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CART has some tough
choices to make in the coming years about where to hold its
races. Below you will find our analysis of all the venues
under consideration. Depending on your interests, you may not
always agree with our analysis but, we tell it like we see it.
We had to make some tough choices.
We have included existing venues, venues CART has asked
Chris Pook to look at, and other's CART should be looking at.
In developing the evaluation we took into account ten factors that
contribute to a successful schedule; 1) CART's need to add
more warm weather venues so racing can start earlier in the year, 2)
the need to reduce some of
its dependence on the Mid-West so it can take advantage of overseas and other
big US markets, 3) attendance, 4) track layout, 5) fan amenities, 6)
a balance
of ovals, street and road courses, 7) a limit of 5 overseas venues,
8) demographics, 9) racing history, 10) the type of circuits CART
has been successful on. We did not evaluate the venues CART
already announced it will drop.
After our evaluation we
show a map of the recommended venues with an improved geographic
dispersion from what CART currently has. It includes 5
overseas races and 19 North American races - 24 races per year (25
if you include Indy), 8 ovals (32%), 8 road course (32%) and 9 street races
(36%). There are 6 venues with weather warm enough for CART to
race earlier in the season, starting in mid-January to beat NASCAR
to the early season punch and to satisfy CART's desire to move their
schedule starting earlier in the season and ending in early fall.
In the verdict column,
if we give the race a thumbs up, we include the month the race could
be held. There are 2 races in January, 2 in February, 2 in
March, 3 in April, 2 in May, 3 in June, 3 in July, 3 in August, 3 in
September, and 2 in October. 25 races total, a very demanding
schedule, and one certain to put a lot of pressure on the teams to
meet.
The only way to make it
work is to eliminate Spring Training and CART's open tests.
That eliminates 4 expensive, relatively obscure, CART events that
are almost as hard on the teams as actual races. This years
schedule has 20 races, 21 if you include Indy. That's
equivalent to a 25 race race schedule (21 + 4), the same as proposed
for 2002 and beyond, except CART would be doing it 25 times in front
of a TV audience and the paying customer.
| Venue |
Plusses |
Minuses |
Verdict/Month |
Australia
(Street) |
Probably
the favorite venue for everyone in CART, huge attendance,
beautiful location, beautiful weather, decent street course
layout |
Travel
is hard on teams |
Keep
it
Early - Feb. |
 |
Boston
(Street) |
Nice
city, a race in New England desired |
Finding
a suitable location may be hard, New England has not
traditionally supported open wheel racing, cold climate
means race must be scheduled in congested summer months |
Don't
go |
 |
Brazil
(Oval) |
Big
increase in attendance this year, lot's of Brazilian drivers
in CART, only South America venue, could be run early or
late in the season |
Brazil
economy sometimes uncertain, area surrounding track so-so,
will be hot in February |
Keep
it
Late Feb. |
|
Chicago
(Oval) |
Big
City, big attendance, would make for a popular night race |
Not
such a great track configuration |
Keep
it
Mid-June |
|
Dallas
(Oval) |
Big
City, should get big attendance, warm weather for early
venue, Texans love Champ cars, can run under the lights |
Too
many seats to fill for CART, bad for image, high banks
may be tough for Champ cars |
Add it
Early May |
|
Cleveland
(Road Course) |
Good
attendance, great racing on wide runways, great city |
Track
is hard on equipment, track is wide but featureless |
Keep
it
Early July |
|
Denver
(Street) |
Great
sports town. CART race used to draw good crowd there,
fills much needed gap in that region of USA |
Would
probably need to be held during already crowded warm weather
months |
Add it
August |
|
Detroit
(Road Course) |
Automobile
capital of the world |
Too
many politics, too many mid-west races, poor previous
attendance |
Drop
it |
|
England
(Oval) |
Motor
racing capital of the world - CART needs to be there, many CART manufacturers there,
longing for a F1 alternative |
Will
Brits like oval racing? Is almost square track
conducive to passing? Wet climate |
Add it
September |
|
Fontana
(Oval) |
Great
track, good racing, good previous attendance, can be run
late in season as Grand Finale |
High
speeds have proven dangerous |
Keep
it
Mid-October |
|
Germany
(Oval) |
European
economic powerhouse, home of Mercedes, gives CART access to
untapped eastern Europe which is starved for more open wheel
racing |
Track
is not near large city. Not many hotels in area |
Add it
September |
|
Houston
(Street) |
Big
City, gets big attendance, warm weather for early venue,
Texans and Mexicans love Champ cars |
Humid
climate is sometimes unbearable. Will attendance be
hurt by addition of nearby Monterrey to schedule? |
Keep
it
Early March |
|
Indianapolis
(Oval) |
Although
it is an IRL race, it's still open wheel racing's signature
event and the world's biggest race. CART should leave
room in their schedule for this one. |
Can
CART teams afford to buy equipment for only one race every
year? Can they afford not to? |
Keep
it
Late May |
|
Japan
(Oval) |
Gaining
in popularity, Japanese fans fanatical, home to Honda and Toyota,
beautiful track, only race in Asia |
Wet
climate, ingress and egress difficult |
Keep
it
Mid April |
|
Laguna
Seca
(Road Course) |
Beautiful
part of country, the corkscrew, can be run early or late in
the season |
Declining
attendance, dry parched land, attendance may drop further if
San Francisco added |
Drop
it |
|
Las
Vegas
(Oval) |
Great
place to entertain guests, would make for great racing, a
much needed warm weather venue |
Town
has not supported open wheel/IRL racing, too many seats to
fill to risk tarnishing CART's image |
Don't
go |
|
Long
Beach
(Street) |
CART's
signature event, beautiful venue, beautiful people,
beautiful weather, big
crowds, lot's of movie stars |
None |
Keep
it
Early April |
|
Michigan
(Oval) |
Fabulous
high-speed racing, traditional venue, not too far from
Detroit - the automobile capital of the world |
Too
many grandstands for CART - empty seats make CART look very
bad and they add more seats every year for NASCAR, not a lot
of nearby places to entertain corporate guests |
Drop
it |
|
Miami
(Street) |
Great
Cosmopolitan City, would give CART much needed Florida
venue, Can be run as season opener in mid-January, was very popular the one
year CART ran downtown |
CART
should have never left the streets of Miami - could be bigger
than Long beach today |
Add it
Mid Jan. |
|
Mid-Ohio
(Road Course) |
Great
natural terrain road course, good attendance |
Track
is a bit too narrow for powerful Champ cars. CART
should insist it be widened |
Keep
it
August |
|
Milwaukee
(Oval) |
Traditional
venue, maybe best small oval for racing |
Even
if it sells out, can only hold 40-50,000 which is not enough
to pay for CART's rising sanctioning fees, old facilities,
too many mid-west races, declining attendance |
Drop
it |
|
Mexico
(Road Course) |
Mexican
fans
love Champ Cars, attendance should be fabulous if tickets
priced right, can be run in January or February, two
Mexicans in CART, close enough for team transporters to
drive to race |
Too
early to tell but track configuration may not lend itself to
good passing |
Add it
Late Jan. |
|
Montreal
(Road Course) |
Beautiful
city, Canadians love auto racing, especially French
Canadians, F1 circuit has all the necessary race amenities
and is ready for Champ cars; F1 drivers,
owners, fans say Montreal is their favorite race; reachable
by CART transporters, two French Canadians in CART, F1 race
drew 262,000 for 3 days, Canadian GP promoter Normand
LeGault wants to add CART race to Gilles Villeneuve circuit |
Could
only be run between May 30th and October 15 due to cold
climate |
Add it
July |
|
Nazareth
(Oval) |
Pretty
part of country, home to the Andretti's |
Poor
attendance, layout not conducive to passing |
Drop
it |
|
NY
City or Phila.
(Street) |
New
York City is the financial capital of the world and
headquarters to a majority of largest firms in the world.
Potential for 200,000 + attendance. Great place to
entertain corporate guests, would become CART's biggest race
almost instantly. Philadelphia might
be good alternative, but to a somewhat smaller scale |
Race
must be run in downtown city streets to be successful,
therefore, must be a 2-day event as they don't close New
York's streets unless you are the Pope. Getting political
approval will be difficult, just ask Bernie Eccelstone. Neither are known as
historical racing towns. Will only work if you bring
the racing to the people. |
Add it
Early June |
|
Phoenix
(Oval) |
A lot
of open wheel tradition, another much needed warm weather
venue |
CART's
attendance was declining when it left. Would be lucky to
draw 50,000 for the weekend, too many other venues that
would draw more |
Don't
go |
|
Portland
(Road Course) |
Beautiful
city, good attendance, good track layout, a fan favorite |
Ridiculous
Festival Curves ruin expensive equipment every year |
Keep
it
Late June |
|
Road
America
(Road Course) |
Absolutely
America's best road course, a driver and fan favorite, good
attendance, should remain a CART fixture forever. |
Not
an abundance of hotels nearby, needs improvements to Paddock
area, could use a few safety improvements |
Keep
it
August |
|
Road
Atlanta
(Road Course) |
Another
beautiful road course, recently upgraded to FIA safety
standards, owner Don Panoz willing to do what it takes to
get a CART date, great promoter, in geographic region CART
currently has no race, a lot of hungry SE USA road racing
fans, relatively warm climate to support early season race |
Atlanta
is NASCAR country and in general has not had a great history
of supporting open wheel racing, at least not on ovals, last
turn before pit straight might need some safety improvements
for fast Champ Cars |
Add it
Late March |
|
Toronto
(Street) |
One
of CART's
signature events, beautiful venue, beautiful people,
beautiful weather, big crowds |
Cold
climate means race must be run in congested summer months |
Keep
it
Mid-July |
|
San
Francisco
(Street) |
USA's
most beautiful city, large population, great place to
entertain corporate guest's, Mayor wants a race, talk is of
a course laid out near the new baseball stadium where it is
relatively flat and an area the City wants to redevelop ala
Long Beach |
Will
be difficult to get local approvals, most streets have too
much elevation change |
Add it
Late April |
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Vancouver
(Street) |
Beautiful
venue, large attendance |
Paddock
area still needs some improvements, not a lot of passing
zones, constant construction in City requires constant
changes to track layout |
Keep
it
Early Sept. |
|
| Washington
DC |
Capital
of USA, if Nazareth is dropped, CART needs a race or two
along the east coast |
NY
City would be better choice, sponsors don't seem to be
saying Washington DC is that important to them, getting
local approvals would be difficult, little or no racing
history |
Don't
go |
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Watkins
Glen
(Road Course) |
Beautiful
venue, challenging track, a lot of history, a fan favorite,
perfect venue for early fall when autumn colors are in full
bloom |
Requires
numerous safety improvements for Champ Cars, like Road
America, not an abundance of nearby hotels, not certain ISC
willing to invest in improvements just for CART |
Add it
Early Oct. |
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Although the mid-west still has a lot of races, the recommended
venues give CART some much needed geographic dispersion in the USA
Click on map to see larger view
Go to
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Portland
Saturday 6/24/00
Portland
Friday 6/23/00
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ways for CART to invest $100
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sandwich
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and Ganassi do CART proud
at Indy
5/28/00
Penske
gets the Monkey off his back with 100th win at
Nazareth
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to AutoRacing1.com
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year of progress shapes Rockingham
A solution for CART's franchise dilemma
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Paul
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Warming
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