Former single-seater racing championship
Champ Car World Series
(
CCWS
) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a
sanctioning body
for
American open-wheel car racing
that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to
Championship Auto Racing Teams
(CART), which sanctioned open-wheel racing from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 season.
Vehicles
[
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]
Champ Cars were single-seat,
open-wheel
racing cars
, with
mid-mounted
engines. Champ cars had sculpted undersides to create
ground effect
and prominent wings to create
downforce
. The cars would use a different aerodynamic kit on the occasions they raced on an oval.
With funds low, development was effectively frozen with a focus on developing a universal chassis, and the series generally ran on CART-spec 2002
Lola
chassis from 2003 to 2006. The new chassis was developed by
Panoz
and debuted in 2007 as the
Panoz DP01
. The chassis was well received by drivers and fans.
The series leased 750hp
2.65 L V-8 turbocharged Cosworth XFE engines
to teams, which had been purchased by CART for the 2003 season.
History
[
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]
CART, following the departure of a number of top teams and engine manufacturers to the rival
Indy Racing League
(IRL), declared bankruptcy after the 2003 season.
Gerald Forsythe
,
Kevin Kalkhoven
, and
Paul Gentilozzi
founded Open-Wheel Racing Series LLC (OWRS) to bid on CART's assets and continue the series as its own entity. The IRL intended to bid a higher amount but had only committed to purchasing the series' Cosworth engines and the sanctioning contract for the
Long Beach Grand Prix
, effectively to make the series untenable and allow a takeover on their terms. OWRS was successful, as its bid allowed the highest probability CART vendors would get paid.
Once CART's assets were secured, the series began a major push to be able to field enough cars and drivers for the April Long Beach Grand Prix, with the final drivers announced just before practice began. The series featured three longtime CART teams,
Forsythe Championship Racing
,
Newman/Haas Racing
, and
Dale Coyne Racing
. OWRS also became owners of the
Trans-Am Series
and the
Atlantic Championship
. Champ Car was able to maintain a full field and most of CART's street circuit sanctioning agreements for 2004.
Champ Car eventually moved into a 'de facto' all road-course format. The series would experiment with dramatic rule changes, including special compound tires that were to be used for a fixed portion of the race, standing starts, and timed races.
Both Champ Car and the IRL continued to suffer from reduced fields, sponsorship, and television ratings. Merger talks in 2006 were halted after disagreements regarding Champ Car's upcoming Panoz chassis and leaked details of a shared new series upset IMS.
The
2007 season
saw the withdrawal of Bridgestone and Ford as presenting sponsors
and some race cancellations.
By January 2008, both the IRL and Champ Car feared they did not have enough participating cars to maintain their TV and sanctioning contract minimums.
After successful merger negotiations, in mid-February 2008, Champ Car authorized bankruptcy to facilitate a February 22 agreement in principle to merge with the IRL.
[3]
The IRL purchased the CCWS's sanctioning contracts, the Champ Car Mobile Medical Unit, the series history, and
goodwill
for $6 million, with Forsythe and Kalkhoven signing a
non-compete agreement
in exchange for $2 million each.
While the first "merged" event of the rechristened "
IndyCar
Series" was the
GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300
from
Homestead-Miami Speedway
on March 29, 2008, due to a scheduling conflict with the
2008 Indy Japan 300
, the
2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
was held on April 20, 2008, as a Champ Car sanctioned event using CCWS-spec Panoz-Cosworth cars and the winners getting IRL points, with the event described as a final celebration of CART/CCWS.
Television
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Spike TV
aired all races in 2004, with select races aired on high definition channel
HDNet
.
In 2005 and 2006, coverage was split among NBC, CBS, and Speed Channel. In 2007, coverage was split among
NBC
,
CBS
,
ABC
,
ESPN
,
ESPN2
, and
ESPN Classic
.
Champions
[
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]
References
[
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]
- Whitaker, Sigur E. (2015).
The Indy Car Wars: The 30 Year Fight for Control of American Open-Wheel Racing
. North Carolina: McFarland and Company.
ISBN
978-1-4766-1980-4
.