FISA v CART

Old transAtlantic political wounds have been re-opened by FISA’s successful attempt to block the international expansion of CART’s Indycar Championship.

CART Chairman John Fraser pulled off a coup for his series by arranging an Indycar fixture at Fuji in Japan on March 26, but pressure applied from Paris on the Japanese Automobile Federation has caused the cancellation of the event.

As a non-affiliated body running an alternative “World Series” for single-seaters, CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) has long been considered a heretical organisation by motorsport’s world governing body. CART’s decision last September to join the United States’ national FISA-affiliated body, ACCUS, seemed to have opened the way for improved relations with Balestre. But now Frasco, a lawyer by profession, is threatening legal action to challenge FISA’s international authority.