2007 schedule and some unexpected rant.

Champ Car 2007 schedule. From champcar.ws

April 8 Las Vegas, Nevada - Street Course
April 15 Long Beach, California - Street Course
April 22 Houston, Texas - Reliant Park
May 20 Zhuhai, China - Road Course
June 10 Portland, Oregon - Portland International Raceway
June 24 Cleveland, Ohio - Burke Lakefront Airport
July 1 St. Jovite, Canada - Circuit Mont Tremblant
July 8 Toronto, Canada - Exhibition Place
July 22 Edmonton, Canada - City Centre Airport
July 29 San Jose, California - Street Course
Aug. 12 Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin - Road America
Aug. 19 Denver, Colorado - Pepsi Center
Oct. 21 Surfers Paradise, Australia - Street Course
Nov. 11 Mexico City, Mexico - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Dec. 2 Phoenix, Arizona - Street Course


I’m very happy with this schedule, as I think the series is firmly planted for the first time in years and now will continue to grow and prosper, as opposed to the other direction. They started to grow the moment the three amigos bought the company, but now the series is definitely growing exponentially and the difference is going to be very evident in Los Vegas. Three races in a row is cool. It’s going to keep the series in the news and that’s great momentum right off the bat. It’s not going to be easy for the people involved, but its going to be fun. But I’m sure that by Sunday in Houston, Champ Car employees will look forward to going home and then….China! What a great idea to host a race there, what an experience it’s going to be for everybody that’s going. Staging a race in a communist country is quite a feat. Good for the series. The series will have a lot of momentum going to the Canada triple header. St Jovite on Canada Day is great and I love the irony (though you probably have to be French Canadian to get it). I’m sooo happy the series is going back to Road America, as I had heard over the weekend some grumbling that they might not be. The series needs Road America and the double-header with ALMS is perfect.
Technically, I like ending the season in December. I don’t mind that. The lull between I could do without, but then again it’s better than having some 10 races all within a three month period. As race fans, we’d be happy with a race every weekend all year. That’s not going to happen, so next season’s schedule is as close to having a season all year long. I mean, we’re talking only 3 months between the end of the 2007 season and the start of the 2008 one.

The new car, new teams and the whole series gets together in Las Vegas. It should be one heck of a season opener.

The IRL announced they would be going to Belle Isle. Pathetic. Nothing ticks me off more than when the IRL announce more road races. It just downright ticks me right off. Why do they bother? Why don’t they stick to their all-oval racing? Their attempts at usurping Champ Car are sad and have failed miserably. In fact, I don’t want to get into a whole ‘thing’ here, but I feel that it’s Champ Car’s turn to get the ball. Here’s what I mean: Over the last few years, we have seen many big, traditional race teams leave Champ Car for the IRL (and engine manufacturers). They have (had) a sweet deal with a HUGE network, not to mention the network that owns the number 1 sport station in the nation. From a media stand point, the IRL has been given EVERYTHING to help promote the series. When I read my ESPN magazine and they promote what’s on ESPN this month and I see an ad for an IRL race, I wonder how many groans were ushered when they realized they had to print that. ABC has ads all over USA Today promoting their upcoming races. They have, arguably the second most recognizable race in America (sorry, but the Daytona 500 has passed the Indy 500 in popularity. Maybe if not for the split, that wouldn’t have happened) that, yes ABC pumps and pumps and pumps to whatever outlet they possibly can. And, the cherry is that female driver they got 2 years ago who has demonstrated an aggressive style at appearing on the cover of magazines wearing next to nothing. They were given the greatest possible gift. Literally it was handed to them. I wonder if Graham was a little older if we wouldn’t see Danica in Champ Cars right now. Danicamania swept the nation and she was everywhere. Literally, everywhere. Despite her non-results, there she was, on the cover of some magazine or on the View pushing her IndyCar career as if her looks and marketability is all she had (has). And yet, the IRL can’t become more than a blip on the radar, if that. They brought in Gene Simmons, have an American Champion and their biggest race had three Americans finish in the top 3. And still, they get nothing. Zilch. It’s why a ‘merger’ won’t do anything for Champ Car. Why? Because you want to know what one series would look like, just look at the IRL. The IRL has been getting the full ABC royal treatment and they still can’t do anything. What more can the IRL and ABC do to promote the IRL that hasn’t already been done? Nothing. They have done as much promotion as NASCAR for crying out loud. Take Champ Cars away and you won’t see anything different from the IRL because they already do everything possible. The IRL has acted as if they are the only open-wheel series in America and they have shrunk in popularity (overall).

What I’d like to know is what would happen if Champ Cars were given what the IRL gets. And by this, I am talking about the Indy 500, a fat contract with the ‘world wide leader in sports’, the Penskes and the Chips of the racing world. I don’t know for sure what would happen, because a lot of ideas are internal. But I know Champ Car has some good people. But what I do know is that the IRL has been given everything in the world to succeed and have failed to do so. Now let’s see what Champ Car could do with all of that.