Officially Official: Auto Racing Rips Apart At the Seams

So the years of threats have finally been realized and the split the sport has so feared has finally taken place.

The autocrat and the team owners, after arguing for some time over matters of cost and control, have gone their separate ways to run two different series in direct competition with each other.

On the one hand, you have the teams: all of the most recognizable driver names and car liveries from years past, confident in their ability to sell out races and keep fans away from the other side.

On that other side, there is not much. Only a couple of recognizable drivers and teams that haven't seen real glory for some time, mixed with a lot of newcomers unfamiliar to the world. The fans will be initially hesitant to jump in with the new series. This series, though, will provide a more cost-effective way to run things and has a couple of solid engine manufacturers who are aboard. This series will also be able to reach into the feeder series around it and bring up drivers who never would have had a shot at the big leagues before.

The other thing the grand autocrat has is the crown jewel of the sport, the race that all drivers who have aspired to this level of motorsport want to win. No matter what happens with the series' other races, this event will still draw massive crowds, massive profits, and massive glory to the winner.

The teams will likely play that off with a shrug and say, "yes, but they don't have the best drivers and teams". They will spend money to bring new venues into the fold and spend even more money to put what they consider the fastest, most technologically advanced cars on the planet on the track.

It is plausible to think, however, that the egos of the teams will not serve them well. It is obvious that there are only a few teams that provide all of the winners and bring the most fans to the tracks. Those teams, since they will feel responsible for any success the series is having, will want to make power grabs and there will be conflicts. The interests of the teams on the track, where there is already a decent amount of bickering, may find their way into the boardroom and bog the series down.

It is also plausible that, confident in their ability to sell the names no matter how dull technical regulations may have made the product, the teams will continue to spend money somewhat recklessly until they realize that the more affordable -- if slower -- system employed by the autocrat's series is much more attractive to teams and is providing a higher level of competition. In light of this, some of the teams may even think about bolting for the other series because of its higher level of competition, lower costs, and the fact that they miss running in the crown jewel of the sport.

As time wears on, the lower-cost, more competitive series championed by the autocrat (who is beginning to look more and more intelligent) might draw fans and, most importantly, restore itself as the premier form of the sport. The more stubborn teams that are still split off will begin to get desperate in this case; new car formulae, more gimmicks, more activities that are only vaguely related to the race (concerts, carnivals, etc.) to draw fans.

The worst thing about this, though, is that it may desperately injure the sport on both sides of the split as it becomes more protracted. Viewership may end up getting split straight down the middle as the series become established, sponsors ignorant to the sport may end up being confused over who to throw their money behind, and attendance will suffer at all but a select few races. For the first time in a long time, the word "profit" may leave the vocabulary of the people involved on both sides.

....But enough about the 1996 CART/IRL split.

Honestly, I see the Formula One/FOTA situation turning out exactly the same as the CART/USAC-then-IRL split ended up when all was said and done. Words will be exchanged, PR machines will go into full-swing, and things might get very testy for some time, but it will be exactly the same in the end. Mosely and the FIA have come up with a better formula (innovation within a budget cap, as opposed to unlimited spending on minutae), they have the sport's major cash cow: the Monaco Grand Prix, and they have one of the best businessmen in the world, Bernie Ecclestone, running the commercial side of things.

The only wild card in all of this is that the FOTA's split-off series will have access to a lot of venues that have been alienated by Bernie's ruthless tactics. You know the British Racing Drivers' Club will be more than happy to welcome Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Brawn GP, and Team McLaren back to Silverstone while Bernie waits for Donington Park to finish its renovations. It is almost certain that France will have a race, though it will certainly not be a Nevers-Magny Cours (Le Mans Bugatti, perhaps?). It is also certain that the new series, with strong representation from automakers, will want a race in the world's biggest car market: the United States. We may also see a return of tracks like Imola, Estoril, the A1/Osterreich-ring, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and others to the world-class racing calendar.

I just wish these people could have put aside their egos and made a compromise of some sort. We just finished this exact same problem in the States, and no matter what series they supported, any American open-wheel fan will tell you that they wish it could have been resolved before the sport was nearly killed.