Combined CART/ChampCar-IRL standings during the Split years?

[Yannick]

Hello Fantasy Series Points calculators of the F1Rejects board!

While waking up this morning, it occurred to me, maybe this has never been done on here: determining the combined points standings of every season 1996 - 2007 of CART/ChampCar and Indy Racing League, to figure out ONE champion for each of the selected years instead of the two which there are officially. Wouldn't it be interesting to see title fights like Tracy VS Hornish, Jr. or Bourdais VS Dixon?

For this, it would be necessary to calculate the combined points standings under the points systems of both series for the particular year, and then compare these.

Constructing a 1996-97 season for CART would be especially interesting, maybe because this is the only season of the early IRL years in which the IRL actually has had enough races to produce enough points for their drivers to stand a chance against the CART drivers who ran a lot more races then.

After all, I think the results should not be weighted with the number of races for each series and season, but maybe you think different about that?

Certainly, the early years of the Split surely would not produce as interesting title fights as the later years, but who knows, maybe there are surprises.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time (nor the patience, I have to admit) to calculate these standings by myself, but I have high hopes that, especially given the high amount of drivers eligible to the F1 Rejects website in both series, some of you fantasy series experts might be interested in these combined US open wheel series results.

Here's further hoping you like the idea. If you need more inspiration, there are some great races from both series on youtube, and surprisingly, sometimes the series widely seen as the fan favourite (CART) hasn't even produced the better races (Surfers Paradise 2002) and the occasional ancient IRL race turned out to be interesting (Walt Disney Speedway 2000).

I'm curious about if maybe you know whether this combination of the standings has been done before and/or if you might feel interested in actually calculating them on this board.

Thanks for considering.

[Ferrarist]

Well, we could just calculate the points per race for each driver. Oh wait, we'll have to convert both points systems into one format, since both series used different systems back then. For example, CART champion Alex Zanardi got 15 points per race, while IRL champion Kenny Bräck got something like 30 points per race. So for simplicity's sake, I'll convert the IRL points into the CART points system, so 20 points for the winner and so on. Of course, doing so might take some time, so if someone else with no time has already done so, then he should feel free to share them with us.

[Yannick]

Thank you Ferrarist for letting yourself be instigated to do some calculations. Where can I figure out the point systems for each series? I know current IndyCar has bonus points for pole position and most laps led but how about past seasons?

I guess for comparison's sake, it would also be necessary to calculate the CART standings in the IRL points system but what exactly was the IRL points system?

[Ferrarist]

Thank you Ferrarist for letting yourself be instigated to do some calculations. Where can I figure out the point systems for each series? I know current IndyCar has bonus points for pole position and most laps led but how about past seasons?

I guess for comparison's sake, it would also be necessary to calculate the CART standings in the IRL points system but what exactly was the IRL points system?

You can look up the points systems on Wikipedia. But to make matters easier, both series gave extra points for the fastest lap and the pole position.

[Yannick]

I've calculated the "Full 1996" season standings of the IRL out of the 3 1996 season races and the first 2 races of the 1996-97 season which took place in 1996. Here is you Top 20:


1 Buzz Calkins 144 (the actual 1996 co-champion)
2 Roberto Guerrero 139 (a true F1 reject as runner up in the inaugural IRL year without even scoring a win)
3 Mike Groff 139
4 Richie Hearn 138
5 Scott Sharp 136 (the other actual 1996 co-champion)
6 Michele Alboreto 125 (you know him)
7 Robbie Buhl 120
8 Davey Hamilton 118
9 Arie Luyendyk 114 (Indy 500 winner of 90 and 97)
10 Tony Stewart 106 (popular NASCAR driver)
11 John Paul Jr 96
12 Stephan Gregoire 91
13 Johnny O'Connell 87
14 Eliseo Salazar 84 (F1 reject)
15 Buddy Lazier 80 (Indy 500 winner of 96)
16 Eddie Cheever 79 (you know him)
17 Jim Guthrie 71
18 Michel Jourdain Jr 70
19 Marco Greco 63
20 Lyn St James 62

The big story is Roberto Guerrero almost took the inaugural IRL title had this series actually been counting the races held in the whole of 1996 as its inaugural season. A foreign winner surely would not have fitted well with the promotional concept of Tony George who presented IRL as a "truly American" series, one which it never turned out to be.

As far as the season comparisons between IRL and CART are concerned, only in the mid-00s do both series have equal numbers of races which would produce comparable standings. So Tony Stewart vs Alex Zanardi would be won by Zanardi purely on the number of events he participated in.

It could be different for Dixon VS Bourdais. Ferrarist, could you have a go at the 2007 seasons? Champ Car is just one race short there.