The Champ Car World Series has had a pretty decent offseason so far, with stability and the addition of Laguna Seca being main factors here, as well as their competitor, the IRL, struggling for air with drivers like Scott Sharp, Dario Franchitti and others leaving (the Helio Dancing with the stars thing is really a gimmick that won’t last, just like Danica). But the TV schedule just came out and it looks like ESPN/ABC wants to play hardball and screw the pooch by giving a blowjob to the IRL.
April 20 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach, California
5:00 – 7:30 p.m. – ESPN2 – Same-day tape
April 27 Grand Prix of Houston at JAGFlo Speedway, Houston, Texas
10:00 p.m. – Midnight – ESPN2 – Same-day tape
May 18 Champ Car Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. – ESPN – LIVE
June 1 Champ Car World Series Belgium at Circuit Zolder, Zolder, Belgium
3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – ABC – Same-day tape (Just 1 hour of highlights)
June 8 Champ Car World Series Spain at Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez, Spain
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. – ABC – Same-day tape (Just 1 hour of highlights)
June 22 Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
3:30 – 4:30 p.m. – ABC – Same-day tape (Just 1 hour of highlights)
June 29 Champ Car Mont-Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
1:00 – 3:00 p.m. – ESPN – LIVE
July 6 Champ Car Grand Prix of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2:00 – 4:00 p.m. – ESPN – LIVE
July 20 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
3:00 – 5:00 p.m. – ESPN – LIVE
July 27 Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, Portland, Oregon
10:00 p.m. – Midnight – ESPN2 – Same-day tape
August 10 Champ Car Grand Prix at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – ABC – Same-day tape (Just 1 hour of highlights)
September 14 Champ Car World Series Holland at the TT Circuit Assen, Assen, Holland
10:00 p.m. – Midnight – ESPN2 – Same-day tape
October 26 Gold Coast Indy 300, Surfers Paradise, Australia
11:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. – ESPN2 – Same-day tape
November 9 Gran Premio de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
3:00 – 5:00 p.m. ESPN2 – LIVE
A lot of same day delays and 1 hour race reviews. Screw you ESPN. Blowing Champ Car off for an inferior racing series that no one outside of Indianapolis watches with the IRL is not good for open-wheel racing, period.
Also, Champ Car driver Dan Clarke is moving to the IRL with this to say, on Autosport:
“The IRL is one of the few series where drivers can get paid and you can work your way up. Sam Hornish started at Panther and moved to Penske, Ryan Briscoe has been around for a few years and now he’s landed a Penske drive too.” (Autosport)
Yeeeeeah. He’ll start his career at Panther and end up at NASCAR with Wood Brothers/JTG or something. Then again, another Dan Clarke-like moving chicane J.J. Yeley has a ride in NASCAR so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.
auto racing is dead 