Champ Car to go oval-less in 2007

A reader writes, With today's announcement that CCWS is going back to Road America, you can kiss the Milwaukee Mile race goodbye. With the Las Vegas oval race being dropped, CCWS is not going to design the new car to race on one oval track a year plus have two races in the Wisconsin market. September is a great time of year in Wisconsin. Not very rainy and the temperature is normally in the 80's. The timing may also be good because the GB Packers are clearly in a rebuilding mode which will allow others sports such as racing and baseball to get more media coverage. I personally would like a late June date but I'm sure when CCWS drops the Milwaukee race, the IRL will grab that date which would only dilute the fan pool for both races. Arno Fritz, Milwaukee, WI

Dear Arno, This is probably true. Champ Car has not had much success on the ovals and the oval track cartel promoters don't want to help Champ Car succeed on the ovals. Hence we look for zero ovals on their schedule in 2007. Could they perhaps do an oval like EuroSpeedway in the future (i.e. outside the USA)? I would say yes, but then why have the teams tool up for just one oval race a year. It makes no sense given the cost vs. revenue. We stated this 7 years ago, i.e. NASCAR owns the ovals, so stick a fork in them, they're done….for open wheel racing. Mark C.