OWRS Statement

[jjspierx]

They had better not drop Portland. Its my home track, and it draws a decent crowd.

And Liz, I'm not positive, but I don't think CART had any affiliation with the FIA, all their races were CART sanctioned, so they have their own set of rules and safety requirements. I imagine it will be the same for OWRS, they will sanction their own events. If OWRS were under FIA, I'm sure the drivers would be required to get an FIA Superlicense, like Formula 1, and they are not required to have one of those as far as I know.

[The Snout]

I like the concept of crowning a champion for the mexican, candian and american races.

I also like that they have totally dumped ISC. The best thing now is to build up the series, and when popularity can accommodiate ovals then go back to a couple more ovals.
I'd like a couple more ovals, but right now we're in rebuild mode.

[SurfaceUnits]

From the Oregonian 6 hours ago

The winning bidder was a group of CART owners led by Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe.

That puts into motion an asterisk-filled 2004 schedule that includes a Portland race June 20 -- with the proviso that Portland come up with its $1 million-plus sanctioning fee.

With CART finally able to go forward this season, there will be more pressure on Portland to either sign a contract or end its 20-year run.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...1220263300.xml

[The Snout]

OWRS isn't a charity. Having said that, Portland is a 20 year customer, so I hope they (OWRS) are working WITH them to come up with a solution. Needs to make sense on both sides however.

[SurfaceUnits]

The race at Milwaukee is scheduled for Saturday night again this year. They are also racing nascar trucks and busch series at night. Are they getting permanent lighting there, does anyone know?

[Emfa]

Originally posted by jjspierx
...
And Liz, I'm not positive, but I don't think CART had any affiliation with the FIA, all their races were CART sanctioned, so they have their own set of rules and safety requirements. I imagine it will be the same for OWRS, they will sanction their own events. If OWRS were under FIA, I'm sure the drivers would be required to get an FIA Superlicense, like Formula 1, and they are not required to have one of those as far as I know.

jj, you might be surprised...

From a GrandAm license application (I've seen the same from the ALMS):

INFORMATION FOR FIA LICENSE APPLICANTS

The Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA) is the sole international body governing
automobile sport. It delegates and recognizes in each country authority for the control of motor
sports. For the U.S.A. this authority is the Automobile Competition Committee for the United
States, FIA, Inc. (ACCUS, FIA), whose duty is to enforce the international regulations established
by the FIA for all competition events in this country approved by the FIA, ACCUS, FIA has,
in turn, nine member clubs: CART, GRAND-AM, IRL, NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA, SCCA, USAC, or
WKA. All FIA events in the United States are sanctioned by one of these nine clubs and are run
in conformity with the FIA Code.

Entrant's License: For entering a car in any type of FIA event such as a race, rally, hill climb,
time trial, drag race or record attempt throughout the world, the person or organization entering
the car must be in possession of an FIA Entrant's License. If the Entrant is a group or company,
the application or the license should be made in the name of the organization followed by the
name of the individual officer, principal representative, or manager, with his title. Any number of
cars may be entered in an event under an FIA Entrant's License.

Driver's License: For driving a car in any type of FIA event such as a race, rally, hill climb, time
trial, or record attempt throughout the world, each individual driver and co-driver must be in
possession of an FIA Driver's license. Such a license is issued by ACCUS, FIA to a person who
meets the requirements of our ACCUS, FIA member clubs and the provisions of the FIA sporting code, who futhermore, holds a current, valid senior competition license issued by either: CART,
GRAND-AM, IRL, NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA, SCCA, USAC, or WKA. If no such license is held, an FIA Driver's license will not be issued without additional documentation. Applicants must submit
either the license card itself or a photocopy of both sides thereof. Applicants requiring competitors
licenses for exclusive use in Rally, Historic and Drag Racing events should so indicate this use.
Two recent passport size photographs of the applicant must accompany all competitors applications.

Also from the court documents that SurfaceUnits kindly posted today (page 10):

[jjspierx]

Well I stand corrected. Interesting how Europe goes by the FIA name as sanctioning body, but over hear, we different sanctioning bodies und ACCUS FIA, which is the USA portion of the FIA. Why do we Americans have to complicate everything?

[Emfa]

You aren't the only ones! If you look on the FIA website you will see the list of FIA acredited groups for different countries - there's a lot!! Australia is an interesting case - the local body is CAMS who are currently involved in some "interesting" discussion regarding insurance, track licenses and the financial status. It's a bit of a mess (IMHO).

[Testure]

The FIA has unmatched amount of expertise in motorsport, so I think it's actually a good idea that there's some central body which sets minimum standards for safety, etc. You might be interested to take a look at the FIA's home page... Go to "Technical and Sporting regulations" and take a look at "Appendix O to the International Sporting Code". It describes things like which type of cars should race on which types of tracks, how tracks should be built - run-off areas, width, etc. Interestingly, F1 cars are approved for use on ovals!

[Mags]

Originally posted by SurfaceUnits
From the Oregonian 6 hours ago

The winning bidder was a group of CART owners led by Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe.

That puts into motion an asterisk-filled 2004 schedule that includes a Portland race June 20 -- with the proviso that Portland come up with its $1 million-plus sanctioning fee.

With CART finally able to go forward this season, there will be more pressure on Portland to either sign a contract or end its 20-year run.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...1220263300.xml

And the ALMS race is the weekend before the OWR one....

[Dov]

Mags, you have no worry about Portland being dropped from the schedule!?

[Mags]

Originally posted by Dov
Mags, you have no worry about Portland being dropped from the schedule!?

Very much so. I don't possibly see how they can support ALMS AND Champcars in a 2 month period, plus that million $ fee worries me, too.

[SurfaceUnits]

OWRS Teleconference Tidbits
From, yep, you guessed it, AR1....

Few highlights from OWRS teleconference OWRS principals Paul Gentilozzi and Kevin Kalkhoven held a teleconference today with the media. Here are a few tidbits:

Feb 12th closing date for transaction to take control of assets. Then will put out schedule right after that.

Champ Car World Series will be official name.

18 cars - teams are now finalizing deals

Tony spoke to Paul midday yesterday and spoke t both Paul and Kevin after hearing

5-year plan no plan to merge, but to grow series.

Intention to be known as Champ Car World Series - will amplify on that name

Believe will be able to operate within budget in 5-year plan

Forsythe has been part of all planning process, though absent from public events

Want to be on a consistent network at a consistent time. Live or as close to live as possible. Focus marketing effort on new fans. Looking at creative programming with creative ideas. Deal with a TV partner and does not look at us as a victim

Take a macro view. Conflict and drama among people. Need partners who can portray conflicts between people. NASCAR has done a great job of making drivers stars - conflicts and personality

7 to 8 million people watching worldwide Champ Car each race.

Guaranteed prize money to teams, no subsidies. Economy is improving and new sponsors coming onboard.

Major Spring Training at least 6 weeks before LB. Four series - champ, Atlantic, Trans-Am and one other support series.

Kalkhoven spoke to Pollock yesterday

No race in Miami of course. Florida race will probably be St. Pete.

Champ Cars have not done good job of exposing personalities. Every race is a story and every story needs characters stated Kevin.

St. Pete move back to earlier in spring in 2005

OWRS will control TV production

Europe - not closing the door on Europe

[Liz]

Good stuff! They are finally getting an idea of how to promote the series!

[ASennaFan]

Troll.

[SurfaceUnits]

Man those folks go ballistic when they don't get their way, don't they.

[Edmonton]

Originally posted by Liz
Watkins Glen is designated a Historic Site and cannot be upgraded to meet the standards of the FIA which must obtain in order to stage a Champ Car race. Watkins Glen is also a long ways from anywhere, and we are getting away from staging races in venues the average fan can't reach unless he has a car. Ditto Mosport, which is completely inaccessible except by automobile and hitch-hiking, although it is one of my favourite tracks, and nowhere to stay closer than Toronto which is an hour away, unless you camp. Ditto Mid-Ohio.

The street races draw the most fans, and the fans who pay to attend the races (i.e. us) are what bring in the sponsors and keep the wheels turning. You have to go where the people are. If the racing needs fixing up or the streets need altering, then you do that instead of moving the race to somewhere nobody can attend.

I don't think that is quite true,Indy is designated a historic site-I think it just means that the track must always be there.