Champ Car Racing

So Long Champ Car

2008-04-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to wait until the LBGP and post a little something about the event before ending this blog. But what's to say? The race was only special in that it is the Champ Car opening and only event of the 2008 season. And so it is also the very last Champ Car Race forever.

I've seen a few racing series collapse over the years, IMSA and CanAm are two which come immediately to mind but none was harder to reconcile in my mind than Champ Car.

So as this BLOG represents everything Champ Car it too must come to an end.

Because there are a few posts here that continue to get a lot of hits, particularly the Ethanol vs Methanol post, I plan to leave the blog up for as long as Google allows.

Thanks to all of the readers!

IRL CCWS Amalgamation Headed for Failure?

2008-02-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

In my last post I suggested that TG now has half of what he needs to take open wheel racing to a new level and hopefully save it from oblivion. The half I referred to was my notion that OWR requires a single leader if it is to survive. The other half is strength, that leader must be strong and dictator like in order to grow the business.

After watching the Speed TV interview last Sunday TG's response to Robin Miller’s question, - would he now become a full time manager and get out of the team ownership business and conduct the business like Bernie E does in F1, - I began to realize that my prediction of failure might be accurate. TG answered Robin’s question after some thought by saying basically no, me and my wife are team owners and we like what we are doing.

This attitude shows me that he has hardly, if even at all, recognized that strong leadership is a must for any business to succeed. This just seems incredible to me that he cannot recognize that his own IRL is on the brink of failure and that it desperately needs strong leadership.

At today’s press conference both he and KK were claiming that the amalgamation of the two series would begin to solve their issues of sponsorship and other problems that have faced the two series since 96. Although both admitted that it would take a lot of work and time get where they envisioned, this joining together would be was the best way to proceed to that end. I don’t disagree but it will require a strong leader and I don’t see that in TG.

Another thing I saw nearly absent during the press conference was the idea of best practices. When two companies join together one of the greatest things that happen is recognizing each others best practices. The only mention of that was Barnhart’s bit about bringing some of the safety folks onboard because CC had a recognizably superior group that the IRL could take advantage of. It was incredible to me that when asked this specific question TG deferred it Barnhart. The CEO had better know everything that goes on in the company and my impression is that TG is giving up to much responsibility to his underlings.

OWR in this country is a niche market, that market was split between two series until last Friday. Neither series has shown any signs of growth since the split in 96. It is my opinion that both series were on a death course which might have possibly been nearing the end. Now with the amalgamation of the two what will happen? Well it’s still a niche market, can it be made into market big enough to support OWR. Maybe, but that is a tall order, one that I have seen better leaders than TG fail at.

I can’t predict the future but I suggest that Open Wheel Racing fans prepare themselves for life without open wheel racing. It may not happen soon but if someone doesn’t figure out this leadership thing it is very likely to happen eventually.

OWR Now One...... Will it Survive?

2008-02-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

I’ve been waiting for the big announcement to post this. As I said in my last post I believed that open wheel racing in this country is dying. I offer as my first piece of physical evidence the collapse of Champ Car as announced today. Now we can all await the demise of what remains, time frame unknown but surely coming.

I believe that the ashes of Champ Car and the dwindling businesses formerly known as the IRL and the Indy 500 cannot be combined to make a series that will ever return to the “good old days”.

Furthermore the often referred to “good old days” may not have been quite what everyone seems to think they were. Many have said that if only there were some way to return to the 90’s when CART was at its peak then things would be good.

Let’s judge series on its financial merit only. I agree that it had a huge following in those days but if the company “CART” was to prosper it needed to grow and once you see how the company’s finances were managed I think you will see that things were not as you might have thought.

Let me offer as more evidence that things might never have been what they seemed to be, some information I gathered from the SEC EDGAR data base when I when looking for public information about CART.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a good amount of information about CART finances before they were public. I suppose they had to divulge that information as a part of going public. Seldom does one have a chance to see a balance sheet of a private company.

The numbers are rounded to the nearest major amount for presentation.

In 93, 94, 95 and 96 revenues are listed as 30, 25, 30 and 41 million dollars and expenses are listed as 30, 25, 30 and 42 million dollars. Two things stand out here, revenue for 96 was up 35% over 95, not a bad 1 year increase and 93, 94 and 95 were basically flat. But where is the profit, how does a company spend exactly what its top line is? The answer can be found in Dan Gurney’s white paper where talks about the teams sharing in the profit.

The founders of CART were some of the owners and the company was set up with certain favorable teams being franchise teams. Roger Penske, Pat Patrick, Jim Hall, Tyler Alexander, Bob Fletcher and Dan Gurney. I could be wrong about some of these names but it isn’t important who they were as much as what they did.

By now you’ve probably realized they distributed the profits among the franchise team owners. To the extent that net income for those same years was 272, 426, 800 and (300) thousand dollars. -Numbers in parentheses are negative.-

This doesn’t strike me a way to grow a business rather it seems more like communism.

Contrast this with the data for 98, 99 and 2000, 98 being the first year of the public company. Revenue for these three years was 63, 69, and 75 million dollars and expenses were 42, 44 and 59 million dollars. They actually had funds left over even though the blessed few still took from the pot the “let’s take what’s left over mentality’ seemed to be limited. The net income from those same years was 15, 19 and 15 million dollars. Not necessarily growth but not giving away the store to the blessed either.

There were still funds being shifted to the blessed but not the balance of earnings like in the early days when there was no public accounting. Gnassi, Penske, McCaw, Haas, Rahal and Horne all managed to own the company to the tune of about 800,000 shares each.

From 2001 on there are more parenthetical numbers on the balance sheet than not and of course it ended in bankruptcy after the 2003 season. Can you see now why the blessed left?

Sponsorship fees peaked in 2000 at 21 million and television receipts peaked in 2000 at 5.5 million, neither number excites me as being large for the time, especially TV.

These are just a few of the many examples of how a few ruined a good thing for the rest.

So how will the latest iteration of open wheel racing fair? Gurney had it right 30 years ago in his white paper when he said about the FOCA, they appointed Bernie Ecclestone as the chief of operations officer and negotiator and they made a solemn pledge to abide by his decisions 100 percent.

Perhaps it is presumptive to assume before the official announcement scheduled for later this week that TG will be the sole leader of the newest iteration but if he is he will have half of what he needs. The question to be answered is will he have the other half. And if turns out that the leadership is shared, well we all know how that works!

Time will tell.

Open Wheel Racing is Dying

2008-01-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

As many of you who have read my columns over the years may remember I have never been a proponent of any form of joining together of the two series. It has been my opinion that the two operate as businesses and that one or the other would flourish and grow and the other would wither and die. The survivor would be strong and would pick up the pieces of what was left of the other and OWR would flourish as before - before the split that is.

I've always been a supporter of Champ Car and have openly hoped that they would be the growth winner, and have said so. Well, reality is suggesting that I have been wrong. Actually my entire premise that one would grow and one would wither is being proven wrong, at least the one would grow part. Neither side has grown, it can be easily argued that in recent years they have both continued to shrink.

Indy is showing its skeleton like an emaciated horse. The old pole day audiences are no longer there. They struggle to get 33 cars for the event. Race day reveals many aluminum fans. And this is the IRL's premier event. I suspect that the profit from this event and the brickyard 400 support the IRL.

At Champ Car things are no better. Although we can never know, I doubt if profit is a familiar term at the headquarters. The gang of three has failed to raise this phoenix from the ashes. They have wandered aimlessly through the meadow of OWR without consistency or direction and 2008 will show the results of that. Walker racing suggesting CCWS might not be the place to be in the future and considering to pulling one entry this season. Matos is foregoing the 2 million dollar prize he won in atlantics and will return to Indy Pro. The TV schedule is in shambles with tape delays and 1 hour summaries. Tony Cotman is reported to be leaving. These are not growth examples these are withering examples.

So where are the sponsors, neither side is able to land enough sponsors to support their series. Neither side has a series sponsor. The IRL appears to have an edge on CCWS for recognizable sponsors and that is largely due to the Indy 500. The industry manufacturers are non-existent save for Honda and they are doubtful after 2009.

So what happens when one dies? Half of open wheel racing is gone. There will be very little for the other to salvage. It wouldn't help much if there was because after 11 years of negative growth there isn't much left on either side to work with and I doubt the remaining one will be able to save themselves.

I would love to hear what the old Cart guys say when they first see the weeds growing up through the cracks in the track at Indy a few years after the implosion!

Yes, I think open wheel racing is doomed. Damn you Tony George!

Mario Doesn't Work Here Anymore

2007-12-31T12:23:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-12-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

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!

The Future of Champ Car and the IRL

2007-11-07T16:24:00.000-08:00

May just depend on a very few!

What if Penske, Gnassi and Newman Hass Lannigan all decided to fold their OW tents.

Why didn't I name Andretti in this lot?.................you know why.

Think about it, it's not as unlikely as you might imagine.

2008 Schedule Confirmed

2007-11-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

April 20 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach, California
April 27 Champ Car Grand Prix of Houston at JAGFlo Speedway, Houston, Texas
May 18 Champ Car Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California
June 1 Champ Car Belgium at Circuit Zolder, Zolder, Belgium
June 8 Champ Car Spain at Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez, Spain
June 22 Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
June 29 Champ Car Mont-Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
July 6 Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
July 20 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
July 27 Champ Car Portland, Portland, Oregon
August 10 Road America Grand Prix, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
September 14 Champ Car Holland at the TT Circuit Assen, Assen, Holland
October 26 Gold Coast Indy 300, Surfers Paradise, Australia
November 9 Gran Premio Tecate Presentado por Banamex, Mexico City, Mexico

Champ Car 2008 Schedule ?

2007-11-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Rumor or fact?

Perhaps we will know for sure this week!

Source ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS - The Champ Car World Series is expected to release a 2008 season schedule Monday 11/5 that includes the formula's first ever event in Spain. However, absent from the 14-race slate is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which debuted to mixed reviews in 2007. Las Vegas and the stillborn Phoenix Grand Prix (the intended 2007 season finale) were promoted by a group that included Arizona Diamondbacks co-owner Dale Jensen. The 2008 Champ Car schedule is broadly similar to this year's 14-race line-up with a couple of key exceptions.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach kicks off the season April 20, followed by the Grand Prix of Houston, the first of three twin bills with the American Le Mans Series.

Only one race is scheduled in May (at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on the 18th), leaving the slim chance some Champ Car teams could enter the IRL Indianapolis 500. The series will then leave the country for June races at Zolder, Belgium and Jerez, a 2.752-mile road course in southern Spain that hosted the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix from 1986 to 1990.

The rest of the summer is business as usual for Champ Car, aside from a date change for the race at Portland International Raceway to late July. A trio of Canadian dates remain intact, and the series returns to Europe in September for a reprise of the popular race at Assen, Netherlands. A fourth European race could be twinned with Assen with FIA approval.

Long gaps in the schedule remain in the latter part of the season, with only four races currently scheduled between August 10 and November 9, when the championship will again come to a close in Mexico City.

Champ Car's Atlantic Championship development series is set for growth, with an expected return to the historic Trois-Rivieres street circuit in Quebec and a new venue for the championship finale -- Utah's Miller Motorsport Park. Out: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Zhuhai In: Laguna Seca, Jerez (Spain) Still in question: 4th European race. (British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch Or Donnington.)Champcar Atlantics new races at Troi Rivieres and Miller Motorsports Park.

México, Finalmente

2007-10-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

México ascendente siguiente, que ganará, que se estrellará, que cuida! CCWS finalmente va a terminar esta estación pathetic y a conseguir encendido con procurar tener una estación 2008.

CCWS consiguen su acto juntos!

CCWS 07 Good Bad Ugly - You Decide

2007-10-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here are SOME of the high/low lights of 07. You categorize them.

KK cavorting with penguins.
GF cavorting……..somewhere since the Houston event.
PG………
Turmoil in the front office?
Steve Johnson’s duties adjusted, Tony Cotman assumes day to day responsibilities.
New car introduced and successfully debugged.
Two teams merged, resulting in 1 car less than before the merger.
Only 17 cars show up on race day.
3 races cancelled - Phoenix China Denver.
Attendance down Edmonton up at Cleveland.
Overall attendance up - down?
Las Vegas success questionable.
Las Vegas in question for 08.
CCWS rumored to be in negotiations to buy Vegas.
Musical drivers continues.
Pay for ride continues
Teams continue to struggle for sponsors.
Schedule for 08 not finalized.
Fan base growing or getting smaller.
De-credentialed Robin Miller - 1 less to write about CCWS.
Where are the sponsors SJ has been working on.
CDW rumored to be out.
New venues for 08.
08 schedule rumored to have only has 5 US races.
Two more Europe events rumored for 08.
One less street race in 08 San Jose gone.
Portland gone for 08 – one less road course.
Laguna Seca back for 08.
Team owners rumored to be questioning the direction of CCWS.
Rusoport call it quits.

Another Race this Year

2007-10-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone else heard the rumor, there's another race this year. In Australia yet! Holy cow I've forgotten the drivers names from the last race. I'm told it won't matter some teams have new ones!

CDW Leaving Rusport

2007-09-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

So sez Mr. Rumor --------Yikes!

Champ Car Schedule in Two Weeks

2007-09-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

So says SJ in a Mexican Paper interview, and everyone will be happy!

Hum, let's see if they hit this date - wonder what will make everyone happy?

Champ Car Planning to Invade Indy 500 in 08

2007-09-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Champ Car has been working on a plan to go to Indy in 2008. The plan involves a super team that will be made up of a sort of all star cast determined by 2007 performances of drivers and crews. The exact method of determining who would be selected to this all star team has not been released.

It is rumored that there could be a many as 2 cars entered in the 08 event but that it will likely be only 1 in 08 with the number expected to grow in 09.

The chassis will be purchased just as the current IRL teams do but the engine will be a reworked Cosworth based on the one supplied to the IRL teams before. Robert Clarke was heard to say YES finally some engine competition.

When asked if this was just a PR ploy officials said, hell no we plan to win – we need the money.

Champ Car hopes to make this “Win and go to Indy” an integral part of the series and hopes to eventually dominate the 500. They are hoping this will help them to reclaim their dominance in open wheel racing. They estimate the exposure will be worth millions in sponsorships to the Champ Car teams……… Then I heard the alarm clock ……ugh!

More Trumoil in Champ Car Schedule

2007-09-13T12:22:00.001-07:00

Champ car has decided to abandon the San Jose Street race and return to Laguna Seca in 08. Event is rumored to be in mid May. Can anyone say Zoom Zoom? Is there a connection to the event and a possible engine badge deal?

The event will also feature the Grand Sham cars, like in Long Beach a couple years ago.

Hard to tell if we are coming or going isn't it?

More Paper,,,,,,

2007-09-01T10:44:00.002-07:00

Ok, as promised here's my take on what "Paper" was trying to say.

Paper,,,,,,
"First, the advesarial aspect of two entities who DO have the power to make the next step of Champcar extremely difficult are working. One is american, the other outside america. NEITHER involve TG."

The two entities are likely the FIA and NASCAR or the ISC. Apparently his contact has suggested they somehow interfered with the Phoenix operation causing it to fail. A second possibility is that financing dried up due to the current credit crunch. So Paper believes that CCWS should stand up and fight back.

Fight what, the way I see it if there was interference and it is believed to be tortious then they need to decide if they could win their claim in court and if so proceed. However it's possible they simply got out maneuvered by a competing business. If that the case then shame on them and let's hope they file it in lessons learned!

Paper,,,,,,
Now why is that? As weak as we may be we are on a precipice to reach a very substantial level as a series. WHY? we do something neat for less.

Not trying to put words in his sentences but I think if we substitute a word or two here we come up with what he intended to. So delete precipice and reword to include brink. Now I think it means that the series is about to become a force to be reckoned with.

Perhaps but only a seriously fanatical fan would think so, of course that would be how you would describe "PAPER",,,,,,,, and his patented commas,,,,,,

Herewith another post where he is defending his sources and his right to keep them confidential.

Quoted from Fanatics Forum:

I emailed in the morning when this was leaked on TF by someone in INDY. My response came when someone was not in a plane. I then asked if I could say whats up on our forum as it was goofy on others. So yeah I knew most of the day, this was only a half a day past the promoter bailing. I chose not to run here saying anything without permission. Some of what caused this is a banking industry situation that Im sure anyone reading the news will understand. When there are independent promoters contracted theres always a chance things can be interupted. The series and the most popular scapegoat in most frustrations took on nascar and the ISC earlier this year and won, this time by another avenue things got railroaded. The endless demands for me to spill every last detail to anonymous screen names ., some insulent , is never going to happen. I have no idea who some of you are, and then theres the very public viewing. Some things cant be shared until theres a feeling of trust. So shoot the messenger ,,Im used to it. Hopefully and its mandatory in my opinion there will be a group statement when all can sit together . Right now the main breifing is in the air on a 12 hr flight. For those who jump to thinking CC owners waited until everyone was out of the country.. You have pinned the tail on the wrong donkey. paper

A Champ Car Fan Named Paper,,,,,,

2007-09-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by paper
this may be merged, but Ive waited for a go ahead. The series WILL NOT be over or jeopardized by the Phoenix cancellation, It is in NO way a mess or foulup on series management. IT became out of all hands, JUST LIKE china. Now you can believe me or you can not. The most important thing that is upon us it two fold, I said TWO FOLD. First, the advesarial aspect of two entities who DO have the power to make the next step of Champcar extremely difficult are working. One is american, the other outside america. NEITHER involve TG. Take a breath there. Now why is that? As weak as we may be we are on a precipice to reach a very substantial level as a series. WHY? we do something neat for less. NOW , one can get behind this or freak out posting a bunch of bunk about who is at fault bla bla bla, and some yesterday crap. SECONDLY,, save your boos for IF and when our series leaders dont come out of the pouting spell and stand the **** up against this. IF they dont and soon, then boo, ITs gone on to long. Kevin,, Gerry, Dan, Paul,, kick ass and take no prisoners ,,,,,,, After all some of you are beyond ready. Mods.. please let this thought stand alone. Ive waited ALL day to post it. I needed permission. and CCF, lets endorse kicking ass of the assassins who seek our demise, not each other or anyone wearing our colors. If we dont, we fickin screwed. are you with that? Not are you with frickin "paper" are you with that? This has been a very frustrating day. make it better by getting behind this series. pat

This was posted by "Paper" on the fanatics forum, a frequent poster of everything good about Champ Car. This post set of a flurry of posts by the fanatics loyalists and others over the canaellation of the Phoenix event.

There are more different opinions about this than MONK has issues, ranging from CCWS immediate demise to everything is wonderful.

Many have criticized paper, a self procalimed fan with certain connections, for being cryptic.

What do you think he is saying here?

My guess later!

Hey CC - Denver, China, Phoenix Three Strikes You’re Out………08?

2007-08-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Let’s hope not, however Champ Car just cannot seem to string much good news together these days.

Many are calling for Steve Johnson’s hide, blaming him for the latest news dump indicating that the Phoenix Grand Prix won’t happen. In today’s press release CC has stated that the Phoenix GP has been cancelled mostly due to a lack of interest of businesses in Phoenix and their failure to embrace the event with sponsorship.

The promoter of the Phoenix event, also the promoter of the LVGP, spent a reported 15 million on infrastructure to be used at both events an amortized over both. The Promoter is now saying that the decision to cancel Phoenix will not have any effect on the LVGP. Well if you believe that I have some – well you know the rest. I couldn’t disagree more, how in the world can a promoter expecting two events to provide economies of scale for a profit say that only one will continue and it will be OK.

If Vegas happens in 08 it could be the last time unless the promoter finds another event the restore the economies of scale he so badly needs to remain in the business. Look for the Vegas 08 rumors to start soon.

As for SJ, I didn’t like him as a pick when he was announced and here’s why. I have never met the man, never interviewed the man but one thing on his resume would have had me putting it on the bottom of all the rest of the applications, his propensity to change jobs! I don’t like someone that moves around job to job as much as he has. I believe strongly in the adage, “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior”. And now we are told that SJ has not moved to the location of his job but has chosen to commute from, Kansas I think it is. That is a huge no no in my opinion.

In a company, large or small, private or public, the performance of the company is directly tied to the leader, the number one in charge. For CCWS that could be said to be Kevin, we can’t really be sure without being there but whomever it is they had better check in at the office before this thing gets away from them.

It’s going to get interesting!

PS How about communicating with us a little more!

Champ Car Indy 500 2008 Tony Cotman Holy Cow

2007-08-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

The latest who ha over on the Fanatics Forum is a heated debate over the notion that CC might be interested once again in running the I 500. This latest debate was set off by Robin Miller on the latest Wind Tunnel program on Speed.

There Miller said that Tony Cotman had told him that he had dinner with TG and suggested that he would be trying to convince CC to keep the upcoming 2008 schedule open in May as well as convince the teams that they should try to run Indy. Also telling TG that this wasn’t going to be a charity deal, meaning that cc would pay their way.

So the disclaimer is, if there is one, he will be trying to convince basically everyone in CC. Good Luck TC.

CC Teams have difficulty obtaining sponsors and adding the money needed to run Indy to the mix could make it even more difficult. When I look at the field of sponsors in the IRL it just doesn’t add up. There are some big names and some little names. Big like 7-11, primarily a Japanese company, - wonder how that works? The NYSE, what is the NYSE doing sponsoring a team. The point is this league runs Indy and their sponsors aren’t exactly what could be expected so how in the hell is CC, whose sponsors are even less prominent going to get funding for Indy.

However perhaps CC should make the Indy a part of their schedule and here’s why. From a business stand point participating in Indy could in fact make the sponsor thing go a little easier. And IF the project is taken seriously and funded well it might be possible to dominate Indy. If that domination is grand enough it could change the way some think and who knows what happens after that.

How many and which CC teams go to Indy isn’t important, what is though, is that it’s the crème Del la crème. Maybe an all star team or two made up of the best we have! The object is to win and win convincingly. I believe this could lead to an eventual end to the stalemate in OWR.

So how does CC go about making this happen, hey don’t ask me I just blog. But I have some ideas. CC give me a call, I’ll fill you in!

Anybody care to guess what year a CC entry will participate again at Indy?

Doornbos Out Strategizes Field at San Jose

2007-08-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

RD decided to use the latest in Champ Car race strategies and out witted the rest of the field to win the San Jose Grand Prix.

After crashing into a fellow competitor at the first turn of the first lap he went on to win the race thanks to the timing of a few well placed yellows and a new front wing. Sound familiar?

The new front wing must have had some magic in it as he eventually ended up being the class of the field in the last few laps.

Tracy’s dismal year continued when the he and the team missed the pit call for fuel and he ran out on the track. I see a big story coming from all this! By the way where is Gerry these days?

Bore – day’s point lead has shrunken to a manageable 10 points, perhaps Robert or Will can actually beat him, - but don’t count on it!

Bore-day regains points lead at Edmonton

2007-07-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

HO HUM..................................................!

Champ Car vs Mother Nature

2007-07-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

As evidenced in the latest crash fest Champ Car has the potential to be a more exciting series if only we would wet down the track at some point during the race. Perhaps we could provide a few fans located strategically around the course with garden hoses and radios so that race control could instruct them on when to use them.

Well of course this is nonsense but my how the chase has changed since Mother Nature has volunteered her services lately. My prophetic question in the Cleveland column when Bourdais DNF’d, ”Is there more to come” seems to have been answered in the affirmative.

With Bourdais out of first place, but certainly not out of the chase, the championship is only in question if Mother Nature continues to Rain on the Champ Car parade or if the fans get their hoses!

Bourdais claims to have been “taking it easy to avoid problems” but it looks to me like is a less skillful mudder than some of the other drivers. Is this a chink in is armor?

I still cannot give a good grade to the most recent effort for two reasons: The first lap shenanigans that put PT in the wall and the reckless abandon that some showed on the rain slickened track. The series must find a way to get race started with all cars running for at least one lap, I for one am not interested in the NASCAR like bump and crash racing.

Bourdais must have gone to anger management class last week; he didn’t seem upset with the take down that Doornbos scored that took him out of the race. So now I guess we will have to watch to see if the Wilson/Dalziel tangle will develop into something more exciting.

Coyne’s team might have had an even better day had Kat not been taken out in the PT incident, with Bruno finishing fifth. Both he and Kat had found something that must have had pit row buzzing when Bruno finished P1 and Kat P4 in the morning warm up. I was really looking forward to seeing how both would do in the race.

When I spoke of others trying alternates strategies in my Cleveland column it was tongue-in-cheek , hopefully Rahal didn’t take it seriously even though he did try to repeat Tracy’s three wing win as he went about creating a shortage of front wing spares in the NHL transporter.

All in all the race was OK, given there is now at least some hope that a championship race will be more than a single driver wide. Still, if the remainder of the events are dry look for the championship morph back into a one man show.

Doornbos Conquers The Mont

2007-07-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Rookie Robert Doornbos managed to out drive everyone at Champ Cars latest event in at the beautiful Mont Tremblant circuit Sunday. The Rookie notched his first Champ Car victory over a very unhappy 2nd place Champion Sebastian Bourdais with some excellent driving on a very slick rain soaked track. The race started on a dry track but ended wet.

Bourdais was livid when complaining about the blocking he was certain that Doornbos had done to him during the latter part of the race after the rain started. He was soundly booed by the crowd during the post race interview for his rant.

Bourdais reportedly said “If race control did not see it, OK. But Robert knows what he did. He told me after the race, ‘You’re going to see a lot of this in formula 1.’ And that’s just the point. This is not Formula 1. The rules here are very clear about blocking and we are all supposed to play by the rules. If the rules said we are allowed to block it would have never come to this because he would have never gotten past me in the first place.”

So did he or didn't he? A little controversy never hurts!

The start saw three cars stall on the grid, what was that all about? I thought the software geeks had that under control. Every software engineer I have every dealt with said they could write software that would fix anything. It will be interesting to see if these latest issues can actually be corrected in software!

Race time temps were not ideal either, could there be a connection to the stalled cars at the start? Temps reminded me of my days in Milwaukee where I kept a jacket in my car all year round because when the wind came of the lake in the summer it was very uncomfortable without a jacket. I don't know about the norms for the area but it would seem in July it should have been warmer.

Steve Johnson is reporting there were more than 42,ooo clicks recorded on his turnstile for the weekend and calling that a success. Well, OK I guess success is subjective at least for now. I sure the cash register content cannot be counted as successful after they do the count Monday morning. Wonder what the TV rating was?

Next up Toronto!

Paul Tracy's Unusal Formula a Winner

2007-06-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

Paul Tracy utilized an admittedly unusual formula for taking home the victory at the Cleveland Grand Prix Sunday. Goes something like this: Crash + Replace front wing + Splash of fuel + Crash again + Replace front wing again + Another splash of fuel + resume race on lead lap at back with full tank = WIN.

Odd - yes but sometimes you just win in spite of yourself!

Then there's second, Doornbos was sent to to pit lane for a drive through an wound up second.

All of this makes me think that the others missed out on the perks of crashing and penalties. Perhaps Jani, who took third, could have won if he would have bolcked or something.

Still in all it was a good race filled with enough action that being correct on any early race predictions was going to be unlikely.

The start was super, I'm really liking this standing start thingy.

The crowd looked good from what I could see on TV.

Coverage was not up to my liking, in one case just as they came back from commercial I'm sure I saw a spin at the rear and never heard anything about it.

With Bourdais a DNF the points lead is tightened up, a sign of things to come????

Bring on the Mt.

Portland Good Portland Bad - Portland Gone?

2007-06-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

Starting with the good, the standing start was awesome. Everyone got away, no one stalled and and turn one was clean. I say bring on the standing starts!!!!

Newman Hass (L) won their 100th race after a dismal weekend that saw Sebastian struggle in both practice and qualifying then go on to win.

No yellows the entire race but then Portland in known for a dearth of yellows, still it was nice to see everyone except Legge finished without fuss!

Rookie Doornbos on the podium again.

The ESPN/ABC coverage was really pretty good, at least an improvement over what we have seen in the recent past.

And the bad, how did Wilson give up such a big lead to lose this race........unbelievable.

Why did Kat spin and stall on the next to last lap?

Oh and the weather - yuk. Race day was without rain but the Saturday rain and Sunday rain prediction might have just scared off the race day crowd.

So how big was the crowd, I would be surprised if there were 20k for the race. Mucho empty seats!

Will the poor showing scare off any future promoters, have we seen the beginning of the end of CCWS at portland?

Would Champ Car’s Switch to E85 Be Green?

2007-05-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

Before we can begin to answer that we have to define green, a term we hear a lot about in reference to preservation of the planet. It is sometimes used in reference the amount of man made CO2, which is often blamed for the current climate change with respect to global warming. There’s no doubt that CO2 is a green house gas and that it can cause the earth to warm. But how much is the subject of much debate depending on which side you take. Frankly I think the IPCC estimates are way off but that is another discussion. I’m for anything that will reduce the amount of pollutants we humans generate.

So for this discussion let’s determine the amount of CO2 produced by the fuels currently used and those that are proposed to be used by Champ Car.

If you don’t care to see the math or the method skip to the bottom for the results, you may be surprised!

Methanol – currently used by Champ Car.
E85 – 85% Ethanol 15% Octane (gasoline) proposed to be used.

When these fuels are burned the by product is carbon dioxide and water. For this discussion we will consider only a stoichiometric combustion.

First let’s determine the weight of a gallon of each of the fuels. I’ll use gallons and pounds here for the metrically challenged. If you search the internet for this information you will find many different answers so in order to be as accurate as possible I will use the information given in the handbook of Chemistry and Physics from CRC press.

Conversion factors
3.785 l/gallon
453.59 g/lb

Octane C8H18 density at 25degrees C = .6986 g/ml
Ethanol C2H6O density at 25C = .7873 g/ml
Methanol CH4O density at 25C = .7872 g/ml

When converted to grams per gallon:
Octane) = 2644.201 g/gal
Ethanol) = 2979.9305 g/gal
Methanol) = 2979.5520 g /gal

Divide grams per gallon by 453.59 to get pounds per gallon
Octane) 2644.201/453.59 = 5.829 lbs/gal
Ethanol) 2979.9305/453.59 = 6.5696 lbs/gal
Methanol) 2979.5520/453.59 = 6.5688 lbs/gal

Next find ratio of CO2 molecule mass to fuel molecule mass.
Hydrogen = 1
Carbon = 12
Oxygen = 16

Carbon Dioxide [C = 12 and 2O’s = 32] 12 + 32 = 44
Octane C8H18 [C8 (8X12) = 96 [H18 (18X1) = 18] 96 +18 = 114
Using the same process for Ethanol and Methanol gives:
Ethanol = 46
Methanol = 32

To find out how many CO2 molecules are produced from each fuel simply count the carbon atoms in one molecule of each fuel.
Octane = 8 for a total mass of 8 X 44 = 352
Ethanol = 2 for a total mass of 2 X 44 = 88
Methanol = 1 for a total mass of 1 X 44 = 44

So the ratio of CO2 molecule mass to fuel molecule mass is:

Octane = 352/114 = 3.0877
Ethanol = 88/46 = 1.913
Methanol = 44/32 = 1.375

We're almost there, multiply these ratios by the weight per gallon of each fuel to see how many pounds of CO2 each one produces when combusted.

Octane - 5.829 X 3.0877 = 17.998 lbs CO2/gal
Ethanol - 6.5696 X 1.913 = 12.567 lbs CO2/gal
Methanol - 6.5688 X 1.375 = 9.058 lbs CO2/gal

To find CO2 in lbs/gal for E85 find the sum of .85 X 12.567 and .15 X 17.998
E85 produces 13.380 lbs of CO2 for each gallon combusted, Over 4 lbs more than Methanol.

There you have it, by our standard E85 is not green………….but if CCWS decides to use it a big oil company might pony up a different kind of green as a series sponsor! Like I said first you have to define green.

Champ Car Going to E85 in 2008?

2007-05-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

From Gordon Kirby’s – The Way It Is -

[Forsythe laid the groundwork by commissioning Cosworth to conduct a technical review of what's required to switch to ethanol. "I made the investment on my own in research and testing to show them what the facts are," he commented. "It cost me $350,000 with Cosworth and they did the due diligence on running the engine on ethanol. They did some dyno testing to see if their theories worked."

Cosworth's chief engineer Bruce Wood designed the XD turbo V-8 and oversees the XF series Champ Car engines. Wood documented the work Cosworth did in researching a switch to ethanol. "The biggest thing we felt might be an issue were the cooling circuits because ethanol doesn't have the same latent heat vaporization as methanol so it doesn't cool things down as much when you evaporate ethanol," Wood explained. "So we spent some time looking at the cooling circuits to establish that they were going to be big enough. Somewhat to our surprise, that turned out not really to be a big problem, although our testing was finally cut short by an overheated exhaust valve seat.

"We put a different piston in to be more comfortable with the characterstics of ethanol and the increased the boost was needed to recover the power loss with E85. That was really the bulk of the changes, as well as re-mapping the fuel system and introducing a different injector spray pattern. But essentially, it was not a huge amount of work."

Cosworth ran an ethanol-fueled XFE engine on the dyno for 980 miles before the valve seat problem. "We were aiming to run 1,400 miles," Wood commented. "Although we fell short of this, we were fairly comfortable we could fix the seat issue and make the engine completely robust at 1,400 miles.]

I believe Gerry is correct when he says E85 will dominate the future. So it makes sense for CC to change to E85 as their fuel. Perhaps some big oil might eventually pony up a major sponsorship.

I would hope that CC doesn’t try promoting a change as a “Green” thing, leave that to the politicians.

Will it happen, who knows, I think it makes sense!

Anne Proffit Journalist - Say What?

2007-05-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Anne my dear, a journalist at Paddock Talk.com, who’s drinking the kool-aid?

Your latest rant about the lack of Kalkhoven’s willingness to “pony up”, pun not intended, to have some of the CCWS drivers entered into this years Indy certainly reveals your lack of understanding about the business of racing.

Oh sure there would be benefits to both series if some of the CCWS boys were circling the big rectangular oval called Indy come race day this year. But at what price? You seemed to think that KK’s offer to bring some talent to the race was………well here’s the [quote]…… “Horse pucky, Kevin, my man! Why on earth should Tony give you engines when he doesn’t do that for his regular followers? (And if he does assist Indy entrants, that’s his business.)”

I disagree with Kevin too but for quite the opposite reason, I say let Indy be what Indy will be. Grow your own business and mind your own business.

My, my how things are changing. It was only a few months ago when your boss was advocating that CCWS should just ignore the IRL and get on with their business and now you are allowed to post this strange rant on the state of the split.

Let me remind you the source of the OWR problem was TG’s idea to spilt. Nothing changes that no matter how sick of it you have become. When and until you accept that and direct your ire towards him you will forever be wrong in your criticism of CCWS for not participating at INDY.

[Quote] …. “That's just my opinion; I could be wrong, but I have to admit I've grown tired of IMS and IRL being brow-beaten by Kalkhoven and his predecessors just to keep the Champ Car series in the papers in May. Countless others have paid their own way to race in the May Classic on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval.] “

You said it Anne and I agree completely…………….You are wrong, get over it!

In case anyone would like to read the entire article.
http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=54212&amp;mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Houston Grand Prix

2007-04-22T16:02:00.000-07:00

Let me hear a big ho hum for the winner Bourdais and the NHL crew. Bourdais had everybody covered again with more speed than he really needed. Where oh where does that speed come from? Is NHL that good? Is it a combination?

Actually the real winner may have been young Rahal. The youngster took second behind his team mate Bourdais. This was only his second race in not counting the first which ended in a first turn crash. Perhaps he can beat Bourdais some day.

The crowd appeared to be good. The main grandstand appeared 80-90% full.

The TV coverage was reasonable. Did see a commercial for the upcoming IRL race though. Couldn’t help but wonder how that all works. If CCWS paid for the TV time would that be like paying for the IRL commercial? Did the IRL pay to advertise during the CCWS race? Did ESPN self promote the upcoming IRL race? Just seemed odd!

State of the series is still difficult to determine. Kate’s car still has no primary sponsor and some others may change or be dropped before Portland. Perhaps it won’t all be clear until 2008 or beyond.

Ok everyone it’s break time, plenty of time to rest up and track the rumors before Portland.

Long Beach Grand Prix Alive and Well

2007-04-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

From my observations I would have to say the LBGP is very much alive and well. As I walked about Sunday the crowd seemed much bigger than any time in the last 4 years. Getting around required some patience because of the number of people. The stands, for the Champ Car race, I estimate were about 90-95% filled.

All of this bodes well for Champ Car, the owners of the LBGP, especially considering that they have to take in at least what they would normally receive as a sanctioning fee a before making any profit.

I wonder how the sanctioning fee’s are paid for the other series that are at the event. The Speed GT and ALMS.

The number of vendors and exhibits was up from years past. There was little doubt that the practice of charging the vendors handsomely for the right to do business at the event was I full force when I paid $10.00 for the burger and fries I had for lunch.

Another indication that the event is growing was the price of parking. Four yeas ago the little out of the way spot where I parked was 5.00 for the event…….and not far from the gate either. Last year it was $10.00, this year it was $20.00. I drove past when I saw that wondering where to park and found a garage on the next corner for $15.00 and it was even closer to the gate! I’ll bet you that next year that garage will be $20.00!

The Minardi two seaters were popular even with their $10,000 per ride price tag. Some how though I have trouble reconciling having F1 ride at the champ car event. No doubt there’s some politics involved.

As for the main event, looks like Newman Hass Lannigan have worked out their issues with the car. Bourdais easily had the rest of the field covered. So much so that the only thing I watched for was who was going to pass who on the restarts.

As for the state of the series, it’s still a head scratcher. All of the entries except Katherine Legge had side pod sponsorship. Still better than last year if it’s true the subsidy spigot is turned off, something I don’t necessarily believe given that Legge is driving for Coyne and Forsythe is selling rides.

I believe that the grid will have to grow, even if only one car, before the end of this season if the health of the series is to improve for the 08 season.

We badly need 20 starters with solid sponsorship for 08.

Watch for more big changes!

Las Vegas Grand Prix - Good and Bad

2007-04-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, the opener is over and not surprisingly the winner was not Bourdais. Many preseason observers opined that this year might yield a more level playing field given the new car and all that entails.

And so it did with Will Power winning and outpacing the field most of the weekend. Add that with a couple of rookies in the top five, Doornbos 2nd, Gommendy 5th, and we may have set the stage for some exciting racing the likes of which we haven’t seen for a long time.

It’s only the first race of the season and I’m sure that the old guard isn’t going to let the new guys run away with the Championship.

The problem with fueling will be solved which had it not existed, the outcome of this race might have been different.

As for the attendance it would be hard to estimate, from where I sat it looked like grandstand 1 was about 60 to 70 percent full. I would expect that not to be enough to give the promoter a profit. One of the two pit suites was filled but the other was nearly empty.

There was not lack of promotion as I saw many commercials on television and much signage throughout the city. The TV stations eagerly reported on the activities but disappointingly referred to it as the Las Vegas Grand Prix leaving out any references to Champ Car for the most part.

The track seemed to draw praise form the participants but access for the fan was limited. The view from GS1 was too narrow.

The paddocks were inside some very large and unique structures used by the World Market Center as exhibition centers. Oh yes they were air conditioned. Access was great but not fan friendly. The transporters were parked such that the work areas were the length of the transporters away where we had access making picture taking difficult for the average camera owner.

The pits were not accessible except during specified times when only a walk through was allowed. If you have ever been to Road America you would say there is no comparison. Extremely disappointing to me!

There were many volunteers stationed throughout the event doing their usual wonderful jobs. Every one saw I thanked for being there and helping. BOO-YA to all the volunteers!

What’s the state of the series? Well all the cars had some sponsorship on them. There were seventeen starters. If it’s true they are not on welfare then I am encouraged for the future. What does the future hold? The picture will become clearer in 08!

LVGP Car Count

2007-03-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

Six days from now the first transporter will pull into the paddock in downtown Las Vegas, the big question is just how many more will follow!

Here's the confirmed List of cars and drivers:

Forsythe - Paul Tracy & Mario Dominguez
Newman/Haas/Lanigan - Sebastien Bourdais & Graham Rahal
Pacific Coast - Ryan Dalziel & Alex Figge
PKV - Neel Jani & Tristan Gommendy
Rocketsports - Alex Tagliani
RuSPORT - Justin Wilson
Team Australia - Will Power & Simon Pagenaud
Minardi - Robert Doornbos & Dan Clarke

By my count that is 14!

Conquest, as we know, is a one car effort and if Coyne shows up with 2 that makes 17.

My guess is that will be the grand total for the weekend.

If they're truely all off of welfare and have lettering on the side pods perhaps it will be the first evidence of better times to come!

We shall see!

Champcar - Going Well or Well Gone

2007-03-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

First let me say that it is a common business practice, in fact it is necessary to the survival of a business, to do planning. It doesn’t matter how far into the future that planning extends but most importantly it matters that you have done it.

Champcar, KK, told us that champ car has a five year plan and many have referred to it on occasion. The problem that I see most frequently is that the plan is misunderstood. It often appears that the average Joe thinks that we are in the fourth year of the five year plan.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Good business planning generally happens annually and that said it should be recognized that Champ car is in the first year of the latest revision of a five year plan.

You wouldn’t wait four years to correct something that didn’t work which was implemented in the first year of the plan would you?

So, as we enter the fourth year of the new Champ car I can’t help but wonder if the expected results for this time frame are according to plan.

Were the actions of Bridgestone and Ford sudden and unexpected or planned?

Is the discontinuance of welfare to the participating teams on schedule and according to plan? I have seen much criticism in the press proclaiming that the Tres Amigos should continue to prop up the series with personal money making the series “look better”!

Was the end of welfare really meant to light a fire under the teams to get their own sponsorship? Is it really true that some teams don’t even have a marketing guru and are instead expecting welfare?

The limited grid has turned out to be 16 not 24 as proposed by KK last year. I can’t help but wonder if this is part of the plan or something needing revision!

With spring training now over many, except a few diehards, are ready to call the undertaker after seeing a dearth driver confirmations and cars at the test.

Even the multitude of announcements that were promised for spring training failed to appease the average fan.

But KK says he expects some cars to be added to the grid before Vegas and continues to insist that Forsythe will be one of those. Again is this part of the plan?

Many went into this off season convinced that next year was going to be the breakout year for Champcar with the new chassis and all and now most feel it is a broken year instead.

As for me I need more time to see what really happening in this private enterprise that has no reason to let me in on their secrets!

After I return from Las Vegas and Long Beach I’ll have a better feel for the state of
CCWS.

Pressed for an opinion now though I would have say that the unwatched pot appeared to boil while KK was fondling the penguins.

But hey, plans change, let’s see what happens!

Zoom Zoom

2007-03-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

Now we know!

Out with the Stangs in with the Zoom Zooms!

The Champ car World Series today entered an agreement with Mazda North American Operations that will see the famed manufacturer become The Official Vehicle of the Champ Car World Series for 2007. Mazda will be able to showcase its performance cars as part of the Champ Car Pace Car Program, and will have its trucks, SUVs and crossover vehicles featured as part of the world-renowned Holmatro Safety Team, Champ Car’s fast-response safety squads.

Steve Johnson out at Champ Car!

2007-02-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

Well if he isn't he should be! I haven't liked the pick since the day it was announced and two big reasons are:

His resume and his resume! How's that you say? Check it out! He has a propensity to change jobs frequently. What the best predictor of future behavior........that's right, past behavior!
Further I believe that what is needed at Champ Car or any other business is a genuine manager, a single strong leader is better than just someone that has a racing background.

And now Robin Miller is telling us that S.J. doesnt even live near headquarters and only comes in to work occasionally.

Let me tell you, from years of experience, when a guy takes a job out of town and doesn't bother to move to the new job location he's not COMMITTED.

The following quote is from the 2/25/07 Robin Miller article "Silence not necessarily golden"

Quote:
On the business side, all the crowing about a title sponsor for the season opener in Las Vegas has stopped because evidently the deal has come apart.

At the press conference, it was dubbed "The Las Vegas Grand Prix Fueled By VISA" and carried that moniker on the website until a couple weeks ago. Now it's simply the Vegas Grand Prix. No mention of VISA.And one must wonder if this loss could impact the season finale at Phoenix, which shares the same promoters.

The general lack of information about cars, drivers and races falls in line with Champ Car's overall lack of leadership and communication. The SCCA-flavored front office is clueless about marketing, promoting and public relations -- not to mention open-wheel racing.Hirings and firings are totally irrational, just like dumping the pace-car program, losing Ford as an ally, running China during May, taking advice from Gentilozzi, sticking with terrible television production partners and having one race a month from October through December.

What appeared to be a breath of fresh air a few years ago now has that same old, stale taste and reinforces the theory that car owners cannot competently run a series. Especially when one is in California, one is in the midwest and their point man (Steve Johnson) still lives in Kansas and makes it into the office at least four days a month.
End quote:

Link to Miller article http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/35621/

Houston Session Four Testing Times

2007-02-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

W. Power ...........01:10.0
G. Rahal ...........01:10.1
N. Jani ............01:10.2
S. Bourdais ........01:10.3
B. Junqueira .......01:10.6
S. Pagenaud ........01:10.8
N. Philippe ........01:11.0
J. Wilson ..........01:11.2
R. Doornbos ........01:11.2
O. Servia ..........01:11.3
P. Tracy ...........01:11.6
K. Legge ...........01:11.6
R. Dalziel .........01:11.7
A. Tagliani ........01:12.2
A. Figge ...........01:13.6

Houston Session Three Testing Times

2007-02-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

W. Power ...........01:11.223
G. Rahal ...........01:11.518
N. Jani ............01:11.730
S. Bourdais ........01:11.847
J. Wilson ..........01:11.885
O. Servia ..........01:12.060
B. Junqueira .......01:12.113
A. Tagliani ........01:12.368
N. Philippe ........01:12.627
S. Pagenaud ........01:12.849
N. Jani ............01:13.184
R. Dalziel .........01:13.648
P. Tracy ...........01:13.727
A. Figge ...........01:14.077
R. Doornbos ........01:14.878
K. Legge ...........01:15.547

Houston Session One Testing Times

2007-02-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

J. Wilson ............01:30.2
S. Bourdais ........01:30.4
P. Tracy .............01:32.1
R. Doornbos ......01:32.3
N. Philippe ........01:32.8
G. Rahal ............01:33.2
N. Jani ...............01:33.2
A. Figge .............01:34.0
A. Wirth ............01:34.3
R. Dalziel ...........01:35.6
O. Servia ...........01:35.8
K. Legge ............01:39.3
A. Tagliani .........01:41.7
S. Pagenaud ......01:43.7
N. Jani ...............01:44.7

Racing Economics 101

2007-02-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

By Robin Miller:

Reprinted from Speed Channel web site:

While waiting for Champ Car to announce any driver, Gene Simmons to unveil another verse of "I Am Indy," and ESPN to give Michael Waltrip his own channel, all this down time gave me a chance to do a little research on the state of purses and payouts in American motorsports.

And the return vs. the investment.

As you might imagine, NASCAR Nextel Cup is so far ahead in this department it's embarassing.

Last year, Jimmie Johnson earned $8,909,140 in prize money for Hendrick Motorsport on his way to his initial title and that's not counting the $6,785,982 he received in series sponsor points.

That's $15,770,125 for those of you keeping score at home. FOR ONE TEAM!

The total payout (with no bonuses) for the 78 drivers who competed in one, some or all of the 36 events in 2006 was a staggering $219 million.

By comparison, the Indy Racing League dolled out a total of $24 million in purses ($10 million coming from the Indianapolis 500) with Sam Hornish Jr. collecting $3,835,205 for his third championship. That included $1 million bonus for capturing the title, not bad for 14 races.

But still way out of whack considering a budget to run up front is anywhere from $6-9 million per car.

Further north on Indy's westside, Champ Car paid $6,553,000 in purses to its competitors for 14 starts and another $1,550,000 in point money. Or about the same as Johnson's bonus check.

Even though a competitive budget for Champ Car might be as low as $5 million, the payout still explains why ride buyers can flourish in this series.

For his third consecutive championship and seven victories, Sebastien Bourdais grossed $1,282,500 and that included $500,000 for the title. To give you an idea of how disproportionate things are, Kenny Wallace finished 43rd in the Cup standings in 2006 and brought in more money ($1.3 million) than Bourdais.

And the second-tier Busch series even paid its champ (Kevin Harvick) $1.3 million.

In 13 seasons, Paul Tracy has racked up $12.3 million in earnings while Jeff Gordon has eclipsed $60 million during the same time frame.

But the bottom line is even sadder in sports cars.

The Grand Am series was founded and funded by NASCAR but you won't confuse it with the stock car division.

Other than the Rolex 24 Hours (which paid $100,000 to win last month), a victory in Jim France's series is worth a piddly $25,000 (unless you're not a member of the Pacesetter's Club and then it only pays $15,000).

There's quite a dropoff in the Daytona Prototypes at the big race since second is worth $35,000 and fifth brings in $10,000. "Not enough to pay the hotel bill," said one owner.

Chip Ganassi, whose budget with sponsor Telmex and Carlos Slim's deep pockets is thought to be in the $4 million range, raked in a whopping $150,000 in purse money last year for taking the 14-race team title.

In the current realities of open-wheel racing, it may be easier for team owners to survive in Atlantics (above) and IPS than in Champ Car or the IndyCar Series. (LAT Photo)Jorg Bergmeister, who captured the driver's crown, received a Rolex watch, a discount pass to Daytona USA and a firm handshake from president Roger Edmonson.

In the more sophisticated American Le Mans Series, where slick cars like the Audi and Porsche are seven-figure creations, the purses are also seven figures but only if you count cents.

The winner of this month's Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring classic will win $24,000 or, to be more precise, about $2,000 an hour which, ironically, is the going rate at a wind tunnel.

Honda is battling Porsche this season in LMP2 and they'll spend more on hospitality than their three-team lineup can earn.

ALMS also has a unique pay scale. If you are a full factory team, you are not eligible for prize money and, in 2005 at Sebring, 22 of the 38 starters got zero prize money.
My beloved USAC midget racing is also a financial train wreck. Engines can cost as much as $45,000 yet the purses have hardly increased since the 1970s and the winner is lucky to get $1,500 most nights.

At least you can go outlaw sprint car racing in Indiana for a reasonable amount of money and have a shot to win $4,000.

The Formula Atlantic series boasted a $2 million prize for the winner (Simon Pagenaud) to take to Champ Car and $3.7 million in purses while the IRL's Indy Pro Series is paying out $4 million in 2007 and offers as much as $41,000 for a win. An owner can't get rich running either open wheel feeder series but it's possible to survive.

Obviously, with Nextel, FOX, NBC, ABC, TNT, SPEED and ESPN spending hundreds of millions to be partners, it's good to be a car owner and better to be a driver in NASCAR's top tier.

Until IRL and Champ Car can secure a title sponsor, improve TV ratings substantially (or quit having to buy time) and find a way to put money into their teams (without Tony George, Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe writing checks), the economics of open wheel will be hopeless.

A good shoe in Champ Car or IRL can make a decent living off of their retainer but not many would want to make it on 40 percent of the purse (especially in Champ Car) like the old days.

Grand Am sports a ton of good drivers yet doesn't draw much of a crowd but it does have the France faction to keep things afloat while ALMS suddenly has some muscle from manufacturers and some momentum. But neither sports car series makes financial sense at the moment and drivers have to scramble to make a living.

And, if things weren't depressing enough for open wheel and sports cars after reading this, there was this headline in Wednesday's editions of USA Today: "$18 Million on Line at Daytona."

That's a whole year of Champ Car, IPS, Atlantics, USAC, ALMS and Grand Am in four hours.

WickerBill sez;
Thank you Robin..............! It's about time more attention is given the the financial side of racing!

CCWS and Ford End 24 Year Relationship

2007-01-24T14:34:00.000-08:00

Champ Car has shown Ford the exit ending a relationship that began in 1982.

With that will go the pace car team an those great rides we all liked so much. Seen the new LOGO .........not a mention of Ford!

Champ Car claims to have another manufacturere lined up to become presenting sponsor????

But wait there's more.........Champ Car says the pace cars rides are being replaced by Stoddart's F1 two seaters.

WickerBill sez;

Well there's a real head scratcher!

Sebring Session Four Testing Times

2007-01-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

Bourdais........50.888
Tracy............50.960
Legge............51.060
Junqueria.......51.108
Dominguez....51.166
Wilson..........51.273
Rahal............51.631
Power...........51.839
Jani...............51.930
Tagliani.........51.973
Philippe.........52.410
Figge.............52.531
Dalziel...........53.760
Vasser...........55.841

Sebring Session Three Testing Times

2007-01-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

Bourdais.......51.307
Domingeuz...51.318
Wilson.........51.485
Tracy...........51.517
Vasser.........51.520
Jani..............51.533
Legge..........51.610
Rahal...........51.973
Power.........52.238
Tagliani........52.448
Doornbos....52.575
Dalziel.........53.217
Figge...........53.796
Junqueira.....53.927

Sebring Session Two Testing Times

2007-01-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Bourdais.......51.024
Jani...............51.620
Tracy............51.708
Dominguez....51.717
Wilson...........51.773
Vasser...........51.814
Rahal.............51.837
Pagenaud.......51.989
Legge............52.110

Tagliani..........52.854

Doornbos .....52.912
Dalziel ..........54.048

Sebring Session One Testing Times

2007-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

Legge........... 52.166
Wilson......... 52.426
Pagenaud..... 52.528
Dominguez... 52.529
Bourdais...... 52.581
Tracy........... 52.763
Rahal........... 53.125
Doornbos ....53.195
Vasser......... 53.634
Dalziel .........56.421
Figge........... 57.260
Jani............. 58.118
Tagliani..... 1:15.893

IRL-CCWS Merger, Merger Go Away.........Forever?

2007-01-22T10:13:00.000-08:00

With testing beginning tomorrow let's get this foolishness out of the way now so when May comes around we can concentrate on racing!

Originally written in 2004 it still applicable today!!!!

Perhaps the term reunification is adding to open wheel racing’s problems. Reunification implies that at some time in the past there was unity. Reunification, it would seem, suggests a return to that unity. Does anyone remember the blissful co-existence of CART and the IRL. I don’t’ think so! Okay, let’s call this proposed getting together of these businesses a merger, or buy out, or perhaps you prefer to take the business edge off and refer to it as unification. Whatever term you prefer there’s no escaping the fact that CCWS and IRL are businesses with all the trappings and their products are the sport of open wheel racing.

When one looks at CCWS and IRL strictly from the business view you can’t help but realize how frail they both are. Hard core racing fans, no matter which side they affiliate with, tend to be blinded to frailty of these businesses. Either or both could easily fail. Auto racing is very expensive and requires funding from many sources. Someone once said if you want to make a small fortune in racing you will need to start with a big one!

When CART was formed there were some very successful business people involved yet in the end they were not able to generate a meaningful and lasting growth so the business wound in up in bankruptcy court. However those same founders have continued to operate and lead their personal businesses with astounding success. They had a nice run with CART until the IRL came along. In business this is called competition. It was not just competition though, there was plenty of that from NASCAR and others, but this was direct competition in the form of open wheel racing. The business of CART failed to recognize the IRL as competition and went about racing as before and finally went bankrupt. What’s difficult to understand is how this group of extraordinarily successful businessmen with their independent successes could have failed so dismally in this joint venture. They all must have good business acumen, yet as a group that business acumen must have been somehow gotten cancelled.

For a business to succeed it must make money, what other reason would there be for a business to exist? So long as CART was a public corporation their profitability, or lack of, was public knowledge. Determining the financial status of a private company is difficult at best so we aren’t likely to know much more than they want us to about them. Yes, it’s possible to set up a similar business on paper and plug in some expense and revenue estimates and make a good guess but that’s all it is - a guess. The CCWS and the IRL can be infused with private money until the owners run out or they can be made profitable by the use of good business practices and we aren’t likely to know for sure which is the case. If the owners have to continue funding the business then it is not likely to continue for very long. If either CCWS or IRL, or both, can execute a solid business plan then the fans will be rewarded with continuation of open wheel racing in this country.

With the two series beginning to look like gas stations on opposite side of the street it will surely be difficult for both series to survive. There may not be enough fans left to support one series let alone two. On the other hand if two businesses are managed properly perhaps they can both grow their respective fan and sponsorship bases, both of which are badly needed to assure the continuation of open wheel racing in this country.

There have been many suggestions as to how to combine (reunify?) the two series, but so far all we have is an agreement to disagree, whatever that is. Perhaps the combined series would be the best solution but then again maybe not. Competition is good for business, what would the quality of the products we buy be like without it. There are many businesses whose products are similar if not the same. Can two open wheel racing series survive? In time we should know. The future of open wheel racing in this country is in the hands of four individuals. Three of whom were successful in other business before forming a new racing series. Does this sound familiar? The other has used the family money to form a racing series and has never really demonstrated business success in any market.

Perhaps it was never meant to be, if open wheel racing was profitable wouldn’t there have been other investors lining up to get a piece of the action. Is open wheel racing just the floundering stepchild of wealthy egomaniacs that aren’t interested in anything but being king? For the sake of this 50 year fan of open wheel racing and all other fans, I hope someone figures out how to make it work.

Bill Sheets © Copyright 2004

Red Bull and Jani to PKV

2007-01-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

Swissman Neel Jani and Red Bull are joining PKV racing for the 2007 season. JV says the Swissman will be driving number 21.

WickerBill sez;

Let the announcments begin!

2 New Races Added to Champ Car Schedule

2007-01-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

The long rumored Belgium and Holland races have finally been added to the Champ Car schedule bringing the total to 17.

2007 Champ Car World Series Schedule

Upadated 2/17/07

April 8 Las Vegas, Nevada
April 15 Long Beach, California
April 22 Houston, Texas
May 20 Zhuhai, China
June 10 Portland, Oregon
June 24 Cleveland, Ohio
July 1 St. Jovite, Canada
July 8 Toronto, Canada
July 22 Edmonton, Canada
July 29 San Jose, California
Aug. 12 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Aug. 26 Huesdin-Zolder Belgium
Sept. 2 Assen Holland
Oct. 21 Surfers Paradise, Australia
Nov 11 Mexico City, Mexico
Dec. 2 Phoenix, Arizona

Events in BOLD are new races for the 2007 season

Champ Car’s New Rule Book!

2006-12-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

There no doubt in this writer’s mind that Champ Car needs to do some work on the rule book for 2007 and beyond. There are two areas in need of serious change!

The idea that every track may have some special “ground rules” to be approved by the drivers at the drivers meeting is ludicrous. Come on this ain’t baseball. This was never more obvious than at Surfers this year.

Tracy got caught by the chicane Nazis and was penalized two positions, not one but two, as a result of a “ground rule” instituted by the so called competition gurus. Supposedly the rule was only for this track and this race and was approved by the drivers at the drivers meeting. What are the drivers doing approving rules?

Ok the rule book states in 6.29 Shortcutting he course during the race: During the race, any advantage or position gained during an off course excursion (four wheels off the racing surface) must be relinquished. Any reported shortcut or off course excursion that, in the opinion of the officials, improves a driver’s position during the race will resulting penalties per chapter 10. Event specific instructions that pertain to shortcutting the course may be issued as conditions warrant.

Event specific instructions........that is the problem here!

Additionally 10.3.5 states, the race director shall have the authority to assess as loss of position penalty of one or more position for any violation of a Champ Car rule.

Ok here is where subjectivity comes into play. How to decide the loss of position is purely a subjective matter. If a chicane is shortcut for any reason and positions gained then the driver should be put back to the running position before the violation, period end of conversation. No drivers meetings or special instructions needed. With this clearly stated rule, application would be the same for all chicanes no matter what track.

To carry this logic further all turns could be defined and racing violations therein could be written into the rule book with the penalties clearly defined. All race courses have the same elements, and a common set of rules can be applied to them. Why should the penalty for shortcutting be different at Surfers than it is anywhere else?

It seems to me to be quite simple, make the rules specific and apply them across all courses and drivers, what more could be asked.

Now let’s look at 6.29 further. Why is running up on the curbs allowed? Isn’t that shortcutting the course? Why must you put all four wheels over the curbing to be guilty of shortcutting? Why do these drivers insist on changing the design of the course?

Change the rule to any wheels on the curbing will be considered shortcutting and apply the new rules accordingly. This will have the additional benefit of helping the teams that can’t afford special shock programs. The racing should be even closer.

We still have to talk about avoidable contact; I have some things to say about that too. Come back later for my rant.

Champ Car Going Where the Competition Isn’t?

2006-11-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

Go where the competition isn’t. It’s an old business axiom that Champ Car is apparently following. It sounds self explanatory but let’s examine the business of Champ Car since the new regime has taken over and see just how closely they have followed this self imposed business tactic.

It appears that the five year plan that was developed shortly after the bankruptcy by-out has included the idea that the company should only do business where the competition isn’t, it only takes a moment to realize this must be the strategy.

As for the five year plan, it doesn’t end five years after it is developed, it continues on as long as needed, constantly being adjusted each year to meet the business needs as they change. It is simply a way to effect good business planning.

Let’s start with the management. In my opinion there is no substitute for a single strong leader in any business. Has CC established that? Hard to say what with the collage of actors seemingly involved in the business. I would score them low, although admittedly this may not really have much to do with Going Where the Competition Isn’t.

Venues, any overlaps there with the competition? No more Ovals on the schedule, new venues added some are ground breaking like Vegas, Phoenix and Houston. Score A

Schedule, hard not to have overlaps with NASCAR but it looks like there are only 4 conflicting dates with the IRL on next years schedule. Clearly the December 2 date for Phoenix next year has no competition in the US. Score B-

Chassis, any overlaps? Not that I can see, the new Panoz is purpose built for CC and is not being used by anyone else. But who knows what could happen later. Score B

Engines, nope, KK and GF took care of that long ago buy buying Cosworth. I believe that was a part of the original business plan. Score A

Support series, Atlantics is strong they have new engines and chassis both provided for by the new management. Same issue here with the chassis though. Score B.

A pet peeve of mine has been the reluctance to provide the fans with chance to give input through a survey. Surveys, when properly administered, can yield valuable information.

In the upcoming year, number four of the original five year plan it should be clear that operationally CC will be following the notion of Going Where the Competition Isn’t. And until they have built the business to a level that warrants expansion into competitive marketplaces this strategy is not likely to change.

Also in the upcoming year the new TV package with ABC/ESPN should be helpful in differentiating the series from others. With a full compliment of American racing on ABC/ESPN the casual racing fan will be able to easily recognize the “festival of speed” racing series, a series that clearly has gone where the competition isn’t.

It's Finally Over, Bourdais Wins Mexico City

2006-11-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

Bourdais eeked out a win yesterday in Mexco City with a last lap pass of Wilson ( avoidable contact be damned) to end the long (short schedule) Champ Car series season!

Come back soon to read about my thoughts on this season and next season - which is scheduled for an even later calendar finish than this year. I'll be putting forth some yet to be suggested reasons for the way Champ Car is being run and don't miss my rant on avoidable contact - whatever the hell that is!

Robin Miller on Allmendinger

2006-10-31T14:17:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Robin just say's it all!

Reprinted from the CCWS website:

From watching A.J. Allmendinger since he was 18 years old, getting to know him and constantly beating his drum on national television, the one thing I was convinced of is that he had absolutely zero interest in anything with a tin top and closed wheels.

Named after four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt, the Dinger was groomed for Champ Car and excelled at every level on his climb up the ladder. He made it clear that ovals weren't his cup of tea and that NASCAR held no interest for him.

As he told RACER's (and our web site's) David Phillips in 2004:
"I race not because I want to make a lot of money doing it, that's a perk I'm not gonna lie and it's nice to have, but I race for the passion of winning. Of beating the other guys on the track, knowing that when I won I drove the best that day. And I love doing it on all types of circuits.

"I love this atmosphere and racing in Champ Car, hopefully it can get back to where it was in 1995. I love Champ Car and I want to win the title. I'm not here just to race, I'm here to dominate. I don't get any enjoyment out of running 10th. And it's my dream to dominate Champ Car."

Of course those quotes have turned out to be the ultimate dichotomy.

Allmendinger did dominate Champ Car this season during an eight-race stretch but, obviously, that still wasn't enough to out-weigh the money bags being thrown at him by Red Bull and Toyota.

The brightest young star in open wheel racing in North America is gone to NASCAR and there's no way to sugarcoat it -- it hurts Champ Car, the fans and the future. A.J. was the lone American in the series this year and suddenly our National Anthem was back on the play list in victory lane.

His three consecutive wins in his first three starts for Forsythe Racing had to be the most impressive and enjoyable story in all of motorsports. It even made old curmudgeons like me happy.

After A.J. won his second straight race at Cleveland I confessed to Gerry Forsythe that I hadn't cared about who won a race since the '60s but I'd silently rooted for that cocky Californian because it was sooooo good for him, the series and open wheel racing in this country.

But, even after his third consecutive win at Toronto, the storm clouds were forming because A.J. had hired CSS Stellar Management and they immediately rubbed Forsythe the wrong way.

The two sides went back and forth with the co-owner of Champ Car telling A.J. he wanted a decision for 2007 by Surfer's Paradise. The two of them had dinner following Dinger's win at Elkhart Lake and he told the Chicago industrialist he just didn't feel comfortable talking about money.

About 10 days before Surfer's I called Gerry and asked if there was any good news on the Allmendinger Front? He replied that CSS wanted $3 million a year and there was no way he was going to pay that amount. I actually wrote a story for SPEEDTV.com that was posted for about 20 minutes with the headline: 'Forsythe Accepts Allmendinger Won't Be Back in '07' before Forsythe called and asked if we could kill that story because he'd just heard from A.J.'s representatives and they wanted to re-negotiate.

That was Oct. 13 but, by the time we were in Australia, the handwriting was on the pit wall. A.J. kept deflecting questions about his future and his fiancee told people they were going to NASCAR. One of A.J.'s subordinates even acted liked she was still trying to "negotiate" with Peter Davies, the senior VP of business development for Forsythe, during the weekend. When A.J. got back to the USA he called Forsythe, along with agent Adrian Sussman, to inform the co-owner of Champ Car he was heading south.

I won't tell you the lame excuse they offered for their final decision but I can tell you that Forsythe is still laughing about it.

The diehard Champ Car fanatics now refer to Allmendinger as a "traitor or hypocrite" or worse but, let's be honest, you can't fault him for taking the big NASCAR money. It's human nature, it's security and, unfortunately, it's the trend for most of the good young racers in this country.
And you certainly can't fault Forsythe for not matching that figure. He felt like he not only made a fair market offer, he'd saved A.J.'s career by picking him up after he'd been fired four races into this season. Does he have a right to feel a little betrayed? Damn straight he does.

I think Paul Tracy spoke for most of us when he said that Allmendinger just didn't handle things professionally with the guy who had given him the chance to shine in a Champ Car.

In the final analysis, racing is a business and two business decisions were made. But it doesn't make it any easier to accept. Something none of us thought possible has become a reality:
A.J. Allmendinger, Cup driver. Sickening isn't it?

WickerBill sez;
Thanks Robin you saved me the trouble writing it!

Phillips Again Showing His Ineptness

2006-10-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

David:

Please find something else to complain about, as business writer you are a bigger failure than than you are as a speaker!

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/33445/

Rain on the Zhuhai Parade?

2006-10-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Zhuhai Jungle

According to information on the Zhuhai web site the rainfall for Zuhai in May of 2003 was 13.7 inches.

The average humidity was 82 percent.

Highest annual rainfall on their chart was 98.3 inches.

It's looking like a better than average chance it will rain on the Champ Car event next May.

There could very possibly be a half inch of rain every day there.

Oh, and the average May 2003 tempemperature was 80.6 F .

My weather prediction for the race .........rainy hot and humid!

David Phillips My Least Favorite Writer

2006-09-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

David, you have finally – er at last you have – er your latest article about a getting together – er - merger of Champ Car and the IRL by a group of open – er racing – er fans of OWR called OWLs – er Open Wheel Loyalists was – er pitiful.

The last – er thing we need is some – er pundit – er writer – er …………. is another story about a merger – er …………… especially an imaginary one.

WickerBill Sez;

See for yourself http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/32881/

ALMS Double Headers With CCWS

2006-09-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

The ALMS schedule just out shows ALMS races with CCWS at Long Beach, Houston and Road America.

ALMS races will be on Saturday preceding the Champ Car race on Sunday.

WickerBill Sez;

I wonder how the divy up the take? Does each series get their usual sanctioning fee? Wouldn't that make it more expensive for the promoter?

Circuit Mont-Tremblant OK for Champ Cars?

2006-09-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

After viewing the Mont Tremblat web site and taking the video lap of the track I have certain reservations about this track.

First of all it looks like a fun track to drive.

But, it looks dangerous - not enough gravel traps, no catch fencing and the Armco is too close to the track in places.

I couldn't see any permant seating during the one lap video.

My biggest fear is that some one will get hurt at this race!

Perhaps some of our Canadian friends can comment?

http://www.lecircuit.com/en/track.htm you can also download a nice PDF of the track.

Champ Car 2007 Schedule Released

2006-09-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

15 Race 2007 Champ Car World Series Schedule

April 8 Las Vegas, Nevada
April 15 Long Beach, California
April 22 Houston, Texas
May 20 Zhuhai, China
June 10 Portland, Oregon
June 24 Cleveland, Ohio
July 1 St. Jovite, Canada
July 8 Toronto, Canada
July 22 Edmonton, Canada
July 29 San Jose, California
Aug. 12 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Aug. 19 Denver, Colorado
Oct. 21 Surfers Paradise, Australia
Nov 11 Mexico City, Mexico
Dec. 2 Phoenix, Arizona

Events in BOLD are new races for the 2007 season

WickerBill Sez;

The China date suggests that there will likely not be any teams entering the Brokeback Indy this year confirming the word in the paddock that none are interested. I question the December 2 date for a race anywhere, it's not a good date for an American open wheel race. The St, Jovite race - Humm we'll see. Finally Road America gets the date it deserves, snow tires not needed.

Gelles Racing to Champ Car

2006-09-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

Gelles to run two entries in CCWS

"We’re very excited about our commitment to run two cars in the Champ Car World Series next year, Bob Gelles said. I have been trying to put together my own ladder system for four years and 2007 will see us with six drivers in BMW USA, four in Champ Car Atlantic and two in World Series, a perfect tier system. With the new Panoz DP-01 chassis together with the new competition regulations, even a rookie team can be competitive in CCWS. Kevin Kalkhoven convinced me the CCWS was heading in the right direction.”

WickerBill Sez;

Car count 07
Let's Score this one "In the Bag"

Pacific Coast Motorsports Coming to Champ Car

2006-09-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

PCM has announced a two car effort beginning next season and they have drivers. Alex Figge and Ryan Dalziel will drive for the team. Tom Figge, owner of PCM started out as an Atlantic team in 2003 and captured the title in 2004 with Jon Fogarty.

"We started in open wheel racing and we never wanted to leave it but with the state of open wheel two years ago Tom opted to stay in road racing and try Grand Am," said Tyler Tadevic, team director for PCM. "Buying a Lola and trying to come in cold and compete with Newman/Haas and Forsythe didn't seem too practical either.

"Obviously, the new Champ Car evens things out and Kevin seems to have a good business plan so here we are. We've got two good, young drivers, some commercial partners we will be announcing soon and a three-year plan."

WickerBill sez;

Car count 07
Let's score this one "In the Bag"
A three year plan eh? Hope that is commercial partners for three years!

Red Bull and Klien to Champ Car

2006-09-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has told Austrian Christian Klien to pack his bag and head for the US. Klien has lost his F1 Ride with the Torro Rosso team. The new ride would be a Red Bull sponsored Panoz DP-01 Champ Car for the 2007 season.

It is believed that RB is in talks with PKV about the ride for Klien. The RB ride may not be entirely dependent on Klien accepting the offer; apparently the ride could go to the current RB test driver Neel Jani if klien declines.

WickerBill sez;

Car count 07
Let's score this one a "likely to happen"

Bourdais Wins Montreal

2006-08-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Sebastian Bourdais held on to win the Montreal race this morning. Tracy was second sandwiched between the two Frenchmen, Bourdais and Philippe who finished third.

It seems ironical that Tracy's fate in the race would be manipulated by the two Frenchmen after the weekend of interaction between Tracy and the mostly French crowd. Tracy commented at the post race press conference that chiding was all in good fun and taken as such.

WickerBill Sez;

Bourdais' points lead is nearly insurmountable.
The attendance was 110,000 for three days up nearly 10% from last year, - Tracy's doings? Too bad this was the last Champ Car event scheduled for this track!

KK at Infineon

2006-08-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

Quoted from Speed:

Kevin Kalkhoven made in impromptu appearance at Infinion on Sunday morning to talk with Tony George about the possibility of staging doubleheaders in 2007.

"Mario (Andretti) invited me to come to talk with Tony but it wasn't about unification," said Kalkhoven, the co-owner of Champ Car who lives 30 minutes away outside of San Jose.

"We discussed the possibility of running a couple events together but I'm not real optimistic at this point."

IRL founder George had no comment on the meeting, which also included Honda's Robert Clarke, who refused to talk about it.Andretti and Clarke both tried to mend the open wheel split during the past year and the 1969 Indy 500 winner would only say: "I can't really talk about it but I think we're making progress.

"It's believed the events being considered are Long Beach ( Champ Car), St. Petersburg (IRL) and another road race at mid-season.

WickerBill Sez;

As I have said all along a phased deal is a must, could this be the first phase?

Methanol vs Ethanol

2006-08-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

With the IRL going to Ethanol next year they have opted to go back to the 3.5 L engine to make up for some of the power lost by switching from methanol to ethanol fuel.

Something called “latent heat of vaporization” is what is responsible for alcohols better than gasoline performance in racing engines. This is in spite of the fact that alcohol has less power per unit volume than gasoline. The Latent heat of vaporization is also what gives methanol the edge over ethanol even though ethanol has more power per unit volume than methanol.

So why the change to Ethanol? Obviously has nothing to do with performance, likely just a PR move!

For a good read on alcohol fuels: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_manual/manual1-2.html

Young Driver has Clear View of Chasm

2006-08-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

By J.R. Hildebrand

http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/31139/

WickerBill Sez;

J.R. is wise beyond his years!

Allmendinger Makes it Four in Denver

2006-08-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

AJ A collected his fourth win of the season at Denver, besting the field in a wild a woolly event. AJ's crew out strategized (sic) the Bourdais crew putting AJ out on the last stint with the Bridgestone blacks allowing AJ to pull away from Bourdais who had worn out his Reds long before his last stop.

Although Tracy, who had no P to P left, was well ahead of Bourdais on the final stint when Bourdais and his new Blacks came storming back catching and passing Tracy wide at the entrance to the last turn of the race. Anyone that knows Tracy knew he wouldn't let that go unchallenged and when he saw the inside open he blasted into it lost grip and knocked Bourdais and himself out of the race finish.

An angry Bourdais ran across the track and pointed a finger at Tracy and gave him a shove, ala Tag two weeks ago.

All of this allowed Junqueria and Dan Clark to get podium finishes,

WickerBill sez;

Tires: What are the REDS for qualifying????
Will Bourdais finally draw a real penalty for shoving Tracy and not just a slap on the wrist?
First turn report: No carnage.........well not at the turn - Tag spun Tracy and busted the front suspension. Hey CCWS, still waiting for a clean First lap race!

daMatta Continuing to Improve

2006-08-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

8/7/06

Earlier today, Champ Car Medical Director Dr. Chris Pinderski, who has been very involved in da Matta’s care and recovery process, flew to Wisconsin to monitor the condition of da Matta. He visited da Matta and spoke with da Matta's family and attending physician, Dr. Randall R. Johnson.

The following statement is an update on da Matta’s medical status.

"Cristiano continues to make slow but steady progress while in the Intensive Care Unit at Theda Clark Medical Center. At this point in his recovery, Dr. Johnson has begun to decrease Cristiano's sedation. The care Cristiano has been receiving has been excellent and he'll remain in the Intensive Care Unit while his condition and progress are being monitored.”

WickerBill sez;

For further upates go to Rusport website http://www.rusport.com/content/cristiano

daMatta in Recovery Phase

2006-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

It has been reported that da Matta in now in the recovery phase as he remains heavly sedated in the ICU. This following report was written by Robin Miller and posted on Speed:

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/30414/

WickerBill says;

C'mon......... Shorty

Bourdais Wins Race! Tracy Wins Fight???

2006-07-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

Bourdais captured his fifth race of the season at San Jose in convincing fashion followed by da Matta and Wilson. Although Speedy, Destructive, Dangerous, Does not finish, (pick one) Dan Clark worked his way to second and appeared to be the equal of Bourdais before his day ended in a mechanical failure.

The Tagliani Tracy altercation started when PT, in a run of after missing a turn, turned around and roared back onto the track clipping Tag putting both cars out of the race.

Tag marched into pit lane on the hunt for PT and when the two got together the heated debate deteriorated into fist a cuffs. Tag had wisely left his helmet on resulting in a badly swollen hand for PT.

The three day event attendance was reported at 155,394.

WickerBill sez;

Kneifel did a great job of fixing the track especially smoothing out the Lola Launch at Push Rod Hollow which last year took a huge toll on the cars. The track is still too narrow in places!

We actually made it to lap three before a caution this time an improvement but still annoying! Champ Car, more improvement is needed.

Will the Tag - PT show continue, perhaps they will sell a few tickets……perhaps!

NEW Panoz DP01

2006-07-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Photos Courtesy of CCWS

WickerBill Sez;

Gelles Racing is moving up to Champ Car announcing last night at the unveiling that they were first to place an order for the new livery.

Wilson Captures First 06 Win

2006-07-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

Justin Wilson blew by Bourdais to win the second Edmondton Race Sunday. The race attended by 69,921 fans, bringing the 3 day total to 171,391, saw Wilson take charge late in the race as Bourdais suffered with an ill handling car.

Bourdais finished second ahead of a not so healthy third place Almendinger who drove the entire race with flu like symptoms. Bourdais unable to track down Wilson attempted to settle for the fastest lap by waiting near the end to use the remainder of his PTP and set fastest lap. He failed by .022 seconds.

Next weekend San Jose and the unveiling of the new DP07, will it Champ Car orange?

WickerBill Sez;

The first lap was again marred by the usual carnage even though this time there were fewer cars involved we still had to endure the wrath of yellow before we could watch the race! Attention CCWS do something please!

The Health of US Open Wheel Racing Mid 2006

2006-07-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Let’s take a look at open wheel racing in US after the IRL Nashville and CCWS Toronto events. The information I have gathered is post 7-16-06 and accurate to the extent that the web sites I checked out have correctly reported it. Even if it is only partially correct the picture is not good!

IRL cars with blank or owner related side pods.

Vision 2
Panther 1

IRL cars with genuine side pod sponsors.

Penske Marlboro 2
Gnassi Target 2
AGR Seven Eleven 1
AGR Jim Beam 1
AGR NYSE 1
AGR XM 1
Rahal Letterman Argent 2
Rahal Letterman Ethanol 1
Fernandez Delphi 1
Fernandez Super Aguri Panasonic 1
Dryer Rienbold Escort 1
Foyt ABC Supply 1

CCWS cars with blank or owner related side pods.

Newman Hass 1
Forsythe 2
Rusport 1
CTE 2

CCWS cars with genuine side pod sponsors.

Newman Hass McDonalds 1
PKV Bell Micro 1
PKV Gulfstream 1
Rusport CDW 1
Mi-Jack Mi-Jack 1
Mi-Jack Tide 1
Walker Aussie Vinyards 2
Coyne Sonnys BBQ 1
Coyne Media Mall 1
Rocketsports Flexovit 1

Using the raw numbers sponsorship in the IRL is better by a count of 15 to 11 for CCWS. Some on the IRL list, like Ethanol, Delphi (Bankrupt) and NYSE, are arguably suspect and their return for 07 could be in doubt but still leave the IRL in the raw numbers lead.

Even if the 2 Forsythe and 2 CTE sponsorships are counted there are still 2 empty side pods at CCWS. The CCWS list reads like a “who is” list with many of the sponsors not recognizable by the casual fan. It’s safe to say many of these sponsors could bolt at any time.

I have found information for purses for both series and found them similar, except for Indy, with a slight edge going to the IRL at 1M per event compared to 900K CCWS.

We can assume the sanctioning fees are not vastly different at 1.5 to 2M per event.

The IRL probably has the edge with TV revenues even without Indy.

The IRL is putting 18 cars on the grid down at least two from last year. CCWS is taking, in one case 16, otherwise 17 to 18 cars to the grid down 1 from last year. If the series owners didn’t have entries the IRL would only grid 16 and CCWS 12.

It would seem that the IRL is the healthier of the two but perhaps a better analogy would be that their cancer is not a far advanced as CCWS. Neither series is a picture of health!

I have a difficult time seeing any of this as growth!

How will it all end? We can only guess, perhaps 07 will help to clarify the situation. One thing is for sure, no matter how much cost is taken out - Honda’s discounted engines, CCWS new cheaper chassis - if the sponsor thing doesn’t turn around there will be nothing left to merge.

1 Allmendinger, 2 Allmendinger, 3 Allmendinger, Four?

2006-07-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

Even pigeons dinning on the back stretch couldn’t deter AJ from another victory Sunday. Allmendinger had to swerve to avoid contact with pigeons on the backstretch on his way to a third straight series victory at Toronto.

Team mate Paul Tracy was second following AJ’s lead and barely missing the pigeons, a sign that Tracy’s luck has surely changed for the better.

This 1-2 Forsythe finish was the first for the team since Mid Ohio when Tracy and Carpentier did it in 03.

Bourdais finshed third leaving him with a scant 23 point lead over Allmendinger in the title chase.

Can AJ pull off a fourth at Edmonton?

WickerBill sez;

Seems like only yesterday we were all wondering if Bourdais was going to run the table as he had everything going his way. Now we are left wondering if AJ will overwhelm the rest of the field this year.
The attendance has not yet been announced except to say that it was up from last year. - Hmmm how much?

CCWS IRL Merger Update

2006-06-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

According to the Indy Star.

1. TG and KK have agreed conceptuallyto share ownership. Needed is a mediator for resolving disagreements!
2. Talks are continuing to have Champ Car teams run Indy in 2007.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/SPORTS01/606250418/1052

WickerBill Sez;

Who will own the American League and who will own the International League?

Mario Andretti and Rick Mears have both been mentioned as possible mediators for the new series. Frankly I don't think either has what it takes to be Commisioner. This arrangement will fail without a single strong leader. Right Dan Gurney?

Finally as I have said before, an overnight coming together won't happen it will have to be a phased operation. At least that looks like what they are considering.

Allmendinger Makes it Two Straight

2006-06-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

57,000 watched as AJ not only avoided the wall Sunday he mostly avoided the agricultural racing that the other competitiors were participating in. Except for a brief shunt at the begining of the race which required some minor repairs he ran another very good race winning the Cleveland event.

It was a rather dizzying race with all of the spins and shunts that occured. PT and SB came together again, this time bullet proof Bourdais got the short end of the deal and was taken out and taken to the hospital for CT scans. Tracy's car climbed over Bourdais cockpit, the bottom of Tracy's car clobbered Bourdais helmet knocking him out. Bourdais was cleared at the hospital with no injurys and is expected to run at the next event in Tronto.

Allmendinger Aviods Walls - Wins Portland

2006-06-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Quote: Robin Miller's Straight from the Gear Box

As races go, it was a cracker -- no cautions and 105 laps of qualifying to quote runner-up Justin Wilson. As crowds go, it was one of the best in several years here in Portland and certainly one of the most animated. As storylines go, well, it couldn't get any better for Champ Car.
In one of the wildest weeks of dramatic turns and surprise moves, A.J. Allmendinger went from out of a job to back in a car to victory lane.

How he got there was a script so made-for-television perfect that you would have thought NASCAR ordered it.

"I think it was good for the series and I think it was good for somebody else to get up there on the top step of the podium besides Sebastian (Bourdais)," said Gerry Forsythe, whose opinion understandably might be a little skewed since he's the one who replaced Mario Dominguez with Allmendinger.

"A.J. did a helluva job and I don't think he put a wheel wrong all day."
Forsythe had to watch his cars sweep Sunday's show (James Hinchcliffe captured the Atlantic race) on television because he was attending a wedding and missed his first race of 2006.
What the co-owner of Champ Car missed was an affirmation party for the only American in his series.

Why Carl Russo gave up on his 24-year-old protege remains up for speculation and discussion but it certainly shocked everyone in the Champ Car paddock since RuSPORT became a reality because of Allmendinger's success in Barber Dodge & Atlantics and Russo's affection for him.
One thing Russo said all week, and again Sunday afternoon when he congratulated his former driver in victory lane, was that A.J. had an abundance of talent and would be a winner some day.
It's just that nobody imagined it would be in his debut for Forsythe Racing.

"Did we think A.J. could win races?'' said Mike Cannon, engineer for Allmendinger. "Definitely. Did we think he'd win today in his first drive for us? Of course not. But I guess if somebody wants to know what we thought of him, well, obviously we know he can win races."

He did it in convincing and impressive style -- leading 100 of the 105 laps and withstanding immense pressure from his pal and former teammate Wilson. Unlike a year ago, when he threw away a win at Edmonton, A.J. never missed an apex or tripped over a lapped car.

In this instant gratification world we live in, so much emphasis is put on immediate results and people were saying crazy things like "When is this kid going to win?" and the truth is he's only been in 32 races. Jenson Button is zero-for-105 and Casey Mears hasn't won in over 100 Cup starts but there were such high expectations for Allmendinger.

"I was sick of finishing second and nobody put any more pressure on me than I did because I've always won and I expect to win," said Allmendinger, who jumped up to third in the point standings. "I can't begin to describe how this feels because of all the things that have happened in the past few days.

"Forsythe Racing made it fun again for me and I'll never be able to thank them enough."
Of course this wasn't just a one-act play. Cristiano da Matta, who took a ride with Dale Coyne because he still has passion to race in this series and didn't want to sit on the sidelines, was rewarded for his attitude with A.J.'s ride at RuSPORT.

Dominguez, who was leading at Houston after winning the pole position, wound up as the loser in this transaction when Forsythe cut him loose after his second accident involving teammate Paul Tracy.

He drove here for Coyne, who is always the good soldier in these deals, and Champ Car still needs Mario to be competitive since it ends the season in Mexico City.

Another Mario, last name Andretti, was in the pits at Portland and made the following astute observation: "This is one of those deals that appears to be good for both guys (Allmendinger and da Matta)," said the two-time CART champion.

It certainly was well received by the fans, who chanted USA, USA and stuck around to help A.J. sing the national anthem. Funny thing, Americans appreciate the many talented foreign drivers who have made Champ Car their home during the past 27 years but they still love to cheer for one of their own.

Bourdais is a super star who had a great run and appears to be headed for a third consecutive championship. But Forsythe was right -- this series needed a new winner and having someone named after A.J. Foyt worked out nicely.

As for the original terms of Allmendinger's employment (a two-race deal and then it would be appraised), Forsythe said the kid passed the audition and has the ride the rest of '06.
"I'm sure of that," he said. "No doubt. We'll keep him."

The last time Forsythe had an American driver was Danny Sullivan in 1982. He went on to do some pretty big things and maybe this is the beginning of a good red, white and blue relationship.

WickerBill Sez;

What Robin said and the 77,000 attendance was a 20 percent improvement over last year.

Bullet Proof Bourdais

2006-06-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Sebastien Bourdais appeared bullet proof as he claimed his fourth victory at the Milwaukee mile Sunday, a track that had bested him in previous attempts. Bourdais suffered a punctured right rear tire on lap twenty and pitting under green for a change put him a lap down to the field.

The rest of the field, small though it may have been due to yet another first lap crash that took out four cars of the 16 starters, must have been licking their chops at the thought of SB being a lap down. – Note to Champ Car, getting tired of first lap carnage, do something -.

On lap twenty six another yellow helped Bourdais to regain some track position and when the leaders pitted in a sort of out of sequence strategy Katherine Legg who started 8th and finished 6th, inherited the lead, becoming the first female to ever lead a Champ car race. When the race went green she was able to hold of Wilson quite well but finally succumbed to him while overtaking lapped traffic.

Mean while Bourdais was slowly working his way back to the front, inheriting the lead during the leader’s second stop and was able to race away from everyone the rest of the way, winning his fourth race in as many starts.

Attendance - promoters announced a ticket distribution of 28,357 for the Champ Car World Series event, about 2,000 more than one year earlier. Actual attendance was estimated at 20,000. Although attendance is less than half of the peak of a decade ago, the crowd Sunday was at least double the size of that for the 2005 race.

Newman's Take on the Merger

2006-05-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

Quoted from USA today: Paul Newman

"Listen, I'm just like Fox News. I'm fair and balanced," he says, playfully mocking Rupert Murdoch's cable network. "But for this merger to occur, Tony must first think about what is fair and realistic. He can't load the gun, point it at us and expect us to make a deal. I know what the offer was, and it was neither fair, nor balanced."

I hate to say I told you so but here we go again.

If the "nobody can lose" filter doesn't get turned off there will be no merger!

1 Bourdais, 2 Bourdais, 3 Bourdais, Four?

2006-05-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sebastain Bourdais made it three in a row at Monterrey Sunday with his third victory in as many tries. After leading the first stint he was passed during the first pit stop only to regain the lead at the next stop. Nothing seemed to bother the Frenchman, not even a near miss of a back marker, as he went on to complete the last stint and bring home his third win of the year.

Next I suppose he will show us how to do circles!

There were an estimated 76,000 in attendance for the three day event. Yes I said only 76,000 for the three days. Long Beach draws that many for the race. Gerry Forsythe indicated that this could be the last event there.

There goes another permanent road course!

128,000 Watch Bourdais Light up Houston

2006-05-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, Houston is in the books and Bourdais is still dominating the Champ Car scene. In spite of a handful of troubles that might have stymied lesser competitors Bourdais took advantage everything given to him during the race to win his second straight race of the young season. The event was attended by an estimated 128,000 fans.

Bourdais times were disallowed on the first day of qualifying when his car failed tech for being 3 pounds underweight. Not something you would expect of the Newman Hass guys! Bourdais eventually qualified an unfamiliar 5th for the race. Then during the first pit stop the concrete gave way under the rear air jack causing a longer than expected pit stop and a shuffle for the lead.

Eventually Dominguez, leading after the first pit stop, missed a turn and although he was able to get back on track unassisted gave up the lead and the race to Bourdais.

How was the track you asked? Too rough, I was surprise they weren’t breaking suspensions as they did in San Jose! An aerial view of the track revealed a funnel shaped entry into the first turn, a chicane made temporary traffic cones to slow the cars before the originally designed turn 1. It’s no wonder the start of the race was single file and only slightly a faster pace than during a caution. Perhaps Champ Car needs a track guru too assist with these new venues!

But they all made it through the first turn without an incident. I guess they had to do something to keep all 17 cars entered from wiping out on the first lap. (he said with tongue cheek)

May - Merger Mania Month

2006-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

I wanted to be first to post merger mania news for May since everyone is saying this is the year, - like we haven’t heard that before!

I will examine the information and try to bring some new perspective to the deal. I believe all that has been said and written has been done so with too much bias from both sides. The suggestions being tossed out are old hat and without much imagination.

I am hoping that this merger, if it happens, is a result of the two businesses realizing that the combination will yield a profit by becoming one. If it is done for any other reason, such as for one or the others ego, then forget it, it won’t change things. I want the natural order of business to be the driving force here.

So far we have two criteria that have been made public by the protagonists for this deal. Actually both have been put forth by KK, they are; the merger must be one that can last and cannot be done simply for the sake of merging the other, no one can loose. Although that hasn’t been elaborated on I think we all know what that means.

So far TG is quoted as saying there’s a lot of hair on this cat. I suppose that means there are a lot of obstacles facing the merger.

Let’s look at the possibility of the merger being announced this month to be effective for 07 and what it might look like. What is needed to meet the two criteria? The chassis and engine combinations must be decided and must not give either side an advantage. The obvious chassis choice would be the Panoz DP01. It’s the only chassis that neither side has experience with. If the engine choice is turbocharged then Cosworth seem the logical choice however if the engine choice is NA then the Honda seems a likely choice.

What is needed for the new series to begin with the first race in 07? If the car count is simply brought forward there would be a need for 72 Panoz chassis. Since there are likely to be drop outs that number should be smaller. Could Panoz make that many cars in time for next seasons testing? I don’t know but it doesn’t feel good to me!

Also needed would be 72 engines for the season. If it’s NA then Cosworth has to update one, if its turbo then HPD has to dust off the old turbo they had built by Ilmor. Would there be a third engine manufacturer?

Do these combinations pass the tests of making for a lasting business and no one loosing? You decide.

I say these combinations or a variation them of might well work but there is not time for implementation for all of 07. The chassis and engine suppliers simply cannot get it done in time. So then what happens if the merger doesn’t happen for 07 and CC continues with their planned new chassis? Doesn’t that eliminate the window of opportunity for both sides to get a fresh start with new equipment and satisfy the,” nobody looses” test?

Perhaps TG and KK could give the cat a haircut by infusing Panoz with cash to help move the timeline in. But what do you do about the engine problem, more money?
There is a need for some very creative thinking here. As I see it the merger might be best served by happening over a period of time instead of all at once. Perhaps for 07 the only race for the combined series would be Indy the other races would be as before. Then in succeeding years the schedule is combined to make the merger complete. This method would also help to clear the calendar of previous commitments by both sides.

The initial league could be made of two divisions which could have individual champions who might race for the championship in a race off in the last race.

Something different than we are familiar with has to come of this merger if it is going to pass the “long lasting test”.

I would like to add two more requisite tests to the merger. First the costs must be controlled so that the owners can participate without graft and secondly the organization must have a strong independent leader that can lead the new series up out of the ashes. Perhaps a commissioner of sorts?

So what all is stopping this merger? Perhaps nothing, perhaps everything! Frankly I don’t look for a merger to happen in time for 07. But if it does it won’t look like anything we now know. The longer they wait the harder it will be to past all of the tests! But then if they wait much longer there may only be one left, then of course no merger will be necessary!

Notes from Long Beach

2006-04-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the track with great anticipation of what awaited us, an Atlantic field nearly as large as Indy and a Champ Car field with a half dozen real contenders which would surely make for an exciting racing. As we took our seats in the dew covered bleachers across from turn one, the first time we had watched from this spot, I commented about how good of a view of turn one we had.

I couldn’t shake this feeling I had about what the day had in store for us. When a fan sitting next to us asked if we knew what the Champ Car line up was, I guess he thought we must know seeing us with our scanners and team lists, I told him we didn’t bring that with us but I said Bourdais was on pole… he wasn’t surprised. Then I said this was the first time I had more enthusiasm for the Atlantics than the Champ Cars.

After warm ups we took a stroll over by start finish to check out likely resources for lunch. There seemed to be more stands there than in the previous two years and I thought to myself just maybe this series is finally getting back on track.

Then back to our seats for the Atlantic Race. It was about a good as it could be on a street course; I still haven’t become a fan of the racing on streets. At start of the race everyone made it through turn one much to my surprise. But later during the race turn one captured and held hostage several of the drivers. I reminded myself to be ready with the new camera when the Champ Cars made their first lap attempt at turn one.

We had lunch at one of the stands just outside of the convention center after the Atlantics race and after lunch decided to have look at the displays in the center while we waited for the main event. As we started back to the track we came upon the Cosworth display. There were three engines on display, a Champ Car engine and two Atlantics engines. One of the Atlantic engines was a cut away version. This was the highlight of my day to now. I really enjoyed poking around this display.

After we returned our seats for the Champ Car start, I remembered to get the camera ready for the action I expected at turn one. When I heard the engines roar down towards turn one I raised the pre-focused camera only to find that it had gone into standby. Being new to the operation I could only fumble with it trying to get it out of standby but before I could get it aimed the expected event was over.

There sat four of the top contenders out of the race before completing even one turn of the race. The rest of the race I spent keeping track of Katherine Legge’s progress because it was obvious who the winner was going to be.

Congratulations to Bourdais on a good start to the 06 season.
Congratulations to Legge for finishing 8th, the highest finish for a female driver ever in Champ Car.
Thanks Cosworth, your display saved my day!

Oh and the other half of we in this story………my son-in-law Dan, thanks for coming along a listening to my ramblings. Perhaps if I’m in the mood we’ll do it again next year!

Yawn.............

CCWS IRL Merger Update

2006-03-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

Ok let’s review this merger that everyone is……ah ….. not talking about - yea that’s it we’re not talking about it because it won’t get done if we don’t leave them alone! First we have Auto Week giving us all the details of a combined series based on a fax sent to them by mistake by someone at IMS. Huh – sure and I have some basement property in the everglades for sale!

TG says Kevin who? – when asked about the talks, Kevin says we are just skiing and wine tasting – getting to know each other, leave us alone or it’ll never get done.

Then TG says Ok you've got me, we have talked about getting together and I want this as much as anyone but “there is a lot of hair on this cat” Huh – TG you want what? Could it be you see that KK and company have been able to do what you wanted to years ago but were not able to and now are powerless to make happen?

KK say’s Ok you've got me, we have been exploring ways to unify OWR in this country but absolutely nothing has been resolved. The most important thing is that no one can be a looser in the new organization. Huh – you are willing to give up some of the control of your series, be you KK or TG and loose nothing?

Then there’s this person calling himself Truthie over on the SPEED CHANNEL FORUM. If you haven’t read any of his ramblings yet, get over there and do so. According to Truthie the merger thing is a done deal and he knows so because he is in the “in” and has “inside” information. Many different warblers on the forum have called him on his ramblings but each time he responded with the same information. Information which includes the details of the new series including race locations, chassis, tires etc. Truthie says the BIG announcement will come in May during Indy.

Ok it’s my turn

WickerBill sez;

I don’t care if they merge or not, it their business to run as they see fit. There’s not a thing me any other fan can do about it. The devil is always in the details and in this case the devil has the upper hand. I think this attempt will likely end up in the circular file just as the others have, in spite of what Truthie says.

I still say that the best thing for OWR is for the stronger of the two series to survive (Outlast) the other (merger by deafult). Then bring the deafult new series under the control of a strong leader just as Dan Gurney suggested years ago.

KK, TG, What is this Merger Thingy?

2006-03-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

I wrote this over two years ago and at the time I never thought it would be so timeless. Last year I didn't dust it off until April or so but the latest speculation about the merger of CCWS and IRL has jump started the dusting this year. And because I am only a lowly blogger I shouldn't have to obey the phoney gag order!

I particularly like the part where I called it a merger...........whatever happened to REUNIFICATION? HA!

Enjoy................

Perhaps the term reunification is adding to open wheel racing’s problems. Reunification implies that at some time in the past there was unity. Reunification, it would seem, suggests a return to that unity. Does anyone remember the blissful co-existence of CART and the IRL. I don’t’ think so! Okay, let’s call this proposed getting together of these businesses a merger, or buy out, or perhaps you prefer to take the business edge off and refer to it as unification. Whatever term you prefer there’s no escaping the fact that CCWS and IRL are businesses with all the trappings and their products are the sport of open wheel racing.

When one looks at CCWS and IRL strictly from the business view you can’t help but realize how frail they both are. Hard core racing fans, no matter which side they affiliate with, tend to be blinded to frailty of these businesses. Either or both could easily fail. Auto racing is very expensive and requires funding from many sources. Someone once said if you want to make a small fortune in racing you will need to start with a big one!

When CART was formed there were some very successful business people involved yet in the end they were not able to generate a meaningful and lasting growth so the business wound in up in bankruptcy court. However those same founders have continued to operate and lead their personal businesses with astounding success. They had a nice run with CART until the IRL came along. In business this is called competition. It was not just competition though, there was plenty of that from NASCAR and others, but this was direct competition in the form of open wheel racing. The business of CART failed to recognize the IRL as competition and went about racing as before and finally went bankrupt. What’s difficult to understand is how this group of extraordinarily successful businessmen with their independent successes could have failed so dismally in this joint venture. They all must have good business acumen, yet as a group that business acumen must have been somehow gotten cancelled.

For a business to succeed it must make money, what other reason would there be for a business to exist? So long as CART was a public corporation their profitability, or lack of, was public knowledge. Determining the financial status of a private company is difficult at best so we aren’t likely to know much more than they want us to about them. Yes, it’s possible to set up a similar business on paper and plug in some expense and revenue estimates and make a good guess but that’s all it is - a guess. The CCWS and the IRL can be infused with private money until the owners run out or they can be made profitable by the use of good business practices and we aren’t likely to know for sure which is the case. If the owners have to continue funding the business then it is not likely to continue for very long. If either CCWS or IRL, or both, can execute a solid business plan then the fans will be rewarded with continuation of open wheel racing in this country.

With the two series beginning to look like gas stations on opposite side of the street it will surely be difficult for both series to survive. There may not be enough fans left to support one series let alone two. On the other hand if two businesses are managed properly perhaps they can both grow their respective fan and sponsorship bases, both of which are badly needed to assure the continuation of open wheel racing in this country.

There have been many suggestions as to how to combine (reunify?) the two series, but so far all we have is an agreement to disagree, whatever that is. Perhaps the combined series would be the best solution but then again maybe not. Competition is good for business, what would the quality of the products we buy be like without it. There are many businesses whose products are similar if not the same. Can two open wheel racing series survive? In time we should know. The future of open wheel racing in this country is in the hands of four individuals. Three of whom were successful in other business before forming a new racing series. Does this sound familiar? The other has used the family money to form a racing series and has never really demonstrated business success in any market.

Perhaps it was never meant to be, if open wheel racing was profitable wouldn’t there have been other investors lining up to get a piece of the action. Is open wheel racing just the floundering stepchild of wealthy egomaniacs that aren’t interested in anything but being king? For the sake of this 50 year fan of open wheel racing and all other fans, I hope someone figures out how to make it work.

Bill Sheets © Copyright 2004

Oh No Not Again, Is it May Already?

2006-02-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

Here we go again, merger talks between the IRL and CCWS. Only this time the speculation is based on TG and KK actually being in attendance. Of course this only lends credibility to the outgrowth of rumors and now even some who previously didn't believe are getting excited.

The speculators have already divided up the spoils, set the rules, made the schedule even agreed on the chassis and engine combination.

But wait how many times do I gotta remind you - these are two separate business, privately owned and operated, not having to answer to the stockholders. No one really knows what the two owners agendas are but themselves.

They can continue operating as long as they want. At least until it becomes impossible to finance the operation.

It's their businesses and they can do with them what they please; and they should.

Until they run out of money or spirit.

A New Legge on the Gas Pedal

2006-02-16T10:23:00.003-08:00

PKV has announced that Ms Legge will occupy one their two seats for the 2006 season and I say hurrah!

I will admit to being one the nay sayers when the idea was first floated. My concern was putting her in with the big boys could have a negative effect on her confidence and might ruin an otherwise promising new driver. Not that there aren’t other young up and comers that could do equally well but none of them are female.

Female - There in lies the conundrum! How do you manage a driver that has all the potential of being a star and being female that could benefit immensely from another year in the Atlantics.

The testing she did certainly indicates that she should be able avoid being a back marker. It is said that she is an avid trainer and demonstrates a strong commitment to the sport.

In my opinion then she should be considered for this years ride and the underlying reason is not that this driver is female but it is the switch to the new car in 2007. If PKV waited until 2007 when the new car is scheduled for use I fear that adding that to the mix might be one too many things to master in a rookie year, especially if the PKV team isn’t the first to figure out the new livery. Having a years experience with a more level playing field should serve her well in 2007.

So Kate, here’s wishing you the best.

Attendance - Is it One or Two or Three

2006-02-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

The way heads are counted at the CCWS events is confusing to say the least. I still am not sure how the attendance figures are arrived at.

When I buy a ticket for a three day event, am I counted three times?

When I buy a ticket for only race day, am I considered less than one or am I equal to one?

If I am given a ticket by a sponsor or some other benevolent group am I counted as one, two, three or zero because I didn't buy the ticket?

I haven't been to an event that does a turnstile count so there has to be another means of counting attendees. When Goodyear was in the series they commissioned a service to estimate attendance. There are crowd estimating services that use photography and base the number on density. How accurate can that be?

OK, does it even matter?

Well except for braggin' rights I suppose the count is most useful when it comes to sponsorship. I would think that sponsors or anyone looking to be a sponsor would like to know what they get for their advertising dollar. I'll bet they understand exactly what can be expected from a dollar investment in the series and it may not have as much to to with attendance as you might think. My guess is that the formulas for calculating advertising ROI include much more than attendance figures.

So what can we get from these convoluted attendance figures? Relativity - No not Einstein’s theory but the comparison of attendance from event to event or of an event year over year. So long as they continue to use the same method of counting heads the attendance numbers at least serve that purpose if no other.

Want to know what really counts? Monday morning when they open the cash register, they take out a dollar and guess what................it counts as one, nothing but one, not two, not three, just one! Isn't it interesting how that works?

The 2006 Atlantic Car

2006-01-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

Introducing...............the 2006 Atlantic car

The Re-constructionists Could Be Wrong

2006-01-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

When I hear about anyone proposing that the IRL and CCWS rejoin and become one again I am reminded of how it used to be and I’m prompted to think about what Dan Gurney proposed back in 1978 in the famous white paper.

There have been many proposals from many of the so called major players in OWR since the split in 95. Some have called for a 50-50 split of power for each of the series others have suggested that TG retain the Indy 500 and CCWS control the rest.

There have been calls for homologation of the rules so that the two series could run selected events with like equipment, particularly Indy.

All of this would fix OWR in this country according to the re-constructionists as I call them.

Who is to say OWR wasn’t in a state of decline prior to the split in spite of what seemed to be it’s hey day?

How do we know that NASCAR wouldn’t have become what is today if there hadn’t been a split.

It’s all pretty much subjective; there are no specific metrics by which the success or failure of OWR in this country can be measured. It’s sort of like trying to assess the success of a shark patrol on the Mississippi river.

Back to Gurney’s White paper; the one single thing that I believe has the best chance of being successful is the control of a series by a Czar like figure much like F1 has in BE. I think we all know why that wasn’t adopted when CART was formed! Any combination of control as in the old CART structure or the ones that have been proposed are doomed to failure just as they have failed in the past.

So re-constructionists I say to you Agree or Disagree I don’t care but I stand by my conviction, and perhaps that of Dan Gurney, that only a single strong leader can make OWR in this country what we all want it to be!

Straight From Robin Miller

2006-01-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

The following is reprinted from the Robin Miller series Straight From the GearBox at champcarworldseries.com.........

Random thoughts, wishes and predictions for 2006 from a man who hasn't received any Christmas glasses from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1995 (hmm, wonder if there's a message) but who still spent $500 at the IMS gift shops last month.

It might be too WWF/NASCAR-like but it sure would be cool to see Bruno Junqueira standing in victory lane at Long Beach.

Be nice to see spring training televised on SPEED.

I hope PKV Racing makes the right choices for its '06 driver lineup and doesn't rush Katherine Legge into a Champ Car too soon just because she turned a couple of fast laps at Sebring. Another year of Atlantics would suit her best.

Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy will both be invited to IROC, work together in the draft and beat Mark Martin on the last lap at Daytona to send the Jethros into a bottle-throwing rage.

I want Phil Giebler, Matt Jaskol and Bobby Wilson to be in good Atlantic rides in '06 so they can show their stuff and then take the next step.

I believe A.J. Allmendinger will win three times in '06, shake his fist twice at Paul Tracy and elope with one of the Miss Indy girls in Australia.

The Champ Car calendar is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time and it needs some mass distribution.

I understand Dale Coyne has narrowed his driver choices to four Brazilians, three Italians, two Brits and a Sperafico in a pear tree.

I hope the powers at Champ Car realize the equity they've got in Ryan Hunter-Reay and find him a good ride for '06.

If Jimmy Vasser decides to keep driving, I hope he wins Long Beach and then retires in victory lane, ala Sam Hanks at Indy in 1957.

Could we take up a collection and get hearing aids for Newman & Haas?

I want to see Gerald Forsythe unbutton the top button of his dress shirt -- just once.

I want to see Bronte Tagliani unbutton the....... sorry Tags.

Bourdais will accuse Tracy of driving like an idiot at least three times by July.

I want to see Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George play a game of Monopoly -- using real money.

Justin Wilson will be Bourdais' tallest challenge in '06 -- literally and figuratively.

I hope Ralph Hansen can find a sponsor to keep Oriol Servia employed at Newman/Haas.

Sure would be cool to see Mike Lanigan and Eric Bachelart score a major sponsor and keep Andrew Ranger on board.

Does anybody else think Carl Russo drinks too much Red Bull?

Tracy will question Bourdais' manhood, give him a brake job entering the pits and denounce the French foreign legion during the Montreal weekend.

I hope Cedric the Entertainer brings some real cake to HVM.

Champ Car needs young American drivers more than ever before.

Like to see Cristiano da Matta stay in Champ Car, he still adds stature and class.

Derrick Walker isn't in his usual mad scramble to keep the doors open because Team Australia is solvent and looking to expand.

Champ Car needs to hire Mario Andretti to drive the 2-seater at every venue, charge $2,000 for three laps and use the money to fund an up and coming racer.

Ronnie Bremer deserves another shot, he's got talent.

If promising Michael McDowell drives for RocketSports, I hope he gets a veteran teammate who can help speed up his learning curve.

Like to see Patrick Carpentier back in Champ Car. Ditto for Michel Jourdain. Those two sell a lot of tickets in Canada and Mexico.

Having failed at Long Beach and Toronto, the IRL will attempt to steal the Champ Car race in San Jose but Kalkhoven and Forsythe will have already secretly purchased California.

Bourdais and Tracy will team up for the Baja 1000, get into an argument 100 miles into the race and not speak again until Seb's wedding to Claire, where P.T. will serve as best man.

WickerBill Sez;
Nothing, Robin says it all!

Dan Gurney's White Paper

2006-01-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Following is Dan Gurney's letter to the Champ Car teams in 1978:

Over the past 3 or 4 years I've had conversations with almost all of the car owners and team directors. I've had talks with drivers, with sanctioning body directors, with track owners and promoters and big sponsors and fans and other interested parties. Generally there is agreement that something is wrong with our sport -—it is not reaching its full potential by any means, and there is great need for a change!
Early in my discussions I realized that we are so intent upon racing each other, that we do not stop to look and analyze our situation. In frustration I decided that things must get worse before we will all wake up. Our sport has the potential to be financially rewarding and healthy from a business standpoint for all participants. Many of the car owners and team directors are excellent and very successful businessman in their own lives outside of racing. We as businessmen should be ashamed of ourselves for being involved in a prestigious sport such as Championship racing with all its potential while it is as weak and disorganized (sick) as it presently is. It is truly strange that with all these 'heavyweights' involved, we still do not have our act together. ("Divide and conquer" still seems to be working doesn't it?).
O.K.! What shall we do about it? First let us digress for a moment. Let's study some history. Back in the early 70's, the status of Formula 1 Grand Prix racing was similar to our own USAC Championship racing right now. The crowds were quite small, sponsors were hard to find, the news media was not overly interested, expenses were high and going higher and the entire scene was one of disorganization.
It was at this moment in time that the desperateness of the situation made them unite and form an organization called the Formula 1 Constructors Association (FICA or FICA). They appointed a man named Bernie Ecclestone as the chief of operations officer and negotiator and they made a solemn pledge to abide by his decisions 100%. They rolled up their sleeves and proceeded to up-grade the entire sport to the point where the paying spectator crowds are much, much larger, sponsors are numerous and happy to be involved, the media is vigorous in covering all the events on TV and so are weekly magazines and daily newspapers on a world wide basis, and money is coming back to the constructors and track owners in the form of larger ticket sales, more sponsorship, more prize money and expense money and the spectator is getting a much bigger, better spectacle for his ticket money.
The obvious fact is that the FICA has transformed the Formula 1 Grand Prix racing scene from what was a weak and scattered group of teams without any bargaining or negotiating strength into a bona fide business. They did it by uniting and making that 'no turning back' commitment. They speak with one voice (that of the Chief negotiator) and that voice has gained authority by leaps and bounds.
Now, it is true that the Championship racing scene is somewhat different from Grand Prix racing and therefore it will require a slightly different organization to bring about an improvement. I only mention the FICA organization as an example of something that has succeeded, on no uncertain terms. I think everyone agrees that the cost of Championship racing has escalated to the point where it is virtually ridiculous, and at the same time, many of the rewards have not increased at all, but have actually declined when you consider the effects of the general inflation in the U.S. economy.
At the moment we the car owners are the ones who have put forth by far the most effort, by far the most financial stake with little or no chance for return and yet, because we have been so busy fighting with each other, we have let the track owners or promoters and the sanctioning body lead us around by the nose while they reap the benefits. USAC for instance negotiates with TV as though it had the TV rights which in fact, if it came to a showdown, would turn out to be ours. (The car owners and teams).
It is obvious that if Long Beach can afford to pay approximately $1,000,000 per race after only 5 years of existence (established 1974) and maximum paid attendance of 70,000 so far, that Indy with its 600,000 plus audience (200 1st weekend qualifying, 100 2nd weekend qualifying, 300 Race Day for 600,000 paid attendance) and its 60 year tradition and international TV coverage, could afford to spend over $2 million on the purse, if it were to be fair. As Mr.Lindsey Hopkins said, "We are the ones who did more to build the stands at Indianapolis than anyone else. IMS should thank us each year, in addition to our thanking them".
In all of our discussions, as car owners and team leaders, we have agreed that it is essential that we continue to support USAC as the sanctioning body for Championship racing. The only improvement will be that USAC will work for us and support our cause and our policies as well. It should be clearly understood that the purpose of this organization is to make racing better in an overall way. Not just for the car owners and drivers, but also for the track owners and promoters and the sanctioning body and the sponsors and supporters and last but certainly not least, the racing fans and paying spectators.
In the final analysis of course, large crowds of paying spectators are the keys to success for all. Track owners and a sanctioning body who aggressively promote these big events — which by contract will feature the teams and driving stars, will get the crowds…which in turn excites the sponsors and TV networks and the crowd, etc., thereby upgrading the entire sport business. It is my firm belief that rather than cutting the cost of racing which in itself is nearly impossible, it is far more important to make money more readily available by increasing the popularity and prestige of the sport with the general public.
Tracks that refuse to put forth the necessary enterprise and promotion in order to meet the minimum purses should not be allowed to hold races. Another alternative is to allow our organization (this idea borrowed from the FICA) to take over the track on a reasonable lease arrangement and we can do the promotion and the running of the race where we feel it can be successful. Still USAC sanctioned of course. For instance, the German GP at Hockenheim will be promoted by the FICA this year, 1978.
Now, how do we get there from here? As I see it, the first step is to analyze the situation, get together and form the organization. (Let's call it CART or Championship Auto Racing Teams.) Once we agree to the fact that CART is needed then we must outline what we want to do and how we should accomplish it. I believe that the organization can be operated by a staff of three people. One director/negotiator, one secretary and a staff accountant and gopher if needed. He will need an air travel card, a telephone credit card and an expense account. It is rumored that Bernie takes none of this, he only works on a 2% commission of everything that is done through the FICA.
It appears that a 'show down' with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is or should be the first target. They are the ones who can afford it. We should re-negotiate the TV contract (our rights — not theirs) and we should double the purse. Other tracks should be negotiated with on the basis of what is a reasonable amount of revenue to come from all sources such as TV, gate receipts, advertising sponsors, etc. The entire picture should be shared from the standpoint of cooperation rather than killing each other.
We must work together to learn how to upgrade the overall marketing — advertising. If CART can send in drivers and media material beforehand to the newspapers, the TV stations, the Chamber of Commerce as well as various civic organizations and schools, etc. then we should do so. It is vital that we solve the riddle of getting more money coming in from spectator and sponsor advertisers, and TV networks so that there is a bigger pie to carve up…the only way our demands for more money in the form of a prize fund can have any validity is if the money is there in the first place. Unless we reach the point where we can see the books of these various tracks, we will be negotiating from a position of ignorance. It seems to me that we could all be further ahead if we worked together rather than be divided. We must see the tax returns and books.
With the correct program of exposure, a fuel company can still get the right sort of benefits from being the exclusive Championship series sponsor. Cigarettes, Whiskey, Banking, Unions…we need a very aggressive sales promotion team with super people heading it. How do we finance this C.A.R.T. operation? Entry fees? Percentage of the purse? Etc. I'm open for suggestions. Someone (our man from C.A.R.T.) must be part of all Dick King's negotiations with track promoters and television people and series sponsors etc.

WickerBill Sez;

Dan's foresight eventually became CART but the idea of a single leader like that of Bernie Ecclestone in Formula 1 which I thought would have been the key to a long lasting success was not adopted. Instead the team owners, excellent businessmen in their own right, tried to manage the company and in the end simply couldn't put aside their egos long enough to make CART last - the rest is history.

The Business of Champ Car II

2005-12-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

Origially posted here last February;

I hate to belabor the business aspect of racing but there is so little written about it. I feel it is good to get some of the little known business points out so that the fans can understand how racing, especially open wheel racing, can be made to work in this country.

I know it probably doesn’t make the most exciting reading but I feel strongly about what I write. So here goes my first attempt to communicate to CCWS some of the things I can see from the outside that are lacking in the CCWS racing business.

CCWS has an opportunity to get this organization grounded and take it to greater heights than ever before and it all starts with sound business practices. As we wrap up the season it is time to review some of these areas.

In Don Sklenka’s September 9th Champweb.net article “Now I Rant” he makes an excellent point about Champ Car’s lack of a mission statement. Mission statements are very easily made and as Don said, they describe a business in terms that anyone can understand. They also can be used to advertise and promote a product or business. Mission statements are not long complex paragraphs about the business but are brief one line statements. A good mission statement should be something the business can be passionate about and should be of such a length that can be hand written on the back of the average size business card.

One of my favorites is “The Best Care in the Air”, the mission statement of a popular airline. Doesn’t that conjure up all kinds of good thoughts when you hear it? If you are familiar with that airline you would agree that they drive their business to that statement. This is what Champ Car must do.

They could have a mission statement contest among the employees or online, to draw in all of the good ideas that would come from all over. One I might suggest would be “The Best Racing on Earth” or some variation of that.

Ok, when the statement is set and approved what do they do with it? Put it on every business card, display it proudly in the office, make flags and banners to be displayed at every event, make sure it is seen and heard in each and every media touch to name a few. I know this has been an extraordinarily busy year for the owners and I applaud them for salvaging the series but now it’s time to review fundamentals of the business to assure it is well grounded going forward.

Anyone had an opportunity to communicate directly with CCWS to voice an opinion about the series or maybe a particular event or incident lately? I would guess very few, if any, have. Wouldn’t you think it would be important to the company to know how they are doing with customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction is not limited to the fans that empty their wallets at the events but also all of the sponsors. The average fan simply doesn’t have much chance of getting an opinion heard short of expressing dissatisfaction by not attending the events and there’s been of a lot more of that happening the last few years than should have. So how do you find out if you are satisfying the customer? It’s simple….. ask! One good way is to take a survey. We get them all of the time and we mostly ignore them but occasionally we do fill one out, especially if we have an annoying issue with the company that sent it.

Carefully planned and executed surveys can be very revealing and when properly interpreted can greatly enhance a product or service. The information can also be misinterpreted as in the case of a large automaker where a survey revealed customer dissatisfaction with the “fit of the door” in a particular model. The engineers spent hundreds of hours trying to improve the fit of the door when in the end it was actually the sound the door made when closing that was being misinterpreted by the owners as poor fit.

Surveys alone won’t solve all evils but they sure can help. It’s doubtful that CCWS has anyone expert in surveys so I suggest they explore the opportunity to have one professionally done. If we get a 1.5 million at the gate next season, each one getting a survey and have the survey on the web site there could be 150 to 200 thousand respondents.

So what do you do with the information gathered? Sort it into categories that can be easily managed. There will be things that are actionable and things that are not. There will likely be some excellent suggestions that haven’t been thought of before as well as many that have.

Now it’s time for another plan, not the business plan I have heard Paul Gentilozzi refer to, and thank god that fundamental is in place, but an improvement plan driven by the new mission statement. Survey results are not worth the paper written on if they are left on someone’s desk or filed away in a drawer. They must be a part of the improvement plan. An improvement plan should include all action items for improving the series. The improvement plan should include a mechanism for grading each item in the plan going forward. This will allow for easy recognition of what is working and what is not rather than relying on anecdotal information which is mostly useless. As time passes the plan should be reviewed and modified to fit new situations as they arise and follow up surveys or other means of getting customer satisfaction input is included.

The voice of the fan just might be the best tool CCWS can employ. Please CCWS be proactive and consider these fundamental business practices for the betterment of our beloved series.

Bill Sheets © Copyright 2004

WickerBill Sez;

Well CCWS did a masterfull job of bringing the series back to life in 05 and I admit my suggestions for the businesss may have been a bit premature. However I still believe that if implemeted the pratices would yeild very positive results. So for 06 I let's implement the one that I think would have the greatest impact and probably cost the least.........the mission statement. Please CCWS get this done!

CCWS to Try Road America Again

2005-12-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Well right in the middle of making out my Christmas list of things I want from CCWS this year came the Road America announcement, an item on my list. Guess I'll scratch that one off.

But wait, not so fast, my wish for a return to Road America was more than simply lets go back to Road America eh!

My wish includes things like waiting for the series to become better established so that there is a fighting chance for success. Getting a prime date to have a fighting chance for success. Finding a good sponsor to have a fighting chance for success. Am I making sense here?

Not matter how flat you make a pancake there is always two sides..........OK here's how I see the other side of the pancake!

Since Las Vegas was a looser and the fans, teams and drivers were clamoring for RA why not loose at a venue where everyone wants to be. Eh?

I just hope that the future of Road America / CCWS events isn't going to be affected by the likely failure of 2006 event.

Is Two Series Actually Healthy for OWR

2005-11-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

Interesting thought isn’t it? Something I have pondered for some time.

When you think of any business not having competition it conjures up all sorts of negatives. Immediately you think of monopolies and all that they entail. Things like price fixing and rotten service come to mind.

When business has competition it has to adjust its prices to be in line with other like business. It has to innovate or it will loose out when others come out with new products and services. It has to provide services at least at the level of the competition or risk loosing out.

Can you think of any business today that does not have competition, I can’t! Why is that?

Perhaps it’s because there are enough customers to go around…..or are there?

Are the NFL, NBA or NHL monopolies? If we wanted to watch American football there is no other league is there? There used to be until they merged. Same thing happened in Basketball.

These are sports and we tend not to think of sports as businesses, but they are so why don’t they have competition. Perhaps if we looked at all sports as businesses then we would see that sports share customers among them just as similar brick and mortar business do.

Ok now that we have shown that sports are businesses let’s include racing. The sport of racing is a business. The sport shares customers among them…..sound familiar?

Why do the pundits of Open Wheel Racing continue to say that the split in OWR is bad for OWR? There have been two series for 10 years now. How is that bad? Didn’t we decide that competition is good for business and the customers? And isn’t the sport of racing a business?

You have to do what, to survive in business…..innovate, price and serve. Hmmm does anyone but me see this?

I think so and if there hadn’t been a split I would venture that OWR would not have been forced to examine itself and the result may have been….well disastrous for the sport.

As for having enough customers to go around I think racing will always have that. Granted NASCAR has the majority now but as long as there are good businessmen in OWR NASCAR will need to……innovate, price and serve to compete!

Think about it! Pundits can be wrong you know!

Robin Millers Champ Car Two Years In

2005-11-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Written by: Robin Miller Mexico City, Mexico – 11/8/2005

When a venture capitalist from Australia and a Chicago business maven out-bid Tony George for the assets to CART in January of 2004, three questions were immediately recycled throughout the racing fraternity.

1) Why didn't Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe simply let George have it so open wheel racing could be back under one roof?
2) Why would two very successful multi-millionaires buy a decomposing corpse?
3) Would this folly last one or two years before last rites were administered?

Well, Sunday afternoon the checkered flag fell on Champ Car's second season and now we pretty much know the answers to all three of those questions.

Sure, Champ Car is nowhere close to its heydays of the '90s but it's a dang sight healthier than anyone could have imagined two years ago.

Kalkhoven and Forsythe have not only kept the pilot light burning, they've stoked the series with new venues, invested in some traditional tracks, resuscitated Formula Atlantics and laid out a sensible economic plan for the future.

In the past 12 months:
a) They staged new races at San Jose and Edmonton, added Houston for 2006 and are working on Philadelphia.
b) Purchased the Long Beach Grand Prix and Molson at Toronto.
c) Rebooted the Atlantics with a much cheaper chassis/engine ($175,000), added more horsepower and $2 million to the '06 titlist towards a Champ Car ride in '07.
d) Reduced the car costs 35 percent for the new '07 Panoz car ($205,000 less electronics and $300,000 for a roller).
e) Left little doubt they're better equipped to deal with the real world than George. "If you'd have told me we'd have all this two years ago, I would have looked to the heavens and said: "Please God, make this dream come true,'" said Kalkhoven, who started out as a car owner in 2003 before jumping into the deep end. "I think we're a year ahead of where Gerry and I expected to be last January.

"But I think the key is that our owners have bonded together very well."

As mentioned, the car count needs to be increased by at least four, the television ratings still suck, there's no money flowing directly to the teams, American attendance is far from healthy across the board, a title sponsor is desperately needed and so are young American drivers.

"I don't think we'll have any new teams next year because there are so few Lolas around but I think 2007 will be a different story," continued Kalkhoven. "We will have new teams in 2007, I'm sure of it.

"We'll have more national TV races next year and do some special shows to promote our drivers. Our Atlantic package should help our American driver situation and we've had people working diligently on a title sponsor for the past six months.

"Are we satisfied with everything? Of course not. But we've got a plan and its working."

Despite the highly successful and competitive debut at Edmonton, Champ Car's real coup in '05 was keeping Long Beach, Toronto and Montreal on its schedule and off the Indy Racing League's. Kalkhoven claims he doesn't pay any attention to the rival circuit but he and his partner have been forced to defend their castle at least three or four times.

Even though the IRL/IMS spin doctors deny any attempts at making a pitch for Long Beach, Toronto and Montreal, George told potential and current sponsors that the IRL would be at Long Beach in 2006. Michael Andretti guaranteed his new favorite series would be running Toronto in '06 and the IRL that it was going to slide into Montreal next year.

And Kalkhoven and Forsythe can say Long Beach and Toronto were good investments, but they were also must-saves. "Some are good business decisions and some are strategic business decisions," said Kalkhoven, who sounds like he's still contemplating litigation against the Montreal promoter and possibly the IRL for tortious interference with a contract.

"Yes, we definitely needed to keep Long Beach and Toronto and having the ability to control our assets is part of our strategy."
Keeping ovals (Milwaukee and Las Vegas) sounds more like a habit than a need.

"We'll evaluate them after next year but we're not going to do them if they're not successful," said Kalkhoven. "But why bother racing in front of 10 people? There's already a series that does that."

With no chance of unification, it appears that Champ Car and IRL will continue fighting each other for American and international recognition, as well as survival. Two years ago, the IRL had most of CART's big teams, both of its Japanese engine manufacturers and that big hammer Tony George says he brings to work every day.

But today the landscape has changed dramatically. Champ Car has the affordable series, the better American venues (except Indianapolis), a pretty slick business plan for the future and two guys who ain't broke or afraid.

"When Gerry and I took over we wanted to eliminate this concept that open wheel racing is over or dead, because it's not. Our strategy of a three-day festival is working and we've got some exciting things in the pipeline. Gerry and I also plan to be around for quite a while."

Then Kalkhoven grinned and said: "I've got a hammer too."

WickerBill sez;

Robin; Although I don't agree with all of your conclusions most are right on!

Rusport 1-2 at Mexico City

2005-11-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Justin Wilson dominated the weeked winning the Grand Premio de Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico city Sunday.

Wilson was never really headed after leading from the pole except for a brief period after the firstpit stop. A. J Allmendinger finished second even though Tracy nearly blocked him off the track earlier in the race. Tracy fininshed third after another self made day of frustration in typical Tracy style.

The season ending event was attended by 271,569 pushing the attendance per-event to a Champ Car record 150,679. The total attendance for the season was just shy of two million paying fans at 1,958,827.

WickerBill Sez;

Kudos to the new owners for turning this series around and giving us back our racing! There still are many issues to be resolved and deals to be cut but they are well on their way to the success they deserve. With the season now completed we can all look forward to the silly season to follow. Hopefully with the successes of this past year all of the participants will find the going a little smoother next year and perhaps the upcoming silly season won't be quite so silly!

New Attendance Record at Surfers Paradise

2005-10-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Attendance for the Champ Car event at Surfers has been put at approximately 315,000, setting a record for Champ Car.

Attendance is calculated by adding up the number of attendees at each day of the event, meaning those that attend each day are counted multiple times and this in my opinion skews the actual total number higher than it really is. As long as the same technique is used for attendance at each event you can get a fair comparison event to event.

The attendance used to be estimated by Goodyear when they were still in the business and when they left an independent agency was contracted to do it. I don't know the technique used but some such agencies use crowd density to make their estimates.

WickerBill Sez;

I would like to see the attendance be a measure of how many different sets of eyeballs actually were there. Surely this information is available from the ticket sales information. Seems like you could count the ticket sales and arrive at total attendance, minus no shows. The attendance could be given for each day as before and would be more representative of the actual sets of eyeballs. Other numbers could be included in the total such as any freebees that might have been there.

No matter how it would be done I would prefer a more accurate accounting of the attendance

New Champ Car Chassis Announced

2005-10-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Panoz 2007 DP01 is here!

The Cosworth Spin

2005-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

Originally posted in February 05 but still pertinent!

As the dust begins settling around the Cosworth deal and the reviews come in from the all of the racing pundits and more recognizable columnists perhaps it’s now time for a deeper dive into realm of Cosworth. I don’t think there is any question about the prime reason for Messrs Kalkhoven and Forsythe buying Cosworth. Hopefully they had enough advanced knowledge to put together a solid plan for the business. In any case there was almost no choice if the Champ car series was going to be saved from the rival IRL which reportedly sent one of its team owners to bid for the business. It did my heart good to hear Richard Parry-Jones, Group Vice President – Global Product Development and Chief Technical Officer, Ford Motor Company say they had worked very hard to secure a sale to a reputable buyer, and that Kevin and Gerry are very successful businessmen, with a long history in the sport and a clear vision for how they wish to take Cosworth forward. Implicitly this seems to suggest that the IRL and Mr. Ganassi didn’t have a plan or a clue, something which should come as no great surprise to anyone! With ownership of the critical engine supplier in the fold Champ Car is assured of living another day. Kudos to Kevin and Gerry.

But what about the downside of this deal? Can the Champ Car World Series really survive long term without the considerable infusion of money of a major automobile manufacturer? When I first heard of the possibility of Cosworth being purchased by two of the CCWS principles that was the second thing that went through my mind. The first was, wow that would be great, now we don’t have to worry about an engine supplier. Would it be possible for a series without some major automobile manufacturer sponsorship to survive long term? NASCAR and F1, two sanctioning bodies which have set the standard for racing business success, certainly embrace it. Even the NHRA runs things that claim to be of major automobile manufacturer origin, although they don’t look like it, and no doubt receive monetary support as a result. I wonder if the owners have some long term plan up their collective sleeves, that business model they constantly refer to, which does not include the infusion of automobile manufacturer money. What a coup that would be!

The point is this; I doubt there could ever be a successful racing series without the direct support of some major automobile manufacturer. Conversely the manufacturers want to be involved in a successful racing series because racing on Sunday sells cars on Monday. Since our beloved Champ cars bear little resemblance to anything that can be seen on the street the significant way for the automobile manufacturer to participate is by becoming an engine supplier. It isn’t clear to me if Ford will continue its support of the series in any way next year and beyond. Surely the Ford badge will no longer be a part of the engine supplied to the Champ cars. This seems to leave the series without any significant major automobile manufacturer involvement or at the very least, a declining involvement. If automobile manufacturer support of the series is as critical as I think it is then getting some other engine suppliers would seem to be a top priority of the series. How eager are the two series owners, that also own the engine business, going to be to solicit other engine suppliers to the series. Wouldn’t that be like inviting your competition to take some of your business? Could of a conflict of interest be looming here? Of course, but I don’t think it will happen. The new owners are going to do whatever it takes to assure continuation of the series including encouraging automobile manufacturers’ participation the series. After all, the team owners need all the sponsorship money they can get. And without teams there is no series.

The IRL is now facing the real possibility of loosing engine suppliers at the end of the 2006 season. This was likely the driving force behind the purported attempt to have Mr. Ganassi appear as a buyer of Cosworth. Since that ploy failed (does anyone believe Mr. Ganassi needed Cosworth for his NASCAR effort – I don’t think so) the IRL has announced engine changes are in the works, which seems to confirm their concern over Toyota and Honda leaving. Although no decision has yet been made they are talking of going back to production based engines. If that happens there will be a few good drivers available, i.e. those whose pay is subsidized by Honda and Toyota. There might even be a team or two wanting to come back Champ car. I know a lot of Champ Car fanatics that would prefer certain teams never come back. Is it possible that Kevin and Gerry have been able to see the future well enough to predict the demise of the IRL simply by owing Cosworth? Perhaps there is no downside to this after all.