" You're absolutely right Dave. The REAL Indycar racing is Champ Car. Tony George stole owners and drivers to bolster up his sagging IRL, which isn't even a ghost of the competition we used to see from the old CART. Shame on those team owners (do you hear me Chip? And Michael how can you call yourself an Andretti?) and manufacturers (are you listening Honda? I didn't buy your car after you left CART). Paul Tracy is one of the few to have honor and loyalty to Champ Car, not to mention being a hell of a fun driver to watch. Unfortunately, Tony George is too much of a juvenile thinker to realize that he has single-handedly wrecked open wheel Indy car racing in North America. NASCAR is fun to watch. F1 is too effete. Sports car racing is great, but there's not enough of it. Drag racing is cool too. But I miss the superb action of a good Indy car race. "

" Oh great. The two dozen Champ Car zelots who infest open wheel message boards have discovered letters to the editor. I have plenty of very dry bones I could pick with Tony George. But He won. It's over. Indy Car will get the coverage it warrants when it visits Napa Valley no matter how deeply you guys dig your feet in and pretend it's still 1995. Or no matter how much the Scores of Champ Car partisans want to pretend that Indy Car is a lesser racing entity. "

" I agree, Dave. Fans who follow open wheel/Indy car racing question the integrity and credibility of anyone connected to the irl. Providing expanded cover of that league is a disservice to your readers and an insult to racing fans. "

" this is an excellent example of the small remaining fanbase of what was CART and is now OWRS this fanatical group, which is semi-officially sanctioned by the series, has been one of many factors in the downfall of CART and subsequent abortion that is spread among Kalkhoven's web of LLCs it is impossible to grow the fanbase of a sport which at it's core insists that all other forms of sport must be forsaken in order to participate you are left with a hobby or cult, take your pick meanwhile the street circuses will continue to draw a few thousand local folks to the loud party, few of which even know the driver's names - as evidenced by the fact that once the act leaves town literally noone is following the series on TV at all hence, not much need for news coverage around the nation either "

" .I'd like to respectfully disagree with Luis. Its not over. Just compare attendance at the Champ Car San Jose Grand Prix to irl attendance at Infinion. Pick any year. Champ Car has about twice the attendance as irl. And Tony George hasn't won. But all Indycar race fans lost when George created the irl in an attempt to kill CART/Champcar. And I'm not pretending its still 1995 nor am I pretending the Indy 500 has had any meaning since 1995. It hasn't. "

" Send the IRL packing. I would never attend an IRL race. But I attend Champcar races whenever I can. "

" Without doubt, the Champ Car race was a terrific event and San Jose should be proud of its involvement in having a world-class spectacle in their city. What a race, what a weekend! Great value for dollar. I'll be back for next year's event for sure. "

" The media is the only one propping up the sham series called the Irl. If you have any doubts, look at the stands from the SJGP, and compare them to the stands at Sears Point. Fans are turning out for the CCWS, but not for the IRL, except for one race in Indy. The racing is better in CC, and there are no "fixed" races, like there are in the IRL. If you doubt that, look at Marco's "win". Tony George has not won anything. He is nothing more than the kid who took his ball and went home, only to start playing football with his sisters. If you call that winning, well then..... "

" I also need to add, that I have traveled 1000 miles one way to go see ChampCars run in San Jose, all three times, but I am not interested in crossing the street to watch watered down field, run around nose to tail. I don't watch NapCar either. "

" Dear Mr. Morethebetter, Business is all about name recognition and growing that, with the crop of young, ner drivers. Their plan is that in a few years, these drivers will become well-known, drivers like Will Power, Justin Wilson, Robert Doornbos, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, and others. The only drivers that garner attention is Tracy and Bourdais. They want more drivers to get more recognition, and with that, more fans and more sponsors. The only reason why the IRL is popular is because they pretty much inherited drivers from CART that were popular before. Working from a clean slate, OWRS is trying to create something different, something new, because CART has gotten stale from mismanagement, which caused this "downfall of CART" you are talking about. Of course when a sport is nearly killed in critical condition, you will be left with these fanatical people wanting to keep the series alive. Traditions will be broken and ideas failed, and in some cases stolen because some greedy losers decided to ruin it for everyone. Also, I am one of those fans that rekindled his fanship to CC, after these "street circuses" you are talking about. There are many articles about the downfall of the Indy 500, but no one (none of the major media like the AP, USA Today, NY Times, etc) is talking about the downfall of Champ Car anymore other than the fans of the IRL to blind themselves of what is really going on. "

" Actually I have been somewhat disappointed with the CART replacement sanctioning body. While the single engine formula might keep costs down, it keeps down the level of competition. I'd like to see Tony George banished from open wheel racing (send him over to NASCAR for awhile to play his spoiled brat attitude and see how far it goes) and let the stakeholders from CC and irl get together and forge a new series. My connection with Champ Cars goes back to USAC, then CART split from them and was successful for many years. Sometimes there needs to be a Phoenix rising from the ashes. I notice Dave had mentioned Danicamania, which is probably the only thing irl has going for it. She's competitive and she's a cutie. Yeah, too much hype. But nobody pays attention to Katherine Legge, who has already won (Long Beach 2005). Wish I could be at Road America next weekend. Beautiful road course. "

" The race in Sonoma doesn't draw flies,same as the other IRL events.The IRL has been kicked out of all their other events in the west. The IRL has failed at every venue it has replaced for CART/CC. Now Michigan is gone. What has the Indy 500 done for the IRL? THe IRL is killing that too. "

" As you may have already figured out, a link to your comments page has found its way to a Champ Car forum, that hates the IRL and some how thinks Champ Car is relevant, in US motor sports. The large number of postings in favor of Champ Car and trash talking the Indy Racing League, isn’t an indication that Hell has frozen over and masses of people are becoming Champ Car fans, rather it is an indication that some people never really grow up and they carry their hatred to great lengths. Hope the IRL puts on a competitive and enjoyable race. "

" Am I to sense that this news paper is highly pro-CCWS? iT appears that all comments are anti-IRL and admonish the city for thinking of having the IRL. Yet, pro Champcar comments abound with no rebuttals allowed? Not a very level playing field now is it when this censorship is allowed. "

" These comments are in objection to the lack of coverage of the San Jose Grand Prix in this newspaper. If this paper were "highly pro-CCWS" this discussion would never been started. As a Bay Area resident, I find it bothersome that coverage was limited to a couple of blurbs on the last page of the sport section. I met people from all over this state at the SJGP and with Napa only 80 miles away it certainly should deserve more attention. Particularly since Napa has businesses owned by a Champ Car team owner who is a former Champion. Where's your local support? I'd also like to point out that those of us that are Champ Car fans are addressing the racing differences of the CC and IRL. Those opposed to CC will attack the CC fan, using typical tactics and tagwords like "abortion", "cult" and referring to us as immature along with bringing up the business dealings of a CC series owner that has nothing to do with this topic. How long before we'll see the words "ilk" and "quaint"? Address the issue at hand. Address the racing. I'll be hoping for a more fair and balanced representation of this local event next year. "

" iRL is a graet racign seEries cuz you can get free tictets to every one ofthe races. You haVe to paY moNey to GO to ALMS an Champ cAr. also no freE hat. "

" Brad sez "As you may have already figured out, a link to your comments page has found its way to a Champ Car forum, that hates the IRL " You think? "