Talk:Alternate IndyCar Series

Alt-IndyCar Planning Sandbox

Basically, when we get there I think that Alt-IndyCar essentially needs a hard reset as well as several key plot points to aim for on our way. So I'm just going to do a bunch of planning here and we'll see how it shapes up.

Timeline

Timeline of American Open Wheel Championships
Championship Name	1905-					1910s										1920s										1930s										1940s										1950s										1960s										1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s										2020s
AAA National Championship		unofficial											WWI																									WWII
USAC National Championship
Marlboro Championship Trail
Championship Racing League
IndyCar World Series																																																																																	In 1996, ICWS is bought out by Tony George and Indy Motor Speedway																						Ataxia's series, 2019-present
IndyCar Euro Series
The golden bar pertains specifically to who sanctions the Indianapolis 500 race. USAC continues to sanction it until 1994, at which point the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (and new CEO Tony George) buys back the hosting rights. They then also buy out the IndyCar World Series in 1996. The blue bar refers to the World Championship, the one-off race at Walt Disney World Speedway that carries the season's second-biggest purse.

Timeline Changes

• Prior to 1970, nothing needs to change.
• In 1970, Marlboro come in with title sponsorship for the Marlboro Championship Trail. Rather than dropping the ball like in real life, the series capitalises upon the deal, becoming the Marlboro Championship Racing League in 1974.
• From 1981, the series changes its identity again, becoming the IndyCar World Series. This remains its identity into the present day, unless it regresses far enough that it doesn't have any races outside of North America - in which case it becomes simply the IndyCar Series like in real life.
• The IndyCar Euro Series is a short-lived reaction to the catastrophe in the 2004 F1 season, where they take advantage of F1's inability to host these races to form an ad-hoc European championship. The IndyCar World Championship was also established in this year: a season-ending race to crown the "World Champion" of oval racing. The race is held at the Walt Disney World Speedway, and has a sponsorship arrangement with Disney to promote whatever film they're pushing as a Christmas blockbuster.

Railroading

Certain plot-points will have to be railroaded into Alt-Indy, usually due to events already established and referred to in Alternate Formula One, but also sometimes the events of the seminal work of art Driven. Here shall be a list of all such things: This list is incomplete, you can help by expanding it!

• Beau Brandenburg's career in IndyCar should align with what is established in Driven. This will also include the to-be-established careers of Jimmy Bly, Joe Tanto, Memo Moreno and Carl Henry. All real-life drivers who made cameos in the film must also appear in the 2000 Alt-IndyCar season.
• Ayrton Senna fails to qualify for the 1995 Indianapolis 500.
• Certain drivers who appear in Formula One are established to have previously had a successful IndyCar career, including (but not limited to) Mario Andretti, Tom Sneva, Sébastien Bourdais, Jacques Villeneuve and others.
• Other drivers are established to have moved from Formula One to IndyCar. This includes (but is not limited to) Ayrton Senna.

Notable Drivers

This list is obviously incomplete

Name	Nat	Possible Span		Notes
Mario Andretti	American	1964	1975	He is in F1 by 1976; presumably on the back of strong results.
Tom Sneva	American	1970 1979	1976 1987	Does well enough to get nabbed by McLaren in mid-1976; has to do well enough before then.
Jody Scheckter	South African	1973 1980	1974 1981	Scheckter arrived in F1 on the back of his results in America. After leaving F1, he tries for a couple of Indy 500s before retiring.
Danny Ongais	American	1976 1980 1996	1977 1987 1998	Drives in Indy either side of his F1 career; also a possible carney comeback in his older years.
Bill Whittington Don Whittington	American	1979	1985	You can't beat a good drug-running arc, can you?
Bobby Rahal	American	1979	1998	Immediately scrubs out of F1, heads off to IndyCar. Becomes successful.
Roberto Horford	Italian	197X	1986	Previously established, father of Anita Horford; dies at Indy 500 in 1986; possibly interrupted by F1 stint
Thomas Nurmester	British	1980	1985	After flaming out of F1 after his one with the racing gods, goes to chase racing greatness elsewhere.
Ronald Tenpecost	American	1980	1989	Starts his career with a one-off attempt at the Indy 500; by '89 he's scrabbling around for odd drives.
Arie Luyendyk	Dutch	1980 199?	1991 1999	Definitely still a major figure in IndyCars when he's not in F1.
Emerson Fittipaldi	Brazilian	1980	1996	Is part of the high-profile exodus of F1 drivers at the end of 1979.
Héctor Rebaque	Mexican	1981	1983	Post-F1, he has a brief Indy career (but refuses to race on ovals).
Brendon Cassidy	American	1982 1993	1985 2001	Arrives in F1 off the back of a 1984 or 1985 IndyCar title; returns after his F1 career is done.
Carl Henry	American	1982	1988	His career was closely tied to Tanto's until he suffered a career-ending accident. Becomes a team boss.
Joe Tanto	American	1982 2000	1995 2000	A veteran champion who is called out of retirement for the 2000 season. Used Danny Sullivan as a template.
Silvio Bachot	Belgian	198?	1989	Indy 500 cameos perhaps?
Michael Tyrrell	Antiguan	1984	198?	Michael Tyrrell seems like the natural successor to the Whittington Brothers. Perhaps he specialises in Florida races.
Willy T. Ribbs	American	1984	1999	Never needs to go to NASCAR because IndyCar sees what he can offer them.
Leonhard von Gottorp	German	1992	1994	Leonhard von Gottorp has driven everything. IndyCars should not be an exception. In previously established events, he went to America after he was done with LifeGP
Eddie Cheever	American	TBC	2002	Joins after his F1 career hits a dead end. There's also the possibility of a carney comeback c. 2006 as owner-driver.
Roberto Moreno	Brazilian	1985	2007	IndyCar is the perfect place for him whenever he's not driving F1 shitboxes.
Marky Howard	American	1986	1990	A really low-tier pay-driver. Doesn't hang around long at all though.
Davy Jones	American	1987 1991	1993 2002	Competes in IndyCar either side of his brief F1 career with Team Oreca.
Memo Moreno	Mexican	1988	2000	Is benched for Joe Tanto in 2000; finds another drive and suffers a career-ending accident.
Paul Tracy	Canadian	1991	1992	Has to be DSQed from an Indy 500 win.
Nigel Mansell	British	1991	1994	Bails on F1 to give IndyCars a shot. Wins a Championship.
Ayrton Senna	Brazilian	1992	2003	Signs with Penske in 1992; DNQs for the Indy 500 in 1995.
Jeff Gordon	American	1992	2017	In real life, only NASCAR teams were prepared to pay him. In a stronger IndyCar, would that be the case?
Jacques Villeneuve	Canada	1994 2002 2008 2011	1995/6 2003 2009 2012	Earns his Williams seat by becoming Champion in either 95 or 96; keeps returning for little stints to see if he can do it again.
Mike Boullier	French	1994	1999	The most important man in canon has to attempt at least one Indy 500.
Kazuki Fushida	Japanese	1994	200?	Honda's chosen driver for their 1994 push into IndyCar - ends up having a long and prosperous career as a result.
Eliseo Salazar	Chilean	1995	2002	Absolute legend, most definitely has to appear here.
Beau Brandenburg	German	1995	200?	Ends up as the 1999 Champion at Newman-Haas; 2000 runner-up.
Tony Stewart	American	1996	2016	With a much stronger IndyCar, there's no need for him to go to NASCAR to achieve his dreams.
Christian Fittipaldi	Brazilian	199?	2004	Goes to IndyCar after a solid F1 career; never bothers with NASCAR.
Vic Sunset	American	1997	200?	Classic IndyCar lower-midfield scrub.
Neil McEwan	British	1998 2004	2001 2005	Makes a few appearances after his F1 career; returns for the Euro Series while that exists.
Sarah Fisher	American	1999	2010	Briefly gets called up by Prost in 2002, but is an Indy racer through and through.
Jimmy Bly	American	2000	201?	Becomes a Champion in his rookie year; what a driver.
Dario Franchitti	British	2001	2013	Absolute legend, gets signed to Team Green as a rookie.
Helio Castroneves	Brazilian	2001	2017	Obvious Indy legend. OP at the Brickyard.
Tomas Scheckter	South African	2002	2011	Finishes his career mostly as a part-timer, but coulda been a contenda.
Daniel Moreno	Canadian	2003	2005	Very part-time schedule - his heart's not in it by this point at all.
Jack Christopherson	British	2003	2016	Another driver who joined IndyCar on the back of a decent Formula One career.
Sébastien Bourdais	French	2004 2013 2019	2007 2014 2019	Initially joins Euro Series in 2004. Honestly, Bourdais flip-flopping to and from IndyCar will be a meme.
Justin Wilson	British	2004	201?	Is out of a drive in F1, works his way up the grid across his Indy career.
Dave Simpson	Australian	2005	2005	A short stint that started with a one-off drive in his home race. Ends with F1 call-up.
Ralf Alden	American	2006	2010	Road course specialist pay driver who later turns his attention to a backmarker F1 team.
John Bovy	Grenadan	2007	2008	Hugely competitive rookie year, backed up with a decent second season to break into Formula One.
"T. Hemo Goblin"	American	200?	201?	Two DNQs for the Indy 500, never heard of again.
Ashley Cassidy	American	2011	present	Daughter of Brendon Cassidy; she's the new Danica Patrick I guess.
Daniel Melrose	Australian	2015	2016	A short IndyCar stint.
Robert Wickens	Canadian	2016	present	Makes a real career out of IndyCar after washing out of the Formula 1 paddock.
Romain Grosjean	French	2020	present	Finishes with Formula One and heads to IndyCar to turn Rick Ware Racing into a force for good in the world.
Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	2020	present	Daniel Ricciardo takes on the world.

Still *very* incomplete, especially with the likes of Josef Newgarden, J.R. Hildebrand and Conor Daly all making F1 cameos that will most definitely affect their IndyCar availability.