Explained: The chaotic history of the IndyCar split and reunification

Talk to a fan of American motorsport long enough, and you’ll inevitably hear them reference something called the “IndyCar split.” This event had massive repercussions on the evolution of American open-wheel racing — but it can be challenging to find anyone to explain it in depth.

That’s because this chaotic, complex event lasted for decades , its repercussions still casting a pall over the sport to this day. Today on PlanetF1.com, we’re going to break down the history of the Split, and what it means for American motorsport today.

IndyCar Split: A complex history

To truly understand the IndyCar split, it’s important to understand some additional IndyCar context, because the conditions that caused the Split began decades before anything was truly set in motion.

American open-wheel racing first began in the early 1900s, back when the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association (AAA) sanctioned motorsport events like the Indianapolis 500.

These early days of racing in America were a bit haphazard; the AAA Contest Board didn’t always award season championships, though it was very particular about the kinds of people who should be able to compete in what was then an oval-racing dominated sport.

But even then, the AAA wasn’t the only motorsport sanctioning body in the United States. The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and later the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) both popped up to sanction European-style road course racing, and some early spats in American motorsport history rose when the AAA and SCCA began to argue over which organization should sanction certain races.

The AAA ultimately withdrew from racing in 1955 as a result of the Le Mans disaster that saw over 80 spectators killed in a horrific racing accident.

At that point, Tony Hulman — owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — stepped in to create his own sanctioning body, the United States Auto Club (USAC).

USAC’s reign: 1956 – 1978

Tony Hulman founded USAC as a way to sanction “Championship car racing,” which today we would recognize as American open-wheel racing. Hulman formalized a ruleset dictating the motorsport that took place on paved and dirt oval tracks, and for several decades, the American racing scene flourished.

However, that growth coincided with equivalent evolutions in speed, technology, costs, and mindsets. Front-engined “roadsters” turned into rear-engined formula-style racers, while innovations in aerodynamics saw cars get faster and faster. Plus, the oval-only schedule began to adopt some road course races.

All of these changes worked in favor of big-name sports car operations, like Penske, Patrick, Gurney, and McLaren — the teams that could, effectively, afford to innovate at a rapid pace. Some folks, including Tony Hulman, saw these goliaths of American motorsport as killing off the home-grown competitors of years past, the ones who could cobble together a car in their garage and bring it out to win the Indy 500.

This dissent brought about two opposing mindsets.

On one hand, you had USAC, which wanted to preserve the tradition of American open-wheel racing and to prioritize competition over innovation. On the other hand, members of the bigger teams wanted the sport to grow, which would of course cause costs to rise, but which should also increase the purse for competitors.

For example, in 1971, USAC lost a massive Marlboro sponsorship by failing to enforce the brand’s exclusivity at multiple events. Further, big-name races like the Indy 500 were aired on tape delay and not live, while there was very little promotion at other events on the schedule.

These tensions were coming to a head in the late 1970s when two hugely significant events took place.

First, in October of 1977, Tony Hulman died of heart failure caused by an aneurysm.

Then, in April of 1978, eight key USAC officials were killed in a plane crash.

Thus began the first of two “splits” in American open-wheel racing.

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The first split: CART vs USAC

The deaths of both Tony Hulman and multiple USAC officials created a power vacuum into which the first American open-wheel split was born.

In early 1978, American racing icon and open-wheel team owner Dan Gurney began drafting something that came to be known as the “white paper.” This effectively served as a draft of what he and other big-name team owners wished their ideal race series would be. It would be the blueprint of a new series called Championship Auto Racing Teams, or CART.

After the USAC plane crash, the 1978 racing season was run with the kind of chaos that encouraged Gurney and fellow team owners Roger Penske and Pat Patrick to bring their “white paper” to USAC management. Their proposal for a new way of running races was rejected — and so the men involved decided to host their own race series. CART was born.

For the 1979 season, USAC attempted to ban CART-affiliated teams and drivers from that season’s Indianapolis 500, but CART took USAC to court, where it received an injunction that said its cars must be allowed to qualify.

Of the 20 American open-wheel races races run in 1979, CART accounted for 13 of them. The championship managed to recruit the best talent from USAC, and CART’s mere existence threatened to run USAC into the ground.

In 1980, the two organizations attempted to jointly sanction races through a new organization called the Championship Racing League — but USAC withdrew after just five races.

By 1982, both sanctioning bodies had achieved something of an uneasy truce. USAC stopped hosting a full-season championship and instead took sole control of sanctioning the Indy 500 as well as a handful of other events throughout the year.

CART, meanwhile, served as the sanctioning body for full-time racing. However, points scored at the Indy 500 were awarded to the CART championship.

This split initially seemed promising. For the first time, American open-wheel racing was being run on a stable schedule, which drew in big-name sponsorships and international drivers. Races were aired on television, and CART even joined the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS) — meaning that international competitors could take part in the championship without risking their superlicenses.

But not all was well. CART was regularly accused of serving the interests of the richest team owners and pricing out any new teams looking to join. It attempted to form a kind of alliance with Tony George — Tony Hulman’s grandson who had taken control of the Speedway — but that joint organization fell apart as CART expanded the number of seats on the board and brought in a British marketing executive named Andrew Craig.

Several other issues arose. First, CART attempted to transition to the name “IndyCar,” which had become a colloquialism for American open-wheel racing. Then, Team Penske brought a Mercedes-Benz engine to the Indy 500 that exploited a gray area that existed between USAC’s Indy 500 rulebook and CART’s season-long rulebook.

Another split was on the horizon.

The second split: Introducing the IRL

In 1994, Tony George announced the creation of a new racing series called the Indy Racing League. This series would begin competition in 1996, and it would place the Indy 500 at the center of its schedule.

Further, it also announced that all 25 teams competing in the IRL would automatically qualify for the Indianapolis 500 — meaning that CART teams would be left to fight for the remaining eight slots on the Indy 500’s 33-car starting grid.

See, Tony George had fought back against CART’s attempt to trademark the phrase ‘IndyCar,’ effectively taking over the term by introducing a series called the ‘Indy Racing League.’ A massive court battle ensued over who should get ownership of the term, with the ultimate decision stating the IRL could be called IndyCar, but only after the 2003 season.

Meanwhile, CART attempted to boycott the 1996 Indy 500, where its cars would be forced to compete for eight starting slots, by hosting its own 500-mile race at Michigan International Speedway, which it called the US 500. A foolish first-lap crash effectively ruined the event before it ever got started.

For several years, CART and the IRL existed alongside one another, catering to two different fanbases. If you wanted to watch oval racing, you watched the IRL. If you enjoyed road courses, you watched CART. Easy.

But in 2000, several CART teams and drivers had gotten fed up with the way the series was organized to favor big-name teams. Those drivers and teams began to defect to the IRL, where they’d get to contest the Indianapolis 500 again.

The rampant infighting and instability soured both fans and sponsors to American open-wheel racing. Viewership numbers dropped rapidly, as did CART’s title sponsor FedEx and its engine suppliers, Honda and Toyota.

CART filed for bankruptcy in 2003; its assets were purchased, and the series was re-launched as the Champ Car World Series. The financial difficulties did not resolve themselves, and by 2007, its presenting sponsors Bridgestone and Ford both withdrew.

Meanwhile, the IRL had begun to refer to itself as IndyCar, and as CART began to lose venues, the IRL was there to add them to its calendar. The tides were turning.

Bankruptcy and reunification

Before the start of the 2007 season, Champ Car announced bankruptcy. The IRL was there to propose a trade: It would provide free cars and engine leases to any Champ Car team that would commit to the IRL for the full 2008 season. In response, Champ Car would give the IRL its dates at Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton, and Australia, as well as all of its property and historical records.

It was the only option that would truly satisfy both parties, and that would help to guarantee some kind of future for American open-wheel racing. The newly-created IndyCar series was born.

Its first few seasons were shaky. The 2008 financial crisis paired with the ongoing struggles in the American open-wheel world meant IndyCar’s primary goal was simply surviving.

The Split’s legacy today

We’re nearing a full two decades since the IndyCar split. The George family sold both IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to Roger Penske, who still runs Team Penske in the series. And the sport has grown — but many issues from the split still linger.

For example, IndyCar has lagged behind series like Formula 1 in terms of technology and safety developments. The series is still battling the opposite poles of further legitimizing itself while also attempting to keep costs down for the smaller teams — all while trying to convince engine manufacturers to continue investing in the sport.

IndyCar, then, is still very much a work in progress despite the series tracing its roots back for over a century.

As new fans explore IndyCar and compare its current relative merits to those of other series, it can be easy to overlook the various ways the sport’s complex history still plays out today — and that IndyCar’s fractious past is still fresh in the rearview mirror.

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