International Racing Commission

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The International Racing Commission, formerly known as the IRFA (International Racing Federation of Automobiles), the "Board of Champ Car," and briefly as the IRA (International Racing Association), was founded in Year 18 alongside the foundation of the Champ Car World Series, which was also founded that year.

The IRC's main headquarters is at New York, United States, though there are branches in Madrid, Manchester, Brasilia, Munich, Helsinki, Moscow, Tokyo, and Melbourne.

Early History

The Board of Champ Car was founded alongside Champ Car itself on January 3, Yr18, to help form the Champ Car World Series, which was initially founded to race in North America. The first President, Jack Simpson, wanted Americans to dominate the series, and as a result, put races in non-traditional locations, such as Seattle, Los Angeles, a failed attempt at Las Vegas, and San Diego. After only coming up with ten races, the Board decided to add five more in Canada, namely Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Edmonton. Vancouver also wanted a race but the Board declined, citing proximity to Seattle. Simpson continued until he contracted health issues late in the season, he eventually resigned on December 11, Yr18, to focus on his health.

Rapid Expansion

Simpson's replacement was James Neil, who held similar visions for an American-based motorsport league, but thought that a series in Europe would be profitable for the series. He founded the "European Series" in Yr19, aimed at bringing European fans to Champ Car, by racing in Belgium and Great Britain. It was a huge success, with ratings in all countries sky-high. Neil was also responsible for bringing the series to Micronesia, initially as a replacement for the Ottawa race, but which would eventually become a traditional race on the calendar. The track was soon called "The North American Monaco," and "The New Monaco," shortly after the Circuit de Monaco was banned from hosting races ever again after a series of accidents. Neil was also responsible for bringing the series to a permanent TV provider in America, NBC, and in Britain, ITV. He also managed to bring Mercedes, Ferrari, Toyota and Chevrolet into the sport permanently, raising the profile of the series. Then Simpson, for the Yr20 season, brought in Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier of the series - something which brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship.

As Champ Car started to gain more popularity than Formula One, the European Series was expanding and the series added races in Japan and Australia. By Yr26, Champ Car was considered the premier series in motorsport and Formula One ran out of business.

Thompson Scandal

Neil retired in Yr29, and the position was inherited by Vice-President Peter Thompson, who held the positon for quite some time. His first act was renaming the "Board of Champ Car" to a more suitable name - the International Racing Federation of Automobiles. He then avoided any scandals until about Yr34, when Vice-President Jean-Denis Deletraz started making steps towards making President and Vice-President an elected position. Debates raged on until about January of Yr35, when it was found out that Thompson was involved in donating some IRFA funds to the Mark Grieg Foundation, which Thompson was involved in. Upon hearing news of this, Thompson quickly resigned, and Deletraz took his place. He made President an elected position as well as Vice-President, and added a second Vice-President. Deletraz won by a landslide, with Fermin Lagrange and Tom Delano elected Vice-Presidents.

Deletraz Era

Deletraz's impact was very minimal, until Yr37, when he introduced a flurry of new regulations into the sport, which included banning team orders. This came after one of the feeder series, Formula Two, had it's drivers' championship decided when Lucas di Grassi, who was leading a race, moved over to let Tatsuya Katayama win the race and gain more points in the championship. Eventually, Katayama won by two points. Had di Grassi not done his team orders, Katayama would have lost the championship.

Deletraz insisted that the regulation changes would make the sport "better and more reputable," while the opposition - namely RCA, Ferrari, and Arrows, were against the changes, saying that they impeded the Teams' right to strategy. The league split into two parties, the Pro-IRFA side (Williams, Mercedes, Jordan, BAR, Brabham and Penske), and the Anti-IRFA side (RCA, Ferrari, Arrows, Tyrrell, Stefan GP, AGS, and EuroBrun). The Anti-IRFA side, led by Ben Stiles, argued that the regulations favour the IRFA and would ruin the sport. Deletraz responded by locking out the Anti-IRFA side, now known as the "Five-Day Strike," until the Anti-IRFA filed a request to secede from Champ Car, effectively splitting the league into two.

Although Champ Car and the IRFA would prevail out of the separation, sponsors did move to GP1, the new league formed out of the dispute, causing a loss in revenue. The Pro-IRFA teams were not pleased about the team orders rule, as the IRFA applied it erratically, and sometimes without reason. (Mercedes was once penalized 10 points in the championship after William O'Donnell was accused of letting his teammate, Johnny Herbert, through, when O'Donnell contracted a problem with the transmission)

Eventually, when elections were held in Yr39, Deletraz lost election to incumbent VP Tom Delano. Lagrange and Jeffrey Basque were elected as the new Vice-Presidents.

Delano Era

Tom Delano took over for the Yr39 season, and although he did not initially repeal the team orders regulation, he stopped penalizing teams, and stating that he would keep going with this policy "unless championship positions are effected." He made more moves to bring GP1, which, at the time, was struggling with its' fanbase, and which Stiles had been involved in various PR disasters which made GP1 lose more money. Although legislation was passed that a merger was not allowed between Stiles and GP1, at the end of the Yr39 season, Delano made movements to let the teams back into Champ Car as "new entrants." The two leagues were reunited for the Yr40 season.

However, despite having a high amount of popularity, when track marshall Yuji Ide was killed by Sergio Perez's flying wheel in a freak accident at the Yr40 Japanese GP, Delano resigned, apparently to avoid any legal lawsuits and charges of criminal neglegence. Since then, this move is considered "pulling off a Delano." Lagrange took over as interim President, and elections were held before the Yr41 season. In the end, Tomáš Wiesner was elected President, with Lagrange and Basque reprising their roles.

Wiesner Era

Wiesner was the first President to make steps towards repealing the Team Orders regulation, and it was successfully passed by the council. The series then sunk back into a brief state of order, until Yr42.

In Yr42, Wiesner was involved in the IRFA-CCTA War, which was as a result of the CCTA organizing a proposed boycott protesting new regulations in the series, which included redesigning the chassis and engine, and imposing a "two-tier budget cap." In the end, all but four teams boycotted the Yr42 German GP, officially making it a non-race. Wiesner responded by suing the eight teams that boycotted the race in an effort to regain damages to the IRFA and to the organisers of the German GP, which had become bankrupt as a result of the boycott. In the end, the courts ruled that the IRFA was no longer responsible for sanctioning the Champ Car World Series, technically giving control to the CCTA. Wiesner and Lagrange resigned, making Basque President.

Basque, who was always meant as an interim President, helped merge the IRFA and the CCTA together, making the IRA, the International Racing Association. However, due to legal threats from the Irish Rifle Association, changed the name once again to the International Racing Commission. He resigned after the Yr43 Chinese Grand Prix. Scott Sharp was immediately appointed, and set up the system that the council was to be represented in two branches. First, the Committee, which was made out of representatives that were "independent and not affiliated with any current team, or against an affiliation with a current team." Secondly, the CCTA, which all would send one representative to "represent the values of the team". Sharp then resigned again.

Post War activities

Eventually, elections were held after the Yr43 Japanese GP, which Pole Pawel Ostrowska was elected, with Finn Vesa Järvilehto and Brit Dustin Heilbrun were elected Vice-Presidents. Little progress was made to solve the conflicts between the councillors and the team representatives, though the conflict was nowhere near the levels during the war. Ostrowska could not pass any bills that were noteworthy or that weren't simply statements that were consensus opinions. Ostrowska was considered to be more of a mediator of the two sides of the IRC than a President. This opinion was still fresh on everyone's mind when Ostrowska failed to get re-elected in the Yr47 election.

Replacing Ostrowska was "Motorsport enthusiast" and businessman Jonathan Tatton, who had relatively little experience in running motorsport. Tatton was able to bring in more stability to the IRC and to also bring more money to the IRC. Tatton also went through the Londono accident and the fallout that resulted. Tatton was able to calm the storm laid in front of him, and many critics praised his ability to recover Champ Car from the accident. Tatton was narrowly re-elected in Yr51, with former President Ostrowska placing second in voting, becoming Vice-President in the process. Tatton's second term was considerably more successful, as he was able to bring in races in New York and the Netherlands, as well as bringing back the Micronesian Grand Prix in Fourside shortly before his term ended, when he decided to step down from his position as President. American Ross Ellison, another businessman, was elected President to replace him despite no prior experience within the IRC. Ostrowska ran again for President, but was knocked out in the second ballot; he then announced his retirement. Ellison easily won a second term in office in Yr59.

With the Year 62 season cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ross Ellison was found dead a few days later, reportedly despondent at the current events revolving around the series. Vice-President Shannon Rodgers was drafted in his place. A month later, the other Vice-President, Bogdan Yevseyeva, died from a suspected case of coronavirus, though the circumstances behind his death were eventually determined to be suspicious. Rodgers eventually organized the Nations' Cup in Year 62, meant to raise money for the coronavirus vaccine development. It was initially meant to be held in New Zealand, since the gathering restrictions had been relaxed fully in August. However, with restrictions rising again in September, the tournament was hastily moved to Istanbul, with authorities promising at the time that at least 100,000 people could attend the tournament in October. With a surge in cases, however, that plan was also scrapped, so the tournament was held behind closed doors, with all cars running a campaign saying "Fans Matter."

Rodgers was re-elected as President unopposed, but in the first race of the season in Valencia, a similar protest was rolled out in response to Spanish authorities forbidding 10,000 fans attending the race there. Rodgers was subsequently stripped of most of his powers, with Vice-President Anders Tamalsci taking over day-to-day operations while Rodgers held the role in only a ceremonial role. He was eventually removed from office in Yr64 after an appeal with the European Court of Justice.

Presidents

President Years as president
USA.png Jack Simpson Yr18
USA.png James Neil Yr18-Yr29
United Kingdom.png Peter Thompson Yr29-Yr35
France.png Jean-Denis Deletraz Yr35-Yr39
USA.png Tom Delano Yr39-Yr40
France.png Fermin Lagrange Yr40 (interim)
Czech Republic.png Tomáš Wiesner Yr40-Yr42
France.png Jeffrey Basque Yr42-Yr43 (interim)
USA.png Scott Sharp Yr43
Poland.png Pawel Ostrowska Yr43-Yr47
United Kingdom.png Jonathan Tatton Yr47-Yr55
USA.png Ross Ellison Yr55-Yr62
United Kingdom.png Shannon Rodgers Yr62-Yr64
Hungary.png Anders Tamalsci Yr64-present

Vice-Presidents

Vice-President Years as vice-president Second Vice-President Years as vice-president
USA.png James Neil Yr18
USA.png John Taylor Yr18-Yr22
United Kingdom.png Peter Thompson Yr22-Yr29
United Kingdom.png Henry Bate Yr29-Yr32
France.png Jean-Denis Deletraz Yr32-Yr35
France.png Fermin Lagrange Yr35-Yr40 USA.png Tom Delano Yr35-Yr39
France.png Jeffrey Basque Yr39-Yr40
France.png Jeffrey Basque Yr40 United Kingdom.png James Hulme Canfield Yr40
France.png Fermin Lagrange Yr40-Yr42 France.png Jeffrey Basque Yr40-Yr42
Vacant Yr42-Yr43
Finland.png Vesa Järvilehto Yr43-Yr47 United Kingdom.png Dustin Heilbrun Yr43-Yr47
Ireland.png Thomas Schofield Yr47-Yr51 Sweden.png Linus Mattsson Yr47-Yr51
Poland.png Pawel Ostrowska Yr51-Yr55 Ireland.png Thomas Schofield Yr51-Yr55
Japan.png Akihito Kozawa Yr55-Yr59 Belarus.png Bogdan Yevseyeva Yr55-Yr62
United Kingdom.png Shannon Rodgers Yr59-Yr62
Belarus.png Bogdan Yevseyeva Yr62 Vacant Yr62-Yr63
Vacant Yr62-Yr63
Hungary.png Anders Tamalsci Yr63-Yr64 Brazil.png Tiago Barbosa Yr63-Yr64
Brazil.png Tiago Barbosa Yr64-present France.png Francis Prevot Yr64-present

See Also

IRC Elections