In a controversy that in some ways is reminiscent of the mid-eighties war between FOCA and FIA in Formula 1 over sanctioning rights and distribution of paychecks, the Indy Racing League (IRL) was formed in the early nineties as an oval track only competitor to CART.

iDT's IndyCar 1995 Mod for rFactor

While the last four or five seasons marked the beginning of the end for ChampCar with processional races growing more frequent and ever fewer ovals and speedways on the schedule, in the late eighties and the nineties the series was everything to a race fan that Formula1 should have been, but wasn’t.

The cars were relatively simple with manual or semi-automatic transmission, no traction control or computer handling the start for the driver, big slick tires and fairly ruggedly built for an open wheeler top-tier racing car. The racing was extremely competitive. Depending on race events and strategy, just about any driver who was on the lead lap in the closing stages of a race was in contention for a win.

When Nigel Mansell left F1 at the end of the 1992 season as newly crowned World Champion to join the Newman-Haas team in CART, European attention sky-rocketed and races were suddenly broadcast live on the then free satellite channels for every fan to watch.

CART pampered us with breathtaking racing on road courses, street circuits and ovals with plenty of overtaking and excitement, and with driver names on the grid reading like a Who’s Who of auto racing including: Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Michael Andretti, Alex Zanardi, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Those were the days when we were treated to slipstreaming at 200+ mph, gasped in awe and withholding our breath at the weaving and dicing on the super speedways and learned intimately the flow and turns of some of the world’s best road courses. Tracks such as Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Portland, the aforementioned Long Beach, and all the others. Those were indeed the days when every other Sunday activity was subordinated by "the CART race".

The IndyCar 1995 Mod for rFactor

In the end, CART lives on within the IRL which has in many ways become what CART was in its finest hours. Even with “foreigners”...drivers from abroad participating. But let us pay tribute to the series by looking at CART on primarily the PC.

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