Champ Car and The World

As we gear up for the opening round of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford Sunday, rumors are swirling about the future of the IRL, the BPCCWSPF, F1 and the trying to be upstart GPWC. It appears as though the fate of one may have an impact on at least one, if not all of the other series.
First of all this could truly be CC’s last hurrah at Long Beach. If it is it could really sound the end of time for the league. I’d be rather sad to see them go, but they are killing themselves. They have an ardent and loyal fan base, but it isn’t enough to sustain the league. Also there is a distinct possibility that the IRL could be in at LB next year.
This leads to some other speculation. For one, Dover Corp. of Dover Downs in DE owns the rights to the LBGP as the Grand Prix Association. Dover has shown interest in selling the entity. If, however, they decide to stay on and bring in the IRL there are more questions to be answered. First and foremost is what to do with the IRL race at Fontana. The IRL raced there the past few years with small crowds. It is close enough to Long Beach that an IRL presence in the LBC would make being in Fontana rather redundant.
Face it folks, unless the track in NYC gets built the IRL is done looking for oval track venues. I suppose it is entirely possible they could go back to Vegas if the conditions were right, but I doubt it. Besides, with the exception of Indy and the tracks that force season tickets on the fans, attendance at the ovals is sickening.
No, the IRL is going gunning for Canada and hopefully will pick the track in Montreal over the street course in Toronto. God I hate that course.
What is interesting is some of the thoughts about the future of the CCWS and their relation ship with the GPWC.
For those not in the know, the GPWC is a group made up of engine manufacturers and teams from F1 who have been threatening to break away from the F1 series for a few years now. Unclear in their ultimate goal, one thing is clear, they want a bigger slice of the pie Uncle Bernie now keeps for himself. They want TV rights, rules allowances etc. With the new long term rules of the sport to go into effect in 2008, these teams have made it clear they will be heard.
How does this affect CC you ask? Well quite simply, the BPCCWSPF would go away as we know it. The GPWC would effectively merge with the CCWS. With races in Mexico, the US, Canada and Australia, not to mention proposed races in South Korea and China, the GPWC would have a decent set of tracks to run on to start out. This credibility would remove the stigma from the stooges at CC and would effectively kill F1.
Now is this going to happen? I would say not, but there is that possibility. In my opinion Uncle Bernie knows exactly the comfort level of each team in F1. He also knows that he has taken far more than his share for far too long. What Bernie will do is intervene with the teams and the FIA and grant the teams a bigger share of the pie. It may come as a last minute deal, but I think Bernie gets the deal done and the new agreement is signed and in effect by 2008.
Of course, if the GPWC takes all of the teams except Ferrari, who has held out so far, then F1 dies alongside the CCWS leaving the IRL and the GPWC as the only true open wheel leagues in the world. One thing I might add is that any consolidation of power is bound to hit at NASCAR, but to what affect? Frankly I think they’ll kill themselves, but that’s another story.
I’ll have more of this when more comes out of today’s meeting of the GPWC would be members.