Champcars

Image:CARTcar.jpg
Champ Cars is the name of the cars involved in premier open wheeler United States auto racing for decades. Champ Car is also the official name of the racing series being promoted as the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford since early 2003.

Champ Car replaced CART, Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc, a company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. CART was founded in November 1978 by Roger Penske, Pat Patrick, Dan Gurney and several other team owners who had been participating in USAC events involving cars known as Champ Cars and IndyCars. They oversaw the day-to-day business and sanctioning of Champ Car racing at locations that today include the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.

In 1909 the American Automobile Association (AAA) established the national driving championship and became the first sanctioning body for auto racing in the United States. In 1956, the United States Auto Club (USAC) was founded to take over sanctioning from the AAA which ceased sanctioning auto racing in the general outrage over motor racing safety that followed the Pierre Levegh disaster at Le Mans Sarthe. USAC controlled the championship until 1979 when CART took over. Champ Car runs the Champ Car World Series, the Toyota Atlantic Championship and the Formula BMW USA Championship. Champ Car also operates the Trans-Am Series in a cooperative agreement with SCCA Pro Racing.

A Champ Car has a Ford Cosworth turbocharged, 2.65 liter (161.703 in&sup3) V-8 engine, fuelled by methanol to produce about 850 horsepower (650 kW). It has a top speed of about 240 mph (390 km/h). The car is 190 to 199 inches (4.8 to 5.1 m) long, weighs 1,550 pounds (700 kg), and sits on a 120 to 126 inch (3.0 to 3.2 m) wheelbase.

Champ Car, like its predecessor USAC, was dominated by North American drivers until the 1980s when former Formula One drivers like Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, and Danny Sullivan competed. After former F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi won in 1989, the team managers finally conceded that European and South American drivers were highly competitive.

Non-US drivers discovered that competing in Champ Car could often be more lucrative than an average career in F1 and consequently there was an increased presence of non US drivers (from mainly F1 and the European Formula 3000).

The easy victory of world champion Nigel Mansell in 1993 highlighted the competitiveness of non-US drivers which some interpreted as superiority. This led to a split of the series after the 1995 season due to a dispute between egos at CART and Tony George, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

During the 2003 offseason, CART went bankrupt and shares of the stock were worth only 25 cents. The assets of CART were liquidated and put up for sale. Tony George made a bid for the company in an attempt to bury the series once and for all, while a group of CART owners, who had formed the OWRS also made bids. In the end, a judge ruled that the OWRS group should be the purchaser of CART, which ensured a 25th anniversary season in 2004, running as Champ Car.

AAA Season Champions: (1909-1955)

USAC Season Champions: (1956-1978)

CART Season Champions:

External links

Other Less-Frequent Meanings of the CART Acronym


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