bigD--u must be a comedian."the wrong series folded".THATS HILARIOUS.As for optional tires-that just makes good sense.And lastly-A title sponsor is a bfd.Onward & upward. Fedex's $$ really made a bf difference for chumpcar didnt it

les-TG would be well served to listen to O.W fans-right or wrong.Now is the time 2forge the series.I really liked the old panoz-they were low and sleek but I really thought the new panoz chassis was terrible.Looked like what it was-a feeder series car.

I like doing the tires and standing starts like F1. The Champ Cars where ulgy. The sponsors on the side pod you couldn't read and no sponsors on the air intake. I didn't watch american open wheel until after the split because of the champ cars.

Welcome back CART!

nice post massdiaper,,,its short and sweet and wrong...see my latest post in the "sonoma notebook" article for the plethora of reasons you're incorrect

Good ideas are good ideas, no matter where they come from, NASCAR, CART, F1, USAC, WOO, whatever. OWR needs all the good ideas it can get in this critical run-up period to the new car. Fact is, the stupid split killed one OWR series outright, and just about killed the other one too. Time to bury the hatchet, be grateful that there's still SOMETHING left to rebuild OWR from, and move on to see if it can once again become the best damned OWR series in the world. It's a long way back to that position however. Had a chance to ask Rick Mears this summer in Edmonton how long it might be before American OWR again had the intensity to produce an F1 world champion, or attract one over to "our" side of the pond? "Dunno, a long time", was his answer. It'll be longer still, if we keep the feud alive.

wolfy-i agree whole heartedly,,,my aggression on these boards stem from years of reading ccws guys pounding TG and indycar.i never wrote back till recently and that frustration has poured out.im all 4 a truce..ps-rick mears has always been my racing hero

Hey racecarter, no prob. We care about OWR, that's why we're fans! Time was, I couldn't even say "TG" without having to spit, but it's history now; the man's trying his best by Indy Car. Rick Mears = class act; raised some good racers for Penske too!

I'm with you on a truce racecarter, but wolfy we might have already had an American OWR champion become a F1 champion if TG did'nt cause the split of OWR back in 96'. I cant think of one IRL driver from 1996- 2008 thats ever made an attempt in F1.
Mears knows no F1 team would hire an oval based(IRL) driver. Montoya,Villenueve,Da Matta,Glock,Zanardi,and Bourdais all came from(I hate to say it but) CART/CHAMP CAR, back then they did race on some ovals though. Whether or not they had any success or not who cares, they got there. And it seems TG is doing right by OWR and transforming back to CART/CHAMP CAR. Turbos, option tires, multiple engine and chassis, more road/street courses and the possibility of push-to-pass and standing starts. C'mon guys, TG made a mistake and now hes trying to fix it. It would be like waking up in the morning and wheels would disappear, and we would have to wait 12 more years for them to be invented. We had it already and now he's bringing it all back. All of us OWR fans need to support their decisions whether their Champ Car or Indycar ideas and move on. Lets pick on NASCAR instead of other OWR fans. NASCAR's an easier target with the phantom and competition yellows, widespread suspensions for cheating, there lawsuit for discrimition against that women official, and there four hour borathons. Not to mention losing sponsors(Ganassi). NASCAR is digging its own grave, and with Indycars future changes for the better, hopefully we can help TG throw the dirt on their grave. Friends of mine asked if I would go to Sonoma, I told them "the wounds were still to deep". But I will be at Long Beach for sure, a little disappointed its not the season opener, but oh well. I'll be there to support the future of American OWR.