Champ Car Poised for Continued Growth

INDIANAPOLIS – With two Champ Car World Series races already etched into the history books, 2007 is looking like it will continue to see the series grow. During the last two seasons Champ Car has shown steady growth of its television ratings and after the first two rounds the numbers continue to follow the trend.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix pulled the highest ratings for an opening event the series has seen in more than five years, with a final rating of .83 in a 2 share, a 40 percent increase over last year. Long Beach numbers also showed an increase over the last couple of years with a rating of .65 in a 1 share and was watched by more than 700,000 U.S. households.

“Over the last year we have dramatically improved our television package," said Champ Car World Series President Steve Johnson. "With our new television package we are at the beginning of an exciting time in Champ Car. By joining the ESPN family of networks we are now poised to show even stronger growth.

After a breakout event on the streets in downtown Las Vegas which saw the street party alone attract over 40,000 fans to the Fremont Street Experience area. The historic Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach saw a surge in attendance numbers. With nearly 100,000 fans in the grandstands on race day, the event saw a 10 percent increase over last year’s Sunday crowd.

“Early indications show that this has been the most successful race weekend since 2002," Long Beach Grand Prix President and CEO Jim Michaelian, told the Long Beach Press Telegram. "We had a full house. I thought, all-in-all, it was a fabulously successful weekend."

This weekend the Champ Car World Series looks to carry its continued streak of growth as the stars of the series battle in Houston at JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park. Fans can watch the action live Sunday April 22 on ESPN at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.