Atlantic Championship back on grid for 2014
For better or worse, open-wheel racing in America is nowhere near as popular – among drivers or fans – as stock-car racing. The IndyCar Series is still struggling to regain the standing it enjoyed before it split and then rejoined. Efforts to launch an American team in Formula One have floundered. The United States Grand Prix has bounced on and off the grid and to a number of locations. America hasn’t sent one of its own drivers into F1 since Scott Speed, and it hasn’t sent a successful one since Mario Andretti. Even the Indianapolis 500 hasn’t been won by an American in over seven years.
That could come down in part to a lack of effective feeder series of aspiring open-wheel racers in America, but Formula Race Promotions is out to fix that. The organizing body runs the F1600 and F2000 series, and is now gearing up to relaunch the Atlantic Championship next year.
The Atlantic Championship, for those unacquainted, is one of the feeder series that sent new talent up into the IndyCar and even F1 ranks. Michael Andretti, both Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve, Danica Patrick, Alex Tagliani, Dan Wheldon and Ryan Hunter-Reay (to name just a few) all started out in Atlantics. But after changing names and formats several times over the years, the Atlantic Championship ceased operations in 2009.
Formula Race Promotions ran six exhibition races over three weekends last year and took this year to retool, but it’s now ready to launch a full ten-round season for 2014. It’s lined up Hoosier to provide the control tires and promises to provide up-and-coming drivers with a lot of track time and reasonable costs. The series will run alongside the F1600 and F2000 series, but only time will tell if it proves more suitable to fostering American racing talent than the IndyLights or Pro Mazda Championship.
