What is the deal with the Indycar name?
CART has, under license, been using the “Indycar” name (which is a trademark of IMS) as the name of its series for many years. When the IRL was formed, that agreement was terminated, and CART in 1997 agreed to a settlement of an IRL lawsuit in which CART agreed to stop using “Indycar” as the name of its series. This puts fans who want to discuss this form of racing in a bit of a quandry; I’ve been using “Indy car” (two words) when I mean to refer to either or both generically. As of 1998 CART has begun using the old term “Championship cars” as the name of its cars, to avoid confusion. In my Web pages, when I mean to refer to both car types generally, as well as their common ancestry in USAC and AAA, I use the term “Indy cars” (two words).
