American open-wheel racing had been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 1956, following the dissolution of the American Automobile Association's racing division. By the mid-1970s, team owners — led by Dan Gurney — had grown increasingly frustrated with USAC's management of the championship, citing failures to enforce sponsorship exclusivity, the inclusion of unprofitable dirt-track events, inadequate prize money, and insufficient promotion of non-Indianapolis races.
In early 1978, Gurney produced what became known as the "Gurney White Paper," drawing on Bernie Ecclestone's restructuring of Formula One through the Formula One Constructors Association. The document proposed that team owners form CART as a collective advocacy organisation to negotiate television rights, sponsorship agreements, and race purses. After USAC's board rejected the proposal in late 1978, Gurney joined Roger Penske, Pat Patrick, and other leading owners in forming a new stand-alone series. The first CART race was held on 11 March 1979.
By 1982, CART's PPG Indy Car World Series had established itself as the recognised American national open-wheel championship. From 1983 to 1995, an arrangement with USAC allowed the Indianapolis 500 to count in the CART points standings, even as USAC retained formal sanctioning authority over the race. CART expanded its schedule beyond oval tracks to include major road and street circuits — among them the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Detroit Grand Prix, Toronto, and Cleveland — attracting stars such as Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, and Danny Sullivan.
The series grew into a genuinely international platform during the late 1980s and 1990s. Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, Al Unser Jr., Nigel Mansell, and eventual multiple champions such as Michael Andretti and Sebastien Bourdais competed alongside a substantial contingent of Brazilian drivers including Emerson Fittipaldi, Roberto Moreno, and Christian Fittipaldi. Engine competition between Cosworth (under Ford branding), Ilmor/Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Toyota produced close manufacturer rivalries and drove rapid technical development.
Teams typically purchased chassis from independent constructors including Lola, Reynard, Swift, and March, while a few prominent owners such as Roger Penske and Dan Gurney built their own. Goodyear supplied the exclusive tyre contract until 1995, when Firestone's entry created a competitive tyre war that lasted until Firestone (under parent company Bridgestone) became the sole supplier in 2000.
Despite the series' commercial success, internal disputes over revenue sharing, engine leasing, and track selection created persistent tension among CART's diverse ownership group. In 1992 the organisation attempted a rebranding to "IndyCar" while forming a compromise governing board, but reforms failed to resolve underlying disagreements.
In 1996, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George founded the Indy Racing League (IRL) as a competing oval-focused series and moved the Indianapolis 500 exclusively to IRL sanctioning. Teams that continued competing in CART were effectively barred from the Indianapolis 500. The split had an immediate and damaging effect on American open-wheel racing's commercial appeal, with attendance, sponsorship, and television ratings declining for both series as the audience fragmented.
The late 1990s and early 2000s brought further setbacks. Several major teams and engine manufacturers, including Honda and Toyota, defected to the IRL as that series grew closer in prestige to CART. In 2003, following the withdrawal of Honda and Toyota, CART purchased a batch of identical 2.65-litre V8 turbocharged Cosworth engines and leased them to teams under Ford branding, effectively ending the engine competition that had been a hallmark of the series.
CART declared bankruptcy at the end of the 2003 season. A trio of team owners — Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven, and Paul Gentilozzi — acquired the series' assets through their company Open-Wheel Racing Series LLC (OWRS), outbidding the IRL to continue the championship under the Champ Car World Series name.
The reconstituted Champ Car World Series continued from 2004 to 2008, maintaining CART's traditional focus on road and street circuits while operating with constrained resources. Development was effectively frozen and the series ran on CART-specification 2002 Lola chassis through 2006. A new chassis, the Panoz DP01, debuted in 2007 and was well received by drivers. The series leased identical Cosworth XFE engines to all teams to reduce costs.
Champ Car champions during this period included Sébastien Bourdais, who claimed four consecutive titles from 2004 to 2007. Merger talks with the IRL in 2006 collapsed over disagreements about the new Panoz chassis and the terms of a shared series. By early 2008, both Champ Car and the IRL faced insufficient car counts to meet television and sanctioning contract minimums. In mid-February 2008, Champ Car authorised bankruptcy and agreed in principle to a merger with the IRL. The IRL purchased Champ Car's sanctioning contracts, the Champ Car Mobile Medical Unit, and associated goodwill and history for six million dollars.
The final event to run under Champ Car sanctioning was the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on 20 April 2008, run using Panoz-Cosworth cars with winners receiving IRL points, in recognition of the series' heritage. The IndyCar Series subsequently absorbed the CART/Champ Car history, teams, and traditions into a unified American open-wheel championship.