Mario Doesn't Work Here Anymore

From the archives: 4-20-05

Old but still applicabale as Mario continues to try and convince us that he has all of the answers!


I never thought I would ever say this but it time for Mario, yes Mario Andretti to take a vacation. Time to quit meddling in the IRL/CCWS controversy. Time to leave the racing business to them. One of the greatest racing drivers ever should leave the new business of racing alone and let open wheel racing evolve as it will.

I had the opportunity to listen to Mario twice, both times at Road America, and each time I came away thinking, boy Mario has an opinion about everything. Both times he dominated conversation to the obvious dismay of the other panelists.

Yes he saved the 2003 Road America event………or did he, now I wonder. Mario is becoming a lot of hot air.

Mario go make wine or something or if you really want to become involved dust of the old wallet and buy your right to interfere.

We still love you …….for now!

Hey Champ Car, What is the Mission?

This isn’t the first time I have asked this question. What exactly is the CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES mission? I’ll bet if you asked a dozen fans you’d get a dozen different answers, same is likely true of a dozen CCWS employees. It is unthinkable that CCWS employees wouldn’t know what the company is trying to accomplish.

So for 2008 I will once again lay out what I think should be the next (should have been the first) step for the business of CCWS. You cannot start to fix something if you cannot identify the problem. It is my opinion that CCWS is broken and surely has been since the CART bankruptcy. Since the three amigos raised this Phoenix from the ashes the single biggest disappointment to me has been inconsistency. As far as I can see they have not been able to describe what it is they are trying to accomplish.

This is why I ask, what’s the mission? If a business is to be successful it must have a mission, something everyone in the company can grasp and work towards. A simple mission statement can achieve this and more. The Best Care in the Air, my favorite mission statement which just happens to come from favorite airline is simply perfect. It easily fits on the back of a business card and describes what the company is trying to achieve. How could anyone in that company get it wrong?

Simply put if you don’t have a stated mission how can you ever expect to achieve it? And to me Champ Car feels like a company without a mission.

A mission statement can become the most important sentence a company will ever pen. Every business decision must be tested by the mission statement as to relevance. If some department manager is trying to run his own agenda you will soon know, when his decisions are put to the test. Every budget, every hire, every fire, even salaries must meet the relevancy test. When this is done from the top down you will then have an organization in which every employee is working towards a common goal.

So who is responsible for developing the mission statement? The man in charge who every that is, it is ultimately his responsibility. I would think the owners of the business would drive this issue and make sure that their subordinates live by it.

All departments in the company can have mission statements and they should dovetail nicely into each other and the company mission statement. This can even make planning easier by separating the must haves from the discretionary.

All employees should have written goals and objectives that will all fit together as one and drive the company mission. They would be developed from the top down so that there is no doubt about the reason for having them. When I read the lowest level employees G’s and O’s I should be able to then read his managers and see how they are intertwined and so on up to the top.
A tightly organized company like this is more likely to be successful than a loosely organized one like I see in CCWS.

So Champ Car, WHERE IS THE MISSION STATEMENT?

PT vs Forsythe Pettit

Just when it starts to "feel good" we get this!

Quote from Vivian Tracy - PTs Mom - who occasionaly posts on the Champcar Fanatics forum.


Here's the heart of the matter from a real "insider".

PT has a binding four year contract with Forsythe Racing, with no "out" clauses and no "performance" clauses on either side, and with both parties committed to the contract until the end of the four years.

As far as PT is concerned, he is prepared to honour his commitment to this contract. He is not sure FCR has the same aspirations.Where this will end up no one knows, but if PT gets released from Champ Car, he will continue to race somewhere, be it IRL, ALMS, NASCAR wherever, as this is what he does .

Second post after many were claiming this to be a rumor started by rumor mongers...........

Quoting PTs Mom:

Believe me, these are no idle rumours. I started this thread at the request of PT. The original draft was a lot longer and a whole lot more bitter. However we decided to tone it down so as not to burn bridges, As anyone can imagine, PT is pretty steamed about the whole affair, feeling badly betrayed after his loyalty to the series through thick and thin .

Hmmm!