Champ car, CART, (whatever) you want to call it had problems way before Tony George came along.
Financially yes. Venues, and attendance No.
I grew up with CART from 1971 to the end. I never had a better overall experience with the whole package. Not just the headlining CART race Sunday afternoon, but all of the practices, qualifying, support races etc. Drivers were the easiest (of all racing series) to interact with. (Many stories in the hotels, bars, restaurants, rollerblading, walking, running or biking in the paddock on thurs etc) Then the revenue became stagnant with increasing costs, thus financial issues. When CCWS bought CART, they not only saved the series, they interjected HUGE cost savings measures, made the logos, clothing etc more hip. They held "townhall meetings" with the fans. etc.
IF FTG would not have even started the IRL, I truely believe that Champcar would be an equal to NASCRAP in the US, and another international option as well.
BUT He said the famous hammer-nail-coffin crap and lied to EVERYONE about what he was up to. He brainwashed the US sponsors, and the key Champcar owners sold out to follow the sponsor money instead of riding it out. If they would have stuck out the storm, IRL would have been dead after 3 years. With many owners jumping ship, and all of the BS he spewed, it brought both series to a lull.
I don't care what anyone says, FTG single handedly destroyed decades of top notch open wheeled racing in this great country. He alone has left a bad taste in EVERY ones mouth, that will take decades to cure. Anyone who actually believes in FTG's "vision" I have a few mountains to sell you here in WI. It is sad that the sponsers believed his crap about american this and american that, and the Indy 500. I can partially understand their position, because it was a few years of struggle with the end of CART and the start of new ownership, and FTG just took advantage of the timing. I just wish that they (Sponsors, Engine suppliers) would have jumped ship back after they they realized that the Indy 500 was a dud, and the series was even worse in the IRL. Honda realized this almost immediately, and so did GM and Toyota. It probably hurt Champcar that Cosworth was owned by Champcar, otherwise the Engine suppliers may have came back.
No matter what happens in the short term, FTG will always be the one who destroyed the machine by throwing his hammer and nails into it.
I am just glad that I have other grassroots racing events in the US to keep my mind pure.
With all of the money controlling and destroying racing in the world, do yourself a favor, and attend some NASA or SCCA events at your home track. You will learn quick what racing was meant to look like.
Have a great year!
:tongue:
.....just repeating what the Ass't editor of Formula Car Magazine posted. If it had been anyone else, I woulda just ignored it, but...... 
