It's About Damn Time

Finally, after more than a decade, American Open Wheel Racing is once again unified as the Champ Car World Series will move into the Indy Racing League (IRL) and we will race as one. Champ Car drivers were told to report to Indianapolis tomorrow in order to be fit for seats while teams were told that their new cars, complete with $1.2 million to support operations, will arrive this week. The official announcement will come tomorrow but already, fans of real racing are rejoicing at the prospect of large fields, more races and one championship. As a fan of Open Wheel Racing, I cannot stress enough how great this all is.



All 16 of the IRL races (11 ovals and 5 street courses) will be held with the Long Beach Grand Prix, Edmonton Grand Prix and Surfers Paradise Australia Grand Prix from Champ Car being added to the schedule this year. Next year will most likely see the addition of the Toronto Grand Prix and Mexico City Grand Prix and possibly others. This will all make for a true world championship and help American racing catch up to Formula One, the ultimate series for motor sports.

What it will also do is make NASCAR look even more boring and pathetic than it already is. I tried hard to watch the Daytona 500 this past weekend, but it made watching glue dry exciting. For some reason, Americans seem to think that NASCAR is the best racing around. It's not, not even close and I'll tell you why. The cars are slow, ugly as shit, cautions come out every few laps and absolutely no skill (aside from bumper car driving) is involved. If skill mattered, and again it doesn't, Juan Pablo Montoya would win every race in NASCAR.