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29-620: A similar series named Indy Lights filled the developmental role for the CART series, and ran from 1986 to 1993 as the American Racing Series and Dayton Indy Lights from 1991 to 2001. The current IndyCar sanctioned series was founded in 2002 as the Infiniti Pro Series as a way to introduce new talent to IndyCar, with the moniker Indy Lights returning in 2008 when CART and IndyCar unified. The Indy Lights champion

58-730: A February 22 agreement in principle to merge with the IRL. The IRL purchased the CCWS's sanctioning contracts, the Champ Car Mobile Medical Unit, the series history, and goodwill for $ 6 million, with Forsythe and Kalkhoven signing a non-compete agreement in exchange for $ 2 million each. While the first "merged" event of the rechristened " IndyCar Series" was the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 29, 2008, due to

87-585: A four-wide finish. In June 2013, it was announced that the series would be promoted by Andersen Promotions beginning in 2014 . with IndyCar sanctioning remaining. In August it was announced that Cooper Tire would replace Firestone as the official tire of the series in 2014. This resulted in all three levels of the Road to Indy leading up to the IndyCar Series being promoted by Andersen and feature Cooper tires, beginning in 2014. The Andersen team implemented

116-408: A newly updated and modern-looking chassis was introduced based on an F3000 design. It would remain through 2001. Buick V6 engines were used for its entire existence. The ARS/Indy Lights series' championship winners included two CART champions, two IndyCar Series champions, seven Champ Car World Series race-winners and two Formula One drivers. The Indy Lights schedule closely followed that of

145-486: A number of CART series drivers during the 1980s and early 1990s were former Formula 1 competitors, most of whom had climbed the European-based ladder series. The original Indy Lights series was an open-wheeled racing series that acted as a developmental circuit for CART from 1986 to 2001. It was founded in 1986 as the American Racing Series (ARS). CART became the sanctioning body for the series in 1988, and it

174-534: A number of cost-reducing updates to the chassis and engine package in 2014 and introduced a new chassis and engine combination in 2015. On October 31, 2013, the series announced that Dallara would be the manufacturer of the fourth-generation Indy Lights chassis and it would be named the Dallara IL-15. On November 1, 2013 a new logo was unveiled for the Indy Lights series On November 26 it was announced that

203-417: A scheduling conflict with the 2008 Indy Japan 300 , the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was held on April 20, 2008, as a Champ Car sanctioned event using CCWS-spec Panoz-Cosworth cars and the winners getting IRL points, with the event described as a final celebration of CART/CCWS. Spike TV aired all races in 2004, with select races aired on high definition channel HDNet . In 2005 and 2006, coverage

232-580: A support race to a series other than CART. In 2001 Indy Lights ran at Road Atlanta the weekend of the Petit Le Mans , and ran at Kansas with the IRL . By the late 1990s and early 2000s, CART was suffering from financial problems. Meanwhile, in 1996, the rival Indy Racing League was formed. CART canceled the minor league outright after the 2001 season. By this time, the Toyota Atlantic series

261-570: The Trans-Am Series and the Atlantic Championship . Champ Car was able to maintain a full field and most of CART's street circuit sanctioning agreements for 2004. Champ Car eventually moved into a 'de facto' all road-course format. The series would experiment with dramatic rule changes, including special compound tires that were to be used for a fixed portion of the race, standing starts, and timed races. Both Champ Car and

290-555: The "Mini-Indy" series, using Super Vee machines. The series ended after 1980 when USAC stopped sanctioning Indy car races outside of the Indianapolis 500. Following the end of the "Mini Indy" series, the driver pool in the early 1980s for CART and the Indy 500 was drawn in a somewhat unorganized fashion among Super Vees, Atlantics, former Can-Am drivers, sprint cars, midgets, and even stock cars and off-road racing . In addition,

319-399: The 2003 season. Champ Cars were single-seat, open-wheel racing cars , with mid-mounted engines. Champ cars had sculpted undersides to create ground effect and prominent wings to create downforce . The cars would use a different aerodynamic kit on the occasions they raced on an oval. With funds low, development was effectively frozen with a focus on developing a universal chassis, and

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348-511: The CART series, and typically had a gap of up to a month while the primary CART teams raced at the Indy 500 . The races were usually held the morning of the CART series races, as an undercard event. In early years, the Indy Lights series skipped superspeedway races such as Michigan , but eventually found its way to race there. In some rare occasions, the Indy Lights ran at non-CART tracks, generally as

377-611: The IRL continued to suffer from reduced fields, sponsorship, and television ratings. Merger talks in 2006 were halted after disagreements regarding Champ Car's upcoming Panoz chassis and leaked details of a shared new series upset IMS. The 2007 season saw the withdrawal of Bridgestone and Ford as presenting sponsors and some race cancellations. By January 2008, both the IRL and Champ Car feared they did not have enough participating cars to maintain their TV and sanctioning contract minimums. After successful merger negotiations, in mid-February 2008, Champ Car authorized bankruptcy to facilitate

406-798: The Indy Lights schedule was the Freedom 100 , contested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Friday prior to the Indianapolis 500 . The series also held a support race for the U.S. Grand Prix , the Liberty Challenge , from 2005 to 2007. It was the series' first event that was not a support race to an IndyCar event. On September 9, 2007, during the Chicagoland 100 , Logan Gomez beat Alex Lloyd by 0.0005 seconds (approximately 1.65 inches (42 mm) at 188 mph) which reflects what

435-641: The USGP weekend. The series was called the Menards Infiniti Pro Series (MIPS) until 2006 when both Menards and Nissan dropped their sponsorship of the series. It was then known as the Indy Pro Series . On March 26, 2008, the series announced a changing of names, when the historical records and proprietary information of Champ Car were acquired by the IRL. The series then became known as Firestone Indy Lights . The centerpiece of

464-497: The end of the 1960s, the cars evolved into rear-engine formula-style machines. Likewise, the feeder series began to follow the same mold. When United States Automobile Club (USAC) became the primary sanctioning body for top-level open-wheel racing, the ladder of progression began to change. The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Super Vee and Formula Atlantic series were among the first formula-based ladder series. However, neither had any direct tie to USAC. In 1977, USAC started

493-610: The engine for the new package would be a 2.0L turbocharged MZR-R four cylinder engine, tuned to last a full season of competition and producing 450 horsepower, with push-to-pass offering an additional 50 horsepower. The 2020 season was canceled through a combination of low grid numbers and the COVID-19 pandemic . As of 2021, the Dallara IL-15 continues to be the chassis employed by the series, but engines are now provided by AER, Advanced Engines Research, modifying and tuning base 2.0 liter I-4 Mazda power plants turbocharged to provide

522-568: The rival Indy Racing League (IRL), declared bankruptcy after the 2003 season. Gerald Forsythe , Kevin Kalkhoven , and Paul Gentilozzi founded Open-Wheel Racing Series LLC (OWRS) to bid on CART's assets and continue the series as its own entity. The IRL intended to bid a higher amount but had only committed to purchasing the series' Cosworth engines and the sanctioning contract for the Long Beach Grand Prix , effectively to make

551-481: The same power and push-to-pass capability of the former engines, with the added capability of longevity: the engines are designed and fabricated to run an entire season without a rebuild. A halo was added to the IL-15 for the 2021 season. Andretti Autosport's Kyle Kirkwood captured the 2021 series championship, while HMD Motorsports' David Malukas finished second and Global Racing Group w/HMD Motorsports' Linus Lundqvist

580-479: The schedule in 2005 , many of America's top prospects like Marco Andretti and Phil Giebler were attracted to the series to run part-time schedules on road courses. In 2006 , a boost in prize money even further increased car counts to 16 or more, with an even six oval and six road course mix. The selected races being double races, and a stand-alone race (independent of the IndyCar Series) were scheduled on

609-491: The series generally ran on CART-spec 2002 Lola chassis from 2003 to 2006. The new chassis was developed by Panoz and debuted in 2007 as the Panoz DP01 . The chassis was well received by drivers and fans. The series leased 750hp 2.65 L V-8 turbocharged Cosworth XFE engines to teams, which had been purchased by CART for the 2003 season. CART, following the departure of a number of top teams and engine manufacturers to

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638-664: The series untenable and allow a takeover on their terms. OWRS was successful, as its bid allowed the highest probability CART vendors would get paid. Once CART's assets were secured, the series began a major push to be able to field enough cars and drivers for the April Long Beach Grand Prix, with the final drivers announced just before practice began. The series featured three longtime CART teams, Forsythe Championship Racing , Newman/Haas Racing , and Dale Coyne Racing . OWRS also became owners of

667-403: The title based on more second-place finishes (5 vs 1). Champ Car Champ Car World Series ( CCWS ) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), which sanctioned open-wheel racing from 1979 until dissolving after

696-614: The year after the CART-sanctioned Indy Lights series' demise. It was a spec series using a TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) developed 3.5L version of the V8 engine used in the Infiniti Q45 combined with Dallara chassis producing 420 horsepower (310 kW). The series initially struggled to attract drivers and some races have had fewer than 10 entrants. However, with the introduction of a number of road-course races to

725-409: Was awarded a $ 1M scholarship toward the IndyCar Series, and guaranteed three races including the Indianapolis 500 during this time. For 2023, Penske Entertainment announced a rebranding to the name Indy NXT. In the post- WWII era, through the early 1960s, American open-wheel racing cars were almost exclusively front-engined "roadsters". The primary ladder series included sprints and midgets . By

754-571: Was equally effective in providing CART with new drivers. In addition, the Atlantics served as a springboard for such drivers as Greg Ray , Sam Hornish Jr. and Richie Hearn to enter the IRL . The Atlantics effectively became CART's primary feeder system, and later became Champ Car World Series' official in-house feeder championship for a time. The Infiniti Pro Series was re-founded by the Indy Racing League and began racing in 2002,

783-425: Was renamed as Indy Lights in 1991, with title sponsorship by Firestone . Later, Firestone's subsidiary Dayton Tires took over as tire supplier and title sponsor. A spec-series , CART Indy Lights used March chassis (essentially a modified 85B Formula 3000 chassis, renamed to Wildcat) from 1986 to 1992. In 1992 Lola became the primary chassis constructor to the series, using a modified F3000 chassis. In 1997,

812-586: Was the closest recognized finish in the over century-long history of organized automobile racing throughout the world, until the 2018 Powershares QQQ 300 . In 2008, the margin was established by the Guinness Book of World Records as the closest finish ever in a car race. On May 24, 2013, Peter Dempsey captured his first Indy Lights win in the Freedom 100 in the closest finish in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history (0.0026 secs) in

841-510: Was third. HMD Motorsports/Global Racing Group secured their first Road to Indy team championship. Firestone returned as the official tire supplier for the 2023 season. That season saw the series name changed to Indy NXT, and IndyCar assume direct operation of the series from Andersen Promotions, which continues to operate the affiliated lower-tier USF Championships under IndyCar sanctioning. Chaves and Jack Harvey ( Schmidt Peterson Motorsports were tied in points and wins (4 each). Chaves won

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