CART IndyCar World Series
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Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was a sanctioning body for
American open-wheel car racing American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar a ...
that operated from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 season. CART was founded in 1979 by team owners formerly from the
United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the List of USAC Championship Car seasons, United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the ...
(USAC) Championship Car division. The owners disagreed with the direction and leadership of USAC. They developed a then-novel business model of team owners sanctioning and promoting their own series collectively rather than relying on a neutral governing body to do so. While the CART owners broke off to form their own series, the sport's biggest race and centerpiece – the
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...
– remained under the sanctioning control of USAC. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the CART Indy Car World Series became the pre-eminent open-wheel auto racing series in North America. It features a diverse schedule of
superspeedways Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost univ ...
, short ovals,
road courses Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...
, and
street circuit A street circuit is a motorsport race track, racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor racing, motor races. Airport Runway, runways and Taxiway, taxiways are also sometimes part of ...
. The CART-based teams continued to compete at the Indianapolis 500, essentially as a one-off. From 1983 to 1995, an arrangement was put in place in which the Indy 500 would pay points to the CART championship. Though it was still sanctioned by USAC, it was effectively integrated into the CART season schedule. Even as the series prospered, concerns about costs, competitiveness, and revenue sharing began to create opposition to CART's organizational structure. Attempts at reform, which saw the company rebranded as ''IndyCar'' in 1992 and a compromise board formed, failed. In 1996, an open wheel "split" saw the newly created
Indy Racing League IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...
(IRL) take full control over the Indianapolis 500 and start a competing oval-based open-wheel series. CART ceased using the IndyCar name but continued its series without participating in the Indianapolis 500. The "split" saw a dramatic drop in interest for open wheel racing in the United States, which was compounded by the growing popularity of
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
, creating a downward trend in sponsorship and attendance at some tracks. After a series of additional setbacks in the early 2000s, several of the major teams and manufacturers defected to the rival IRL. CART went bankrupt at the end of the 2003 season. In 2004, a trio of team owners acquired the assets of the series from bankruptcy, rebranding it the
Champ Car World Series 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), ...
(CCWS). Continuing financial difficulties caused Champ Car to file for bankruptcy before its planned 2008 season; CART and CCWS assets and history were merged into the IRL's
IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...
.


Vehicles

Champ cars (typically referred to as "Indy cars" before 1997) were single-seat,
open-wheel An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...
racing cars Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including n ...
, with mid-mounted engines. Champ cars had sculpted undersides to create ground effects and prominent wings to create
downforce Downforce is a downwards lift force created by the aerodynamic features of a vehicle. If the vehicle is a car, the purpose of downforce is to allow the car to travel faster by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more gri ...
. The cars would use different aerodynamic kits depending on whether they were racing on an oval or a road-course. Teams typically purchased
chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
constructed by independent suppliers such as
Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...
,
Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...
,
Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...
, and
March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...
, with some owners, such as
Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of motorspo ...
and
Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937), also known as "the Captain", is an American auto racing team owner, businessman, and former professional driver. Penske is the owner of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and ...
, constructing their own. The series exclusively used Goodyear tires until 1995, when Firestone entered, creating a spirited competition between the brands. Firestone ultimately became the exclusive supplier in 2000, with their parent company
Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (18891976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of (), meaning ...
taking over the role in 2002. Champ cars used
turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
engines that ran on
methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical compound and the simplest aliphatic Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with the chemical formula (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often ab ...
fuel.
Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for auto racing, automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotiv ...
(later branded as the
Ford-Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industries ...
),
Ilmor Ilmor is a British independent high-performance auto racing, motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan (engineer), Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and ...
(branded as
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...
), and
Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...
engines were common powerplants through the mid-1990s.
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
took over as Ilmor's branding, while
Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
and
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
joined as factory efforts. By the 1990s, engines were typically leased from manufacturers, who conducted
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
during the racing season; one engine could easily dominate competition in the first part of the season and then fall behind. The exclusive availability of more advanced versions of engines to certain teams in the early-1990s became a major source of contention within the organization, and manufacturers fiercely resisted proposals to have engines simply be purchased by teams. In 2003, after the withdrawal of
Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
and
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
, CART purchased a series of identical 2.65L V-8 turbocharged Cosworth engines and leased them to teams under Ford branding. Champ cars were visually similar, and often compared to, the higher budget and more technical
Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
cars, which also featured wings, mid-engines, and an open-wheel design. Due to their use on ovals, Champ Cars weighed more and were more substantial in size, were slower to accelerate but were higher in top speed. Both series intentionally downplayed direct comparisons for commercial reasons, but 2002 saw a rare occurrence in both series running the same track (
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled ''Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve'' (), is a motor racing Race track, circuit on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA Form ...
in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
) within a month of each other. Former
Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...
driver
Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...
won the
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
for the Formula One race with a lap time of 1'12.836, with the slowest being Alex Yoong's 1'17.34; Several weeks later,
Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004. Biography Origins and early career ...
won pole position in a Champ Car race with a lap time of 1'18.959.


History


Foundation

In 1905 the
AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...
established a national driving championship and became the first sanctioning body for auto racing in the United States. The AAA ceased sanctioning auto racing in the general outrage over motor racing safety that followed the
1955 Le Mans disaster The 1955 Le Mans disaster was a major crash that occurred on 11 June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Large pieces of debris flew into the crowd, killing spectators and French dr ...
. In response,
Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...
president
Tony Hulman Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr. (February 11, 1901 – October 27, 1977) was an American businessman from Terre Haute, Indiana, who bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and brought racing back to the famous race course after a four-year hiatus ...
formed the
United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the List of USAC Championship Car seasons, United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the ...
(USAC) to take over the sanctioning of what was called "championship" auto racing, or open wheel racing, whose biggest event was the annual
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...
at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...
. USAC sanctioned the championship exclusively until 1978, and was the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; ) is an international organisation with two primary functions surrounding use of the automobile. Its mobility division advocacy, advocates the interests of motoring organisations, the automot ...
's recognized American authority with regard to open wheel racing. Competitors in the championship circuit, coalescing around
Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of motorspo ...
, began to become critical of USAC's sanctioning though the 1970s. Notable incidents included the loss of a lucrative series sponsorship by
Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...
in 1971 after USAC failed to enforce the brand's exclusivity at events, the existence of dirt tracks, purses that teams said would result in a loss in money even if the team made the podium, and a lack of modern promotion for the non-Indianapolis events in the series. In early 1978, Gurney wrote what came to be known as the "Gurney White Paper", the blueprint for an organization called Championship Auto Racing Teams. Gurney took his inspiration from the improvements
Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is a British business magnate, motorsport executive and former racing driver. Widely known in journalism as the "F1 Supremo", Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987, controlling the c ...
had forced on
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
with his creation of the
Formula One Constructors Association The Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) was an organization of the chassis builders (constructors) who design and build the cars that race in the FIA Formula One World Championship. It evolved from the earlier ''Formula 1 Constructors ...
. The White Paper called for the owners to form CART as an advocacy group to promote their interests in USAC's national championship. The group would also work to negotiate television rights, sponsorship agreements, and race purses, and ideally hold seats on USAC's governing body. In 1978, the last season that USAC was sole sanctioning body for Championship racing, their 18 race schedule had 4 road course races and 14 oval track races. On April 23, 1978, eight top USAC officials died in an airplane crash, creating an organizational vacuum that severely hampered the 1978 season. In November 1978 Gurney, joined by other leading team owners including
Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937), also known as "the Captain", is an American auto racing team owner, businessman, and former professional driver. Penske is the owner of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and ...
and Pat Patrick, took their requests to USAC's Board, but the proposal was rejected, leading to the creation of a new stand-alone series. The first CART race was held on 11 March 1979, with the
Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, HPDE, Time Trial, Road Racing, RoadRally, and Hill Climbs in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs ...
sanctioning the series. USAC initially tried to ban all CART drivers from the
1979 Indianapolis 500 The 63rd 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 27, 1979. Brothers Al Unser, Al and Bobby Unser combined to lead 174 of the 200 laps, but Al dropped out around the midpo ...
, informing CART teams by telegram during their event at
Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (currently known as EchoPark Speedway for sponsorship reasons, formerly known as the Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Hampton, Georg ...
, until CART succeeded in obtaining an injunction to allow its cars to qualify. Of the 20 races held in 1979, 13 were part of the 1979 CART Championship. An attempt by USAC and CART to jointly sanction races in 1980 as the Championship Racing League saw USAC withdraw after 5 races, and by the end of 1981 the only USAC sanctioned asphalt championship race was the Indianapolis 500.


CART PPG Indy Car World Series (1982–1991)

By 1982, the CART PPG Indy Car World Series was generally recognized as the American national championship in open wheel racing. In 1983, USAC agreed to allow CART to add the Indy 500 to its schedule and have drivers be awarded points in the CART championship while retaining their authority to sanction the 500. Beginning with a schedule mainly based on oval speedways like its USAC predecessor, the series began to replace the declining
Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...
series in prominent North American road racing circuits such as
Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...
,
Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington, Ohio, Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar Series, Indy ...
, and
Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...
. Many racing stars, including
Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...
,
Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...
, and
Danny Sullivan Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...
found success in CART, which by the mid-1980s expanded by sanctioning street races, taking over the
Detroit Grand Prix The title of Detroit Grand Prix (United States Grand Prix – East) was applied to the Formula One races held at the Detroit street circuit in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America from 1982 through 1988. History In 1982, the U ...
and the
Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. It was the premier race on the CART/Champ Car Worl ...
from Formula One, and expanding to
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. CART founded the first full-time driver safety team that traveled with the series, instead of depending on local staff provided by promoters. For the first time, open-wheel racing outside of Indianapolis had developed a stable schedule, enabling more generous sponsorship and television opportunities for team owners. Despite the corresponding increases in attendance, TV revenue, and purses, CART's egalitarian governing structure created its own headaches. CART owners were incredibly diverse: For example, owners such as
Carl Haas Carl Arthur Haas (February 26, 1929 – June 29, 2016) was an American auto racing impresario. He co-owned the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team in the Champ Car and IndyCar Series with Paul Newman and Mike Lanigan. He also owned Carl A. Haas ...
and
Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937), also known as "the Captain", is an American auto racing team owner, businessman, and former professional driver. Penske is the owner of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and ...
owned speedways and had generous contracts with tire, chassis, and engine manufactures, while other teams simply purchased older cars and ran the races they could afford to attend. The diversity of interests led to annual disputes and accusations of real and apparent conflicts of interest with regard to rules, sponsorship, driver safety, track selection, and other matters. In 1988, CART joined ACCUS, allowing foreign drivers to compete without risking their
FIA Super Licence The FIA Super Licence is a driver's qualification allowing the holder to compete in the Formula One World Championship. It is issued and managed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Requirements Super Licence To qualify for ...
s. This, combined with former F1 champion
Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fittipaldi won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with Team ...
's series title in 1989, attracted drivers from South America and Europe to join what had previously been a mostly American dominated series. A growing contingent of international drivers helped make the series a valuable television property for growing sports cable networks worldwide. CART would host its first race outside North America, in
Surfers Paradise Surfing is a list of surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in Glossary of surfing, tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wind wave, wave of water, whic ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, in 1991.


IndyCar and the "Split" (1992–1996)

Tony Hulman's grandson,
Tony George Anton Hulman "Tony" George (born December 30, 1959) is the former Chairman, President, and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company, serving from 1989 to 2009. He was also formerly on the Board of Directors of both entities. ...
, became president of the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...
(IMS) in 1989. He and others viewed foreign drivers and street circuits as discouraging predominantly American USAC sprint racing talent, such as
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...
, from competing in CART.
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
, which ran predominantly on ovals, was gaining in popularity in CART's traditional Midwestern US market at the time. Costs were also rapidly increasing and pricing out smaller teams, as the larger teams and engine and chassis manufacturers competed for victories. Critics regularly accused CART of only serving the interests of team owners, especially the richest ones, and not of the sport as a whole; the owners countered that the teams – who took the most risks, paid the drivers, and expended the most cash – should control the general direction of the sport. CART owners also resented George, and felt that his close relationship with the USAC meant he could jeopardize the series' involvement in the Indianapolis 500 on a whim. Debate continued for a number of years over the proper oversight mechanism for the sport, with IMS resisting any revenue sharing or control over the Indianapolis 500 and team owners not wanting to give too much power to track promoters. In an attempt to address these concerns, CART rebranded as IndyCar in 1992, and later that year formed a compromise board. The owners would elect five members with voting rights, while the IndyCar CEO (representing the other owners) and George (representing IMS) would have non-voting seats. In 1993, British driver
Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell (; born 8 August 1953) is a British former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Mansell won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons ...
, the 1992 F1 Driver's Champion, switched to IndyCar and beat out Fittipaldi for the championship. After the season, the compromise CART board collapsed following a series of controversial decisions, mainly shutting out Japanese manufacturers, cancelling a planned race at
Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...
in the United Kingdom, and not increasing the number of races on the 1994 schedule. Team owners angry with the decisions believed they were motivated by the personal business interests of George and two powerful owners,
Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937), also known as "the Captain", is an American auto racing team owner, businessman, and former professional driver. Penske is the owner of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and ...
and
Carl Haas Carl Arthur Haas (February 26, 1929 – June 29, 2016) was an American auto racing impresario. He co-owned the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team in the Champ Car and IndyCar Series with Paul Newman and Mike Lanigan. He also owned Carl A. Haas ...
, rather than the good of the sport as a whole. The conflict between George and CART owners came to a head in 1994. On January 7, the organization named Andrew Craig, a British sports marketing executive, as its new president and CEO, replacing William Stokkan. The same day, George resigned his non-voting seat on the board; IMS stated that George's resignation had nothing to do with Craig's appointment, but rather it was out of frustration with CART's decision to revert to a 16-member board after the collapse of the five-member compromise board late the previous year. That year, Team Penske introduced a
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
engine specifically designed for the
1994 Indianapolis 500 The 78th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 29, 1994. The race was sanctioned by United States Auto Club (USAC), and was included as race number 4 of 16 of the 1994 PPG IndyCar World ...
that exploited a rule difference between the USAC and IndyCar, dominating the race and prompting fears that costs would continue to grow out of control. In July, IMS announced the founding of the
Indy Racing League IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...
, which would be cost-controlled, race solely on American ovals, and be sanctioned by the USAC. After officiating errors in the
1995 Indianapolis 500 The 79th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 28, 1995. Sanctioned by USAC, it was part of the 1995 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season. Jacques Villeneuve was victorious in his s ...
saw driver complaints about USAC's oversight, George announced that for the
1996 Indianapolis 500 The 80th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 26, 1996. This was the first Indy 500 contested as part of the new Indy Racing League, under the overall sanctioning umbrella of USAC. It ...
the top 25 drivers in IRL points would be guaranteed a spot in the race, leaving only eight of the 33 grid positions available to others. This was known as the " 25/8 Rule," and was unprecedented, as the 500 had traditionally always put every spot up for open qualification. CART alleged they had been locked out of the event and would no longer race at Indianapolis, while George declared that CART was boycotting the 500. To placate sponsors who contractually required the accommodation of large contingents to attend Indianapolis, CART created a rival showcase event, the
U.S. 500 U.S. 500 may refer to multiple races held at Michigan International Speedway: * 1996 U.S. 500, a CART series race held May 26, 1996, the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis 500 * Michigan 500, a CART series race that was held under the title U.S. ...
, at
Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway (formerly named as the Michigan Speedway from 1997 to 2000) is a D-shaped oval superspeedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. It has hosted various major auto racing series throughout its existence, including NASCAR, Cham ...
on the same day as the Indy 500 in 1996. In March, IMS attempted to terminate CART's license to their "IndyCar" trademark in federal court. The lead-up to
Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...
1996 saw a public relations war pitting the owners and drivers of CART against George and IMS, which included Indianapolis legends like the Unser and Andretti families publicly criticizing the new rules and labelling the Indy 500, with less experienced drivers, as unsafe. The 1996 Indianapolis 500 did see a series of accidents, with a quarter of the race run under caution before
Buddy Lazier Robert Buddy Lazier (born October 31, 1967) is an American auto racing driver, best known for winning the 1996 Indianapolis 500 and the 2000 Indy Racing League season championship. Lazier began his racing career in the 1980s by competing in su ...
won his first race. The U.S. 500, starting halfway through the Indy 500, had a disastrous start with a twelve-car crash, delaying the race for an hour.
Jimmy Vasser James "Jimmy" Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver who competed primarily in the Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART series and Champ Car World Series, Champ Car. Vasser won ten CART series races and won the ...
, who won by 11 seconds, quipped "Who needs milk?" while exiting his car for the podium, referring to the tradition of the Indy 500 winner drinking a bottle of milk in victory lane. Both at the time and in retrospect, the weekend was seen as a fiasco that began a serious decline in open-wheel racing, with both the Indy 500 and other IndyCar events seeing drastic decline in prominence, television viewership, and attendance.


CART FedEx Championship Series (1997–2000)

After a number of competing lawsuits, CART agreed to revert to their formal initialism following the 1996 season, on the condition that the IRL would not use the IndyCar name before the end of the 2002 season. CART began promoting its vehicles as "champ cars," the term that had previously been used by USAC's championship division. In the early years after the CART–IRL split, CART was in a far stronger position. It held most of the prestigious races, sponsorship money, most of the "name" drivers and teams, and was the preferred series for manufacturers due to the IRL's ban on engine leases. The IRL's primary asset was Indianapolis Motor Speedway and its 500. 1996 and 1997 saw generally well-regarded racing with stars such as Vaseer, rookie sensation
Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again ...
, and
Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART champions ...
leading the points standings, while the IRL experienced growing pains, including a rain-soaked
1997 Indianapolis 500 The 81st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on May 25–27, 1997. Rain pushed the race from Sunday, May 25, to Monday, May 26, and then halted the race after only fifteen laps had been completed. ...
, off-putting engine sounds from their new normally-aspirated engines, and the abandonment of USAC sanctioning due to incompetence. CART, in further contrast to IMS's sole ownership of the IRL, opted to proceed with a public stock offering, selling on the
NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
as stock symbol MPH. The offering raised US$100 million by selling 35% of the company. While this allowed CART to have sufficient cash reserves to expand and purchase the
Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...
series, commentators suggested it was short-sighted to subject the notoriously secretive and fluctuating finances of the auto racing industry to public trading requirements. Efforts, led mostly by engine manufacturers, to pressure CART and the IRL to at least adopt uniform engine standards were met with a cold refusal from the IRL, which started to carve a niche in the motorsports landscape by leveraging close relationships with the new NASCAR spec ovals being built, with the series' substantial losses being underwritten by the other revenue streams of IMS. Despite the split, CART saw its annual revenues increase from $38,000,000 in 1995 to $68,800,000 by 1999, street races remained lucrative, and teams were able to make some gains on sponsorship revenues. The success was uneven, as the series' traditional oval races in Michigan and Nazareth began to see dramatic attendance declines, which CART blamed on substandard marketing. Television ratings and revenue were anemic, with the series receiving $5,000,000 annually for the entirety of its television package, less than the rate for some individual NASCAR races. While CART's stock was generally considered healthy, investors noted that the company's valuation tended to fluctuate with the perceived success or failure of IRL merger talks. CART's championship battle in 1999 between young stars
Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...
and
Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti (born 19 May 1973) is a British motorsport commentator and retired motor racing driver from Scotland. Franchitti won the IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011; the Indianapolis 500 in ...
was overshadowed by the deaths of drivers Gonzalo Rodríguez and Greg Moore within two months of each other. Moore's death at the
1999 Marlboro 500 The 1999 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota was held on October 31, 1999, at Auto Club Speedway (then known as California Speedway) in Fontana, California as the final showdown of the 1999 CART World Series season. The race was marred by an accid ...
especially raised serious concerns about safety in the 500-mile races conducted in Fontana and Michigan that saw Champ Cars average speeds of near . In 2000, after years of frustration building behind the scenes, CART owners forced Andrew Craig to resign as CEO, and popular driver/owner
Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...
stepped in as his interim replacement. Seeing the continued success of street racing and the decline of the series' oval dates, the board announced an intention of moving away from traditional venues toward overseas ovals and more street races to generate sanctioning fees, to the frustration of some of the traditional owners and United States–based sponsors.
Chip Ganassi Floyd "Chip" Ganassi Jr. (born May 24, 1958) is an American businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scene for over 30 ye ...
, under pressure from his main sponsors, also persuaded the board to leave Memorial Day open on the schedule and returned to the Indy 500 with Vasser and Montoya. Montoya put on a dominating performance at Indy, leading 167 of the 200 laps to win. The Ganassi team's primary advantage was the greater engineering put into their IRL-spec car. 2000 would see
Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...
's return to prominence as
Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...
won the driver's title.


Decline (2001–2003)

For 2001, CART unveiled their most ambitious schedule yet, with 22 races in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. The loss of Homestead-Miami and Gateway to the IRL was to be offset by the addition of
Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...
, which had seen an exciting IRL race the year prior. Rahal retired to head
Jaguar Racing Jaguar Racing is the name given to Jaguar Land Rover's racing interests. The Jaguar brand currently competes in Formula E under the name Jaguar TCS Racing for sponsorship reasons. It is the defending Formula E World Teams' Champion, having wo ...
in
Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
, leading to marketing expert Joseph Heitzler taking the helm. Brazil was cancelled after track promoters defaulted. The race at Texas Motor Speedway had to be cancelled on race day, due to concerns of drivers blacking out at the high
G force The g-force or gravitational force equivalent is a mass-specific force (force per unit mass), expressed in units of standard gravity (symbol ''g'' or ''g''0, not to be confused with "g", the symbol for grams). It is used for sustained a ...
s created by Champ cars on the heavily banked course during qualifying. While applauded for putting driver safety first, the cancellation was a publicity disaster, and CART was criticized for not conducting enough pre-race testing on the circuit. A resulting lawsuit, while settled, produced a quarterly loss for CART's stock and forever harmed its relationship with track owner
Speedway Motorsports Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has its headquarters ...
. Despite CART teams sweeping the top 6 positions in the
2001 Indianapolis 500 The 85th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 27, 2001. Race rookie Hélio Castroneves, a three-year veteran of the CART series, led the final 52 laps and won his first of four Indy 500 ...
and a highly competitive four-way points battle among
Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...
, Kenny Brack,
Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...
, and
Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART champions ...
, headlines centered on a technological controversy regarding a turbo pop off valve that Honda and Ford had developed, prompting complaints by Toyota. When CART mandated changes in the valve to help equalize the competition, Honda successfully obtained an injunction barring the change, leading to all three manufacturers being upset. Toyota would announce it would move to the IRL for 2003 at the end of the season. The series' first foray into Europe, the
German 500 The German 500 was an automobile race sanctioned by CART held at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany in 2001 and 2003. History The German 500 was put on the schedule for the 2001 CART season and it was the first CART race ever to be held in Europe. ...
, was overshadowed by the
9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
that occurred the Tuesday before the Saturday race. With the teams unable to leave due to the worldwide shutdown of airspace, CART decided to run the race as scheduled after some controversy, with ESPN refusing to air the race live. The race would see popular former champion
Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again ...
lose both legs in an accident. The series inaugural event in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
would come close to being cancelled due to track concerns. To keep coverage of the Indianapolis 500, ABC/ESPN signed an exclusive television deal for 2002 onwards with the IRL, forcing CART to turn to
Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as a ...
for cable coverage and buy time on CBS to maintain a broadcast presence. Team Penske announced after the season that they would become permanent entrants in the IRL for 2002 due to pressure from sponsor
Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...
resulting from the American tobacco settlements that prevented cigarette advertising in multiple series. The loss of ESPN/ABC's exposure and engine manufacturer sponsoring began a downward spiral for the series, as race promoters began demanding reduced sanctioning fees for 2002 and sponsors began to review their agreements. Heitzler was fired by the CART board in the offseason, being replaced by Chris Pook, the well-regarded CEO of the
Long Beach Grand Prix The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in Downtown Long Beach, downtown Long Beach, California. It was the premier race on the ...
. Making matters worse was CART's growing ownership instability due to the public offering: Despite an initial agreement for the car owners to maintain 65% of the stock, agreements allowed owners to divest shares in the company. As car owners began to sell off their shares, the board's chronic issues grew more complicated with aggressive stockholders beginning to pressure the board alongside owners. During the 2002 season, Honda announced that it would move to the IRL the following year, causing a drastic decline in CART's stock and leaving Cosworth/Ford as the sole engine manufacturer for 2003. Attempts to subsidize teams to have enough cars racing to avoid breaching sanctioning contracts led to a further decline in cash reserves and the stock price. Team owner
Gerald Forsythe Gerald (Jerry) R. Forsythe (born in Marshall, Illinois in 1942) is an American businessman and auto racing magnate, best known for being one of the three men ( Kevin Kalkhoven and Paul Gentilozzi are the other two) that owned the Champ Car World ...
was able to purchase enough stock to control 22.5% of the voting shares in concert with the board. Star driver Michael Andretti purchased the prominent Team Green and moved them to the IRL with heavy direction from Honda, and
Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...
left due to pressure from its primary sponsor,
Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...
. Beginning in 2003, after the withdrawal of FedEx as series sponsor, CART re-branded itself as "
Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (18891976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of (), meaning ...
Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
". The series ran a near complete schedule of road course races, featuring chassis from the year before.


Reformation as Champ Car

CART, running out of cash reserves, declared
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
after the 2003 season and its assets were liquidated. The IRL made a strategic bid to keep the series dormant, while a trio of CART owners (Forsythe,
Paul Gentilozzi Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950, in Lansing, Michigan) is a race car driver and businessman. His non-racing business interests are real estate development, principally developing office buildings for institutions and government agencies. ...
, and
Kevin Kalkhoven Kevin Oscar Newton Kalkhoven (1944 – 4 January 2022) was an Australian venture capitalist and auto racing magnate based in California. He was CEO of JDS Uniphase and was an investor in Cosworth Group Holdings Limited, an automotive technolog ...
) along with Dan Pettit made a bid for CART's assets as Open Wheel Racing Series, LLC. The bankruptcy court ruled in favor of the OWRS bid as more beneficial to creditors than the IRL bid, despite it being smaller. Champ Car would continue to run until declaring bankruptcy and being "reunified" with the IRL in February 2008.
IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...
recognizes the records and champions of both series in its historical records.


Television

In its early years, television coverage of CART races were shared by
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
,
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
. NBC left after the 1990 season, and returned for 1994's race in Toronto only.
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
also aired races from 1989 to 1991 and also aired the 1995 race at Nazareth. ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 continued as broadcasters until 2001. In the 2002 and 2003 Champ Car seasons, coverage was split between CBS and
Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as a ...
(
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
aired the 2002 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach). Also from 2002 to 2004, select races aired on high definition channel
HDNet AXS TV () is an American specialty television, cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to Music television, music-related programming (such as concert films, Document ...
such as Road America race in 2003. Outside the United States,
Screensport Screensport was a pan-European cable and satellite sports television network that was on air from 1984 until 1993 before merging with Eurosport. History 1984–1986: Early years Screensport was founded in 1981 by Bob Kennedy — who had start ...
showed CART in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, France, Germany and the Benelux countries including the Indy 500 from 1984-1992.
Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
aired CART and Champ Car in Europe from 1993 until its demise. In the UK Sky Sports showed the races in 1992 on a tape delay and the Indy 500 live. ITV showed races on World of Sport and later on as a bought in programme as part of the Night Time service in 1988 and later highlights between 1993 and 1994. From 1997 to 2001, Channel 5 showed races on early Wednesday mornings though in 1998 showed them as live on the Sunday night. In Brazil,
Rede Record Record (stylized in uppercase; ), formerly known as Rede Record and RecordTV, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In ...
aired the Indy 500 in 1984. From 1985 until 1992,
Rede Bandeirantes Rede Bandeirantes (, ''Bandeirantes Network''), or simply known as Band (), is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It began broadcasting on May 13, 1967 on VHF channel 13 in São Paulo. Its founder was businessman :pt:João Saad, Jo ...
aired the race and from 1989 onwards, they aired the whole season on TV. Between 1993 and 1994, the CART season was broadcast by
Rede Manchete Rede Manchete (; lit.: Headline Network; also known as TV Manchete or only Manchete) was a Brazilian television network that was founded in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1983 by the Ukrainian-Brazilian journalist and businessman Adolpho Bloch. The ...
. Following economical difficulties by the former broadcaster and to battle
Rede Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965 ...
for the lead of audience, SBT took the rights to transmission from Manchete, including its trio of narrators (Téo José, Luiz Carlos Azenha, and Dedê Gomes), and even sending one of their helicopters to get exclusive images from the races. They broadcast the entire season live between 1995 and 2000, although from 1999 onwards, following complaints by
Gugu Liberato Antônio Augusto de Moraes Liberato (10 April 1959 – 21 November 2019), better known as Gugu Liberato or simply Gugu, was a Brazilian television presenter, entrepreneur, actor and singer. He is regarded as one of the most famous entertainers ...
because of audience size, the races were delayed and transmitted at 11:00PM, after the
Programa Silvio Santos ''Programa Silvio Santos'' is a Brazilian variety program aired since June 2, 1963 created by the renowned television presenter and entertainer Silvio Santos, being later replaced by his daughter Patrícia Abravanel, and currently broadcast by Sis ...
, although a few races remained live, such as Surfers' Paradise (because of the time, which was in the middle of the night) and the Rio 200. From 1997 onwards, the series was referred to as "Fórmula Mundial" (Worldwide Formula), following the split between CART and the Indy Racing League. In the first years, the category was able to challenge Globo and its F1 transmission, but after most of the races were reallocated to VT in the night, the audience stagnated. After the contract expired in 2000, SBT opted to not renew it. Record once again broadcast the series between 2001 and 2002, again mostly in VTs (with commentary provided by Oscar Ulisses), but the transmissions were delayed to around 7PM, rather than skipping to the end of the night. After an declining audience in 2002, the broadcaster didn't renovated the contract. In 2003,
RedeTV! RedeTV! (, also Rede TV! or RTV! or TV Ômega) is a Brazilian television network owned by Amilcare Dallevo and Marcelo de Carvalho. It is the newest television network, among the five major networks in Brazil, being a relaunch of Rede Manchete ...
broadcast the Champ Car series, bringing back commentator Téo José. However, although the races were back on being live, the audience was still rather low and following the decline of the category, they chose to not renew the contact after the end of the 2004 season. The Globo-owned
SporTV SporTV is a Brazilian pay television sports network owned by Canais Globo, part of Grupo Globo, launched in 1991. It is the most watched sports network in Brazil. On 18 January 2013, were launched High-definition simulcasts of SporTV and ...
channel broadcast the 2004 season to replace the IRL, but following the contract expiring at the end of the season, they didn't renovated, marking the end of the CART/Champ Car broadcasting in Brazil. In Australia, from 1991 season was shown on Channel 9 in either tape delayed or highlights format during the Wide World Of Sport show. It then produced and broadcast the Indy Carnival on the Gold Coast from 1991 until 1995. Channel 10 took over the coverage from 1996 until 2006. The event would be the only race produced and broadcast in widescreen from 2001 to 2008. Though only Australian viewers received either a letterbox or native widescreen broadcast, the rest of the world receiving only a 4:3 feed. Due to Champ Car owning the TV cameras for onboard footage from 2006, the onboard cameras were horribly zoomed in to fit the 16:9 frame. Then Channel 7 gain the rights for season 2007 until the series collapse in 2008. The Indy 300 on the Gold Coast in 2008 (unified Indy Cars at this point, running as a one off non-championship event due to absorbing the previous Champ Car contractual requirements) was produced by Channel 7.


Champions


By team


Fatalities

Four drivers died in CART-sanctioned events: * Jim Hickman – (August 1, 1982), Tony Bettenhausen 200,
Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectat ...
, practice. *
Jeff Krosnoff Jeffrey John Krosnoff (September 24, 1964 – July 14, 1996) was an American race car driver. A competitor in the CART PPG Indy Car World Series, he was killed in a racing accident during the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto. Early life and care ...
– (July 14, 1996), Molson Indy Toronto,
Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, ...
, 3 laps from finish. * Gonzalo Rodríguez – (September 11, 1999), Honda Grand Prix of Monterey,
Laguna Seca Raceway Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 ...
, practice. * Greg Moore – (October 31, 1999), Marlboro 500,
California Speedway Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...
, lap 10.


References

*


See also

*
IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...
*
List of Champ Car circuits This is a list of circuits which hosted Champ Car, CART/Champ Car racing from 1979 SCCA/CART Indy Car Series, 1979 to 2007 Champ Car season, 2007. Champ Car events were held on 54 different circuits. ISM Raceway, Phoenix International Raceway ...
*
List of Champ Car drivers This is an incomplete list of notable drivers that have made at least one start in Champ Car racing. Drivers are listed under only one era, even if their careers spanned more than one. Drivers AAA era (1902–1955) USAC era (1956–1978) C ...
* List of Champ Car fatal accidents *
List of Champ Car pole positions Complete through 2007 Champ Car season. {, class="wikitable" , - ! No. ! Driver ! Years active ! Poles , - , align="center", 1 , Rick Mears , align="center", 1979–1992 , align="center", 39 , - , align="center", 2 , Michael Andretti , a ...
*
List of Champ Car teams This is a list of all teams that contested the Champ Car World Series between its founding in 1979 to its demise in 2007. 2007 Teams This is a list of teams that contested the Champ Car World Series in 2007, the series' final year of operation. Al ...
* List of Champ Car winners * List of Champ Car drivers who never qualified for a race * List of American Championship Car Rookie of the Year Winners * List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems {{Class of Auto racing Auto races in the United States Endurance motor racing * Organizations established in 1979 Organizations disestablished in 2003 Defunct auto racing series 1979 establishments in the United States 2003 disestablishments in the United States