The Indy 500 was today?

[SunDancer]

Can any current American driver be a solid competitor in F1? Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart?

[TLK]

We'll never find out because there's no way in hell they'd leave NASCAR. Currently the best American with a shot at F-1 is Townsend Bell. I don't think he's anything special, but he brings money and that's important for the drives left this year. He'll probably endup testing this year and who knows.... maybe in 2005. The other name depending on what happens with the CART/IRL situation is AJ Allmendinger. He won the Toyota Atlantic Series this year and Barber Dodge in 2002. He's supposed to race CART this year, but it's up in the air. If he goes to the IRL.... forget about it....

To answer your question in one word though (IMHO)....
Gordon- Yes
Stewart- No

[Dutch]

They are both probably too old and the learning curve is too steep. When they were younger, maybe. But Alex Zanardi was probably a better open wheel racer than either of those two and failed pretty miserably in Europe.

[SunDancer]

What street circuits and road coarses were good on the CART schedule for racing, passing, ect.

[TLK]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

What street circuits and road coarses were good on the CART schedule for racing, passing, ect.

CART isn't dead, you don't have to use past-tense In my opinion, the best tracks for on the track action are Montreal, Mexico City, Road America, Cleveland and then Long Beach.

The tracks that the IRL will have the most intrest in, if something should happen to CART are Long Beach, Mexico City, Toronto and Vancouver, All of which turn a nice profit for the promotors....

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Is it now a close-oval circruit at Cleveland?
Does NASCAR have a presence at all outside of the US?

They've run exhibitions in both Australia & Japan over the past few years.
And there's been one Japanese driver in the Cup series so far (albeit one with minimal impact other than novelty value).

[SunDancer]

Originally Posted by TheLionKing

CART isn't dead, you don't have to use past-tense In my opinion, the best tracks for on the track action are Montreal, Mexico City, Road America, Cleveland and then Long Beach.

The tracks that the IRL will have the most intrest in, if something should happen to CART are Long Beach, Mexico City, Toronto and Vancouver, All of which turn a nice profit for the promotors....

I don't want CART to be "dead", or in the stage it is now. Doesn't CART draw well in its international races? If you bought CART, what would your gameplan be to bring it back up?

[TLK]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

They've run exhibitions in both Australia & Japan over the past few years.
And there's been one Japanese driver in the Cup series so far (albeit one with minimal impact other than novelty value).

Chrisitian Fittipaldi debuted in the Cup series this year. I enjoyed Christian through his open-wheel run, but man did he look out of place. I managed to catch the Watkins Glen race and you'd of thought that Fittipaldi had never drove on a road course in his life. Between Kyle Petty (the owner of Fittipaldi's car) and Fittipaldi, it seemed they were off the track every other lap. Just brutal...

The only way I can see NASCAR making a bug impact outside of the US, is if they ran more road courses. I don't think that'd be a bad thing, but would probably upset their core group of fans. I heard though that the ratings were usually high for Watkins and Sears Point, so who knows. I wonder why NASCAR hasn't tried to elevate the Grand-Am series or even try to start a seperate road racing circuit.....

[Dutch]

If I were to buy CART?

1. I would run either California or Michigan (Does CART still run at Michigan?) has my premier race. There would be 2 races here, the season opener would be run here in April and again at the midway point. I would spend aggressively (relative to the ammount of money I could invest) into advertising this race as such.

2. I would run day races until football season starts. Then I would switch the rest of the schedule to night racing (to avoid the viewership loss to football fans right as the season is heating up).

[SunDancer]

Originally Posted by Dutch

If I were to buy CART?

1. I would run either California or Michigan (Does CART still run at Michigan?) has my premier race. There would be 2 races here, the season opener would be run here in April and again at the midway point. I would spend aggressively (relative to the ammount of money I could invest) into advertising this race as such.

2. I would run day races until football season starts. Then I would switch the rest of the schedule to night racing (to avoid the viewership loss to football fans right as the season is heating up).

Still have competiton from football if you ran night races. Why not run night races? They offer a "charge" to fans, and such. Just curious, why Michigan and California would be the centerpieces.

[TLK]

If I were to buy CART.....

• Seperate CART from the IRL. IF that means dropping all ovals then do it. The only oval that CART has ran in the past few years that has made money is Milwaukee.
• Pick a name and stick with it. It seems every year the offical name of CART changes. This year it was, "Bridgestone Presents The ChampCar World Series Powered By Ford". How about something simple like ChampCar: Formula America?
• Establish the CART product in the NAFTA region before going back to Europe and Asia. CART's biggest profit races are in Mexico and Canada. Try to add one more race in each country. Keep Austrailia on the schedule because it's profitable and they've been loyal. When we're doing better in America, then head to Europe and then Asia.
• Find a broadcast partner that will actually be a partner. CART pays to get their races on TV now, like an infomercial. There has to be a network that is looking a cutting-edge product. Spike TV is rumored to CART's home for 2004, so hopefully it works out.
• Find American drivers that can compete with the foreign drivers. The best way to do this would be to build up the Toyota Atlantic series. They need to make the cars more powerful so the jump to CART isn't so drastic. The drivers coming over from F-3000 have such an advantage, it's not even funny.
• Convince Bernie Eccelstone to let CART race as a support series in Montreal and Brazil. This way you get your product associated with F-1 and opens you to a new base of fans, when they realize the CART race was better than the F-1 race.
• Start in late February and end the season the first week of September. Race every other week, so casual fans can get into of pattern of knowing when the races are on. That gives enough weekends for a 16 race schedule
• Of those 16 races, no more then 5 of them would be on street courses. As discussed earlier in this thread, most street courses are tight and leave little room for passing. That all leads to bad racing.
• Find that big race and promote it as such. If it's going to Long Beach, fine, just promote it as the big race. I'd love to see a season ending big race also. That's where my Las Vegas pipe-dream would come in. The final race of the year in Las Vegas on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, with the season ending awards banquet that Sunday.
  

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Still have competiton from football if you ran night races. Why not run night races? They offer a "charge" to fans, and such. Just curious, why Michigan and California would be the centerpieces.

The viewership on Sunday Night goes way down because most football fans are "footballed out" after 6 hours. But racing enthusiasts would just be getting started and wouldn't feel guilty about missing the Bengals/Seahawks game vs. a full slate of NFL action.

I picked Michigan and California as the Super Speedways and play to the interests of the general racing fan. Remember, you want CART to be big, you are going to have to have a lot of bandwagon fans. If you want it to be niche, they will be on the verge of bankruptcy every year.

[TLK]

Originally Posted by Dutch

The viewership on Sunday Night goes way down because most football fans are "footballed out" after 6 hours. But racing enthusiasts would just be getting started and wouldn't feel guilty about missing the Bengals/Seahawks game vs. a full slate of NFL action.

I picked Michigan and California as the Super Speedways and play to the interests of the general racing fan. Remember, you want CART to be big, you are going to have to have a lot of bandwagon fans. If you want it to be niche, they will be on the verge of bankruptcy every year.

I agree that California and Michigan would be good place to hold a race like that but CART is basically shut-out of both of those venues because their owned by the ISC, who is in bed with the IRL. Also, if it was my series, no super-speedways because they're way too dangerous to run in an open-wheel car.

[SunDancer]

Originally Posted by TheLionKing

If I were to buy CART.....

• Seperate CART from the IRL. IF that means dropping all ovals then do it. The only oval that CART has ran in the past few years that has made money is Milwaukee.
• Pick a name and stick with it. It seems every year the offical name of CART changes. This year it was, "Bridgestone Presents The ChampCar World Series Powered By Ford". How about something simple like ChampCar: Formula America?
• Establish the CART product in the NAFTA region before going back to Europe and Asia. CART's biggest profit races are in Mexico and Canada. Try to add one more race in each country. Keep Austrailia on the schedule because it's profitable and they've been loyal. When we're doing better in America, then head to Europe and then Asia.
• Find a broadcast partner that will actually be a partner. CART pays to get their races on TV now, like an infomercial. There has to be a network that is looking a cutting-edge product. Spike TV is rumored to CART's home for 2004, so hopefully it works out.
• Find American drivers that can compete with the foreign drivers. The best way to do this would be to build up the Toyota Atlantic series. They need to make the cars more powerful so the jump to CART isn't so drastic. The drivers coming over from F-3000 have such an advantage, it's not even funny.
• Convince Bernie Eccelstone to let CART race as a support series in Montreal and Brazil. This way you get your product associated with F-1 and opens you to a new base of fans, when they realize the CART race was better than the F-1 race.
• Start in late February and end the season the first week of September. Race every other week, so casual fans can get into of pattern of knowing when the races are on. That gives enough weekends for a 16 race schedule
• Of those 16 races, no more then 5 of them would be on street courses. As discussed earlier in this thread, most street courses are tight and leave little room for passing. That all leads to bad racing.
• Find that big race and promote it as such. If it's going to Long Beach, fine, just promote it as the big race. I'd love to see a season ending big race also. That's where my Las Vegas pipe-dream would come in. The final race of the year in Las Vegas on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, with the season ending awards banquet that Sunday.
  

Wow...Nice ideas. I think I would try to maintain a few ovals. The diversity of CART is what makes it awesome, and really promotes a "marketing" edge. I would go with 10 races in the US, 3 in Canada, 3 in Mexico., to launch the series. I believe in order to build a fanbase in that country, you need to put your product out their. This is why Formula One is so big in Europe. I would agree on a "marquee" race. Also, I would maybe go for a "Triple Crown"-sorta marquee challenge, with an oval, permanent road corse and a street circuit as the three big races. Sorta like the old NASCAR competition, the Winston Million. I would re-build the "development series". I would maybe break it off into three series, with one in each of the three NFTA countries. The focus would be to reduce travel expenses, build up the fanbase in each of the respective countries, and to develop drivers from that nation. Each series could carry only a certain number of foreign drivers. This allows more "homegrown" talent to be produce, and helps create more of a fanbase. Agree with improving the power of the Toyota Atlantic cars. Try to find a marquee sponsor with the dollars and brand.

[sterlingice]

Everytime I see this thread near the top of the screen, it screws with my sensibilities (is it May already?)

SI

[SunDancer]

What is the differnce in the cars and the corses (the road and street tracks) of CART and F1? I know F1 cars are faster, but what else is the differences. Why is it so hard for CART drivers to make the jump, and much easier for f1 drivers to go to CART?

[TLK]

Here's the comparison:

Montreal This Year (time):
CART Pole:	Alex Tagliani	1:19.665 
F-1 Pole:	Ralf Scumacher	1:15:53 

Fontana Last Year (2002- last time they raced on the same track):
IRL Pole: 	Sam Hornish Jr	224.088 mph
CART Pole:	Tony Kannan	232.011 mph

It's unfair to compare preformance between CART and F-1. It all depends what team your on. Look at Jaques Villenunve for example. Excellent in CART, won a championship at Williams, goes to BAR and sucks (for lack of a better word).
Mika Salo was decent in F-1, but got stuck on a crappy CART team and didn't do so well.

[SunDancer]

Just curious, how does CART make money? Are they given a slice of the profits, or are they given a fee? Is the losses of the track the track's responsibilities?

[SunDancer]

Jaques Villenunve is out of BAR for 2004 isn't he?

[TLK]

CART makes their money off of promoter fees. A few races CART itself promote's, in which they make the profits/or take the loss from that race. Off the top of my head.... CART promoted Cleveland, Miami and one other race last year. The new OWRS Group which plans on purchasing CART, doesn't plan on promoting any events.


and yes, Jaques is out of BAR and has does not have a ride for next year. He'll probably be watching the Monaco GP this year like the rest of us.

[SunDancer]

By not promoting the races, do they not suffer the losses then of the race?

[TLK]

They get a fee from the promoter's and their done. Realistically, the promoter will take a hit the first year and prehaps a few years after that. Regardless, the host city ends up making money from the race fans that come out. This is why St. Pete's and Portland are trying to get races hammered out for 2004.

[TLK]

Here's an artice from Speed that gives the facts about the buyout, CART, OWRS and TG. I thought the article was pretty fair and an accurate assessment of what's going on.....

Critical Days
Written by: David Phillips
Pittsburgh, Pa. – 1/20/2004
David Phillips is a Senior Editor of RACER magazine.

How many times in the past seven months have the words “the coming days are critical to the future of Champ Car racing?” been written in this space and elsewhere? In June came the formal announcement that Championship Auto Racing Teams was in dire financial straights, and, absent a major infusion of capital, there were no guarantees a 2004 Champ Car World Series would be staged. Then came the “quiet” period in July and August when anyone with interested in taking control of CART could have made a proposal to do so. Alone, Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven, Jamie Rose and Carl Russo assembled the Open Wheel Racing Series, LLC partnership in the hopes of acquiring CART lock, stock and barrel.

Next? That would have been in late August when OWRS made its bid to buy CART at $0.50 a share followed, at the urging of CART’s Board of Directors, by an offer of $0.56 a share, which the Board accepted. Then came an autumn in which first Rose, then Russo dropped out of the partnership while the Securities and Exchange Commission reviewed the OWRS/CART “merger” plans and Messrs. Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven & Co. prepared to put their bid to a vote by the CART shareholders, even as rumors of an uprising led by Jon Vannini and other disgruntled shareholders percolated from Web sites to race paddocks and back.

But before the shareholders could vote, CART and OWRS adopted new tacks. CART filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of U.S bankruptcy laws and Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven decided simply to buy the assets necessary to run the Champ Car World Series in 2004, principally –- although not exclusively -– the contracts with the promoters of most of the events on the ‘03 schedule.

That, of course, led to December’s hearings during which Road America and the International Speedway Corporation subsidiary 88 Corporation objected to the sale of CART’s assets to OWRS, objections Judge Frank Otte took into account even as he granted conditional approval of the CART/OWRS plan. Those conditions included making the sale subject to the approval of a creditors’ committee and set Jan. 23 as the deadline for competing offers for the CART assets and Jan. 28 as the date for a hearing when, it is hoped, the matter will be resolved once and forever.

Since then, of course, representatives of the Indy Racing League made a less than clandestine visit to the CART offices where they had a look at the books –- among other things -– and signed a non-disclosure agreement. This, in turn, prompted widespread speculation the IRL was planning to tend a competing offer to that of OWRS, an offer expected to focus on the most successful events of the CART calendar, namely Long Beach, Toronto, Montreal, Mexico City, Surfers Paradise and perhaps Denver.

That concept is pretty much is a non-starter for 2004, as there is no realistic chance the IRL, its teams and suppliers could overcome the logistical and financial hurdles necessary to stage five or six additional races this year, let alone five or six road and street races beginning in mid-April at Long Beach. That would effectively mean the cancellation of all or most of those races in ‘04, not to mention the other dozen or so events with which CART has contracts. Add the other liabilities associated with what would, effectively, be the cancellation of the ’04 season -– think Ford and Bridgestone among others –- and the $3 million or so CART now owes its creditors pales in significance.

Although the ISC’s Grand Am series could conceivably integrate an additional half dozen road/street course events into its ’04 calendar, that would still result in the liabilities associated with the cancellation of the remainder of the Champ Car schedule at places like Milwaukee, Cleveland and Vancouver, as well as the obligations to Ford and Bridgestone. Small wonder an ISC spokesman reportedly told the Indianapolis Star last week that the organization “has no present interest in acquiring the interests of CART.”

In the wake of Judge Otte’s rulings, some were quick to paint a gloomy picture for the OWRS plan, in effect assuming that Messrs. Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven were small-time players who have been trying all along to get CART on the cheap and who would fold their cards at the first hint of Tony George or the France family digging into their deep pockets. They also seemed to think that Judge Otte and the creditors committee believe CART and/or its creditors would be best served by the IRL or ISC taking over a handful of headline events and leaving the other events –- and creditors –- twisting in the wind.

However, the fact remains that the OWRS principals are pretty formidable individuals. Fortune estimated Kalkhoven made upward of $246 million from the sale of his holdings in JDS/Uniphase prior to his retirement in Y2K. As chairman and CEO of the Indeck Group, Forsythe builds and operates power plants in the Midwest and the Northeast –- among other things. What kind of numbers does Forsythe deal with? He spent $60-70 million revamping the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The projected construction cost of one of the power plants currently on the Indeck agenda is $966 million. Gentilozzi may not be in quite that league, but his real estate company owns half a dozen office buildings in Lansing, Mich., and recently invested upward of $30 million renovating a couple of them.

Again, the numbers floating about are misleading. It’s true that OWRS bid $1.5 million for the assets of CART, and is on the hook for perhaps twice that amount in debts. But by seeking to run a 2004 Champ Car World Series that in most respects fulfills CART’s commitments to existing promoters, OWRS avoids tens of millions in liabilities that figure to accrue if any of the “cherry-picking” scenarios were to unfold.

If this whole Byzantine process has taught anybody who writes about racing anything, it should be that nobody has all the answers. I will be the first to admit I could be dead wrong about this. It’s not as if Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven are omniscient. It was Forsythe, after all, who spurred much of last summer’s talk of Bernie Ecclestone playing a role in the future of CART; and it was under the auspices of Gentilozzi that Rose and the MotoRock concept emerged as the panacea to all that ails the Champ Car World Series.

If nothing else, the last eight years have shown Tony George is not shy about investing in the Indy Racing League and, when last we checked, ISC has something like $270 million in cash laying around. As for ISC’s protestations that it has no present interest in CART, the operative words there are “at present.”

As has been the case since mid-June, about the only thing that can be said with certainty is “the coming days are critical to the future of Champ Car racing.” Still, if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on OWRS emerging as the winner in the bid for CART’s assets.

[TLK]

Latest release from OWRS.....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OPEN WHEEL RACING SERIES REAFFIRMS ITS INTENTION
TO CONDUCT A COMPLETE 2004 RACING SEASON

LANSING, Mich. (Jan. 21, 2004) - Open Wheel Racing Series, LLC ("OWRS") today reaffirmed its intention to conduct a full 2004 Champ Car World Series racing season, beginning with the 30th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, scheduled for April 18.

OWRS, according to partner Paul Gentilozzi, has been fully engaged in the planning and implementation of all operational details necessary to conduct the 2004 Champ Car season, as CART, Inc. continues to navigate the bankruptcy process.

"We have letters of intent from the teams representing more than 18 cars, we've got a television package ready to announce, as well as the confirmed 2004 race schedule," revealed Gentilozzi. "We believe the loyalty of the fans, teams, sponsors, and promoters will be justified and rewarded when the current bankruptcy proceedings are completed."

Any other parties submitting a competing bid must do so no later than Jan. 23. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Otte will issue a final decision on Jan. 28.

"OWRS' intentions have been clear from the start," continued Gentilozzi. "We believe in the value of the Champ Car series. Is it imperfect? Yes. Can it be improved? Absolutely.

"The series already has all the basic elements in place," said Gentilozzi. "We have a plan and we will do whatever it takes to restore the Champ Car series to its rightful status as the best open-wheel series. We don't need or want those guys across town.

"The web sites have been overwhelmed with fan comments," explained Gentilozzi. "The momentum is decidedly against unification with the IRL and encourages us to hold firm in our efforts to maintain the forms of racing that Champ Car has established.

"The emotion in support of our efforts is a groundswell that we had not anticipated. The IRL's late game involvement and its admission that it is not prepared to go road racing in 2004 has awakened years of mistrust and anger for the breach in open-wheel racing," concluded Gentilozzi.

OWRS partner Kevin Kalkhoven elaborated, "While we are aware of the interest shown by other parties, OWRS is committed to assuming all the liabilities associated with the bankruptcy. These liabilities may well run into tens of millions of dollars. With an initial commitment of $15 million of working capital and an assumption of these liabilities, OWRS is laying the foundation for the Champ Car series to be successful for many years into the future.

"IRL spokesman Fred Nation is on record, stating the IRL doesn't have the ability to add any street or road races to its 2004 schedule," said Kalkhoven. "The loss of the Champ Car series would mean the teams - all based in the United States - would close down, resulting in the loss of hundreds, maybe thousands of American jobs. Promoters could not hold their events and sponsors would lose any momentum for open-wheel racing in the United States. A great North American tradition would be lost.

"We're confident that our fans, teams, sponsors, and promoters will continue make their voices heard. As we've said before, the IRL wants to bury - OWRS wants to build; that's the difference," concluded Kalkhoven.

[TLK]

Well he did it, FTG went ahead and bid on some of the assets of CART. It seems that there is a third bidder also. Next Wednesday we'll find out what exactly is going on. I think it's pretty clear that he's just trying kill CART. What use could he possibly have for a bunch of engines that don't meet his specifications for his series? anyways here's the latest from Speed....

The Gloves Are Off
Written by: Robin Miller
Indianapolis, IN – 1/22/2004

It appears Indy Racing League founder Tony George will be going for the jugular here next week in bankruptcy court but the principals of Open Wheel Racing Series (OWRS) say they aren't concerned about what promises to be Bloody Wednesday.

George indicated late Thursday afternoon he had filed a bid to purchase certain assets of Championship Auto Racing Teams in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Jan. 28. OWRS, comprised of CART owners Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven and Paul Gentilozzi, has already submitted a bid to run a series in 2004 using most of the venues on CART's 2003 schedule.

Fred Nation, vice president of corporate communications for IMS/IRL and George's spokesman, claimed the bid was "substantial" but refused to give any details in an email message sent to several IRL constituents.

But SPEEDTV.COM has learned that George is only bidding on the Long Beach Grand Prix, CART's engine lease program and possibly some equipment.

It had been assumed that George's all-oval circuit wanted to take over one of CART's Canadian dates (Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver) and Mexico City, which drew nearly 200,000 on race day last year, in additon to Long Beach.

Since taking over for Formula One in 1984, CART's cornerstone event has been the spring street show at Long Beach. It's the second biggest open-wheel race in this country behind the Indianapolis 500 -- usually drawing more than 150,000 spectators in three days.

Sponsored by Toyota, one of the IRL's engine suppliers, Long Beach is scheduled to celebrate its 30th anniversary April 18 when OWRS opens its season.

The IRL, which competes at Motegi, Japan that weekend, has publicly stated it will not be possible to race on road courses or street circuits in 2004. But there has been speculation that the Rolex Grand American Road Racing Series, owned by International Speedway Corporation and partners with George at several IRL tracks, could also make a run at Long Beach and other CART venues by Friday's filing deadline.

It's also possible that George could offer to pay the LBGP Association several million dollars in lieu of a race in '04 and add it to the 2005 IRL schedule.

But the most critical battle could be over power, literally.

CART owns all the turbocharged Cosworth engines that OWRS plans to use and last year they were leased to the teams by CART. If George, whose series uses normally-aspirated engines manufactured by Honda, General Motors and Toyota, would out-bid OWRS for the engines that would effectively end this eight-year war.

Judge Frank Otte will rule on the bids Wednesday and Forsythe feels confident OWRS will win the right to continue CART's 25-year tradition.

"My read is that the judge will throw their (IRL) bid out because there is no way anybody can come up with as competitive a bid as we have," said the longtime car owner from Chicago who captured the 2003 CART championship with Paul Tracy. "He's got to look at the whole picture and we've got a comprehensive business plan that we've been working on for seven months.

"There are obligations to race promoters, sponsors and investors and the IRL could be looking at huge claims against them. I feel we have all our bases covered. I'm extremely confident."

OWRS has the opportunity to increase its earlier bid of $1.6 million prior to Wednesday's hearing and Forsythe said his group has Plans "A through D" ready.

But one CART owner, who requested anonymity, cautioned that "We may not be prepared for the amount of money Tony will spend to try and kill us."

During an OWRS meeting in Indianapolis last week Kalkhoven said George's intent should be obvious. "He wants to shut us down and we want to build CART back up."

The Civil War that has been IRL vs. CART since 1996, mostly verbal along with some high-profile defections, will bring out the heavy artillery Wednesday. And it's a battle that will likely hold the future of open wheel racing.

[TLK]

On the eve of the court decision we get this..... I've been waiting for owners like this for a long time..... Hopefully everything works out for CART/OWRS tomorrow....

LANSING, Mich. (Jan. 26, 2004) – According to a recent published report, Indy Racing League (“IRL”) president, Tony George, stated his commitment to open-wheel racing while suggesting that his appreciation for the sport surpassed that of the Open Wheel Racing Series, LLC (“OWRS”) partners, collectively.

“Tony (George) has a funny way of demonstrating his commitment to open-wheel racing,” explained OWRS partner Paul Gentilozzi. “His willingness to split from CART several years ago to form the IRL is largely responsible for the tenuous state of open-wheel racing today. His only commitment is to buy the assets to keep Champ Car from racing. Our commitment is to rebuild what he, in essence, has destroyed.

“He claims to have an appreciation for open-wheel racing,” continued Gentilozzi, referencing George’s comments in the Jan. 25 edition of the Indianapolis Star. “But in the end, his intentions have nothing to do with the future of open-wheel competition, but rather the future and profitability of his IRL series. He has every right to bid on the assets, but we take issue with his audacity to veil his intentions under the guise of unification. To challenge our appreciation and commitment to open-wheel racing is a direct assault on our integrity.”

OWRS partner Kevin Kalkhoven reiterated that in addition to commitment and a plan for the future, it will take more than just upfront cash to be awarded the assets. “We will continue the operation of the Champ Car World Series and what could better benefit the creditors, teams, and sponsors,” said Kalkhoven. “We aren’t just buying the assets, but we’re also assuming the liabilities which could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

“In order to adequately compare the two bids, the Court will look at which bid will ultimately deliver the highest distribution to the creditors and which is in the best interest of the estate,” explained Kalkhoven. “The judge will assess the elements of each bid to determine how they influence the total amount of the unsecured claims. Since the IRL bid is purported not to assume the majority of the liabilities, the other promoter contacts would become unsecured claims. The damages suffered would be very real, very significant, and very costly.

“In the end, approval of the IRL bid could dramatically increase the amount of unsecured claims which certainly is not in the best interest of the creditors,” concluded Kalkhoven.

The IRL submitted a last-minute bid for selected CART assets late Thursday, Jan. 22, just hours before the legal deadline. OWRS had previously been approved as a qualified bidder. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Otte will render a final decision on the disposition of the CART assets in an auction set to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28 in Indianapolis.

[Dutch]

While I agree that Tony George is probably not interested in the best interests of open-wheel racing, I'm split on what should be done by the courts.

Tony George was a part of Indy Cars when they were very, very popular. He has to know the importance of car prestige, racer prestige, circuit prestige, and the importance of international drivers and road and street courses.

Maybe if CART just went away, Tony George would in fact return to this format anyway?

CART was awesome, but it sucked that CART didn't have the Indy 500. That took much too much away from an otherwise good series. And the lack of big name young stars to replace the aging veterans didn't help and won't help and return of CART now.

Actually, as it looks now, it will just be another start up series with no money. Who is going to care about that?

Perhaps Tony George should just be admitted the winner and let give him a shot. If the choice is 2 crappy open-wheel racing series vs. 1 crappy open-wheel racing series (with the potential to be a top notch league again), I think realistically speaking, the only chance in the next 10 years is with a singular unified series under the IRL flag.

I'm sorry I have to say that, but I think Tony has won the fight. And I was a HUGE CART fan.

[Craptacular]

Tony George will rot in hell. The sooner the better.

[TLK]

[Dutch]

I know, I know, I'm in a small minority or maybe completely insane. It was just painful to watch CART drive itself into the dirt and watch the IRL survive due to it's cheapness.

Maybe if you change the enviroment, Tony George will change. Getting rid of his arch-rival would be grounds for an different enviroment.

I'm probably wrong, but what other idea's are there? Can CART really be premier while the Indy500 is MIA?

Basically here's the deal. It doesn't matter who's right and who's wrong.

There is only one way to solve this problem and the bottom line is,

American Open Wheel Racing NEEDS the INDY500.

[TLK]

Tony George backed out of CART originally because of all the things that he is building in the IRL, now.

He has made the Indy 500 into a joke (see where this thread all started). HE seems to think that the quality of the field will go up when the remaining CART teams come over. The fact he needs to realize is that the teams that want to run his formula, are already there. The 500 isn't what it use to be and many of the companies that are funding the remaning CART teams could care less about it. Those companies favor the international aspect of CART, which Tony George has shown no intrest in meeting.

If anyone thinks the road racing was bad in CART the past couple of years... wait till' you see the IRL cars on a road course. Here's a quote from the IRL's golden boy:

“I think the IRL cars are probably going to be similar to an Indy Lights car or something, just the way they are balanced and how the engines are. I think it will be good racing. Even a CART car in Long Beach and stuff, it was fairly hard to pass. Whereas you look at Indy Lights races, they were pretty close."
Sam Hornish on IRL cars road racing

Sounds like the road racing community will be taking a few steps back if this transaction goes through.....

To use a poker term.... I'm going all-in with OWRS tomorrow. If they don't come out on top I'm out. I rather have an intellectual conversation with Tony George (and we know that could never happen), than watch them crapwagons putter around the tracks I grew up loving.....

[Dutch]

Well, keep us up to date on what going on, you have provided me a ton of information that I wouldn't actively go out and find. I'm pulling for open wheel racing in general and don't give a rats ass about TG or the big time owners.

[TLK]

It's over.....


OWRS Wins

more details to come..... what a day

[TLK]

Here's the day in a nutshell (from crapwagon.com):

9:00am: In the latest court document to be released, CART and the committee have come to the conclusion that OWRS' bid is the most beneficial, and that the IRL's bid does not qualify. Therefore, they recommend that the auction be cancelled.

11:00 am Update:
Court just took a recess.
Creditors committee gave their recommendation; they analyzed both offers and OWRS’ offer was the highest. OWRS made a second bid in which they offered to pay 100% of all creditors if the judge would take CART out of auction. Don’t think the judge is going for that though.

Some numbers for you:

CART (Delaware Corp.) loaned CART (Michigan) $63,000,000
OWRS has offered to pay that back 100%
Judge isn’t concerned with that

Total value of the bids relates to the percentage of debt owed
High 39.79%
Low 24.5%

High 17.3%
Low 7.6%

Judge is putting the hammer to the IRL.

Judge said: “We’re gonna do it, and we’re gonna do it today.”

12:15 Update: The judge has ordered both parties into a conference room, they were told to come out at 1:30 with a decision as to who will buy the company. Keep your fingers crossed.

12:50 Update: Server Crashed, again. This time they are upgrading the RAM and it just might stay up. The lawyers have left the conference room. Don't know what that means, maybe they're hungry. Apparently, TG looks as clueless as ever. I guess now he's finding out what it's like to swim with the big boys.

1:33 Update: IRL just made another offer. Got 20 minutes to confer with promoters. We shall see.

2:00 Update: The IRL has been given 2:50 convince the promoters to accept their offer. If the accept, OWRS can counter, and the game continues. Stay tuned for more updates.

3:45 Update: All creditors are being put on the stand, one at a time. It looks good for OWRS at this point, but we still may have another hour to go. Hopefully, this won't go to day two.

4:24 Update: Members of the creditors committee are getting badgered something awful by TG's lawyers, but are holding fast. It appears that the judge is letting TG control the afternoon so that will be no grounds for an appeal. Funny story: Robin Miller left his seat for a moment, TG on seeing the empty chair quickly sat down in it. Robin came back, made eye contact with TG,causing him to give said seat back to Mr. Miller. Snickers were heard around the courtroom.

5:05 Update: It's over!!! We Won!!! Break out the champagne!

[TLK]

Two important quotes from court today.....

"The sale of CART's assets has been approved to Open Wheel Racing Series with no stipulations attached!"

"Road American and Laguna Seca have withdrawn their objections, and they are onboard with the OWRS plan."

The second one means that OWRS will have 15-16 races this year, including the Vegas oval. Time to get off here and celebrate..... like I said earlier it's been a hell of a day......

[SunDancer]

YAY!

Now what does OWRS accomplish through it, besides getting the series, and what needs to be done to get the series on the right track?

[Craptacular]

They've got to come to an agreement with Elkhart Lake for one thing.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

YAY!

Now what does OWRS accomplish through it, besides getting the series, and what needs to be done to get the series on the right track?

Right now it just means going back to the IRL promoters kicking the crap out of CART. A split series, CART has the road and street courses and no Indy 500. NASCAR wins again.

Hopefully I am wrong about that.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Right now it just means going back to the IRL promoters kicking the crap out of CART.

I think you just covered my take.

[TLK]

Originally Posted by Craptacular

They've got to come to an agreement with Elkhart Lake for one thing.

Road America was confirmed tonight by PG.

[Craptacular]

Originally Posted by TheLionKing

Road America was confirmed tonight by PG.

Cool. Maybe I'll go to this year's race. The 'rents live less than 15 minutes from Road America.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I think you just covered my take.

Jon, I guess that's just the sad reality. CART has some great venues, but damn they suck just as bad as TG at making this sport watchable.

[TLK]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Jon, I guess that's just the sad reality. CART has some great venues, but damn they suck just as bad as TG at making this sport watchable.

It all depends on what you like to watch. I thought CART's product was very watchable last year. This year should be even better with everyone on the grid fielding the Ford/Lola combo. It would of been a lot worse had TG actually won the bid. I'm actually hoping that the IRL adds a road race or two, just so everyone can see how spoiled we are with CART.....

[SunDancer]

Why would it be better with just one chassis/engine combo?

[TLK]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Why would it be better with just one chassis/engine combo?

Well, I'm not a fan of the idea of a spec series, but with OWRS being in the state their in, I gladly welcome it. With everyone having the same equipment, ideally the best driver-team on the track will win the race. Last year the Reynard chasis looked great but was slow and only managed to pull off one win. I can see the owners going with the single combination for this year and next.... after that I'd expect new cars in 2006. We'll see how it all plays out...

[TLK]

ChampCar announces new point system....

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES ANNOUNCES NEW POINT SYSTEM Thursday, February 5, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS (February 5, 2004) – In a move that will promote strong racing throughout every lap of a Champ Car World Series event and reward those drivers and teams that run up front, series officials today announced a revised points system that will go into effect with the 2004 season.
In the new system, points will be paid to the first 20 finishers with 31 points going to the winner of the event. As has been the case since 1983, the winner will receive four more points than the second-place finisher, with point totals decreasing by two for each place down the order through the top 10. Beginning with the 10th-place finisher, the point total will decrease by one.

“I think this is a good move for the series and will help the drivers a lot,” said 2003 Champ Car World Series champion Paul Tracy. “If you’ve had a day that would have left you out of the points, now you can still get something out of it. It is going to be a very competitive series this year and good finishes are going to be harder to come by so this makes what would have been a bad day, not so bad a day.”

In addition, one point will be awarded to a driver for leading one or more laps in a race, another point will be given to the driver that runs the fastest lap of the race and one point will be awarded to the driver that improves the most number of positions from their place on the starting grid. There will no longer be a point given to the driver that leads the most laps in a race.

As has been the case for the last two seasons, one championship point will be awarded to the leaders of the Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions on road and street courses, while one point will be available for the qualifying leader on oval courses.

“We firmly believe that this new system will be better for our fans,” said Senior Vice-President of Operations John Lopes. “The point for leading a lap will add an element of strategy and the point for fastest lap provides incentive for every driver on every lap, regardless of position.”

All other rules regarding championship points will remain unchanged from 2003. Under the new system, the maximum number of points that a driver could earn on a road or street course weekend is 35. The breakdown of the points system is detailed below.

1st – 31
2nd – 27
3rd – 25
4th – 23
5th – 21
6th – 19
7th – 17
8th – 15
9th – 13
10th – 11
11th – 10
12th – 9
13th – 8
14th – 7
15th – 6
16th – 5
17th – 4
18th – 3
19th – 2
20th – 1

Well it will improve racing at the back of the grid, but their rewarding the whole field..... It'll be interesting to see how this plays out....

[RebelMan]

Originally Posted by TheLionKing

ChampCar announces new point system....



Well it will improve racing at the back of the grid, but their rewarding the whole field..... It'll be interesting to see how this plays out....

Well, it makes more sense than that lousy playoff system NASCAR is introducing.

[Dutch]

1st place should be weighted more heavily. I'd suggest 50 points for first place and then 27 and down for 2nd back. Reward the winners!!!

[TLK]

Here's some information on what OWRS plans to do with the former CART, from an interview on AutoRacing1.com....

Q. Mr. Forsythe, What are the most urgent issues that must be resolved for the Champ Car Series?

Forsythe: Certainly finalization of the TV package is first and foremost. It should be done shortly. The race schedule is nearly complete and should be issued in about a week and it will include some new international venues.

Paul Gentilozzi and David Claire are going to Seoul, South Korea in a few days to determine if that race is possible for 2004. We are working on seven (7) new venues for the 2005 schedule.

Q. Bernie Ecclestone has stated that 2004 would be the last F1 race at Imola. Would you consider bringing the Champ Car World Series there to replace F1?

Forsythe: We are currently looking at races in Spain and the UK for 2005. We would have to talk to Bernie. If he would bless us taking over for F1 at Imola, then certainly we would consider it.

Q. What are the chances Jacques Villeneuve would return to Forsythe Racing in 2004?

Forsythe: I have not spoken to Craig Pollock about his plans for Jacques in 2004. If they put together something for Jacques in F1 for 2005 and he is available for 2004, we would jump at the chance to bring him back to Champ Cars.

Q. Can you give us the names of possible CEO's for the Champ Car World Series that you are considering?

Forsythe: We will be continuing with Dick Eidswick, the current CEO of OWRS. Mr. Eidswick has a fantastic record managing large companies and we hope to convince him to stay for a long time.

Q. Do you foresee in the future enough room in the world for two international series - Champ Car and F1?

Forsythe: Absolutely. There are so many places vying for a large international event and F1 can't satisfy all of them

"There is definitely a place for Champ Cars internationally. In fact, we are currently looking at more new venues outside the USA than inside. At some point if we have 50% of our races in the USA and 50% internationally, that would be a good mix."

The part about 7 new venues for the 2005 season seems promising.....

[TLK]

Looking good.....

Gentilozzi's latest hints
This is stolen from The Motor Sports Forum

To summarize:
- Ovals will continue, they're shooting for two, and may have to go outside the US to do it.
- CART HQ remains in Indy.
- St Pete back on, Portland is still in flux
- Reconciliation with the dark side is not even on the table
- New sponsors for all teams will be announced in March at the same event
- 18+ cars is very possible
- Rock concerts in June
- New classic car support series possible
- TV in final negotiations

Champ Car World Series Update

...Gentilozzi is upbeat about the future of North American open wheel racing and plans to continue the variety of racing venues that characterized the 25-year-old CART series.

"We would like to do ovals," Gentilozzi said. "We're going to do Milwaukee and would like to do one more in the U.S. But we don't own a lot of oval tracks and a lot of independents don't own them. So we may do ovals in other parts of the world."

There are no further legal concerns regarding the purchase of CART's assets. "It's a done deal," Gentilozzi said. "The headquarters will stay in Indianapolis."

According to Gentilozzi the only deal not finalized for the 2004 schedule is Portland and he predicted they would have a deal done by the end of the week.

St. Petersburg Florida will be back on the schedule May 16, which is a qualifying day at Indianapolis and the date assigned to Las Vegas on the original CART schedule.

For now there is no chance for reconciliation with the Indy Racing League. "That's not even a topic for discussion," Gentilozzi said.

He predicted at least 18 cars will participate and that everyone would have a sponsor, but they will run their 2003 paint schemes until all are revealed at the same time during a press conference the first week of March.

There is a possibility that more than 18 cars will race. "Yes, we've had a lot of guys come out of the woodwork now that they know we are alive," said Gentilozzi.

Multiple racing series will highlight events and a new production based touring-car-type series is being discussed. "Our support base will be, from the beginning, Champ Car, Trans-Am, Toyota Atlantics, and another open wheel foundation series," Gentilozzi said. "We are trying to do a production based tin-top production car deal."

The rock and roll/Champ Car connection will not get started until at least June. "The concept worked," Gentilozzi said. "But we know now we are not concert promoters. We know now how much you really have to pay up front. So we learned a lot."

It took a lot of money to keep CART running during 2003, but Gentilozzi said they were fine as far a 2004 budget.

When asked if they were going to be funding any of the teams Gentilozzi replied, "Just my own."

Gentilozzi left the Chicago Auto Show bound for New York to finalize details for the 2004 Champ Car World Series television schedule.