Adrian on Wind Tunnel Tonight!!

[Dov]

http://www.speedtv.com/features/552/

This just in…Former Champ Car driver, Adrian Fernandez will be our guest on Wind Tunnel tonight. Adrian made news last week by announcing he was leaving Champ Car to drive in the Indy Racing League for the remainder of the season. With Fernandez's departure, rumors persist that others are to follow. Will Open Wheel Racing Series have the 18 cars they require to run their 2004 schedule? Adrian will share his thoughts on situation as he prepares to run this week's IRL race in Phoenix.

[Fogelhund]

The call in might be interesting.

Thanks for the info.

[mblasco]

It's gonna be interesting to hear what he have to say in his defense...

[EBTM]

Thanks Dov!!

It will be interesting to hear his version.

[indycool]

Yeah, thanx, Dov, I'll be tuned in, too.

But mblasco, "in his defense." Defense of what?

[macdaddy]

Last-second reminder...

[macdaddy]

Off-topic...

Have you just posted here?
Make sure you check your PM's.

We now return to our regularly-scheduled programming...

[macdaddy]

Let me tell ya something.

You'll not find anybody on the board who's more upset than I regarding Fernandez's decision.

Having said that...

After watching his interview, I respect Adrian more than ever.

What did he mention? The fact that, ever since the court proceedings, OWRS has failed to keep in contact with any of the owners regarding what was going on. Adrian has not even met the CEO, who has been in that position for a good month. He mentions that, and I quote, "alot of owners are not happy." He brings up the pay-driver situation (Lavin, Gonzales) more than once. You know that's a major influence, if not THE major influence.

And, one more quote...
"I'm not turning my back to ChampCar. It's the other way around."

Hopefully you've all had the opportunity to watch this interview.
IMO, it verified alot of what I've been reading lately.

[JohnSSC]

To summarize the interview:

Adrian explained as follows (and I did not record the interview, so it is not word-for-word):

1) No business plan.
2) Paul Tracy does not yet have a sponsor.
3) the Three Amigos poached pay drivers from himself and other owners.
4) Tecate has been gone since last year not wanting to come back to Champ Car.
5) No contact from OWRS during his struggle to find a sponsor.
6) No contact with, nor introduction to, the new OWRS president.
7) Only 12 cars.
8) Carpentier booted.
9) (In response to a direct question) - If Tony George/Honda had waved a fistfull of $$ at him, would it make any sense for him to wait until the survival of his team was in jeopardy before moving back? He said the same support was available in December and he clung to the hope that OWRS could put it together.
10) Tecate only came back AFTER he made the move to IRL. They (Tecate) saw no future in OWRS and would not support his team.
11) He is grateful to CART saying he is what he is because of that series but "the CART we knew no longer exists."
12) Many of the remaining owners are very upset with the Amigos.


Apologies if I have misquoted or left anything out. Adrian is a very sincere man. This was a tough decision for him. He did what was best to keep his team together and he is obviously very disappointed with OWRS.

[Snrub]

Darn it, some of us keep missing all the good interviews! Could those who've watched it fill me in on the interesting points?

Edit: Posted at the same time as above (1 second apart!), anything else anyone wants to add? Thanks.

It sounds like everything those who knew Fernandez didn't leave because he was evil suspected. I'm quiet surprised with the Tecate stuff.

[sgjb]

Adrian is a class act and a loyal Cart supporter. Just not OWRS.

I wish him the best and future success.

[JohnSSC]

And as a follow-up to Greg's post, the two things that struck me were the fact that PT has NO sponsor for this season (the reigning champion??) and Adrian's obvious sadness that OWRS turned it's back on him.

[Muzza]

Spot on, macdaddy. Adrian showed a lot of character, as we knew we would. He told what what happened - and his words matched what many people had posted here.

[Muzza]

And Adrian confirmed that my warnings about "poaching" were not rumours.

[Snrub]

I completely agree JohnSSC about the problems that must exist if PT cannot get a sponsor. I've posted those feelings before, but the clearly important part is that if Fernandez is looking for a sponsor to replace Tecate, what are his chances?

[JohnSSC]

Adrian reiterated that if this were a money thing with Honda and TG waving a big bag of $$ at him he was crazy to wait until after the IRL season had started - any money available now was available back in December.

I always respected him as a driver - especially coming back from the injuries he had last year - and thought of him as a pretty stand-up guy. I am more convinced of his veracity and honesty than ever. I certainly hope no one comes along and tries to bash him for leaving as I will be the first (if online at the time!!) to standup for him.

[JohnSSC]

Adrian was very blunt about that, Snrub. He said Tecate told him last year that they were done with Champ Car and would not be back this season. He took the car to Long Beach in the "Visit Mexico" livery which was cooked up by him - there is no "Visit Mexico" sponsor. He simply said he wanted to pay back in some small way what his country had done for him!

I never liked Gentilozzi as a driver. Didn't have much of an opinion of the other two, but I'll tell you: I am not learning to like them much!

[Mike.ca]

He came across as a class act - gracious and unflappable in the face of a couple of "crapwagon" type calls.
I thought he made a good point re the conspiracy theories. He's already missed the first IRL race, he hasn't done any testing in an IRL car. If he's been planning this for any length of time, he wouldn't have put himself in that position.

[JohnSSC]

Macdaddy I apologize for the double-post, but I just remembered that Adrian also confirmed that there is no contract with Cosworth for engines and no contract with Bridgestone for tires.

These are not the sort of things to be missing this close to what you hope will be the first race of the season.

[JohnSSC]

Yes, he did make that point. He of course has a car in IRL and they have data from that, but he has zero miles and only just got the seat fitted.

You could tell that the lack of preparation is a concern to him. You don't succeed at that level without it, for sure.

[indycool]

Macdaddy, John SSC, I got exactly out of that interview what the two of you did.

I think the most eye-opening of his comments was the list of things he cited that weren't done by the Long Beach rollout, particularly what the engine and tire deals are going to be. If you're planning a budget for a season, you kinda need to know those things more than a month before the season starts. That must be next to impossible for those teams to financially prepare.

I have not paid a great deal of attention to knowing what Fernandez was all about the last few years. Perhaps I got to know him tonight better than I ever have, and, as John and macdaddy put it, he earned my respect in one shot.

[Snrub]

So the Bridgestone/Ford deal definately isn't done? That stinks. Why the heck wouldn't they commit with a couple of conditions in place? This is what I don't get. No one wants to commit because they're worried about the series not flying. What would it hurt to sign a contract where certain conditions have to be met? If they're not met by a certain date, the deal is off.

[The Snout]

Originally posted by Muzza
And Adrian confirmed that my warnings about "poaching" were not rumours.

He also confirms in a letter on his website that.....

We were not approached or had any type of plans to run Rodolfo Lavin, Roberto Gonzalez, etc. So rumors to that effect that we are mad because someone stole a driver from us are completely false.

http://www.fernandezracing.net/English/index_e.html

So if anyone was aledgedly going to to run these guys, it wasn't Fernandez. Didn't think we had all the facts on this. As this confirms. It's not a bad read, full of opinion anyway.

[indycool]

Makes sense to me, Snrub. I've heard the Bridgestone deal isn't signed. But OWRS already owns the Ford engines. what's at issue must be the servicing/rebuild contract...and OWRS may be weighing how and what to charge the teams in the financial area. If OWRS tries to create a revenue stream from that and it's a blockbuster charge comin', look for another red flag on the crisis map. It was cheap last year because Pook made it cheap.

[JohnSSC]

Snrub, no, the deal is not done with Cosworth/Bridgestone. Fernandez was clearly frustrated with the lack of anything concrete from OWRS. I got the distinct feeling that if they had given him even the tiniest bit of hope he would have clung to it.

Indycool, I have had "more favorite" drivers if you will, but I looked at AF as a very positive force in Champ Car: decent driver, car owner, team leader and a positive supporter of Mexico, Mexican drivers and the Mexican venues. He went down tonight still waving CART's flag.

The sad thing is he is right: Ganassi, Penske Greene-Andretti, Walker etc are either gone or gone IRL. He truly seemed to be looking forward to racing once again with his friends. I wish him the best of luck.