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Atlantic Championship Series
The Atlantic Championship Series is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics, Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just Atlantics.
The series began in 1974 as a professional version of the Sports Car Club of America's amateur Formula Atlantic classification and typically served as a stepping stone to the original Indy Lights series under Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). After that series was ended in 2002, the Atlantic series became the official developmental series of CART successor Champ Car World Series until the merger of Champ Car with IndyCar in 2008. The series ran independently on 2009 under IMSA sanctioning but shut down following that season. Starting in 2012, the series was revived by Formula Race Promotions with SCCA Pro Racing sanctioning. FRP switched to USAC sanctioning in 2017, though in 2019 it returned to being sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.
The Atlantics series is a developmental open-wheel racing series in North America, also called a "ladder series". In 2005, a new factor was announced to solidify this reputation as the last series in which a driver will compete before moving to Champ Car, or the highest levels of sports car racing such as American Le Mans. A US$2 million prize was announced for the winner of the 2006 racing season and future seasons, with the restriction that it can only be used towards the cost of racing in the Champ Car World Series. Simon Pagenaud became champion in 2006 and claimed the first such prize. He promptly moved to Champ Car in 2007 to race for Walker Racing.
The series champion for 2007, Raphael Matos, also won the $2 million prize towards a Champ Car ride. However, he elected not to accept it as he felt that without other sponsorship, he would be driving for a non-competitive team. Matos instead accepted an offer from the Andretti Green Racing team in the developmental Firestone Indy Lights Series instead, where he was promised the chance to race in the Indy 500 and a future ride in the IndyCar Series. 2007 runner-up Franck Perera, who finished on the podium eight times during the season and won three races ultimately signed to race with Champ Car team Conquest Racing. When Champ Car was purchased by IndyCar prior to the 2008 season, Conquest joined IndyCar with Perera.
As of 2009, the series offers an unrestricted $1 million prize to the season champion, $500,000 to the runner-up, and $250,000 to the third-place finisher on the season. These season rewards are part of total of $3 million in total prize money, which also features $50,000 for each race win, and other bonuses such as a monetary pole position reward.
Starting in 2006, the series has been run exclusively with Swift 016.a chassis powered by Mazda-Cosworth MZR 2300 cm3 (2.3 L) DOHC inline-4 engines producing 300 bhp (224 kW). The cars are capable of speeds in excess of 175 mph (280 km/h). The new formula has lowered the costs of running a full Atlantic season to around $500,000–$600,000. This reduction in costs, plus the addition of the aforementioned $2 million prize, had an immediate effect on increasing the number of competitors in the series (car count), which had dwindled over the previous few seasons. For example, the 2007 season featured 30 drivers.
Although the series had been run on Yokohama tires since 1991, the Japanese company elected to end its relationship with the series after the 2006 series, at which point it was replaced by Cooper Tire and became title sponsor for the series.
The history of Formula Atlantic begins with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula B class, created in 1965 for single-seat formula cars with engines not exceeding 1600 cm3 in capacity. Prior to Formula Atlantic, professional Formula B races were held in the United States from 1965 to 1972, first with the SCCA's poorly supported Formula A, then as part of the SCCA Formula Continental Championship in 1968 (when they were largely overshadowed by the V8-powered Formula 5000 cars) and then as an independent series from 1969 to 1972.
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Atlantic Championship Series
The Atlantic Championship Series is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics, Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just Atlantics.
The series began in 1974 as a professional version of the Sports Car Club of America's amateur Formula Atlantic classification and typically served as a stepping stone to the original Indy Lights series under Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). After that series was ended in 2002, the Atlantic series became the official developmental series of CART successor Champ Car World Series until the merger of Champ Car with IndyCar in 2008. The series ran independently on 2009 under IMSA sanctioning but shut down following that season. Starting in 2012, the series was revived by Formula Race Promotions with SCCA Pro Racing sanctioning. FRP switched to USAC sanctioning in 2017, though in 2019 it returned to being sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.
The Atlantics series is a developmental open-wheel racing series in North America, also called a "ladder series". In 2005, a new factor was announced to solidify this reputation as the last series in which a driver will compete before moving to Champ Car, or the highest levels of sports car racing such as American Le Mans. A US$2 million prize was announced for the winner of the 2006 racing season and future seasons, with the restriction that it can only be used towards the cost of racing in the Champ Car World Series. Simon Pagenaud became champion in 2006 and claimed the first such prize. He promptly moved to Champ Car in 2007 to race for Walker Racing.
The series champion for 2007, Raphael Matos, also won the $2 million prize towards a Champ Car ride. However, he elected not to accept it as he felt that without other sponsorship, he would be driving for a non-competitive team. Matos instead accepted an offer from the Andretti Green Racing team in the developmental Firestone Indy Lights Series instead, where he was promised the chance to race in the Indy 500 and a future ride in the IndyCar Series. 2007 runner-up Franck Perera, who finished on the podium eight times during the season and won three races ultimately signed to race with Champ Car team Conquest Racing. When Champ Car was purchased by IndyCar prior to the 2008 season, Conquest joined IndyCar with Perera.
As of 2009, the series offers an unrestricted $1 million prize to the season champion, $500,000 to the runner-up, and $250,000 to the third-place finisher on the season. These season rewards are part of total of $3 million in total prize money, which also features $50,000 for each race win, and other bonuses such as a monetary pole position reward.
Starting in 2006, the series has been run exclusively with Swift 016.a chassis powered by Mazda-Cosworth MZR 2300 cm3 (2.3 L) DOHC inline-4 engines producing 300 bhp (224 kW). The cars are capable of speeds in excess of 175 mph (280 km/h). The new formula has lowered the costs of running a full Atlantic season to around $500,000–$600,000. This reduction in costs, plus the addition of the aforementioned $2 million prize, had an immediate effect on increasing the number of competitors in the series (car count), which had dwindled over the previous few seasons. For example, the 2007 season featured 30 drivers.
Although the series had been run on Yokohama tires since 1991, the Japanese company elected to end its relationship with the series after the 2006 series, at which point it was replaced by Cooper Tire and became title sponsor for the series.
The history of Formula Atlantic begins with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula B class, created in 1965 for single-seat formula cars with engines not exceeding 1600 cm3 in capacity. Prior to Formula Atlantic, professional Formula B races were held in the United States from 1965 to 1972, first with the SCCA's poorly supported Formula A, then as part of the SCCA Formula Continental Championship in 1968 (when they were largely overshadowed by the V8-powered Formula 5000 cars) and then as an independent series from 1969 to 1972.