Racing Rumors

[macdaddy]

Dario back to CART? I thought he had been promised the 2004 WDC!

Hornish? My money's got him going to NASCAR, where the big dollars are.

[¡As-de-mim!]

Hornish will be cross-dressing - running FT irl, some nascar. Don't know the nascar team as of yet, could be Childress.

[¡As-de-mim!]

"Mario Andretti is ready to discuss the future of CART in the 6 o'clock hour." Listen to THE FAN590

http://www.fan590.com/eprise/main/fan/index.html

[macdaddy]

Couldn't find it...

[¡As-de-mim!]

click listen live button

[macdaddy]

This doesn't belong in a "rumours" thread, but Ed Nathman has left his position as Vasser's engineer.

Jimmy: "Unfortunately, I got some problems on my side of the engineering over the last week, might be having some changes there for next weekend. That´s not a good thing. Ed Nathman left the team late last week. You know, I´m trying to coax him back. The best thing for me is to have him finish out the season, but I´m not sure that's even a possibility now."

[¡As-de-mim!]

Racy image
Danica Patrick turning heads on, off racetrack
Danica Patrick was hooked when she started racing at age 10. Now she is a rookie on the Toyota Atlantic Championship series that comes to Denver next weekend.

By Mike Chambers, Denver Post Sports Writer
Danica Patrick, CART's only female driver, would rather be associated with one of today's most popular professional tennis players than Sarah Fisher, an accomplished driver in the Indy Racing League.
"I've been dubbed as an Anna Kournikova but never as a Sarah Fisher," said Patrick, a Team Rahal rookie driver who could be racing's newest cover girl. "If you're asking me if I want to be like Sarah Fisher, the answer is no, because she's not being very successful. That's the bottom line."

[macdaddy]

Anna Kournikova's not exactly overly successful either, is she?

[¡As-de-mim!]

Of further interest was an announcement that Champ Car team owner Derrick Walker has stepped down from the CART Board of Directors, citing potential perceptions of conflict of interest. No further information regarding that but speculation is that he may be putting an Indy Racing League team together for next season, possibly with Toyota or even Honda. If that is the case, it appears Walker would double-dip because he earlier announced an agreement in principal with Michael Valiante for a possible three-car Champ Car effort next season in the event they were able to put together a sponsorship package. Having said what he did at the time, the implication is he intends to remain in CART.

[macdaddy]

As said, anything connecting Walker to the IRL is speculation. Kinda hard to believe. But on the other hand, I cannot think of anything else that may present a "conflict of interest". I guess it's possible, perhaps if there is a three-car team next year one of them will defect. Like I said when I first learned that Walker was stepping down from the BoD, "Very interesting indeed."

[Muzza]

Originally posted by ¡As-de-mim!
(...)"I've been dubbed as an Anna Kournikova but never as a Sarah Fisher," said Patrick, a Team Rahal rookie driver who could be racing's newest cover girl. "If you're asking me if I want to be like Sarah Fisher, the answer is no, because she's not being very successful. That's the bottom line."

Danica displays little talent on track but lots of arrogance off it. She is just a spoiled brat. Go drive for Ganassi, Danica, you will find yourself at home there.

I agree that Sarah Fisher is not having great success, and I never had much faith on her as a driver (quite the opposite, I fear that Fisher is going to get hurt or hurt someone seriously one of these days), but this stupid statement by Danica is exactly what women do not need on their quest for recognition in motorsports.

What a shame.

[¡As-de-mim!]

For MacDaddy's Consumption

The Anna Kournikova Multiway sports bra, specially designed for the tennis superstar, makes its U.S. debut today at Amazon.com's Apparel & Accessories store (www.amazon.com/apparel), where the product is exclusively available through September 19.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and Anna Kournikova are inviting the public to watch them play a charity hit-around at Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall from 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. today, the day Amazon.com starts selling the Anna Kournikova Multiway sports bra and the week leading up to the U.S. Open.
Through September 7, Amazon.com's Apparel store will donate 10 percent of the $38.50 purchase price of every Anna Kournikova Multiway sports bra to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing tennis instruction and educational programs to over 400 kids annually, ages 7 to 18.

[macdaddy]

Maybe in a few years there will be the "Danica Sports Bra", which will just be a smaller version of Anna's.

Only made out of leather.

[Radioshoes]

Originally posted by Muzza


I agree that Sarah Fisher is not having great success, and I never had much faith on her as a driver (quite the opposite, I fear that Fisher is going to get hurt or hurt someone seriously one of these days), but this stupid statement by Danica is exactly what women do not need on their quest for recognition in motorsports.

What a shame.

Muzza, I'm not sure I understand you here. Could you explain what you mean when you say it's not what women need? I mean, would you want to be dubbed the next Sarah Fisher, given her track record (she's kissed the wall more times than she's been kissed by a guy)? Did you mean that it was disingenuous of Danica to say that given her own record?

Just trying to understand...

Cheers

[macdaddy]

Back to the part about Walker stepping down from the BoD, and what the "conflict of interest" may have been...

Since this thread is called "Rumours" I'm gonna start one, just for fun.

Derrick Walker and Don Panoz are about to make a bid to purchase the company.

[Emfa]

But isn't Dr. Don going to Australia to help with Dick Johnson's V8 Supercar team? :confused:

[¡As-de-mim!]

Cracks forming in both series now

John Menard pulled his team out of this weekend's race in Nazareth. If this had been a C^RT team the media would be all over it as some kind of collosal death sign.

Cheever is having trouble holding on to Red Bull as a sponsor. Maybe they've finally figured out you can't get an American to F1 from a series that has closer ties to dirt-track racing than road racing.

[macdaddy]

I try to refrain from posting Doom&Gloom, but here's an article from the Toronto Sun...


MONTREAL - If the CART Champ Car World Series folds, the Toronto Molson Indy would court the Indy Racing League or NASCAR to fill the void at its venues, The Toronto Sun has learned. In an interview yesterday, Molson Sports and Entertainment boss Bob Singleton said he hopes CART continues, but he's ready to move on if the series fails.

"We owe it to our fans to be ready for any and all contingencies," Singleton said. "Have we entertained having the IRL, NASCAR or another series headline in Toronto? Yes to all of the above."

Singleton said that Molson is checking its contracts with CART regarding ownership but doesn't foresee that being an issue. "We have one year left in Toronto and one year left in Vancouver in our contract with CART as a sanctioning body," he said. "I don't think a change in ownership of the series would affect that at all."

The most obvious choice for the Toronto Molson Indy, of course, would be to have the IRL race on the Exhibition Place track.

Don Panoz, owner of Mosport International Raceway and builder of the G-Force chassis that won the Indianapolis 500 for Roger Penske this season, told The Sun his factory in Georgia is well on its way to producing an IRL race car to suit Toronto. "We were asked by IRL owner Tony George to have a G-Force chassis for road and street courses ready for 2005," Panoz said. "But work has progressed so far that we would not have a problem producing such a race care for 2004."

Singleton said it would be prudent for the IRL to consider a race like Toronto. "I don't know what the IRL plans are but I would have to think they would be very interested in the our street courses," Singleton said. "We would certainly entertain the idea of approaching them."

While NASCAR is a possibility at the three Canadian races, it's not one in which Singleton holds out much hope. "I met with NASCAR four years ago in Portland and they gave me exactly 30 seconds of their time," he said. "They said 'We don't need to come to Canada.'"

[¡As-de-mim!]

Imperial Tobacco drops ads to save F1
MONTREAL - British American Racing (BAR) is prepared to race in Montreal next year without tobacco branding on its two cars, Imperial Tobacco announced Friday.

'The funny thing is that Jacques Villeneuve's car is rarely on the track long enough for it to be on TV...So British American Tobacco doesn't get a lot of exposure here anyway'—Jeff Pappone

[¡As-de-mim!]

C^RT will grid the same number of cars(19) as the IRL in Sunday's race. One more broken back and C^RT will grid more than the breakout series.

[rush1]

Originally posted by ¡As-de-mim!
C^RT will grid the same number of cars(19) as the IRL in Sunday's race. One more broken back and C^RT will grid more than the breakout series.

\

Yes, but those 19 IRL cars will have sponsors like Marlboro, 7-11, penzoil, pioneer, target, red bull...

They won't have "Gil" or "kenny" on the sidepods.

And unlike CART they will be around in 2004

[brightline]

True the IRL won't have Gil or Kenny but they will have uncompetitive cars without sponsorship for former 500 winner buddy lazier and their most popular driver sarah fisher. CART still has Player's (at least until October, which is just a little bit shorter than Penske has Marlboro), Tecate, Visteon, Corona...

Both series are similar in the fact that some teams are having trouble financially. I mean, it's nothing to cheer for in either camp, but at least in CART Jimmy & Ryan have a shot at a win because they weren't handed a dog chevy engine, they just have owners that can only afford kennel rations. I just hope that CART goes private soon so teams can get there sponsorship packages settled and everyone can just go racing.

[¡As-de-mim!]

Marlboro's gone, Red Bull's gone, ASTJ has funding for three years and is still two cars, unlike AJ who had to park a car because of no money, Menard can't field a car, and you're a jerk, which we have no answer for.

[Jay]

Seriously rush1, we don't go over to the IRL forum and gloat about Hornish possibly going to Nascar, or Sarah Fisher as yet another IRL injury...

If any of the stuff you post about Cart was posted in the IRL forum, the mods would yank it right away. It's a shame that doesn't happen here.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by Radioshoes
Muzza, I'm not sure I understand you here. Could you explain what you mean when you say it's not what women need? I mean, would you want to be dubbed the next Sarah Fisher, given her track record (she's kissed the wall more times than she's been kissed by a guy)? Did you mean that it was disingenuous of Danica to say that given her own record?

Just trying to understand...

Cheers

Hello, Radioshoes,

Motorsportwise, what women most need now is to be recognized as competitors in the same level as men. Let's just let them do their job. In other words, they need to be respected as drivers - by the media, by the fans, by the other drivers.

I don't mean this in the terms of cheap "feminist" diatribe, as "we are the same as you", but rather "we are different, and that's ok, and let's see who is faster in the racetrack. Look at me as a racer, not as a girl with a helmet". The more I know about Danica the more I am sure she belongs to the second of these categories.

Women in motorsports need to stand together and be supportive of each other. In this aspect, it is a shame that almost no-one recognizes the efforts carried out by Lynn St. James, who has set a program to bring woman racers through the ranks, all the way up to major leagues.

Lynn, with whom I had the chance of talking on this very subject, does an enormous amount of work by herself, and without any dose of selfishness - whilst several of the (few) other women involved in motorsport prefer to ignore it or to desdain.

Concerning this interview to Mike Chambers at the Denver Post, Danica missed the opportunity of replying to this poor question by stating something like "oh, Sarah Fisher is herself. I am another racer, and I want to show that I can be as good, if not better, than any guy or gal out there." That would be enough.

Instead, by making use of a childish choice of words, Danica only confirmed my belief that she is just a spoiled kid, who would be nowhere close to a race track if her dad would not have very, very hot connections with Ford (this, surprisingly, the media does not care to report. Do you, in comparison, know how many support did Fisher had to get a seat in IRL? And even though Fisher is not a top driver, I am confident that she would blow Danica away in a face-to-face race dice).

Danica is actually envious of the media coverage Fisher gets. By comparing herself with Anna Kournikova, Mrs. Patrick undersigns to what most of us already wrote about her: she is just a pretty face. Or not even that.

This kind of provocation serves well to people that enjoy fistfights after races, like a minority of NASCAR fans. Maybe they would appreciate to see Danica and Sarah punching each other, like that "Catfight" Miller (beer manufacturer) tv ad.

For those that want to see women recognized in motorsport by their value as a competitor - and not by their beauty or by having a powerful backer -, Danica's answer was quite disappointing.