Do you like the direction that IndyCar is going in? Well, I do not. Who like the Trinity of Boredom RE: Infineon, Mid Ohio, and Barber. Also the 2AM parade in Japan.
Here is a new idea for a series if the IndyCar Series wants to go International. The series is franchises of International IndyCar Series. So what is the meaning of this series? For the F1 rejects/drivers that can’t go to the top level of IndyCar or Formula One. So what divisions would there be? Humm…. lets see, a Central and South American Series, a European Series and a Asia/Australian Series. So what teams/drivers do this series? I would say the bottom teams such as: AFS, Conquest, Dragon, RLLR, SSM, and probably some terrible F1 and Grand Am teams such as: Lotus, HRT, Virgin, USGP, SunTrust, Shank and TRG. So what drivers would be interested? The problem is tha each team would need at least 3 drivers, so they can have at least 1 driver per series. Here is a table of what I think might work.
AFS- Raphael Matos (C&S), Martin Plowman (E), and Kouske Matsura (A&A)
Conquest- Seb Saavedra (C&S), Bertrand Baguette (E) and Tomas Scheckter (A&A)
Dragon- Paul Tracy (C&S), Ho Pin Tung (E) and Karun Chandhok (A&A)
HRT- Bruno Senna *(C&S), Jerome D’Ambrosio (E) and Timo Glock (A&A)
Lotus- Mario Moraes (C&S), James Davison (E) and Mike Conway (A&A)
RLLR- Joey Hand (C&S), Pippa Mann (E) and Jay Howard (A&A)
Shank- Ozz Negri (C&S), Seb Bourdais (E) and Kamui Kobayshi (A&A)
SSM- Townsend Bell (C&S), Scott Speed (E) and Mario Romancini (A&A)
ST- Conor Daly (C&S), Ricky Taylor (E) and Bruno Junquiera (A&A)
So that is to name a few I would say some other IndyCar and GP2 teams and there drivers would run also, so when would the season be? October to March and bring the top teams from each of the 3 franchises/series to the Indy 500 in May. So here is a in depth look at tracks for the three series.
Central and South American Series:
Interlagos- Brazil
Streets of Sao Paulo- Brazil
Curtiba- Brazil
Rio de Janiero- Brazil
Fundidora Park- Mexico
AHR- Mexico
Buenos Aires- Argentina
European IndyCar Series:
Rockingham- England (Both Oval and Road Course)
Silverstone- England
Domington Park- England
Brands Hatch- England
Hockenheim- Germany
Nurburgring- Germany
Euro- Germany (Oval and Road Course)
Assen- Netherlands
Zanvoort- Netherlands
Spa- Belgium
Zolder- Belgium
Jerez- Spain
Catalunya- Spain
Monza- Italy
Magny Cours- France
Asia/Australia Series:
Shanghai-China
Beijing- China
Budduh- India
Korean- S. Korea
Marina Bay- Singapore
Surfers- Australia
Albert Park- Australia
Suzuka- Japan
Fuji- Japan
Motegi- Japan
Sepang- Malyasia
Yas Marina- United Arab Emirates
So what franchise/series has an advantage? I will explain.
The South and Central American Series main competition is Brazilian Touring Cars and Formula Truck Series. So if the BTC and FT can draw pretty decent crowds for races, and spread tracks around pretty well, why can’t IndyCar? The Brazilians already have/want the North American IndyCar Series down there for the Sao Paulo street race and are rumored for a 2012 street race in Porto Alegre. So its not a question of if the South American fans like IndyCar. It just boils down to its potential competition listed above.
The European Series has a ton of competiton unlike the South and Central American Series. Competition includes: F1, Moto GP, DTM, WSBK, GP2, WTCC, and BTCC to name a few. One posibility is merging the Euro Series with Super League Formula. Ex- IndyCar and ChampCar drivers such as: Seb Bourdais, Robert Doornbos, Ho Pin Tung, and Nelson Phillippe have all raced in Superleague Formula
The Asia/Australian Series would be a tough thing to do because of the lack of good drivers in thbe area. But I guess if they have to steal some of the Australian V-8 SuperCar drivers and tracks. you would have to merge it with Japan’s Formula Nippon to have enough drivers. The track potential is there but the driver aspect of this series.
So after overviewing my thoughts and opinions listed above, I would say the Central and South American Series would be the easiest to start. Look at all of the unemployed drivers that still want to race, Mario Romancini, Jamie Camara, and Bruno Junquiera. But the Euro Series would be better off in the long run.
Another important thing is stealing GP2 and DTM drivers such as: Romain Gresjean, Bruno Senna, daniel Riccardio, and Mattais Ekstorm.
This could also help some retired drivers that still are around in racing that might want to race again such as: Teo Fabi, Mario Andretti, Mark Blundell, and Arie Lunyendyk come back and be competitive again.
So what kinds of cars would they run? I say run the 2003 Dallara IndyCar because not enough new aero kits could be built in time but still have the Honda, Lotus and Chevy engines.
Overall, this would be a way better idea than the ChampCar World Series.
Kent
