Rahal sues Scott Sharp and Patron

[Fogelhund]

Interesting tidbit..

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...ck=1&cset=true

But Rahal Letterman's suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Miami, paints a different story. It claims Sharp and Patron were interested in staying with Rahal Letterman next year but in a different racing series, the American Le Mans Series.

Guess, the rumours there were true... wonder what the current direction is?

[stradlin21]

It’s not secret that Bobby wants Graham to race for him and it may well happen in 08

The result of the Sharp court case will either be that he decides to continue with RLR or RLR get the money from Patron that is in the contract and RLR run the #8 along with the #17 for Hunter-Reay

G Rahal would be the most obvious selection although nothing is anywhere near being settled yet with Sharp situation right now

Scott mentions that he was disappointed with the level of competitiveness from his car in 07 but I don’t really see where he could go to improve that

AGR aren’t likely to expand again, Ganassi has already expanded to three and Penske is a closed book

Panther is also a closed book so that leaves Vision, Foyt and DRR who will be more than happy to have Patron’s money but then that goes against what Sharp said because I don’t see any of those options being better than RLR.

My view is that Sharp is only going one place and that is too the American Le Mans Series

Too lose Sharp would be a major blow because beyond his driving days many saw him as a natural for team ownership in the long term

The realism is though that this probably isn’t gonna happen anymore although I hope I am wrong

[stradlin21]

And added to the above

I actually thought 07 was a pretty solid season for Sharp and Rahal

A couple of podiums and a pole and many other good finishes was a vast improvement on 06 with Fernandez

I expected that this ‘gentle’ improvement at RLR would continue into 08 so I think Sharp is just using some of the stuff he says to make excuses to leave

Did he really expect instant success at RLR? Of course not, I think we have to realistic here people, with ALL the facts, there’s a lot more to this then meets the eye

[Jimmy Magnusson]

I thought Graham wasn't interested in doing roundy roundy racing (hence him being in Champ Car)? In any case, I would have expected him to have a two-year deal with Newman/Haas (it was talked about in the pre-season atleast), and you'd think Graham would want to stay with the front-running team in the series now that the driver who dominated the previous years is gone. And lastly, Bobby already runs Graham - in ALMS!
About Scott, yeah, I can't see any teams with empty seats which are better than RLR. Running his own team in IRL or running for someone else in ALMS would seem like the most realistic options? And I can't imagine that RLR would be terribly interested in running him in 2008 after this - they probably just want a good bit of dosh out of this and then chucking someone else into the seat.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by stradlin21

It’s not secret that Bobby wants Graham to race for him and it may well happen in 08

Really ?

[stradlin21]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

Considering how everyone has been talking about Scott Sharp setting up his own team, you'd guess that that would be what he's trying to do now. I can't imagine him going to NASCAR or Champ Car, and throwing togeather an ALMS team with that little sportscar experience? For me the most realistic option seems to be running a car for himself in IRL and jumping in for a few of the longer ALMS races.

A good friend of mine who works for an IRL team said that Scott wanted to set up a team but after looking into the operation decided against it

I can see him going to ALMS with Patron and Bobby getting a nice pay off

It's interesting though that this story of a potential "lost" car gets so much attention but the Roth team expansion is largely ingored.

I think Rahal will remain as a two car team with Hunter Reay in the #17 and someone else in the #8

That is only my opinion, I may be wrong but that's where I think we are at

And off slightly, according to my friend, the situation regarding Milka Duno and her 2008 participation should be cleared up shortly after christmas

Citgo are apparently keen to keep their name on the car for 2008 but whether or not Milka will be in the car is another thing and the Citgo deal could depend on her being the driver

[Jimmy Magnusson]

stradlin, legal battles are far more exciting than good news, surely you know that I would guess that it is a pretty good chance of Rahal running two cars as usual next year, though the quality of the seat may depend on the court case and if a paying driver is needed.

[mountainstar]

There was an article in a Florida paper today mentioning an interest Patron and Sharp had in Champcar but it didn't really have much in the way of details.

[D.R.T.]

Any more news in regards to when the issue reaches court, settlements or even the purchase of ALMS or ChampCar equipment

[Fogelhund]

Autosport magazine has an article stating that Sharp will be running with Highcroft Racing in the ALMS next year.

[stradlin21]

doesn't surprise me fogel

pretty much what I expected and predicted

[D.R.T.]

Any mention of Rahals ideas/plans for 2008?

[stradlin21]

According to Curt Cavin on his blog the #17 car will be on the grid but plans for Sharp’s car are unknown

[D.R.T.]

Any mention of Ethanol, where 'talk' had them reviewing the current situation aswell.

[JohnSSC]

Actually the "talk" with ethanol is likely the softening of that market and the decisions of ethanol producers to shelve plans to build new processing facilities.

Even with government subsidies here, the increase in the cost of corn (which is probably the LAST thing you would want to make ethanol from if you are talking efficiency) has caused several producers to scale back.

If revenues are not flowing than advertising likely will be affected. The ethanol $$ may be a past-tense sort of thing...

[mountainstar]

I had heard the ethanol folks were not totally happy with the sponsorship. One key to remember is that it was really Paul Dana who put all that together and he was their guy, so with him gone, I'm sure that affected things a bit.

Another rumor had Rahal wanting to leave the irl altogether. At least from where I am sitting viewing his actions he hasn't been all that interested in the past few years. It was published somewhere that ethanol was tipping in $5 million a year which is fine for a second mid pack car but isn't going to compete with Penske.

Who knows. I guess we'll let it sort itself out and see.

[Fogelhund]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/indycar/auto/42117/

The last original Indy Racing League driver is heading for sports cars. SPEEDTV.com has learned that Scott Sharp is taking his Patron sponsorship to Highcroft Racing in the American Le Mans series for 2008.

More at link.

[D.R.T.]

Interesting as the original hype with patron deal was alot higher than the reported $ 4 million.

Disapointing news for the IRL and RLR. A continuing trend towards sportscars.

[stradlin21]

I'm back after a couple of days rest

the news we all expected from Sharp

at least it gived RLR plenty of time to build for next season

[D.R.T.]

I guess we await now to see the fallout from Ethanol.

Uncertain times ahead

[Mystery]

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/alms...highcroft.html

Taken a while but confirmation of Sharp to Highcroft

[NAC]

Originally Posted by Mystery

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/alms...highcroft.html

Taken a while but confirmation of Sharp to Highcroft

Nice

[indycool]

Rahal-Letterman issued a statement today that a federal judge in Miami had denied Sharp's move for an injunction and commented strongly in a 24-page judgment that R-L had strong evidence in its countersuit against Sharp.

[paul-collins]

IC, I'm not sure that's read correctly - I think that the PR says effectively that (a) RLR's request for an injunction preventing Sharp from racing elsewhere has been denied but (b) on the face of it, the evidence as currently presented shows enough merit for the trial to go to jury.

I suspect this is ruling purely on the Rahal (counter)suit, not the original Sharp suit.

While what you say agrees with my point (b), the injunction was pointed the other way per my point (a).

[indycool]

In rereading the release, Paul, I concur. And I guess we got the PR release end of it from R-L, also, and not Sharp's take.