CART has been trying to slow down the cars for years to cut development costs and the upward trend that the costs were going.

1999 and 2000 was probably the peak of current Champ Car performance as the engines were making at least 900hp and the tire war between Goodyear and Firestone were making really grippy tires. If the question of who's faster was asked in 1999, Champ Cars would've lapped Montreal faster than 1999 Grand Prix cars. 2002 was the last year in CART for the different engine companies before CART would be an all-Ford affair. Development slowed down after the 2001 season, and tire development wasn't at the pace when Goodyear was in the game. With only one tire supplier, tires became more consistent over the course of a whole stint.

In 2003, the Cosworth V8s have been updated to last two to three raceweekends before a rebuild. This has been accomplished by redesigns as well as lowered revs resulting in lower horsepower (700-750hp range). This resulted in about a 15mph top speed difference on the superspeedways between the CART frontrunners of 99-00 and of 03.