Championship Auto Racing Teams

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Championship Auto Racing Teams

Sport	Auto racing
Jurisdiction	United States Canada
Abbreviation	CART
Founded	1979
Headquarters	Troy, Michigan, United States (1979–2002) Indianapolis, Indiana, United States (2002–2003)[1]
President	Andrew Craig (1994–2000) Bobby Rahal, interim (2000) Joe Heitzler (2001) Chris Pook (2002–2003)
Other key staff	Roger Penske, Pat Patrick, Dan Gurney, Bob Fletcher, Jim Hall, Carl Haas, Wally Dallenbach
Closure date	2003

Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 season. CART was founded in 1979 by team owners formerly from the United States Auto Club (USAC) Championship Car division. The owners disagreed with the direction and leadership of USAC. They developed a then-novel business model of team owners sanctioning and promoting their own series collectively rather than relying on a neutral governing body to do so.

While the CART owners broke off to form their own series, the sport's biggest race and centerpiece – the Indianapolis 500 – remained under the sanctioning control of USAC. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the CART Indy Car World Series became the pre-eminent open-wheel auto racing series in North America. It features a diverse schedule of superspeedways, short ovals, road courses, and street circuit. The CART-based teams continued to compete at the Indianapolis 500, essentially as a one-off. From 1983 to 1995, an arrangement was put in place in which the Indy 500 would pay points to the CART championship. Though it was still sanctioned by USAC, it was effectively integrated into the CART season schedule.

Even as the series prospered, concerns about costs, competitiveness, and revenue sharing began to create opposition to CART's organizational structure. Attempts at reform, which saw the company rebranded as IndyCar in 1992^[2] and a compromise board formed, failed. In 1996, an open wheel "split" saw the newly created Indy Racing League (IRL) take full control over the Indianapolis 500 and start a competing oval-based open-wheel series. CART ceased using the IndyCar name but continued its series without participating in the Indianapolis 500.

The "split" saw a dramatic drop in interest for open wheel racing in the United States, which was compounded by the growing popularity of NASCAR, creating a downward trend in sponsorship and attendance at some tracks. After a series of additional setbacks in the early 2000s, several of the major teams and manufacturers defected to the rival IRL. CART went bankrupt at the end of the 2003 season.

In 2004, a trio of team owners acquired the assets of the series from bankruptcy, rebranding it the Champ Car World Series (CCWS). Continuing financial difficulties caused Champ Car to file for bankruptcy before its planned 2008 season; CART and CCWS assets and history were merged into the IRL's IndyCar Series.