The full story of America's F1 rival

The history of Indycar racing is long and convoluted. Its origins in the early 1900s remain the subject of debate among motor racing historians, which seems entirely appropriate when one considers the rollercoaster ride it has endured in the ensuing 100-plus years.

There have been periods of rapid growth and prosperity intermingled with stagnation and decline, and while the current situation seems extremely positive, with strong fields and excellent competition among high-quality teams and drivers, there remain a few undertones of negativity and discontent similar to those that have pervaded the sport throughout much of its existence.

The era regarded almost universally as the heyday of IndyCar coincided with the arrival of reigning Formula 1 world champion Nigel Mansell in 1993 and continued for the better part of a decade. During that period the series grew in leaps and bounds until effectively and unfortunately - and perhaps predictably - falling victim to its own success.

EARLY DAYS

Previously, IndyCar had evolved in much the same way as F1 had progressed from the earliest grand prix races to a properly sanctioned world championship. The American Automobile Association oversaw the majority of motor racing activities in the US from the beginning of the 20th century until a series of tragedies in 1955, culminating in the death of more than 80 spectators at Le Mans, led to its abrupt withdrawal.

Instead a new organisation, the United States Auto Club, was formed by Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony Hulman. USAC took over almost seamlessly from AAA with midgets, sprint cars and stock cars as the foundation and 'Championship' cars - such as were raced at the Indianapolis 500, already universally acknowledged as the richest and most prestigious race in the world - representing the top of the tree.

The sport continued to grow sporadically over the next two decades until a group of team owners, including UE 'Pat' Patrick, Jim Hall, Roger Penske and Dan Gurney began to tire of USAC's one-dimensional focus on the Indy 500. They were concerned that 'Championship Car' racing as a whole was not matching the growth of other sports such as golf, baseball and NFL football.

CART was born in the late 1970s © LAT

In 1978, following a series of ad hoc meetings among his peers, driver/engineer/team owner Gurney wrote his famed White Paper, a vision for the future, which declared: "Something is wrong with our sport - it is not reaching its full potential by any means, and there is great need for a change!"

The vast majority of team owners concurred, and when USAC and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway staunchly refused to acknowledge the teams' concerns, it didn't take long for the owners to form their own association. Championship Auto Racing Teams was up and running.

"We all felt that the potential was much greater than one terrific race each year, the Indy 500," recalls Gurney, "but one thing I can say for sure, having been there and been part of the [original] CART board of directors, none of us wanted to do anything but enhance the 500.

"It was already the biggest single-day sporting event in the entire world, and that didn't mean that it needed a lot of improvement, but my emphasis is that we wanted to fix the rest of the season, not the 500."

There were significant early difficulties, including a variety of lawsuits and injunctions, but the fledgling CART, under the stewardship of lawyer John Frasco, soon reached an interim sanctioning agreement with the Sports Car Club of America and was ready to host its first race - in front of a large crowd and broadcast live on NBC television - at Phoenix on March 11, 1979.

USAC still refused to accede, plowing on with a parallel championship, but it wasn't long before the writing was on the wall. Attempts to banish CART drivers from the Indianapolis 500 came to nought in the courts, and only AJ Foyt, in second, was able to prevent a clean sweep by the rebels of the top six finishers, led by Rick Mears who claimed the first of his four wins plus the inaugural CART title for Penske.

"I didn't think about it much then but when you go back to hindsight, it took a lot away from my first win because of the courts and all the hoopla going on around all of that," says Mears. "The Indy win kind of came and went quickly. It didn't have the staying power that they normally do. That didn't bother me - hey, at that point I'd won it and that's all I needed to know; now go on and try to win it again!"

In 1980 the procurement of PPG Industries as title sponsor was a pivotal moment, as was CART taking full control of its own destiny. The rift with USAC remained - in the early years the Indy 500 sometimes counted toward the CART title and sometimes not - but an uneasy truce emerged whereby the season-long CART series prevailed while USAC continued to sanction the Indy 500.

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL

As had been the case in F1, the combination of Ford and Cosworth Engineering provided a backbone to the fledgling PPG Indy Car World Series. In North America it was the turbocharged DFX engine that powered the vast majority of the cars - until 1985 when Chevrolet entered the fray in conjunction with another British-based concern, Ilmor Engineering.

The 1985 season featured a big field © LAT

By the late '80s, Alfa Romeo and Porsche had made half-hearted attempts to break the Ilmor/Chevy stranglehold, while British firm Judd Developments also provided some opposition with a V8 turbo based upon Honda architecture.

British-built cars also became increasingly prevalent. Lola already had a strong history in the States, through importer Carl Haas, while the success of Poole-based Penske Cars and especially the rapid ascent of March, led more international drivers to consider CART as a viable alternative to F1.

In 1982 European-based Australian Geoff Brabham became the first non-American to contest a full season and finish among the top 10 in the points. The following year, after an inconclusive F1 campaign with the recalcitrant Toleman, Teo Fabi was hired by businessman Gerald Forsythe to drive his Skoal Bandit March-Cosworth DFX. The diminutive Italian rocked the locals by claiming oval poles at Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Michigan before finally snaring a victory at Pocono.

Incredibly it was the first win by an overseas driver (other than European-born Mario Andretti) since Graham Hill's triumph at Indianapolis in 1966. By season's end Fabi had claimed a series-high four wins and six poles, and finished second in the championship, a mere five points behind Unser.

Fabi's success led to his return to F1, which provided further impetus for drivers who saw CART either as a springboard to F1 or an attractive career path in its own right. The tide had turned. The foreign invasion was irreversible. It was a trickle at first, but by the end of the decade many more non-Americans had been enticed to the New World.

"Of course the series faced some challenges early on," remembers Penske, "but CART began to gain momentum in the 1980s and, with the support of some great sponsors and the teams, CART began to grow. It attracted some of the top drivers in the world and the competition became incredible. Some of the best moments and memories in American open-wheel racing came from the CART era and it was an exciting time."

The series gained additional notoriety when former two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi won the championship in 1989. It took another step the following year when Bill Stokkan, a racing outsider with an astute business mind, was hired to run the organisation.

The addition of two more street courses in Denver and (especially) Vancouver, Canada, proved popular, capitalising on the success of temporary venues such as Cleveland, Long Beach and Detroit, while the first visit to Surfers Paradise in 1991 added to the global appeal.

Stokkan also was responsible for ensuring that the team owners - who still retained overall control - were more focused and accountable. For the first time they were legally bound to attend every race. In 1992, record crowds were reported at three-quarters of the 16 events, and record prize money totalling almost $23m was shared among the teams.

A WORLD CHAMPION ARRIVES

Mansell's arrival in 1993 was a huge boost for IndyCar © LAT

Then came the biggest boon of all. When F1 world champion Nigel Mansell fell out with his Williams team at the end of the 1992 season he switched his focus to North America with Newman/Haas Racing.

"The healthy mix of short ovals, long ovals, street courses and natural road circuits - the versatility demanded of the drivers - is one of the factors which most attracted me to the sport," Mansell wrote in his book, Nigel Mansell's Indy Car Racing.

"To win the IndyCar series means a driver has to be competitive on all the different types of venue. That, to me, is a challenge in itself."

Mansell's arrival changed the game virtually overnight. The level of interest from international media outlets exploded. It didn't hurt that in typical Mansell style there was drama almost from the moment he arrived: the sensational drive to victory at Surfers Paradise; the instant speed followed by a debilitating crash at Phoenix; the recovery from a serious back injury; the spectacular drive at Indianapolis; the win at Milwaukee in his first short oval race; on and on it went.

The Englishman's title-winning season and panache aboard 'Red Five' opened new IndyCar horizons.

When it became apparent that Stokkan wouldn't continue at the helm beyond the 1993 season, CART instead hired Andrew Craig. The Briton also hadn't previously been involved in the sport on a management level although he had been an experienced amateur racer and had established an impressive resume with the Swiss sports marketing firm, ISL.

CART continued to gain stature, buoyed substantially by the arrival of Mercedes-Benz (in conjunction with Ilmor), Honda and, after a slow start, Toyota as serious players, plus the return of Firestone to take on the established might of Goodyear.

Money was flowing into the sport at an unprecedented rate. Penske fought back against Mansell in 1994, finishing 1-2-3 in the drivers' table, led by 1990 champ Al Unser Jr, and there was the arrival and rapid departure to F1 of Jacques Villeneuve after winning the title in '95.

The era also provided the scene for the rise of a new dynasty in Chip Ganassi Racing, which took on and beat the might of Penske, winning four consecutive titles with Jimmy Vasser ('96), the incomparable Alex Zanardi ('97 and '98) and then Juan Pablo Montoya in '99.

"The media caught on and the international sector picked up and we were televised in 120 countries at one point," says Mario Andretti, one of the icons of the sport who remains closely involved to this day.

The late 1990s was a good era for CART © LAT

"I mean it was truly, truly a series to be reckoned with and the only drawback was the politics of the series.

"When it was formed there were too many bosses. There were 24 bosses, you know, 24 franchisees, but you know what, the product was so strong that it survived in spite of all that."

ANOTHER INDY SPLIT

Ah yes, the politics. Crucially, the impasse with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had remained unresolved. When IMS president Tony George grew increasingly frustrated at CART's refusal to grant him a significant say in how the series was being developed, he reacted in 1996 by forming the rival Indy Racing League.

Initially the IRL was populated by a rag-tag assortment of teams and hardly warranted a comparison with the CART juggernaut. But George had one huge asset the other side did not: the Indianapolis 500.

"The Indy Racing League had Indy and nothing else; all the rest of their races were weak," says Andretti. "CART had all the other venues but no Indy, and so neither side had the best of both worlds - they had 50 per cent."

Craig adds: "The thinking at the Speedway was that without the Indy 500 there would be no fans, no sponsors and ultimately no teams at CART. As it turned out the threat was powerful but the reality was different. However, CART was very fragile and there was a very real risk that the teams would run for the door."

Along with persuading the vast majority of teams to remain loyal to CART, another of Craig's major achievements was to forge long-term partnerships with the race promoters (aside from IMS, of course). This at least ensured a solid schedule. Craig also oversaw, at the teams' behest, CART's flotation on the stock market, which brought a substantial windfall to the franchisees and continued to keep at bay the slowly but steadily gathering mass of the IRL.

By 2000, CART's annual revenues had reached in the region of $75m, and television viewing figures in the U.S. and worldwide were, on average, approximately three times what they are today.

There was some significant investment in the series, specifically with regard to safety, but within three years CART's coffers (that were said to have been filled to the tune of $120m) had been virtually depleted. The fall from grace was rapid and inglorious.

By then Craig had long since departed, having grown increasingly exasperated by the teams' refusal to pull in one direction. Thereafter, a series of brief CEO tenures, followed by the defections of both Penske and Ganassi, provided hammer blows from which CART never recovered.

"Team Penske continued to compete in CART but we made the decision to leave the series after the 2001 season," affirms Penske. "It was important for our sponsors to compete in some key markets that were featured on the IRL schedule, and of course racing at the Indianapolis 500 was also crucial to our partners and our team."

Penske's exit was the final blow for CART © LAT

It was no secret that the formation of CART had been based upon lessons learned from how F1 had grown exponentially under the stewardship of Bernie Ecclestone - albeit with one glaring omission: the lack of a similarly autocratic leader.

"When things got bad enough, Bernie stepped up and said 'Look, I will make this thing work but I want you to pledge your support, 100 per cent'," remembers Gurney.

"'If, for some reason, you fail to do so, you're going to get fined big-time'. In other words, he was carrying a big stick, and he knew that's what it took to get some of these competitors to work together even though they hated each other."

Andretti adds: "We needed a true commissioner. Every team had a voice and they all were looking after their own interests instead of the big picture, and I think that was a big factor in the thing coming apart."

Throughout this period the quality of competition had remained high, providing the stage for stars such as Gil de Ferran, Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta, among many others, to shine.

The formation of the Open Wheel Racing Series and then the Champ Car World Series from the ashes of CART continued to perpetuate the Champ Car theme - and resulted in some epic contests, particularly between the likes of Sebastien Bourdais, Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson - but neither was able to recreate the glory days of a few years earlier.

Even the gorgeous and sadly lamented Panoz DP01 chassis, introduced in 2007, failed to buck the trend. Finally, early in 2008, the unequal struggle was ended as Champ Car and the IRL merged to form a single 'IndyCar' series. Unquestionably it was the smart decision. As history had proved, there was no way for two similar series to thrive. An era was at an end but the memories remained.

"For all the challenges of running the series during what was the most difficult of times, IndyCar provided the very best open-wheel competition in racing," asserts Craig.

"The paddock was populated by world-class drivers and offered an unparalleled level of technical and engineering sophistication within its top teams and from our four engine suppliers. It was a great time for our fans."

For more stories from a great era of Indycar competition, take a look at the special August 14 issue of AUTOSPORT magazine, guest edited by Alex Zanardi.

Ganassi becomes a US superteam
The story of Chip Ganassi's squad, as it became the dominant force in America during the 1990s

Top CART drivers
AUTOSPORT asked racers of the 1993-2001 era to pick out their top rivals, then added up the responses. Here's who came out on top...

Mansell on how he conquered America
The 1992 F1 world champion looks back at his 1993 Indycar success, and the troubles that followed

Great Car: Penske PC23
The machine that beat Mansell and put Penske back on top, with a little help from a special engine for the Indy 500

Memories of a golden era
The drivers recall their best memories, and remember what it was like to driver the 1000bhp monsters

F1 refugees in America
A look at some of the ex-Formula 1 racers who tried their luck in the States, with varying success

Tributes to Moore, Krosnoff and Rodriguez
Memories of the three racing talents who lost their lives during the period