What finally seemed to actually be happening, even though the majority had to see it to believe it, looks as it will not be happening after all. Many expect that the Indy Qingdao 600 will not happen and American open-wheel racing's bid to race in China has failed yet again.
American open-wheel racing's history with Asia dates back to 1966 and a non-championship race at Fuji Speedway. America's best along with Grand Prix drivers Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon went to take part in the race but it ended up a few big names would not start the race. Clark was one of the many drivers with a DNS next to their name for this exhibition race, along with Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock, Al Unser, Wally Dallenbach and Cale Yarborough was actually replaced by Amon for the race. Jackie Stewart and Bobby Unser were the only two drivers to complete all 80 laps and Stewart took his only win in American open-wheel win in this exhibition event. AJ Foyt was one driver who did not make the trip to Japan.
American open-wheel would not go back to Japan until 1998, but this time they raced on an oval at Twin Ring Motegi. CART ran five races on the oval with Adrián Fernandez winning the first two races at Motegi. Michael Andretti, Kenny Bräck and Bruno Junquiera won the final three races before the Motegi race switched over to the IRL. Scott Sharp took the first IRL sanctioned at Motegi with Dan Wheldon taking the following two. Brazilians Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan would also claim victories in the land of the rising sun. The 2008 race was won by Danica Patrick, the first win by a female driver in American open-wheel history. While 18 cars raced in Motegi, 20 cars were lined-up to race the "final ChampCar race" and the final race for the Panoz DP01 chassis. From 2009-2011, the Motegi race was moved from the middle of spring to mid-September. 2009 was a race that factored heavily into the championship. An accident exiting pit road by Ryan Briscoe opened the door for Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon and Franchitti would end up taking the championship that year. The final race in Japan was moved from the oval to the road course at Twin Ring Motegi due to damage that resulted from the Tohoku earthquake that March. Scott Dixon won the last race at Motegi in dominating fashion.
Other than Japan, American open-wheel racing has had no success running in Asia. ChampCar tried year-after-year to race in South Korea. First was an attempt at a street race around the capital city of Seoul in 2004. In 2005, ChampCar was scheduled to race at a permanent facility in Ansan, South Korea in October but that race was postponed until 2006. When 2006 rolled around, the race as cancelled once again. ChampCar gave up on South Korea after 2006, but they weren't done. In 2007, a race was scheduled for May 20th in Zhuhai, China. That race would also be postponed but eventually cancelled after the promoter and the FIA failed to agree upon a replacement date. When unification occurred in 2008, all talks of racing in China faded away.
Until now. What seemed to be a done deal with Qingdao, China is now on the verge of not happening. The new mayor of the city is against the race that his predecessor had agreed upon. The positive in China is the sanctioning fee they would pay and how that would help the series. If IndyCar had a sign deal with the city, which it seems they do, then China has to buyout the contract and pay IndyCar race or no race. But things don't always work to logic and it would terrible for the series if they end up getting nothing for all this work.
With China on the fence, the term "plan B" has been thrown around. The American Le Mans Series is at Road America the weekend that China was scheduled for and majority thinks it makes perfect sense for IndyCar to race with them that weekend. However many believe that the series will not head to Road America in fear it may effect the Milwaukee IndyFest scheduled for this weekend. Another thought is a race could be added after the Fontana race in late September. Many see Phoenix as a possibility to become the season finale. Other "plan B's" mentioned are Pocono and Laguna Seca. It will be interesting to see what happens but it's just another page in the book of American open-wheel racing's attempts to race on the continent of Asia
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