Search

The world of Champ Car auto racing was changing in the 1970s. As cars became more sophisticated, the cost of supporting a team had skyrocketed, making things difficult for team owners. In an effort to increase purses paid by racing promoters and win lucrative television contracts, a group of owners formed Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1978. Soon after, CART split from its sanctioning body, the United States Auto Club (USAC). Though Champ Cars ran on numerous tracks, the Indianapolis 500 was the payday that supported most teams through the season. From the beginning, CART had most of the successful teams and popular drivers, and they focused on driving a wedge between the track owners and the USAC. Over the next 30 years, the tension between CART and USAC ebbed and flowed until all parties realized that reunification was needed for the sake of the sport. This book details the fight over control of Champ Car racing before reunification in 2008.

In recent years there has been a great deal of discussion about the economics of baseball. For most of that time, the assumption inside and outside the game has been that there is simply too much disparity between “the haves” and “the have-nots,” especially in terms of salaries and team payrolls. The top five teams (Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros) and bottom five teams (Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers) over the past ten years are analyzed here. The author considers many factors in his evaluation of each team's performance, among them team philosophies and business models as shown through trades and free agent acquisitions, general managers'moves and personnel decisions, and player performance.