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Originally posted by Lee Janotta
The biggest cultural sticking points I can see are 1. the schism between the big leagues and the traditional open-wheel series, like WoO and USAC, and 2. the snobbish Euro-centric attitude of many CART fans, an ugly side to the series that I've only started to recognize since we start this thread... And I'm glad I did. Too many people have gotten Champcars completely confused with a zero-oval international series... Which it most definitely is not, nor was it ever, nor could it survive as! There are already many series filling that niche (F1, F3000 (soon to be F2 again, yippee!), the Superfund World Series, and to a lesser extend, many others.
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I want to get it out in the open that I think Indycar racing should be
American with an international flavor, not the other way around. I have no problem if a down-and-out European racer comes here to give his career a second chance, like Alex Zanardi did. And there is no reason why a Formula 3000 champion shouldn't secure a CART ride if his only alternative is to wander around Europe looking for rides that aren't there, as was the case for Montoya, Junqueira, and Bourdais. But, every seat in the series shouldn't be filled by foreigners with rich daddies who have no intentions of staying around, like how much of this year's CART and IRL fields are.
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A winter series in 2 year-old cars with spec engines, and a schedule of two thirds to half ovals are the best ways I can figure to give the USAC kids a fair shot... Sadly, it comes down to money in a lot of these deals, and _that's_ a main reason I emphasize value, so they teams don't have to look to their drivers to pay them to put a barely competitive car on the grid.
The winter series would also be a good place to show your skills because it would never leave the continent, cutting running costs enormously... And let's face it, it'd be the only show in town, so it'd be sure to draw some audience and sponsors! I mean, if we've got good weather, why not race?
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How do you plan to do that during the winter? An inaugural race at Fontana during the 500 weekend, followed by Willow Springs, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, followed by a Christmas vacation, then a move to Florida, racing at Homestead, Sebring, then Homestead again, with maybe a finale at St. Pete's? That's genius!