Worst racing series ever.

What racing series do you think is/was the worst ever? It does not have to be the entire history of the series, it can just be a period in the series history when it was bad. (E.G Champ Car 2004-2007 or X-1R 2008-present)

As a companion to this, i will also create a "best racing series ever" thread soon.

Hayden1117 wrote:(E.G Champ Car 2004-2007)

*IndyCar 1996-Present

2012-2014 any British single seater championship (F3, Ford, Renault)

Asian F3 - Series had around 8 cars on the grid in it's final season in 2007-08. The numbers were so bad that the championship organiser, Mark Goddard, was competing under the pseudonym "Don Tacos" and pulling into the pits after the first lap just to make up numbers. The series also ran at tracks which are more comparable to a scrapheap than an actual circuit as the championship was primarily held in the Philippines where track quality is very poor. Admittedly, the series did produce Frederic Vervisch and James Winslow who are arguably some of the better drivers in endurance racing.

Acceleration 2014. On paper, it sounds pretty awesome: old A1GP cars, some Dutch touring truck thing, legends racing, bikes, and a somewhat impressive lineup of music all at one event.

Then you flip through their various Wikipedia articles and their own website and notice that David Hasselhoff's presence at the events is promoted as much as any of the races. And that half of the scheduled rounds ended up being cancelled even after they were selling tickets, and that the bike series got replaced with another cup at the last event because only three showed up in one of the classes in the previous round. And that despite the car championships all being spec series, a couple drivers dominated each one. And that despite the crowds at the music side of things, there appears to be more people in the pits than in the stands on race day...

Milan655 wrote:

Hayden1117 wrote:(E.G Champ Car 2004-2007)

*IndyCar 1996-Present

Honestly i'm a tad curious about this as i believe Indycar has been one of the finer series of the past few years.

You could definitely make a case for the early years of the Indy Racing League

The American IndyCar Series (AIS) was pretty bad if you consider it a pro racing series. In reality it was a few serious operations and a lot of amateurs, some of which shoved Chevy V8s in March and Lola Champcars. As a club series it wasn't terrible.

NASCAR tried to do an open wheel series in the 50s. I don't recall the name of it but it was a disaster.

Alpineopossum wrote:You could definitely make a case for the early years of the Indy Racing League

The American IndyCar Series (AIS) was pretty bad if you consider it a pro racing series. In reality it was a few serious operations and a lot of amateurs, some of which shoved Chevy V8s in March and Lola Champcars. As a club series it wasn't terrible.

NASCAR tried to do an open wheel series in the 50s. I don't recall the name of it but it was a disaster.

Speedway Division. Lasted two seasons.

Alpineopossum wrote:You could definitely make a case for the early years of the Indy Racing League

I wouldn't argue that from what i've heard.

None of the racing series I've followed since when I started watching racing in 2007 has been all that bad. If I had to give a title for worst racing, that would probably go to NASCAR Nationwide.

Indy Racing League, 1997-1999
1996 still had CART machinery so it's watchable, and after 99 the IRL ditched those fucking NASCAR engines, making it... kind of re-watchable, to be honest. With very few exceptions, 1997 through 1999 are just soul-crushing to re-watch. The racing is pretty terrible, so bad that not even Paul Page could make it exciting. In 1997 most of the damn field was taking out loans just so they could even show up! These weren't F1 cars, people, these were cars that were designed to be cost-effective!! Want proof that the series was a train wreck in 1997? Of all the teams that raced in 1997-1999, only A.J. Foyt's team is still around -- and Foyt's team has been around for... a very long time. Well before CART was formed.

All the bitching about the IRL really needed to stop around... 2012*, really, because by then, all of Tony George's mob were beginning to be witch-hunted out of IndyCar by then (along with Randy Bernard, who was a lot more clueless than most people seem to think). From what I can tell, it looks like all of the old IRL mob have been finally purged now that a few people have "retired".

The IRL did get one thing right -- not all of the Oldsmobile engines were made by the same people. There were several different entities making Oldsmobile engines for the IRL, not unlike the stock-block Buicks in the Indy 500 in the late 80s and early 90s. I don't know when that died off but I'd assume that Honda and Toyota might have had something to do with that...

* Complaints about the DW12 aside. Personally it grows on me once the season starts but I'd be lying if I told you I'd take the DW12 over the new Indy Lights car as far as appearances go. Honestly I think some of the inaccuracies that are in the NR2003 DW12 mod can be considered improvements.

Auto GP
I've only watched two races of AutoGP. But there aren't enough cars in the series for me to care about watching any races other than the two I saw this year.

X-1R Pro Cup -- Present
The car counts say enough.

Asian Lemans series.. car counts pretty much..

But anyway let's contribute to the thread

X-1R Cup Series - Present

This is the former Hooters Pro Cup Series that some of may of enjoyed on Speed channel in the early 2000's, Times have hit them hard, The thing that made different the North Vs South wars fell apart...The series lost their car counts so much so that a 200 laps race this year had only 4 cars. The only big names to appear in that series as of late is 30th place Truck guy Caleb Holman and Jeremy Mayfield who we all know what he's famous for in recent years


Nascar Nationwide Series 2006-Present

Pretty much everything we've gone over. Increase of Cup drivers and amount of races they run in series, the individuality of the series goes away for more companion dates, and teams aren't willing to risk it with young and fresh talent.

I admit I haven't payed close attention to motorpsort throughout my life outside of NASCAR, but what I can give is why I pray that it cant get any worse...

NASCAR 2004-

1. Individuality and parity is gone. This had been an increasing problem before 04, but whether coincidence or not, got increased during the chase era. In the earlt 1990s, no team had more than 1 full time team. In the mid 2000s, 11 full time cars, more than a quarter of a field in a single race, we owned by 2 teams. Parity is gone in that on a given Sunday you can pretty much guess who will win based off of practice and it seems to be about 8 drivers 95% of the time. Don't even get me started on the Tucks and especially Nationwide...

2. The Chase. Not to go off on an incoherent, inaccurate rant (as oppose to #1, right? ). I find it laughable that NASCAR tries to manufacture excitement... And can't do it.


However I do like some of the recent changes, especially to the Trucks. Bringing back old tracks, dirt racing, they actually loosely resemble a vehicle you'll see on the streets (at least compared to around 2009). Nationwide is hopeless. Sprint Cup, well, the new chase and points system infuriates me... But the racing has taken a step up this year in my opinion. I am cautiously optimistic if there is such a thing.

I can best describe recent NASCAR as "NutriJoy". No not real enjoyment, diet fun.

NZ V8 Supertourers-Not the absolute worst, but they only get 11-14 cars per round and it's usually just a car pulling away 10-20 seconds ahead and winning the race like that

Also, Porsche GT3 Cup Benelux and Porsche Carrera Cup GB. only 7-13 cars with multiple classes with only one or two people in a class

Cynon wrote:
Auto GP
I've only watched two races of AutoGP. But there aren't enough cars in the series for me to care about watching any races other than the two I saw this year.

I'm actually quite fond of AutoGP, primarily because it's more-or-less the last remaining F3000 series, but also because the driving standards are near enough hilarious..and it's made better with Martin Haven commentary:

Spoiler:

North American Touring Car Championship - ?While it was rather popular with it's fans, the Series only lasted for 2 years in 1996 and 1997 because of poor car counts, with around 9 to 12 cars taking part in each race.

Speedcar Series - Stock Car Series that ran two seasons across the Middle East and Asia, Series started up in 2008 and only lasted up to 2009 because of serious cutbacks with money.

Milan655 wrote:

Cynon wrote:
Auto GP
I've only watched two races of AutoGP. But there aren't enough cars in the series for me to care about watching any races other than the two I saw this year.

I'm actually quite fond of AutoGP, primarily because it's more-or-less the last remaining F3000 series, but also because the driving standards are near enough hilarious..and it's made better with Martin Haven commentary:

Spoiler:

Wow. They should make that guy in the black car take a sobriety test.

DTM - It used to be a running joke at another place I went to that DTM Made passing illegal. The racing was that crap.

Alta wrote:But anyway let's contribute to the thread

X-1R Cup Series - Present

This is the former Hooters Pro Cup Series that some of may of enjoyed on Speed channel in the early 2000's, Times have hit them hard, The thing that made different the North Vs South wars fell apart...The series lost their car counts so much so that a 200 laps race this year had only 4 cars. The only big names to appear in that series as of late is 30th place Truck guy Caleb Holman and Jeremy Mayfield who we all know what he's famous for in recent years

In fairness the series isn't THAT bad. the main problem was the rising cost of the "Pro Cup" style car C.A.R.S as it is now called will be moving to a Latemodel body in 2015 and hopefully see a major increase in field size.

hndrkguava24 wrote:NASCAR 2004-

...you're kidding, right?

hndrkguava24 wrote:1. Individuality and parity is gone.  This had been an increasing problem before 04, but whether coincidence or not, got increased during the chase era.  In the early 1990's, no team had more than 1 full time team.  In the mid 2000's, 11 full-time cars, more than a quarter of a field in a single race, were owned by 2 teams. Parity is gone in that on a given Sunday, you can pretty much guess who will win based off of practice and it seems to be about 8 drivers 95% of the time. Don't even get me started on the Trucks and especially Nationwide...

So teams shouldn't be allowed to branch into multiple cars even if their resources and income allow it? Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson should be taken off of Hendrick for the other to stay so it's a one-car operation like the 1990's? I'm quite confused with exactly what you're trying to say in reference to the 90's. Big deal about 11 full-time cars. Nobody complains about Hendrick and Roush being at 4 freaking cars nowadays, let alone back then.

And in the second portion, you're expecting lower-finishing teams to stay paritial (if that's even a word) to top-class organizations such as Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Racing? That's like trying to say that you're expecting a player for the AA Durham Bulls should be putting up equal numbers to Albert Pujols in the MLB. It's just not going to happen. One will obviously earn better results than the other and will be able to afford top-notch equipment. Larry Foyt's foray into NASCAR wasn't quite equal to Kevin Harvick's, now was it?

hndrkguava24 wrote:2. The Chase. Not to go off on an incoherent, inaccurate rant (as opposed to #1, right? ), but I find it laughable that NASCAR tries to manufacture excitement... and can't do it.

The 2004 season was excellent in terms of racing. So what it brought about the Chase idea? It was something completely new and refreshing for NASCAR (much like the Nextel sponsorship also beginning) and did not sap consistency from championships like the current system. Some may have complained (I was too young to know the general consensus of it), but nevertheless, it brought forth a twist in the traditional points battle without rendering the entire season obsolete. The 2004 chase did not directly intend to generate excitement for Homestead; it simply put all eligible Chase drivers on a somewhat level playing field and let them fight it out for the last 10 races rather than now, where we have to hit the reset button to shake off 4 drivers every 3 races.

hndrkguava24 wrote:However, I do like some of the recent changes, especially to the Trucks. Bringing back old tracks, dirt racing; they actually loosely resemble a vehicle you'll see on the streets (at least compared to around 2009).

This is about the only thing I agree with.

hndrkguava24 wrote:Nationwide is hopeless.

Whatever you say, captain. This is actually my pick for worst series (at least 2006 to present), but I think if NASCAR could just lay the hammer down on Cuppies, there's still a chance that Nationwide can have developing drivers win races, not finish 12th after fighting with washed-up has-beens like Sadler, Hornish Jr. and Smith.

hndrkguava24 wrote:Sprint Cup, well, the new chase and points system infuriates me... But the racing has taken a step up this year, in my opinion. I am cautiously optimistic if there is such a thing.

I can best describe recent NASCAR as "NutriJoy". No, not real enjoyment; diet fun.

You're optimistic? As you proceed to describe it as a company that appears bland and boring? 10-4, driver. The racing has somewhat inclined, so how is that supposed to be "diet fun"?

[quote="Cynon"]
I've only watched two races of AutoGP. But there aren't enough cars in the series for me to care about watching any races other than the two I saw this year.

Auto GP only had 10 cars at the final round at Estoril. Honestly don't know how long that series is going to run after this year

A1GP. Fantastic concept, terrible execution. Even when I tried, I couldn't understand who was where or why, let alone when being a casual fan due to the weird ass broadcast times. The concept of national racing teams would have been fine if said teams weren't populated by whatever drivers felt like buying the seat for a race.

Alpineopossum wrote:You could definitely make a case for the early years of the Indy Racing League

The American IndyCar Series (AIS) was pretty bad if you consider it a pro racing series. In reality it was a few serious operations and a lot of amateurs, some of which shoved Chevy V8s in March and Lola Champcars. As a club series it wasn't terrible.

NASCAR tried to do an open wheel series in the 50s. I don't recall the name of it but it was a disaster.

How did sticking all-American boys that never got a chance (aka: they had very little talent) in these cars worked out again?!? Sure, you had Tony Stewart, but the amount of bad was so bad in the early years of IndyCar

kriswascher97 wrote:

Cynon wrote:
I've only watched two races of AutoGP. But there aren't enough cars in the series for me to care about watching any races other than the two I saw this year.

Auto GP only had 10 cars at the final round at Estoril. Honestly don't know how long that series is going to run after this year

This year they've merged with the Formula Acceleration 1 series so the grid looks more towards a stable 16-18.

Slight revival, but this looks like the most pathetic attempt at a racing series: http://www.oocities.org/unofficialf3000/britishf3000/britishf3000_97.htm

Only 3 cars, albeit starring three excellent drivers in Dino Morelli and Gonchi Rodriguez as well as Tommy Field who was seriously rapid in karts and Formula Ford but never quite made it because of funding.