Bottom post of the previous page:
Not the first time this has happened. I think UK motorsports went through a similar thing back in the mid-2000s, where we had FFord, FRenault, F3, then also FBMW, FPA, etc. The weaker series inevitably collapsed.MonteCristo wrote: ↑1 month agoMaybe partially. I don't think the winners' purse is amazing.PTRACER wrote: ↑1 month agoThat's the sign of a dead championship. Why have numbers fallen so low? Not cost effective? Not a good road to Indy after all?MonteCristo wrote: ↑1 month ago 19 confirmed for Indy Lights now. Still apparently a couple of empty seats.
USF Pro 2000 now at 9. Still dire. Anything less than a dozen feels absolutely anaemic. USF 2000 at 7 now. Again, if they combined it, that would make sense. A 16 car grid would be decent.
https://formulascout.com/category/road-to-indy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Indy_NXT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_USF_ ... ampionship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_USF2000_Championship
But the biggest problem I'm led to believe is dilution.
You have the road to Indy ladder with the aforementioned USF series. But then you have American F4 and Formula Regional Americas (and I think they have a couple of versions, too, but could be wrong).
They're all vying in that first/1.5/second winged openwheel category space. And it's just leading to thinned out grids. There's just not that much interest to support it all.
++ Just putting two and three together here:
USF2000: "In conversations with one of the mid-to-front pack teams, I was told that they were spending around $250,000 annually and contending for championships. But even this was considered a bit of a lower budget for this series."
https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/commen ... r_usf2000/
USF4: "The total cost for a driver to compete in a full season of the 2016 championship is estimated at $115,000."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_4 ... ampionship
Both are a lot of money, but...