Here some interesting facts about the Champ Car series
source: molsonindy.com/toronto
Record Attendances: At the conclusion of the 2002
19-race season, CART topped its previous record for total season attendance at
2,686,640, besting the 2000 season at mark of 2,621,229 - a 20-race slate that
year.
The Molson Indy Vancouver in July was just one example of the fervent crowd
support that followed CART in 2002 as the crowd of over 44,000 for Friday's
provisional qualifying was larger than most series draw on race days. The CART
attendance figures topped the one million mark after just eight events with
nearly 1.25 million fans.
Popular Paul: At the 2002 season-ending CART Awards Banquet in Miami, the fans
spoke in the form of the WorldCom Most Popular Driver Award. This year's honor,
as selected solely by CART fans, went to Canadian driver Paul Tracy. Tracy
donated the $25,000 prize that comes with the award to the Lance Armstrong
Foundation.
Make It Three: The success of the Molson Indy events in Toronto and Vancouver
led to a third event in Canada in 2002, as CART visited the famed Circuit Gilles
Villeneuve in Montreal where 172,000 fans showed up for the three-day Molson
Indy Montreal.
Qualifying Changes: In an attempt to provide CART fans with more racing action
on the weekend, CART announced in August new qualifying procedures that went
into effect at the inaugural Molson Indy Montreal. Friday and Saturday
qualifying sessions began with a free practice period, followed by a short break
where teams worked on their cars before 35 minutes of qualifying runs.