NASCAR’s ugly stepsisters are apparently going to merge.
The Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League are putting the finishing touches on an agreement that would end a twelve-year war. Since 1996, when the IRL split from what was then the CART series, open wheel racing has plummeted in popularity. Ratings for the Indianapolis 500 have fallen from a 9.4 in 1995, the year before the split, to a 4.3 in 2007 — a decline of 54%.
While such a move could go a long way in putting open wheel racing back into American consciousness, just how damaging this “civil war” has been to the sport can be summed up by the fact that IRL and Champ Car fans on the Internet have sometimes been reduced to arguing over which series is less irrelevant.
A new agreement would kick in for the upcoming season, even though both Champ Car and the IRL had previously released their 2008 schedules. The series would combine their schedules into a 19-race slate, that would incorporate “Champ Car races at Long Beach, Edmonton and Surfers Paradise, Australia, into the IRL schedule.”
As for who won this decade long battle, the answer does not include either of the combatants. The biggest winner is NASCAR, a sport that has seen its success skyrocket, while the IRL and Champ Car have competed for little more than crumbs.
The 2008 Daytona 500 drew 17.8 million viewers on FOX Sunday. By comparison, the IRL drew 21.8 million viewers for its entire 2007 season.
